Treating water like fine wine?
- Posted by Steve on August 12th, 2007 filed in Environment, Food and beverage
Opportunity: Delivering the consumer clean drinking water, at a cheaper price
In theory, a city’s water supply should be safe to drink and taste good. In reality, due to aging infrastructure, poor processing, or other reasons…that quality is either unfit to drink or questionable at best. Even when it is safe, the public perception is that it is not.
While bottled water sales are booming in Romania, the idea of needing the expense and environmental waste of filling, distributing and collecting the massive amounts of plastic bottles is unnecessary. Choosing, however, between providing your family or co-workers safe water or saving money pushes one towards bottled water.
A better solution would be a service that installs professional “in home” (or “in business”) water filters that filters tap water. As I promised some ideas from my recent trip… I found Lifesource Water in Pasadena, California doing just this. As I was only in the U.S. for a month, I didn’t get a chance to test their service but… for all I could see, it is a very professional operation.
This would also (warning, pun ahead) tap into the emerging “local food” trend where informed and concerned consumers are thinking about the environmental costs of their purchasing decisions. I was in a fancy restaurant in Santa Monica that described how it’s food was “sustainably sourced” yet it was serving bottled water from Italy. In another L.A. restaurant, I asked for water and was brought a beautiful glass bottle of water from Norway! Perhaps this is justified for lovers of fine wine but water!?!? (btw…drinking Romanian wine in Romania and California wine in California works just fine for me).
Take a look at info from SustainableTable’s blog, Food&Water Watch, and TrendWatching. It is true that they are pushing mostly to use tap water directly from the city supply but… in Romania and other areas where the quality has been called into question, on site filtered water is a good comprimise.
What do you think about the prospects for filtering water? What about the “local food” movement in general?
Written by Steve
August 15th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
nothing new. though. like the old romanian Aquator filters and the european powerfull Britta.
Its about the money, since the westerners make their profits by shortening the lifetime of the used filter cartouches. They could last years. But profit comes out of changim then every ten days.
As always. If you can sell it works, regardless of what it is about. BUT: If you can sell, then rahter think BIG
August 15th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
yup. one more. Stop going around looking for things that are working somwhere on the globe and presenting them as possible businesses without researching at least one hour the romanian market and the backgrounds of the businesses in the place where you saw the business. You never really know what is behind the curtains and keeps that business going.
You can go to western countries and look left and right at whatever you want. There is always a business attached to every detail of what you´re looking at. Mostly it works just in that environment. Take tree shaping. Who would care in Bucharest? They would rather construct ten buildings than shaping the park based on your designs or using your tools. Not so in Switzerland for instance. And a lot more. Just to exaggerate one? Is there a market for sexturists like in Thailand - could it be possible to reach that? Could be the manufacturing of special furniture for really fat people (like a whole bunch of people in the US is) be a good businnes for Romania? With or without export, nevermind that? I did not check anything either, but hell, you´re supposed to do the thinking, right?
You could check internet sites for ten seconds and ask wether that services are good to go in Romania. Why not, right?
So please, don´t be so superficial with this presentations. Like i was there for a month, saw a nice thing, did not check anything (there and in romania) and asking what people think. Tell you: do it yourself. Then you will think the missing thoughts yourself instead of wasting other people time. This is no help for someone searching for ideas, just a waste of time.
Beside that. Maybe you should follow up some presented ideas and write about them. Were they done and how successful were they? (There are a lot more and better ideas wich did not work.) Just to show the people visiting here that you indeed have a good business feeling for markets and ideas…
…wich, by this and few other presented “ideas” i can fairly assume that you are not.
Show some value!
August 16th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Some fair points….let me get back to you in a little bit.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Regarding C’s comments
- the ideas here are not necessarily all new… more important is if there is a need to be filled - either with a new offering or… often just as successful …an improvement in satisfying customer needs. For example, the idea of charging someone to stay in your room while traveling has been around since the first caveman had to give up a varmit (or piece of varmit) to rest in someone else’s cave. Yet Motel 6 turned around its business by improving its delivery of what it determined to be the most important factors for its target market. A success from redoing something that was hardly a new concept.
- your suggestion regarding Romanians being more concerned with the construction of new buildings versus more subtle design considerations is valid to an extent but… we are talking about businesses to start for the future not “Businesses we wish we had started 5 years ago”.
- the “they” you use to describe Romanians might be a little more fragmented in wants and needs than you suggest. consumer “needs” are malleable… global trends are replacing national trends…i.e. in the future, we will be describing consumer segments in terms of like minded persons across borders versus Romanians, Germans, Americans - not a western conspiracy but a reality of an interconnected world.
- the Romanian market is not static… did you need wireless in a cafe a few years ago? did your bank have a cafe?
- there are some significant technology difference in Brita’s technology solution and in Romania’s Aquator. This was considered in the decision to present the idea.
- Brita only has a presence in Romania via distributorship. There is a difference between competition and people who are trying to sell a loosely similar product and service.
- the business idea is not just the onsite water filtration…it is the convergence of what will be a likely be a major backlash against food and beverages imported across distances and a way to save money. Think it won’t happen? Most persons have an easier time understanding the environmental costs to shipping heavy items than those with Genetically Modified Food yet look at that debate. I am hopeful that reason will win out in the long run and that the “local food” movement won’t co-opted into more attempt at protectionism. There are many wonderful local products that should be shared with the rest of the world…but, water?
- regarding what works in what environment… This is exactly the old “glocal” argument. What about your product or service should be “global” and what should be “local”. Obviously the answer is… “it depends”. Some successful business in Romania are direct copies from abroad, some are local adaptations of similar concepts, some have never been seen elsewhere and may never be seen elsewhere.
August 18th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Right. I agree with you. I see that you can go far deeper into topics. Just wish that you would let more of that in your idea presentation and i mean from the very beginning.
And as you say, because some ideas are not new, you can bring exactly this kind of input, wich is invaluable for romanians, especially for those outside the biggest cities. Here not only the need for some services lacks, and will come in time as brought in by advancing from neighborhood to neigborhood. It lacks also the comprehension of the bigger picture and some valuable and believable arguments for that. And with your experience and insight thats the best you can contribute with.
Yes, you are right: everything “depends”. And again, mostly on money
Bigger the company, small adaptation.
To the quality. Some friends tested more companies. Aquator and Britta are very interchangable. Britta has the image and the marketing. Aquator has no sales abroad. Then the basic product cannot be connected to some modern pipes and there is no environmental “take-back” of used filter. Still its cheaper, and whatever technologies are embedded in their active filters, the quality of the water is excellent. This is correct for the first three filtering levels out of more they have. Maybe for heavy pollution filtering there will be differences. These were not tested. Clear water will always be needed. The details again is money, marketing, brand. You mentioned VOSS. I take it, that you also about Coca-Colas Dasani desaster.
I look forward to see more of your threads here.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
thanks, i agree with you and wait news
March 20th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Hi. I have a solution in thought which will provide on site filtered water in households anytime its required. No change of filters, once installed, very small say 12″x 20″ equipment . which has capacity to provide water free of lead, pesticide, bacteria, virus etc while preserving the nutrient minerals. Its equivalent to benefit of boiling the water for 20 minutes and then cooling it and consuming it. Imagine this all benefit without the hassle of boiling , pouring and possible contamination. so free of contamination best water available at the moment in 5 seconds a full glass , just to switch on the button of equipment which is attached with the tap supply.The serious one who is intersted in co venturing please post a comment.I am planning to launch this product in Romanian market by later half of 2010. Chanced upon this site while surfing and looked good to drop at.. Thye product would be imported and rebranded here to be sold direct to house holds through supermarkets.