By Iyer Amruthur, Business Development Specialist, ALC San Antonio
The Legend of Topo Chico has a near and dear place in every Texan’s heart as the premier choice for natural sparkling mineral water. From an ancient story of an ailing Aztec princess whose father, Movtezum I Ilhuicamina, searched far and wide for a cure; wise priests told the king his daughter must bathe in the mystical waters to the north of them. The tribe embarked on a search, for health.
The king took his daughter to the springs by a mole-shaped hill called Topo Chico. After bathing in, and drinking the waters, legend has it that she was immediately cured. Now we see this same spring as one of the most popular sources of beverages in the world! Topo-Chico began selling its mineral water to the U.S. in the 1980s, with its primary market being the Mexican-American communities.
Texas was the biggest consumer of the Topo Beverage, and soon it developed a cult following which exploded in 2010. With retro-green-tinted bottles, and a mythical location in one of Monterrey, Mexico’s inactive volcanoes, they took the market by storm. That is until they closed one of the biggest deals in their history.
In 2017 Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft drink company acquired Topo Chico for 220 Million Dollars. With the added supply chain, marketing, and business expertise they were able to expand their sales by 25% in the first quarter. Before the acquisition, 70% of all Topo Chico sales were in Texas but with Coke’s distribution network, they were able to easily reach areas they were unable to before. Soon they started to pop up in convenience stores, additional Walmart’s, and even Costco.
Coke understands the effect the supply chain can have on companies. One thing that the company recognized about Topo-Chico is that the following was cult-like, it was based in certain demographics, and it had a certain image people loved. As Kellam Mattier, a VP of innovation at Coke said, “It’s important for us to maintain the relevance with the core Topo Chico fan base while introducing the brand to new people.” This helps the original company, traditionally regional, to bring that same company feel to the whole nation.
Now with 2021 on the horizon, Coke will debut Topo Chico’s first Hard Alcoholic Seltzer in Latin American cities and will be launching in the U.S. in 2021. This shows the perfect synergy, and what happens between a loved brand, and an expert distributor. Logistics has a lot of the focus on trucks, but before trucks even hit the road, someone needs to make routes, orders, and deals. This is what Coke brings to the table, and why you may see Topo Chico in a store near you soon.
With the bottled-water industry booming to $16 billion in 2017, the market was shifting slightly away from soda. In this gap today, Topo-Chico fits perfectly and is growing just like the legend from long ago.
Iyer Amruthur is a business development specialist in the ALC San Antonio office and has two years of logistics experience. Iyer attended The University of Georgia where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, with a minor in Communications.