Bubbling Over

Sandro Roco ’09 ChE connects cultures through his Asian-inspired sparkling water

In 2018, Sandro Roco ’09 ChE noticed a surge of Asian influence in American culture. Crazy Rich Asians was a hit at the box office, Korean pop groups were selling out US stadiums and regional Asian-inspired restaurants were opening in major cities across the country.

At the same time, Roco, a first-generation Filipino American, was working at a startup men’s apparel company that had refrigerators full of various brands of sparkling water but in only a few basic flavors—lemon, lime and grapefruit. “There was a disconnect between what I was seeing on the grocery store shelves and in the rest of the world,” Roco says.

Recognizing a gap in the market, in 2019, Roco began creating his own Asian-inspired sparkling water in his small New York City studio apartment. After experimenting with different flavors and sharing samples with family and friends, he landed on three Asian fruit flavors—lychee, mango and calamansi. (In 2022, he added yuzu with ginger to the lineup.) He named the drink Sanzo—a combination of his first and middle names, Alessandro Lorenzo—and he hit the pavement, giving product away to grocery stores

With interest in Sanzo rapidly growing, Roco cold-called, cold-emailed and knocked on doors until he secured a manufacturer and seed funding from angel investors. “My engineering background definitely helped when developing the product, especially when looking for a manufacturer,” Roco says. “The Villanova Engineering curriculum encourages you to try to solve problems in the simplest way possible, but also encourages you to consider that the answer may be more complex. It influenced the way I think and go about solving problems.”

Roco credits Villanova’s emphasis on educating the whole person for his success. In addition to his technical training in Engineering, Roco pursued a Business minor and immersed himself in campus life, serving as co-editor of The Villanovan, festival director for Special Olympics, an orientation counselor and a member of Blue Key. “I had a holistic college experience and got a lot of value out of being able to explore different areas,” he says. “It helped plant the seeds in me for what I wanted out of a career.”

Today, Sanzo is sold in thousands of restaurants and stores around the country, including Whole Foods Market, Target, Safeway, ShopRite, Sprouts Farmers Market and Panda Express. In February 2022, Sanzo raised $10 million in funding, and in June, Sanzo was named an “F&W Game Changer” by Food & Wine. Roco was also selected as the 2022 recipient of the Villanova University Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Medal for his outstanding professional achievements and his service to the University.

Roco’s ultimate ambition is to turn Sanzo into a beloved global brand that bridges Eastern and Western cultures.

“To me, the idea of Sanzo being a beverage product is ancillary to the journey,” Roco says. “The primary reason why I got into it is because I had a revelation and self-actualization journey as an Asian American. I realized that people wanted to learn more about our culture, so I decided to introduce Americans to Asian culture through something as accessible as sparkling water. I love that we are a part of culture and are weaving ourselves into people’s daily lives.”