RESTAURANTS WILLING TO TEST NEW WATERS
Paula Tekela didn’t have to look far for inspiration when founding her company Q Water in 2009. For 13 years, she had been working in the water filtration industry, selling and renting coolers to residential and corporate customers. “I’ve always been against bottled water and for selling healthy, environmentally friendly products,” she said.
The seeds for Q Water were sown in 2007 after Tekela read an article about a San Francisco restaurant. “I saw they were doing still and sparkling filtered water on tap and thought, what a brilliant idea.” However, repeated calls to the restaurant owner, went unanswered.
Determined not to let a great idea go to waste, Tekela decided to design a system of her own. “I had no idea about anything other than seeing the picture and reading the article. So I called a friend to help me put a system together, make it work and come up with a business model for it. We brought Q Water to life from scratch.”
The fact even data was hard to find, was a clear indication few people had even considered the market space. “We had no market research. We just went for it. I knew in my heart this was where the world was going. It was the right thing to do at the right time,” Tekela said.
It took several months to complete the design, select the right filters and run taste tests. The product launched at the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association show in 2009, and the response was overwhelming, she said. “Everybody loved the product and the idea. The only problem was they wanted to know if anyone was using it.”
Restaurant owners were intrigued by the fact Q Water is a one- stop shop for all their filtered water needs, from renting the dispensing equipment and supplying the carafes to ongoing maintenance and support. “Owners liked the idea that they wouldn’t have to purchase, store and recycle bottles. There’s a cost and space savings to that,” Tekela said, adding once Q Water got into one restaurant, demand rocketed.
The big turning point was amajor deal with Oliver & Bonacini Restaurants. Cliff Snell, director for business operations in Toronto, said the restaurant had been considering a filtered water on tap concept as far back as 2008.
“We’re in an industry that’s concerned with reducing our carbon footprint. But we also needed to make sure we could offer a product that was appealing to guests and wouldn’t diminish the overall experience. Itwas two years before we decided to pull the trigger with the Q Water system.”
Snell liked Q Water’s overall philosophy and meticulous attention to details to ensure the overall quality of the experience, including the four- stage filtration system and the ability to adjust carbonation settings. “Even little things like the wide mouth on the serving carafes were both practical and stylish.”
The foodservice sector is a rampant consumer of bottled water, serving up about 386 million glasses a year, with consumption growing at a compound annual growth rate of more than four per cent in the past four years Toronto- based NPD Group said.
Given that bottled water is a profitable staple in high end restaurants, Snell said he knew an on- tap model would cut into sales numbers. “But we also knew that would be offset by the time, energy, space and labour savings,” he added.
By 2010, Q Water had expanded its market beyond the greater Toronto area and wasmoving across Canada, where it now has 1,000 customers and counting. The key was finding the right agents and dealers who could do the installation, sales and ongoing servicing of the equipment, Tekela said. In 2009, Tekela had launched in the U. S. at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, where it had met with rave reviews.
Other companies have jumped on to the filtered- water- on- tap bandwagon, but Tekela said she isn’t worried. “We have an energy efficient system that can be custom designed for each restaurant because we are the manufacturer. And we have much more acceptance in the market nowand have gone beyond the hospitality industry to fitness and health clubs, offices, cottages and homes.”
“When we appeared on Dragon’s Den in 2010 we were getting calls from over the world. We just needed to make sure we got comfortable with what we were doing in Canada and how to handle a cross- country business,” Tekela said, adding that her sights are now set on the global market.
However, she’s a big proponent of patience when testing new waters. “We don’t want to move too quickly. Right now we’re focusing on getting comfortable in the U. S. market before we tackle the world.” THIS STORY WAS PRODUCED BY POSTMEDIA WORKS IN COLLABORATION WITH CIBC TO PROMOTE AWARENESS OF THIS TOPIC FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES. POSTMEDIA’S EDITORIAL DEPARTMENTS HAD NO INVOLVEMENT IN THE CREATION OF THIS CONTENT.