- October 5, 2026
Merritt Island's Big Dog Kombucha has expanded to Ormond Beach by opening its first kombucha bar in town.
While Big Dog has tap locations in existing kava bars in Ormond Beach, Daytona, DeLand and Palm Coast, the recent opening of First Coast Kava Kombucha, at 500 W. Granada Blvd., marked a new venture for owners Juli and Gerhard Claassen.
"We've kind of always been looking for that next space, and Ormond Beach was just perfect," Juli said.
The couple founded Big Dog five years ago in Merritt Island and quickly built a following — enough that they outgrew their original facility less than a year after starting the business, said Juli. Then this year, they moved into a 7,000-square-foot brewing facility and taproom in Merritt Island.
As kombucha rises in popularity as an alternative to alcoholic beverages, the Claassens knew expanding their business would be their next step. According to a report by Research and Markets, the American kombucha market is projected to expand from $1.20 billion in 2024 to $2.96 billion by 2033.
The space the Claassens found for their new First Coast Kava Kombucha in Ormond Beach was ideal. Juli said it didn't need any renovations. Just a few coats of paint and some new furniture and the space was ready for what they envisioned.
"We have a lot of hopes for this," Juli said. "We think that the products be received because they're better than anything else out there."
For the Claassens, brewing kombucha was inspired by her Juli's father and raspberry tea. Juli and her dad are originally from Buffalo, New York, and every time they'd go out to eat, he'd order a raspberry tea.
Her father didn't drink alcohol, and that inspired Gerhard to look into non-alcoholic fermentation.
"He started making kombucha at our house," Juli recalled. "You know how people have all those pictures that say, 'the kitchen,' 'the laundry?' Mine was going to be 'the lab' because it really was. It was like a lab for about a year."
The first flavor they made? Raspberry Bliss.
The Claassens then started giving away their kombucha to neighbors and serving it to friends when they came over. Soon, people began asking to buy it.
At the time, Gerhard was working for Papa Johns International. Juli, who studied to be a pastor, worked in publishing for McGraw Hill for many years and became a real estate agent when she and Gerhard returned to the states from South Africa, where they got married.
After the feedback they received from friends and family, Gerhard decided to leave his career to open up Big Dog.
"He's like, 'I don't know, people really love this stuff — I think it's going to sell,'" Juli recalled.
Today, the Claassens offer several flavors of kombucha, made using fresh fruit and raw honey from local suppliers. Big Dog also offers kava, their "plant medicine" — including their 21-and-up botanical beer, a kratom kombucha — and kratom tea.
Their kava is sourced from an island in Fiji called Qamea.
"Five years ago, it was the first time that they came looking for a market," Gerhard said. "The guy just walked into my spot about two or three months after we opened."
The Claassens receive photos of the village and the local kids they're able to help with things like new shoes and uniforms, as selling their kava to Big Dog is one of their main sources of income, Juli said.
They hope to create a community in Ormond Beach around Big Dog, just like the one they've been able to foster in Merritt Island.
"We hope to build a community here of neighbors and families," Juli said. "A lot of kava bars are kind of fringe places, and that's really not what we want to have here. We want to have a place where people can come with their kids, come with their spouse on a date, bring their family here. ... Our weakness is that we don't know anybody here, but we also have high hopes that our products will speak for themselves, because literally, once people try them, they're blown away."
