Scarborough resident Matt Seiler wanted a soda pop to match the quality food served at Portland’s Flat Bread Company, where he worked as a waiter, and decided to undertake the project himself.

Using some home brewing equipment and the knowledge he gained while brewing his own beer, Seiler made the first batch of Maine Root root beer from his Higgins Beach home in 2003 and began serving it at the restaurant. While he did not know it at the time, that batch was the basis for his company, which sold 15,000 cases of soda in 23 states last year. He expects to sell 50,000 cases this year.

“It was a side project,” he said. “I was just filling a niche at the restaurant that no one else was filling.”

That niche was producing a hand-crafted, high-quality soda using organic evaported cane juice, carbonated purified water, natural extracts, spices and botanicals that created a better quality drink than what is now available.

“People love it,” said Bobby Morgan, a managing partner of the Flat Bread Company who went to high school with Seiler. It tastes different from other commercially produced root beers and is all natural and organic, he added.

Nothing Seiler did in his previous career prepared him to become CEO of a growing soda company. However, he does use many of his past experiences in the operation of his business.

Just before starting Maine Root, Seiler was working as a wooden boat builder. He took the job very seriously because mistakes in the construction of a boat could be dangerous for those using the boat. Someone could even die because of a mistake, he said.

While the consequences of making a mistake in producing soda are not as dramatic, Seiler said work ethic and pride in a job well done are present in the three beverages Maine Root produces: root beer, sarsaparilla and ginger root.

The sodas are unique and, as far as Seiler knows, are the only ones on the market that are organically sweetened. His root beer is made from wintergreen, clove and anise, and the sarsaparilla includes the same ingredients, just a different recipe. While the ginger brew contains ginger root, organic evaporated cane juice, purified water and “Happy Bubbles.”

Seiler made each recipe at his home at Higgins Beach and produced the soda there for about a month until the business grew too large, and he contracted with a Portland bottler. However, Seiler continues to keep his office at home and experiments to find new recipes.

Seiler said his company is entirely driven by its customers and the only reason it has grown so large is the people who first tried it at Flat Bread liked it so much.

The popularity caught the attention of a distributor who began bringing it to stores around the state. Its popularity continued to grow as more and more people tried it.

Seiler is proud his company was launched based on popularity and not on a marketing scheme developed and delivered by a large company. In fact, his company spent just $500 on advertising last year.

“Everything has grown through word of mouth; it’s a great tasting product,” Seiler said. “It’s a self-funded, boot-strap operation. It’s not the result of some contrived marketing case study.”

It also is a family business with Seiler and his brother, Mark, vice president of sales, running the business. Mark Seiler works from the company’s other office in Austin, Texas, where the soda is gaining in popularity.

Last year Maine Root was the sole vendor of soda for the Austin City Limits concert series and will be once again this year. Seiler said he hopes to expand his company’s presence at the event.

Remaining an independent company without investors is a nice way to operate a business and allows Seiler to make his own decisions. One small example is his local delivery van he uses to make deliveries in Portland. It is a Volkswagen bus converted to run on vegetable oil.

“We’re trying to make the most environmentally friendly, best tasting product we can make,” Seiler said.

But that very independence also poses the biggest challenge for the company. “It’s all or nothing. All the risk is on your shoulders,” he said.

The best market for Maine Root is New York City, which Seiler described as “the epicenter” and said some of the reasons include the city’s affluence and its awareness of organic food.

But Seiler is always trying to move his company to new states and this winter expects to break into the West coast. In total, Maine Root beverages will be available in 28 states by the end of the month.

“We’re growing by demand,” Seiler said. “There hasn’t been a lot of risk. People want it, and we make it and deliver it.”