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Written by Jennifer Cirillo
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Friday, 06 July 2007 |
 Aqua2Go—the boxed water—recently received a national distribution deal through Tree of Life, the country's leading distributor of natural, organic, specialty, ethnic and gourmet food products.
The product, which resembles a juice box (only with 100 percent purified water inside), was launched in December 2006 with limited distribution including Whole Foods' Louisiana stores, 100 Winn Dixie locations on the Gulf Coast, Rouse's, Langensteins and other local New Orleans retailers.
However, last month the deal was finalized between Esgee Enterprises, LLC, makers of Aqua2Go, and Tree of Life for expanded distribution. Now, consumers can look for the Aqua2Go eight-packs at a MSRP of $2.89 at Texas Whole Foods, as well as the Rocky Mountain regional stores including Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico.
The deal comes at a perfect time with the recent decision of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom banning the use of bottled water throughout the city. The announcement, which was made late last month was put into effect July 1--prohibiting any city department or agency to purchase single-serve bottled water with city funds.
Aqua2Go is the brainchild of New Orleans resident and businesswoman Stacey Griffin, who came up with the water box in efforts to try to get her daughter to drink more water. Though there are obvious green benefits.
"I came up with this idea because I wanted my little girl to drink water, not really because of all these environmental issues," admits Griffin, "but I'm learning about them as I go."
Tetra Pak, Inc. is the maker of the Tetra Brik Aseptic box, which is made of 74 percent paper, 20 percent plastic and 6 percent aluminum. Because the packaging is predominantly made of paper, explains Griffin, it is a renewable resource whereas a plastic bottle contains no renewable resources. In addition, the packaging also resists extreme temperatures notes the company, and has a shelf life of five years.
Though the idea of a "juice box" containing water is not a new idea (it's been used by disaster relief organizations for 20-plus years and a mom on the West Coast launched a brand of her own) it wasn't accessible.
"I'm a pretty savvy consumer," says Griffin, who added that she had never heard of water in a box, "and I figured most people hadn't either." So, since she couldn't find anything like it at her local grocery, she believed that there was room for one more boxed water brand.
Griffin designed the box so that adults and children would feel comfortable carrying it. The white box with blue, modern bubble-like shapes decorate Aqua2Go, which Griffin adds, is "a nice full serving of water" containing 8.45 ounces. |
