Responsible Whatr’s sustainable aluminium cans reach the mark of 1 lakh sales pan India
Responsible Whatr, India’s first natural spring water beverage in an aluminium can, launched during the global pandemic has crossed 1 lakh cans sale over a period of four months via online and offline channels. Owing to the rising demand for their product as consumers are becoming environmentally conscious, the home-grown start-up plans to expand to Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and Goa by the next quarter.
Since its launch on June 5, 2020, on the occasion of World Environment Day, the brand has been marketing aggressively even though the hotel and tourism industry was completely shut. It sold 50,000 cans under 70 days of the launch of the product during tough times when COVID hit all major markets. The demand was well split between retail, online and of course HoReCa (Hotel, restaurant and cafes) channels with online presence pan India and on-ground presence in Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Himachal Pradesh.
Responsible Whatr is currently present (physically) across six states in India. In Delhi, the brand is present in retail stores such as Foodhall, Modern Bazaar, selected Barista outlets and the HoReCa segment having a presence in prominent places like Leela Hotel, Pullman Novotel Aerocity, Karma Chalets. Karma Lakelands, Radisson Mahipalpur, IBIS Gurgaon, Kampai Aerocity, Dragonfly, Diablo, Plum by Bent Chair, ATM, Pings, Jamun, Sidecar, Qla, and clubs like The Quorum Club and more. With pan India online availability, online orders from the website directly have helped in increasing the sale numbers and reach out to a wide audience.
After making its debut in tough COVID times, the homegrown brand founded by two young professionals went all out with the sustainable solution to the existing single-use plastic problem. Ankur Chawla and Bhrigu Seth are passionate to offer solutions to the alarming environmental hazards. Ankur being a beverage expert and a veteran of the hospitality industry has seen an upsurge in the usage of bottled water and beverages in plastic bottles drastically. Ankur with his partner Bhrigu then researched extensively to find a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to bring about a change and came up with a feasible and commercially viable solution called “Responsible Whatr”.
“With every can sold we are replacing a plastic bottle with a more sustainable option. We grew by almost 300 per cent on a month-on-month basis in July, and then the next two months we grew about 100 per cent and 150 per cent. The demand is holding really well from the B2C market. In these tough times, we managed to clock 1 lakh orders of our cans over a period of the first 4 months. We hope to make more impact on the society with many people opting for sustainable solutions in their daily lives,” said Ankur Chawla, Co-founder and CEO at Responsible Whatr.
With a state of the art plant and water source in Solan in the Himalayas, the quality of the product is unmatched and smooth. The water is sourced from an untouchable virgin and completely natural source in the most natural manner straight from The Himalayas thus offering naturally balanced essential minerals and pH of ~7.4. Aluminum was the natural choice for packaging as it does not contribute to heaps of landfills and is the only material that is infinitely recyclable as compared to glass and plastic which are usually down cycled. In fact, the cans right now in circulation are also made out of 70% recycled aluminum. It does not alter the freshness of the water when exposed to light or heat and the water remains fresh and cold.