Breck Speed, chairman and CEO of Mountain Valley Spring Water, said Wednesday that the company has expanded and added 40 employees during the last year.
The company's revenue also grew 38 percent in the last year, Speed said in an interview prior to speaking to Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa.
"We've got lots of neat stuff going on, not just with the Mountain Valley brand itself, but in co-packing for other companies around the country that need premium water products in plastic or glass," Speed said.
Speed also said the company is extending the Mountain Valley line.
"Actually, it's kind of a re-extension. Mountain Valley had a lot of products back in the 1910s and 1920s, including things like ginger ale under its own brand name. Then, under a different line called Mountain Valley Beverages, they worked with Pepsi Co., but a lot of that went away in the 1950s and 1960s," he said.
Sparkling water is a big, important growing part of the overall bottled water market, and some of the essences that Mountain Valley has added to its product line are what people are looking for, he said.
"They like the bubbles, they want the taste, but not all those calories. It's a neat place for our brand to play," he said, noting that Mountain Valley also bottles flavored sparking beverages under different brand names for other companies, as well.
Speed told the Rotarians that many people consider Mountain Valley Spring Water to be the "wonderful, neat building" in downtown Hot Springs that was originally the DeSoto Water building, and now serves as the company's visitor center.
"We sell about 20,000 cases of bottled water there each year to visitors to Hot Springs, and local restaurants, along with other items of merchandise," he said.
But, Mountain Valley Spring Water is really located about 10 miles north of Hot Springs near the west gate of Hot Springs Village, off Highway 7 north, where the company owns 2,000 acres that includes three springs, he said.
"There used to be a historic hotel back there that burned three times -- the last time in 1936 during the Great Depression, which was not a good time to rebuild the hotel, so it was never rebuilt. That would be a neat project for sometime in the future," he said.
In his presentation, Speed said Mountain Valley Spring Water is now served in all 50 states and some foreign counties, and has been featured in various magazines in major cities across the country.
Speed said the water was first served in the White House by President Calvin Coolidge, and following a heart attack in 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower drank it on the advice of his physician. In addition to human consumption, the water has been given to several thoroughbred race horses including Secretariat, Nashua, Kelso, Bold Ruler and Sunday Silence.
"Some people think bottled water is all the same but it's not. We don't compete against cheap bottled water. We have a unique position. We're the only bottled water company that has bottled water in glass for 143 years. We compete against the imports, products that sell for a premium. We do it by enterprising out heritage and history, which is all part of Hot Springs and is very important. We associate with groups that are concerned about quality," Speed said.
"The Natural State, all the beautiful stuff, all the resources we have here are a big, big advantage," he said.
Speed said some of the employees at Mountain Valley Spring Water are second- and third-generation family members who "care a lot about the product."
"I tell folks that we're just the latest stewards of this incredible company and feel very responsible for continuing that quality and excellence," he said.
He said Mountain Valley Spring Water has won a number of competitions through the years and has been named Best Tasting Water in the World two times. When the company began producing sparkling water, it instantly became the second leading sparking water in the world, he said.
Local on 02/20/2014