BlueTriton Brands Oversees And Stewards The Ultimate Renewable Natural Resource

In July 2010, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly recognized clean drinking water as a basic human right. The UN requires that each government provide citizens with safe, sufficient, accessible, and affordable water.

In 2021, the former Nestlé Waters NA company was sold and changed its name to BlueTriton Brands, more than a mere nod to the Greek god of the sea. The new private equity-backed company reinvigorated a commitment to help sustainably provide fresh water to communities throughout North America, working every day to deliver healthy hydration.

In Greek mythology, Triton, the sea god with the torso of a man and the tail of a fish was a son of Poseidon and the sea nymph Amphitrite. He ruled the waters together with some of his brothers.

Today, the 7,000+ U.S.-based team at BlueTriton sees the company as an equally assertive warden of the waters. Since its sale from Nestlé, it’s been privately held and intends to remain mission based. “We’re a proud … guardian of resources and a provider of fresh waters,” the company shares.

Specifically, that guardianship/provider-ship translates to BlueTriton supplying quality water through a portfolio of some of the country’s oldest and most trusted and sustainable brands, such as Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Saratoga, and Ready Refresh. Most of its sales are from natural spring water.

Water Is Life

Joey Bergstein took the helm as CEO of BlueTriton late in 2023, after 30 years of experience building and leading venerable CPG brands focused on sustainability, good governance, and thriving corporate culture: Bergstein held lead roles at Sabra, Diageo, Molson-Coors, Seventh Generation, and Coca-Cola.

“[The company name] has a deep connection to water,” says Bergstein, coming off in-person meetings on the Hill with representatives from areas where BlueTriton has a significant footprint, usually both environmentally and in the local labor force. “Fundamentally, this business is all about water. But it’s not just about selling bottled water. We’re truly in the water business, all the way from source to sip. And the name is a real recognition of that.”

“We’re staying very focused on water — which we all know is absolutely essential to life,” Bergstein continues, “because we believe deeply in providing healthy hydration and in giving people access to clean, healthy, affordable drinking water.”

Life is universal, but tastes — lifestyles — differ depending on where you live. Of the company’s regional focus, Bergstein says that by design, “We have a portfolio of very iconic regional spring water brands. Each different region’s water has a different taste, depending on the mineral content. And we want to make sure that we are being very local. We’re part of the local community and in many cases have been for over 100 years.”

BlueTriton ships water within a maximum of 400 miles of where it’s sourced and bottled. That’s one reason the company operates more than 50 springs and 30 different processing facilities. “And as a result,” says Bergstein, “we’ve got six different regional spring water brands around the country: Poland Spring in the Northeast, Arrowhead in California, Deer Park in the mid-Atlantic, Zephyrhills in Florida, Ozarka in and around Texas, Ice Mountain in the center of the country.”

The company also owns and operates Ready Refresh in home and office delivery, a billion dollar brand which brings reusable, multi-serve offerings to over one mission U.S. customers a year, and Saratoga, a national brand it acquired in 2021. The brand, which dates to 1872, has already nearly quadrupled its sales under BlueTriton, says Bergstein.

Refreshing Sustainability

Says Bergstein, “Our role is really water stewardship. We own and manage more than 20,000 acres of watersheds and wetlands. We have a team of natural resource managers: hydrogeologists, engineers, scientists, who — almost maniacally — monitor, measure, and adjust the water quality in each of these different watersheds to ensure that we’re retaining the quality of the water, as well as the ecology of the land around the water.”

The company is also committed to more circular packaging, leading the industry on light weighting bottles for a lower carbon impact, and using more than double the industry average of recycled plastic in its brand packaging, in addition to the recent introduction of an aluminum line for some of its brands and glass bottle offerings in the more premium end of its portfolio.

Bergstein’s stewardship philosophy extends beyond the natural environment of the water and bottles themselves, to the legacy of the brands BlueTriton supplies. “I would say that’s job number one. Many of these brands have been around for over 100 years. Poland Spring and Arrowhead, like Saratoga, have been around for more than a century. And they’ve been around because the areas that we’re sourcing from, and the people who’ve come before us have done so in a way that is inherently sustainable. And we take it really seriously to ensure that we’re stewarding this water and natural resources for the generations to come.”

Hydrating North America’s Youth

Speaking of new generations, kids don’t get enough water. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about half all schoolchildren are under-hydrated. BlueTriton is undertaking a concerted advocacy effort to add water to the USDA’s iconic MyPlate graphic, in any form from tap to bottle. At the least, the company’s trying to elevate national conversation about healthy hydration and the role of water in a healthy future for our continent.

“[MyPlate] is the primary tool used to educate Americans about nutrition, especially children,” says Bergstein. So, it only makes sense to include water in the diagram of the ideal meal. It’s amazing that water’s not already on there, he says. The American Academy of Pediatrician’s “Choose Water for Healthy Hydration” advise that proper hydration helps to improve mood, memory, and attention in children. Water also supports healthy joints, bones, and teeth, helps the blood circulate, and can help kids maintain a healthy weight into adulthood. Again, arguing that “water is life” should be more than obvious.

Aqua/culture

Among its many community support initiatives, BlueTriton partners with multiple NGOs to build infrastructure that expands water access to communities, such as Dig Deep’s Colonias Water Project. Each of the company’s community-based efforts and initiatives addresses one or more of the UN’s 17 SDGs. For example, it works with the Student Conservation Association to provide high school students in 18 cities with environmental education opportunities, hands-on community and conservation service experience, summer employment, job readiness, and leadership training.

Internally, the company is focused on continuing to drive a strong company culture. For one notable example, BlueTriton received a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023–2024 Corporate Equality Index, the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality. The honor is emblematic of the company’s overall DEIB strategy. “We are very committed to principles of diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. We have five different active employee resource groups in the organization and remain committed to creating a workplace where people feel part of a community and are valued for their unique differences.”

A Final Drop of Inspiration

When Bergstein took the position at BlueTriton, he said he had an “amazing responsibility” to help conserve, protect, and responsibly-package these natural resources for the long term while providing healthy hydration to millions. What did he mean by the modifier “amazing?” Why not “burdensome?” “Terrible?”

“I think we were all put in this world, hopefully, to leave it a better place than we found it,” says Bergstein. “And so, I look at the work that I do at businesses I lead as trying to unlock business as a force for good.”