Caribbean Blue Waters: Company shares market expansion, export plans 

Blue Waters Products started in 1999 with only 12 employees, which included one salesman, and two trucks. Now, some 26 years later, the Blue Waters brand has become iconic in the Caribbean, with its flagship facility in Orange Grove, Tacarigua employing more than 600 people. The company also exports to several countries including Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, St Martin and St Thomas.

The company is also well-decorated, earning awards for its performance from local entities such as TTMA, and the Supermarket Association and international entities such as Deloitte.

Last year it was honoured with the TTMA’s Manufacturer of the Year (large) award and the President’s Award from the Supermarkets Association.

This year the company plans to go even further in its dominance of the Caribbean market. After a tour of the company’s facility with Minister of Trade Paula Gopee-Scoon on January 13, owner Dominic Hadeed and CEO Pradeep Subrian said it plans to install up to three more facilities for distilling water and manufacturing other beverages in the region. The executives said the company intends to continue expanding to achieve its vision of providing a bottle of water for every man, woman and child each day, throughout the Caribbean.

The Blue Waters pipeline

Blue Waters has facilities in St Lucia and TT, from where it distributes distilled bottled water and alkaline water which it gets from its artesian wells.

Artesian wells are created when pressure builds up below ground, forcing underground water to the surface.

Blue Waters drills wells into an aquifer, a water-bearing layer of porous rock, to access the water and supply its state-of-the-art bottling plant.

The company is also behind several other brands.

Blue Waters' Cran+ is a carbonated, flavoured beverage that comes in Cran/Apple, Cran/Grape and Cran/Lime. Juse is a juice drink with 50 per cent less calories and sugar than other brands, and has added vitamins. Juse comes in six flavours: apple, grape, orange, pink grapefruit, passion fruit and guava pine.

Stamina Energy is a non-alcoholic energy drink with low sugar and no fat or cholesterol, which is enhanced with vitamin B.

Blue Waters' Malt Beverages is a malt drink that contains Vitamins A, C and E as well as B Complex and is sodium free.

Hadeed said while there may be opportunities for the company to expand outside of the region he is going to focus on growing in the Caribbean.

"There are a lot of opportunities for us in the Caribbean," said Hadeed on January 13.

"We want to put about two or three more facilities in the Caribbean in the next ten-15 years. I think that would keep us busy for a number of years."

Hadeed said the company has been pushing a lot of exports, something necessary for its continued growth. He explained that Blue Waters exports more of its
flavoured drinks, rather than the water.

He explained that the price of water makes freight expensive.

"A container of water is cheap – US$4,000-US$5,000 – but when you go to some of the islands it is US$2,500-US$3,500 in freight, so it is 40-60 per cent of your revenue. So even though it is duty-free, the freight is a big barrier to entry for the product."

He said flavoured products would sell for more – a container of flavoured drinks would sell in external markets for close to US$15,000, but the freight would remain the same.

He said for the company to expand its water supply, it would have to establish facilities, such as the ones in TT and St Lucia, in the area it wants to supply.

"Initially the products are from here...so, you will go into the market, see how well received it is and see how competitive you can be if you were to produce there at some point.

"You could export and you may be able to pick up about four or five per cent of the market, but in our kind of business you literally have to set up shop there."

Its St Lucia facilities supplies water to the OECS countries such as St Kitts, Nevis and Grenada, while TT supplies Barbados, Jamaica, St Martin and the surrounding smaller islands.

"In all fairness, no one can import products and be competitive with Blue Waters or any of the local bottlers, so it would be foolish of us to think that if we were to export you can dominate in the market."

Despite the challenges associated with exporting water, Subrian said last year, Blue Waters exports grew by 54 per cent and its flavoured, non-water segment exports grew by 45 per cent.

Aside from exports, the company also provides distribution services for imports.

One such brand is Tampico, for which Blue Waters has the sale and distribution rights for all Caricom countries.

Subrian said the company also co-packs (packaging, warehousing, and distribution for products) all PepsiCo brands for local sales and distribution in collaboration with Vemco, a food-and-beverage manufacturer and distributor.

"We are just a water company, we don’t have any other competing brands. Some of our competitors may not want to produce for some of the others because it competes with them. We don’t have a horse in that race, so for us we can say anyone who is importing, paying duties and more forex, bring it to us, we will produce it for you, not only for TT but for the region.

"You can export your materials, you can export your concentrate, you can export your labour, your talents and technical skills. There are other things that you can export. We have to be realistic about how you grow."

Subrian said over the company’s 26-year history, it has been awarded for its performance, service, practices and business strategy, with last year being no different.

He said in 2022 auditing and business support company Deloitte recognised Blue Waters as one the best managed companies in the region.

The Supermarket Association has, according to Subrian, given Blue Waters 16 awards in the past 20 years.

"When you look at the criteria for the best serviced company it has nothing to do with sales," Subrian said. "It has criteria such as working relationships, how flexible you are in terms of promoting your product, what kind of relationship you have with the association in terms of accounts receivables. What is the margin, your exchange policy when products are damaged."

Trade Minister: We want to see new exporters

Gopee-Scoon said the government will continue to support the export thrust of the non-energy sector through the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (TIPA), an amalgam of Export TT, InvesTT and Creative TT.

"A lot of push will come through them, with some of the older products being maintained. But what we really want is to see new exporters, new businesses.

"We want to see growth of micro-businesses, small family businesses expanding and that is where the growth is going to come from."

She said the government’s role in this push is to meet the needs of the businesses.

"The needs will be different at every level. What we have to ensure is that we service the needs of the large manufacturers, in other words, maintain a good relationship, find out what is happening and how we can assist in their expansion plans.

"It also means working with those who want to enter the markets outside of TT, the EU markets and so on."

She said next week she will accompany 23 businesses and 29 people on the TTMA’s first trade mission to Dominica. She added that TT also now has a direct shipping line into Curacao, which is seeing tremendous growth in its tourism industry.

"All of these markets are growing tourism-wise and so on. That is an expanding market for exports. Once they are growing we are happy because we can grow too."

TTMA president Roger Roach said Dominica, like many other markets, may not be large but is an untapped opportunity for TT businesses. He said it is important for businesses to go on trade missions if they want to secure export deals.

"What is clear is that you cannot sit in TT and say you want to export, you have to physically travel into the market, meet people and work with the ministry.

"We have to create an enabling environment but at the end of the day we cannot sell for you. Businesses have to meet across the table with distributors and customers, and show and sell their products."