Refresh Your Summer With Quench Drinks + Sweets

Photos courtesy of Quench Drinks + Sweets.

Nothing is more appealing on a sweltering summer day than a sweet, cold drink. For over a year, Quench Drinks + Sweets has been a go-to Fruita spot for drinks and snacks, and is now blossoming at a second location in Grand Junction. This shop offers custom sodas, lemonades, teas and other chilly treats perfect for the summer months.

After 15 years of living in Fruita, owner Celeste Quarnberg knew that she wanted to open a business unlike anything else in the Grand Valley. Originally attracted by its proximity to her family, Quarnberg fell in love with the Western Colorado community. Inspired by soda shops in Utah and driven by that community, Quarnberg decided to start Quench Drinks + Sweets.

“As my kids grew up, I started considering the idea of opening a drinks shop,” Quarnberg says. “Our family had visited a couple of soda shops in St. George, Utah and they were so fun and creative; I thought something similar would do really well here. I finally was able to build and start Quench in January of 2020.”

Quench Drinks + Sweets offers sodas and lemonades customized with a wide selection of flavor shots, purees and creams. Each drink starts with one of the 21 bases, including soda, iced tea, lemonade and ginger beer, customizable with 32 different flavor shots. The menu features drinks like the Happy Dance (lemonade, strawberry and lime) and the Fruita Fix (Pepsi, tiger’s blood and cream) that are perfect pick-me-ups for a hot day. The Energy Revivers, like Triggered and Woke, swap soda bases for energy drinks, with the option to make any drink “jacked” with the energy drink of your choice. The menu also offers drinks named after Grand Valley spots, like Independence on the Rocks and Coke-Appeli, with Lemon Squeezer, PBR, Mojo, Zippity and Biker’s Flow, all named for Quarnberg’s favorite mountain biking trails. In addition to drinks, Quench offers a variety of snacks, including homemade cookies, pretzels and other treats. All of these menu items are provided with the convenience of a drive-through.

“You can quickly grab your drink and cookie and be on your way. You don’t have to get out of your car, unstrap kids from car seats — you just drive in and drive out! That was a non-negotiable for me when I was looking for a place to set up shop,” explains Quarnberg. This makes picking up drinks at Quench a convenient, COVID-friendly experience.

Since opening its doors, Quench Drinks + Sweets has grown rapidly. After building their first location in Fruita from the ground up, Quench has expanded to a second location in Grand Junction across the street from Colorado Mesa University. Despite the challenges of operating during a global pandemic, Quench has thrived in the Grand Valley, quickly becoming an integral part of Fruita and Grand Junction.

“The most rewarding part is the sense of community that Quench has brought to me: the customers, the employees, the friends. I get to see so many people every day and they seem so happy to just have us here. Most days don’t even feel like work. I love that my own family has been a part of Quench since the beginning, and I love that my staff have become like a second family. I love the community that has supported us and been our cheerleaders from day one. My husband and I built the shop ourselves and two of my kids who are old enough have been employed by Quench, along with many of their friends! It has just been a blast and so fun to tackle and create,” Quarnberg shares.

For more information, follow Quench @quenchfruita and @quenchgj on Instagram.

Originally published in the Summer 2021 issue.