HoReCa plays a pivotal role for our brand: Ankur Chawla, Founder, Responsible Whatr

Responsible Whatr, a home-grown brand offering natural spring water in aluminium cans, was launched amidst the pandemic. The brand is the first in the country to offer natural spring water in aluminium cans, which is an effective solution to the single-use plastic problem. Responsible Whatr, a brainchild of Ankur Chawla and Bhrigu Seth, has gained immense popularity within a few months of its launch. The founders, having witnessed an upsurge in the usage of plastic bottled water in the HoReCa segment, want to reduce it by offering aluminium canned natural spring water to the hospitality industry. Asmita Mukherjee spoke with Ankur Chawla to understand the benefits of using aluminium cans for packaging and the brand’s strategy of expanding in the HoReCa segment.

What is the difference between packaged drinking water and natural spring water?

Natural spring water refers to water that flows from an underground aquifer to the earth’s surface. As water moves along underground rocks, minerals become dissolved in this water. It has a natural ph level and a unique mineral composition, due to which, the source of the water becomes one of the most important factors. Another thing to keep in mind is that this water is not unlimited, unlike the packaged drinking water which is basically treated water that could come from any source and can be packaged anywhere. It was the quality of natural spring water including the mineral composition and the natural pH value of 7.4 that got us the urge of entering into the water business.   

                                                                                                                      
Why did you decide upon aluminium as a material for the cans?

Like other brands, we did think of packaging the natural spring water into glass which would be a natural thought. However, the more we did our research, the more we understood that aluminium would be the best choice, as other alternates were not really solving the problem, but rather postponing it. 
My partner, Bhrigu Seth and I had zeroed in on packaging that was infinitely recyclable. We also took into consideration, the amount of fuel used for transportation of cans as compared to other packaging material, the power used for chilling, quantity of water used for washing etc. Further, cans are lightweight, stackable and strong, allowing brands to package and transport more beverages using less material. Aluminium cans have a higher recycling rate and can be recycled over and over again in a true “closed-loop” recycling process. In addition, aluminium beverage cans are unbreakable, impact-resistant and tamper-proof. It can also withstand extreme temperature and pressure.   
Moreover, for innovative branding and 360-degree visibility, aluminium beverage cans are the preferred packaging solution available for the beverage segment. 

How are you positioning the product in the market?

We are a sustainable brand offering natural spring water beverage in recyclable aluminium cans from our plant in Solan, Himachal Pradesh. We are a premium product and in terms of positioning, we are somewhere between pet plastic bottles and glass bottles. We call ourselves in the category of “affordable, premium and sustainable”. 

What were the difficulties that you faced while launching the product in the midst of the pandemic?

Well, almost everything seemed to be a new challenge during the pandemic. We were supposed to launch the product in March right before summer, but that was not possible. In addition, we were banking on HoReCa to be our driving force but due to the lockdown, we could not make any inroads in this sector and hence, had to modify our marketing strategy completely to focus on retail and online sales. 
Managing a steady and uninterrupted supply of raw material is the key for any manufacturing unit. With the pandemic, there were global, as well as, national supply chain breakages leading to untimely deliveries and an increase in the cost of raw materials. 

Which industries are the biggest consumers of your product? Can you name a few of your HoReCa clients? 

We are targeting both B2B and B2C markets. HoReCa, Airlines, Corporates and Cinemas are our biggest consumers. HoReCa segment plays a pivotal role as we want to replace the plastic bottles in the restaurants, events, bars and also the bottles stationed in the hotel rooms, as they have a major contribution to the plastic waste.  
Our clients include Leela Hotels, 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.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=39967&sid=1