A country well refreshes celebrity elite

Posted October 28, 2006 in [Water]

Greasy spoon's secret now costs $11 a litre and draws raves from Oprah

By Leah McLaren

Perry Robins flushes his toilet with Oprah Winfrey's favourite bottled water.

But it's not as fancy as it sounds.

Drive north of Baltimore, Ont., toward Rice Lake, and you will pass Mill Valley Natural Spring Water Ltd. Most people in the area know it because of Scenic Drive Restaurant, a roadside greasy spoon Mr. Robins's parents opened back in 1963. But while the Robinses continue to cater to a daily coffee klatch of local farmers and retirees, the majority of the family business is now drawn directly from the 21-metre well out back.

"Our business plan is quality water," Mr. Robins said, standing in a small warehouse full of pure spring H{-2}O, bottled in his own tiny, on-site plant.

Among Mill Valley's client list (which includes Air Canada, Senses and Richtree restaurants in Toronto and the Ottawa Congress Centre) is the high-end 1 Litre, based in Markham, Ont.
With its sleek built-in-cup design and eye-gouging price point (it sells from between $8 and $11 a litre), the 1 Litre brand has managed to attract some of the biggest international contracts in the business since it started three years ago.

Selling almost exclusively to upscale restaurants, spas and resorts around the world, 1 Litre is not the sort of bottled water that is sold from the fridge in your local corner shop. Louis Vuitton retail outlets carry the product in France, as does the exclusive Parrot Cay Resort in Turks and Caicos.

And 1 Litre even beat out international spring-water heavyweights Evian and Voss for the coveted worldwide Four Seasons Hotel contract.

Now the brand is beginning to attract celebrity interest as well, helped by its inclusion in last year's Oscar night gift bags.

1 Litre vice-president Arie Sibonney said the brand boasts a list of 50 celebrity clients who are private paying customers, including power couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.

Ms. Winfrey, arguably the most influential celebrity in the world, endorsed the product in the October issue of O Magazine, saying of 1 Litre, "This company seeks out the finest water in North America, Europe and Asia. I like its clean design -- the lid doubles as an elegant cup -- as well as its clean taste."

Every drop of 1 Litre water comes from two small wells located on 1.5 hectares off Highway 45 north of Baltimore. Back in the early 1960s, Mr. Robins's parents bought the property and opened their restaurant without knowing its secret: It was built on an aquifer, an ancient glacial deposit below the Earth's surface that naturally filters and purifies ground water.

For years, Mr. Robins remembers, tourists would stop in on the way to their cottages in Rice Lake and remark upon the coffee.

"They said it was the best coffee they'd ever tasted and we said, 'It's not the coffee, its the water!' " Before long, cottagers were stopping in to fill up plastic containers of spring water to take with them on holiday.

The Robinses applied for a permit in 2000 and started bottling the same year. Given that their property is located on the protected Oak Ridges moraine, it is unlikely they would receive the same permit today (although their existing one was recently extended for a decade).

"Anyone around here can get the same water from a 70-foot well," Mr. Robins said. "It's the permit that's the issue."

1 Litre chose Mill Valley water after an exhaustive international search. Before going to market they had several taste tests and a competition judged by an expert panel of renowned chefs and "water sommeliers."

"There was a selection process of over 25 springs throughout North America and Europe, and Northumberland came out on top," Mr. Sibonney said. "Their water is extremely clean. It has 2½ times less sodium than Evian."

This sought-after product is available wholesale for $4 for a case of 24 unmarked half-litre bottles at the Mill Valley office, in the parking lot beside the greasy spoon.

For obvious reasons, 1 Litre is not exactly keen to talk up its high-end product's homespun roots.

"Mill Valley and 1 Litre water company are two separate entities," Mr. Sibonney said in an e-mail. "The 1 Litre brand has a very specific marketing campaign and naming our exact spring source is not in that plan."

What is in the plan is selling a heavily marked-up product to a sophisticated clientele -- one that Mr. Robins and his family could never have hoped to reach on their own.

Mr. Robins is mum on the specifics of his association with 1 Litre, out of fear of violating a non-disclosure agreement. However, he will say: "Clients have acquired a taste for Mill Valley. You can only sell your water from packaging the first time -- people won't buy it again if they don't like the taste."

And while the elegant packaging may be what sets 1 Litre apart, the taste is also getting rave reviews.

Oprah likes it -- and the people of Northumberland County agree.

For five years running they've voted the Robinses' spring the best-tasting water in an area-wide competition.

"When I was a boy my dad took me up to the bush and showed me natural springs," Mr. Robins recalled. "He said, 'Just remember son, if you ever sell this property you'll never be able to afford to buy it back.' "

Lisa Borquez, owner of the Pantages spa and aqua bar in downtown Toronto, is not surprised by the red-carpet success of a little Northumberland forest spring. She offers more than 25 varieties of bottled water, including 1 Litre, for which she charges clients $6 for a half-litre bottle. She added that the brand is very popular.

"There's a very trendy look about it. With bottled water it's not just about the taste of the water. It's the presentation of the bottle as well."