The company behind Woolworths-branded water and spring water ice blocks which cost R24.99
Thirsti, founded by Rob Hoatson, is the company behind Woolworths’ branded water and natural spring water ice blocks.
The company has its roots in the 1990s, when Anneriet van Niekerk discovered a natural spring with particularly good quality water.
The spring, located on the foothills of the Klein Drakensberg mountains, produced such pure water that people were willing to pay for it.
Although bottled water was not yet popular at the time, Van Niekerk started selling this bottled spring water and made a good living from it.
A few years later, the Van Niekerk family sold their farm, and the distribution of this bottled water stopped for many years.
One day, whilst driving along the farm, the new owner noticed a truck with two large water barrels. He enquired about what was happening.
The woman told him that she travelled to the farm every weekend to collect water from this spring because of its great taste.
He knew he had found something extraordinary that he wanted to share with the rest of the world. The water was rich in minerals with a natural pH of 8.
Rob Hoatson constructed the first Thirsti bottling plant on the farm in 2015, using the natural spring as the water source.
A few years later, they expanded operations into the Cape Winelands, using a source of equal purity in the Tulbagh mountain basin.
This basin is surrounded on three sides by the Groot Winterhoek, Witzenberg and Obiqua mountains, and drained by the Klein Berg river and its tributaries.
Today, Thirsti has many products, including still water, sparkling water, flavoured water, and a sports range.
Its products are available from most major retailers, including Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Game, Makro, and Boxer.
Thirsti supplies Woolworths with its branded water and ice
Thirsti CEO Rob Hoatson told BizNews that the company has had a strong relationship with Woolworths for many years.
The company acts as the sole national supplier for Woolworths’ private label water, flavoured waters, soft drinks, and mixes.
Thirsti produces more than 100 different beverage products for them. “Woolworths is a great business to work with,” he said.
The water is strictly bottled under the Woolworths brand and is produced to meet the retailer’s high-quality and food safety standards.
Hoatson said that Woolworths looks after its suppliers. “When there are new opportunities, they approach their existing suppliers first,” he said.
One of these opportunities was the natural spring water ice blocks. “They approached us about this product 18 months ago,” Hoatson said.
Thirsti and Woolworths launched the product on a small scale by trialling it in a few stores to gauge demand.
“It went really well. We created a differentiated product that is not just some ice from tap water. It is spring water ice,” he said.
“It is in a very specific pack with a resealable bag. We use a lot of Italian technology to produce this ice.”
The product is now being rolled out across South Africa, and Thirsti has built a dedicated facility to produce and supply this ice.
He noted that Woolworths is entirely supportive of suppliers having their own independent brands, like Thirsti.
However, they strictly expect exclusivity when it comes to private-label house brands because they invest heavily in these products.
“They do not want their private label manufacturers producing house brands for competing retailers,” he said.
Thirsti photos
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