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Swig, the fast-growing “Dirty Soda” drink franchise, is heading deeper into Texas. On June 3, 2026, the brand announced a six-unit franchise agreement with father-and-son operators Najib and Walid Haidar to develop the highly customizable beverage concept across South Texas. The first location is expected to open by early 2027, anchored in the McAllen region.
The deal adds momentum to Swig’s nationwide franchise initiative. Multi-unit agreements like this one — where a single operator commits to several stores up front — are the engine behind the brand’s push beyond its Utah roots into high-growth Sun Belt markets.
The agreement is led by Najib and Walid Haidar, a father-son team who moved from Lebanon to Texas more than a decade ago and built experience across restaurant operations, franchising, and multi-unit growth within the family business. Their hospitality background is exactly the operator profile brands look for when granting area development rights.
The Haidars “make them a strong fit for our franchise system,” said Alex Dunn, CEO of Swig.
The specialty beverage segment has become one of the most franchise-friendly corners of food service: small footprints, drive-thru-led throughput, and high-margin customizable menus. That formula travels well, and it is reshaping how investors evaluate F&B concepts against full-service formats like those tracked in our coverage of the global foodservice market’s march toward $4.7 trillion.
For investors, Swig’s six-unit signing is a signal of where capital is flowing: compact, beverage-led concepts that scale through committed multi-unit operators. The same multi-unit discipline drives growth across categories — from casual dining brands such as PizzaExpress to high-volume players like Texas Roadhouse. In Asia and the MENA region, low-build-cost beverage formats are particularly attractive, offering faster unit-level returns and easier site flexibility than larger dine-in boxes.
Source: Franchising.com — Swig Announces Six-Unit Deal in South Texas
