Turning Water Into Gold / Sonoma startup marketing Indian Wells as a purely Native American enterprise

The distribution of Brian Green anchor as two bottles of water for Indian Wells to the San Francisco Chronicle of Sutter\'s exquisite food photo was assigned by Chris StewartBryan green anchor as two bottles of water for Indian Wells to Sutter of the San Francisco Chronicle. food Photo Chris Stewart Indian Wells WaterBringing a new twist to the bottled water business.The Sonoma startup is trying to open up a niche market in the booming $4.3 billion U.S.For consumers, the water market has a unique appeal, and they osmosis may want to improve the economic situation of American Indians while satisfying their desires.As a pure American Indian company, the company is making an unprecedented attempt to bring bottled water to the market.This means digging up springs on tribal lands, building bottling plants there, hiring local residents and returning profits to American Indians.Wells, India hopes that in such a market dominated by such a large well, customers will find its efforts a refreshing conceptThe famous players \'spinach Regiment, Suntory and macson HBOC Inc.The company began selling water in San Francisco last month, and there is still a way to go before it reaches its goal of turning water into gold on Indian reserves.So far, Indian Wells are being bottled with natural but non-natural waterIndian sources for ARRIS Sedona.However, the company has received strong support from American Indians.For example, in last May, the Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Ojibwe tribe invested $10 million to buy a 40% stake in the company.Indian Wells has also reached various agreements with milleira and five other American Indian tribes, including Washoe, near the city of Nev Carson.Develop springs and build bottling plants.It is looking for another tribe in southern California to complete its network of water supply strategic locations throughout the country.Although both the market and convenience stores are swimming in bottled water, Jim Stevens, chief executive of Wells, India, believes that \"because marketing will help position the product.Stevens, 51, knows something about selling water.At 1976, he helped introduce Perrier to the United States.Later, he became the chief operating officer of Coca-Cola, the world\'s largest bottling company.Coca-Cola Enterprise, chief executive of Suntory Water Grouplargest U.S.water company.\"The goal is to help American Indians develop a new economic model besides casinos,\" said Brian McCarthy, president of the 53-year-old company .\".The former Navy Reserve major general of the Defense Logistics Bureau began operating the Indian water well business ten years ago, providing pure tap water for families and offices.Three years ago, he left the industry and created a new company that will be loyal to the name of Indian Wells and sell bottled water from Indian Springs.In 1997, McCarthy recruited Stevens, who still lives in Atlanta, to develop the concept.When talking to tribes about potential water sources, they introduced funding sources to European investors who love both bottled water and Indian knowledge.\"We don\'t think we can find money in India, so we are pursuing more traditional financial methods,\" McCarthy said .\".But the 3,000-Members of Mille Lacs expressed interest in investing in Indian Wells, which surprised him and reverse Stevens.The Ojibwa band has run two profitable casinos in central Minnesota, about 80 miles from Santa Ka.Paul, he is a pioneer in putting profits back into development.\"Our strategy is to reduce our dependence on casinos and diversify into other industries that benefit bands and create jobs for members to help the surrounding communities, and it has an impact on Indian countries other than Milak, \"said Kenneth MIAK, commissioner for tribal companies.\"We are also thinking about buying bottled water ourselves, but realize that we have no experience and marketing capabilities,\" he added .\".\"This is where we like Indian Wells.\"With an investment, the band\'s 7-Staff Committee to help ensure India\'s wells maintain its mission.\"The goal is good,\" agreed Richard Trudel, the santisu, who directed the Oakland Institute of American Indian resources, who is the director of Indian Wells.The start-up\'s bottling plant will be located on the land of American Indians, each of which will be operated by the American Indian tribe with a 60% stake.\"It is very important for No. 1.\"6 million American Indians live on more than 550 federal reserves to diversify their economic efforts in a way that protects our resources,\" Trudell said .\".However, finding springs with sufficient flow and acceptable mineral content is sometimes a challenge.The first few Tests of the Mille Lacs water source can only prove insignificant at best, so the search there continues.However, Indian Wells found a suitable spring on the land of the Naragansett Indian tribe near CharlestownI.And plans to spend $7 million to $9 million in six months to build a bottling plant there.Stevens, CEO of the plant, said the plant could supply 10 million boxes of bottled water to the entire Northeast market every year, generating $70 million or $80 million in revenue.Each participating tribe will receive all the profits generated by its bottling plant, 60% in cash and 40% in Indian Wells stock.McCarthy and Stevens want to make money from marketing and distribution expenses and the appreciation of the company\'s shares.The two executives realized that it would be particularly sensitive to build a business on Indian land.For example, having members of the Squaxin Island Tribe in Washington state work in factories can have problems because they like to turn over cars together at some point in the year.To make up for these vacancies, the company is aware of the need to build enough bottled water inventory.India\'s wells still have a long way to go in order to compete with the billions of dollars generated by American Indian reserve casinos, or as successful as the actor generated more than $50 million in sales, Paul Newman\'s popcorn is good for the nonprofit\'s salad sauce and other food series.McCarthy and Stevens are also facing fierce competition in the United States.S.water business.The $1.3 billion U.S.Nestlé\'s Perrier Group is the biggest contender with 75 springs and 18 brands, including Calistoga and Arrowhead in California.Suntory Group is the second largest group and McKesson ranks third with its Alhambra, Sparkletts and Crystal brands.Last month, CocaCoca-Cola announced plans to go public in the US market.S.A bottled water called Dasani.Instead of tapping on the natural spring, Coca-Cola will turn on the tap and use reverse osmosis to filter and purify water before adding minerals to taste.Five years ago, Coke\'s main business wasPepsi, a beverage competitor, began selling its Aquafina brand.There are also many small players.Crystal cream and butter, for example.Sacramento has sold bottled water from Sierra Leone since spring 1992.It\'s easy to understand dasani why companies think water is such a strong selling point.Mike Newell, vice president of Crystal cream, said the company\'s water business\'s profit margin was several times the meager 2% return from the milk business.Sales growth in the water business is also well above milk or soda.Beverage Digest editor John Sike reported that the $57 billion soft drink business grew by about 3% per year, while the $4 billion bottled water business grew by 8% per year, and the small bottle business grew by about 20% per year.Despite the fierce competition, India\'s wells, which has only 10 employees, thinks they have an important advantage.Stevens pointed out that the survey shows that 78% of consumers are more likely to buy products related to the cause they care about, and 66% will even change brands.After Arizona, Wells, India chose the Bay Area as the second market to sell bottled water.Last month, the Indian Wells brand began appearing on separate grocery shelves in San Francisco and Marin.The company also plans to broadcast a radio ad by American Indian actor Michael graver.Until now, dealers of bottled water in wells, India are satisfied with the sales.\"Our penetration rate is very high,\" said Don Saccani .\" His anchor and sailor distribution company also offers Anchor Steam, Miller and a number of other beers, soft drinks and Calistoga water.\"In less than two months, 35% of the 1,250 stores we serve bought Wells, India.\" --Bottled water consumption increased by 10% last year, three times that of soda.--Sale of convenient water-Size, faster growth of transparent plastic bottles-More than 20% per year--Americans bought an average of 13 gallons of bottled water last year.--Bottled water costs from 88 cents to more than $4 a gallon.--At least 25% of bottled water comes from municipal water supply facilities and is purified using Deion, distillation or reverse osmosis to remove microorganisms and chemicalstaminants.The rest comes from natural springs or wells that are filtered and cleaned but do not peel off all minerals.--Once bottled water is turned on, it may be more vulnerable to bacteria than tap water, as it usually does not contain any chlorine.--Bottled water monitored by the Food and Drug Administration may be less frequent than tap water tests monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency.If there is no government inspection, the bottling plant can go for three years or more.If they pass the certification of NSF International, a non-profit testing