Benjamin Thomas delivered an order of HOW bottled water to a customer in the Heights on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Houston.
Benjamin Thomas delivered an order of HOW bottled water to a customer in the Heights on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Houston.
Benjamin Thomas, left, delivered an order of HOW bottled water to the home of Keleigh Mertens, center, on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Houston.
Benjamin Thomas delivered an order of HOW bottled water to a customer in the Heights on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Houston.
Benjamin Thomas, left, delivered an order of HOW bottled water to the home of Keleigh Mertens, center, on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Houston.
Benjamin Thomas, left, delivered an order of HOW bottled water to the home of Keleigh Mertens, center, on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Houston.
Is there anything more refreshing than water bubbling up from a clean, clear, cold mountain stream?
A tiny Houston startup is hoping to recreate that experience, bottle it and market it as a high-end product, sold at retail outlets and delivered to homes.
Hyperpure Oxygenated Water, or HOW, the brainchild of Houston businessman and entrepreneur Bob Peebler, produces filtered water infused with oxygen, enriched with electrolytes and bottled in recyclable aluminum bottles. HOW water sells for just under $35 for a 12-pack of 16-ounce bottles, or about 18 cents per ounce.
That compares to about 9 cents per ounce for the oxygenated Penta Ultra-Purified Water sold on Amazon or 4 cents an ounce for Dasani purified water.
But Peebler believes customers will pay a premium for water that offers a variety of benefits, not the least of which may be curing hangovers. Scientific studies have shown that oxygenated water can help athletes recover more quickly from strenuous exercise and accelerate the decrease of the blood-alcohol levels after a night of partying.
Some experts, however, discount the claimed health benefits of oxygenated water.
NATIVE TEXAN: In a reviving Mineral Wells, there's something in the water
“We don’t breathe through our gut, we breathe through our nose and our mouth, so putting extra oxygen in the stomach doesn’t do anything,” said Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science & Society and host the radio program the Dr. Joe Show.
From its initial formation about two-and-a-half years ago, the company has quickly ramped up to commercial production.
It began mass producing its water several weeks ago at Eventide Water, a commercial bottling company in Mineral Wells, and has presold its products to 37 retail outlets in Greater Houston. HOW will also launch a residential-delivery service, bringing its water directly to customers’ homes.
The Houston bottled-water brand is entering a fast-growing and highly competitive market. The bottled water market is dominated by well-established commercial brands, such as Dasani, a product of the Coca-Cola Co., Pepsico’s Aquafina, and Texas-based Ozarka.
The specialty water market, a sub-category of the bottled water market, includes brands whose water is extracted from icebergs off the western coast of Greenland, or that is sourced from high in the Beartooth Mountains of Wyoming, or from snowmelt and rain that falls on the pristine peak of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.
HOW’s water falls into the market segment classified as enhanced water, which is purified and adds ingredients such as vitamins and minerals. The global enhanced water market, which was valued at $6.8 billion in 2018, is anticipated to reach $13.3 billion by 2025, according to UnivDatos Market Insights, a market research firm based in India.
Even in the niche oxygenated-water market, HOW faces deep-pocketed competition. Vancouver-based Oxigen, a line of pH-balanced water infused with oxygen, lists Steph Curry of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors as an investor. It recently closed a $15 million funding round.
The idea for HOW was born from technology developed by a California entrepreneur, Ken Guion. Guion, who worked 30 years in water-purification, developed and sold residential water-oxidation systems, with price tags as high as $200,000, to wealthy residents and celebrities.
Peebler, who spent his early career in the energy industry before going out on his own as an investor and entrepreneur, was dividing his time between homes in Houston and Santa Barbara. Calif. when he met Guion. By this time, Peebler had made lucrative deals in energy and software, and become interested in sustainable foods.
Peebler invested in Guion’s technology, but he envisioned another use for it: producing bottled water.
HOW uses a multi-step process to create its product. The water is purified using Eventide’s reverse-osmosis process and HOW’s patented filtration system. Then oxygen is infused into the water through a spinning process, mimicking the vortexes created in a bubbling stream.
FACT CHECK: No, drinking water isn't testing positive for COVID-19 in rapid tests
Finally, trace minerals, magnesium, calcium and potassium are added for taste.
For almost two years, Peebler and his small team worked on a business plan for the fledgling company, made agreements with the bottling company, and worked on designs for a website. One of the team’s first decisions was to use aluminum, rather than plastic bottles to hold the water.
Plastic recycling has had limited success and plastic waste has become a global problem, choking the oceans, polluting the land, and breaking down into tiny particles known as microplastics, which can be inhaled. Aluminum is more easily recycled, in part because of robust markets for the metal.
It also keeps water cold longer.
HOW is pursuing a hybrid retail and home-delivery strategy, relying on retail sales at the outset, while it develops a customer base for home deliveries.
HOW’s delivery service will rely on a business model from the past: the neighborhood milkman, who would deliver milk in glass bottles and pick up the empties. HOW plans to sell the empty aluminum bottles to a regional recycling facility and donate the proceeds to environmental organizations.
HOW is starting out with three employees: a salesperson, general manager, and delivery truck driver/event promoter. Next hired will be a marketing manager to handle the website and social media.
“Once we grow, we’ll add some sales and we’ll have to add more drivers,” Peebler said. “It’s just the beginning.”
As a result, rents have spiked and investors have begun snapping up apartment complexes at historically high rates — a dynamic that economic forecasters believe will persist into next year.