Tractor Beverages Inc., a Hayden-based soft drink maker, has launched an Organic Impact Tracker, which is intended to quantify benefits of sourcing organic ingredients.

The tracker was launched the first week of March and is already being used by two of the beverage company’s partners, Newport Beach, California-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., and New York City based PLNT Burger, says Justin Herber, chief brand officer for Tractor Beverages.

Tractor Beverages was established in 2014 as an organic craft soda company that makes carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks that are sustainably sourced and organically crafted.

The company has a warehouse in Hayden and 52 full-time employees. The company initially sold its drinks through small mom-and-pop retailers, but had trouble acquiring larger accounts due to the contracts those accounts had with legacy beverage brands, says Herber.

The company’s co-founder, Travis Potter, of Coeur d’Alene, saw an entryway to larger accounts through the production of noncarbonated drinks. In 2020, Tractor Beverages launched a series of noncarbonated drinks with Chipotle as its first national partner.

Herber says Tractor Beverages worked with HowGood, a Brooklyn, New York-based sustainability food rating company that compiles data on sustainable food, to track and disclose data about the company’s ingredients.

“For the time being, we will be able to communicate to our customers our impact month to month, quarter to quarter, and year to year with a 10-year benchmark,” says Herber.

The Organic Impact Tracker uses five metrics to evaluate its products: synthetic pesticides avoided, organic land supported, carbon emissions avoided, water saved, and improved soil health. To develop the Organic Impact Tracker, HowGood evaluated ingredients from 25 beverages in Tractor’s portfolio.

Herber declines to disclose the company’s projected annual revenue but says the company expects growth in sales.

He says the company has it products in over 5,000 locations nationwide. In 2022, Tractor Beverages was ranked No. 216 on Inc. magazine’s annual Inc. 5,000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. In 2021, Tractor Beverages was named in Fast Company magazine’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.

As reported earlier by the Journal, Tractor Beverages raised $18.5 million in venture capital funding in the spring of 2020. 

Tractor makes 22 organic, non-GMO concentrated beverages including teas and lemonades as well as soda flavors such as cola, root beer, mandarin cardamon, and blackberry. According to Tractor’s website, the company beverages are available exclusively through its restaurant partners rather than grocery and convenience stores in order to cut down on its carbon footprint.