The owner of Boro Beverage Company encourages an inclusive beverage scene in Chapel Hill-Carrboro
By Sinclair Holian |Photography by John Michael Simpson
Walking down West Franklin Street, the bright green and pink mural is hard to miss. The funky artwork offers a warm welcome into the cozy and eclectic Boro Bodega, where owner, Southern California native Carly Erickson, is behind the counter. The walls are fully stocked with rows of beverages – and at Boro Bodega, they’re all nonalcoholic.
Carly founded Boro Beverage Company in 2013, a year after she moved to Carrboro in 2012. In her new home state, she developed an interest in herbalism, the study of medicinal plants, and joined Central Carolina Community College’s sustainable agriculture program in 2010. “That kind of evolved into me learning about food preservation,” she remembers.
Fermentation quickly sparked Carly’s interest, and soon, she fell in love with making kombucha, a sweetened, fermented drink. “The business really evolved from a need in the community that was not being filled,” she says, recalling a time when kombucha companies were rare.
Carly started working with local farmers, who gave her imperfect produce that otherwise would be discarded. “The foundation of the business is built around food preservation, using local produce and giving it a second chance,” she says.
In 2013, Carly started brewing her kombucha at the Piedmont Food Processing Center and began selling growlers at the Chapel Hill Farmers Market and Carrboro Farmers Market. By 2017, local businesses like Weaver Street Market stocked her products, and in 2018, Boro Beverage Company’s brick-and-mortar shop opened on West Rosemary Street.
After a period of closure during the pandemic, Carly’s success continued. The national Good Food Awards honored Boro Beverage’s fan-favorite Pollinator Punch as among the best beverages in the country in 2022 and 2023.
But while business was flourishing, Carly faced a sudden loss. In 2022, Carly’s partner, who struggled with their relationship to alcohol, died unexpectedly. After taking time off to process her loss, Carly decided to channel the tragedy into action.
“I kind of poured my grief into my business,” she recalls, “And I was like, ‘I’m just going to make this a full-on, nonalcoholic bottle shop.” In December 2023, Boro Bodega opened its doors on West Franklin Street, offering up more than just her own products and bringing the state’s first nonalcoholic bottle shop to the heart of Chapel Hill.
Carly says she wants the bodega to be a safe place for people to explore alternatives to alcohol. “I’m still making kombucha, that’s been really fun,” she says. “But what I really love is this advocacy work around helping people take their power back in this alcohol-soaked society.”
As part of her mission, Carly helps bars like Steel String Brewery and Bowbarr develop nonalcoholic beverage programs to make going out comfortable and inclusive for every customer.
“I always thought of going into business as an opportunity to create a vessel for change,” she says of her philosophy on business and life. “And you can use that opportunity to possibly create some serious change or at least encourage people who look up to you to do things that you value and know that matter.”
