When you’re Mountain Valley Spring Co., the nation’s oldest continuously operating bottled water company, according to the company, there comes boasting rights.

For example, Babe Ruth was reportedly a fan of Mountain Valley Spring Water and Elvis Presley had the water in Graceland, too. Frank Sinatra and Presidents Coolidge to Clinton favored it, along with legendary boxers Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, and current middleweight champion Jermain Taylor.

But the water’s best asset, arguably, is its location. Mountain Valley Spring is situated among 663 acres of protected land in Hot Springs, Ark., USA, less than a dozen miles from Hot Springs National Park—America’s first national park, and one that happens to be replete with warm thermal springs and cool springs.

The company dates back well over a century, when the water was originally sold as Lockett’s Spring Water until a local pharmacist named Peter E. Greene changed the name to Mountain Valley and started distributing it nationally in 1871. In the early part of the 20th century, the water’s said healing properties were touted as helpful for gout, diabetes, kidney disease and rheumatism. Then—and now—the water comes from a single spring. No minerals or chemicals are added or subtracted, leaving its taste unfettered and as pure as possible and with content characterized by calcium, potassium and magnesium. “It has a particular flavor and mouthfeel that our customers really love,” says company CEO Breck Speed.

The water is available in sparkling and still versions, differentiated by a blue or red oval, respectively. Packaged in 1-liter, half-liter and 11.3-ounce bottles, in addition to larger sizes, individual glass liter bottles retail for US$1.99-US$2.49.

Four-and-a-half years ago, a new management team took over Mountain Valley Spring Co. and migrated its distribution system from home and office distributors to beer distributors because as Speed says, “beer distributors understand value and they are good with niche brands.”

Now, the company’s water is available nationwide—57 distributors have signed on since September 2007—in select grocers, health food and natural markets such as Whole Foods. “It’s a bench-deep, mile-wide basis,” Speed says with a chuckle. The water is available in Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, along with Central and South America.

In the process of reintroducing the brand, the company had a rich tradition to tap into. “We’re very authentic,” Speed says. That authenticity can be found in its signature green glass bottles that call to mind Depression-era glass.

In July, Mountain Valley gained attention when it announced it would utilize FDA-approved recycled PET (or RPET) in its water bottles—supplied by Mountain Valley’s Veriplas Containers subsidiary. “It took us a couple of years to find a good steady source of plastic bottles, but we found a good partner in New Horizons,” says Speed of North Carolina-based New Horizons Plastics Recycling.

In addition to its notability, Mountain Valley has increased its visibility, literally. Signature bottles of Mountain Valley have appeared in episodes of the television show Grey’s Anatomy and the films Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Margo at the Wedding. The company has elevated its profile in other ways, by becoming a sponsor of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, which opened in June in New Orleans. Mountain Valley also has found its way into boldface name restaurants and hotels, such as Capitol Hotel in Little Rock, Ark., Guy Savoy and the Wynn Hotel in Las
Vegas, The American Restaurant in Kansas City, Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House in New Orleans and the New York City restaurant Hundred Acres.

As much as Mountain Spring reveres its place in history, its leaders look toward the future to improve its place in the market. “We’re not going to be all things to all people,” Speed says, but what they can be is an improvement of what they already are: a unique part of America’s beverage heritage.

VITAL STATS
MOUNTAIN VALLEY SPRING CO.
CEO: Breck Speed
HEADQUARTERS: Hot Springs, Ark., USA
CASE VOLUME: 5 million
EMPLOYEES: 165
GOALS: Marketed as “America’s Premium Water” since 1871, Mountain Valley Spring Water’s customers and employees share a common passion about the quality of this special water. 

From Beverage World October 15, 2008