Dive Brief:
- Nestle Waters North America will build a $40 million water bottling plant in McBee, SC, set to open in early 2016.
- The approximately 200,000-square-foot facility will source water from about five miles away to produce bottled spring water and purified spring water under the Deer Park and Pure Life brands, mainly to distribute to customers in the southeastern U.S.
- The facility is expected to produce up to 50 jobs for the community.
Dive Insight:
The bottled water industry is growing as consumers' changing tastes and health preferences lure them away from soda and other sugary beverages.
After increasing volume by 7.3% in 2014 and maintaining steady sales growth at about 6% per year, bottled water may now be poised to overtake the soda industry this year. Fitting nicely into that trend is Nestle bulking up its efforts in the bottled water segment, with this new plant and other verticals, such as home water delivery, which the company has expanded in recent years.
Nestle has, however, seen criticism regarding its bottling services, specifically in California.