Proud Source lands PepsiCo distribution agreement

Proud Source, the young mountain water company in Mackay, has achieved a major step up for its business with the signing of a regional distribution agreement with PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA).

The firm announced its agreement with PepsiCo on April 28. Proud Source Water bottles and sells a naturally alkaline spring water bottled at the source in the Pioneer Mountains west of Mackay. Besides the purity of its water, the company packages its product in recyclable aluminum bottles. Proud Source is both a certified B-Corp and a member of the 1% for the Planet organization.

As part of the distribution deal, Proud Source will now be available at a range of food service providers, stadiums, retailers and more across the American West.

“Consumers are increasingly demanding more responsibility and sustainability from the brands they love,” said Proud Source President and Co-Founder C.J. Pennington in the announcement of the distribution agreement. “Joining forces with one of the largest beverage distributors is a significant step forward in expanding the availability of another sustainable option for consumers.”

Pennington added: “Broadening our reach out West is also monumental to our efforts of delivering opportunity and economic relief to the communities we source water from. PBNA’s distribution is unmatched, giving us a great opportunity to make a bigger impact across the country.”

Proud Source said it strives to be the most transparent bottled water company in the world, when it comes to sourcing, sustainability and overall impact. The little company has ambitious goals: Proud Source’s 2030 goal is to replace 200 million single-use plastic bottles. Gaining a major distribution channel with PepsiCo is a big step toward hitting that goal.

“With PepsiCo’s strong direct-to-store delivery (DSD) network, this partnership will enable stronger market execution for Proud Source through merchandising, delivery frequency and account services,” Pennington told the Idaho Business Review. “The initial distribution territory will be the Pepsi Beverages North America West Division operated areas within the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.”

The transportation end of the deal is also optimized for sustainability. “Proud Source’s ultimate goal is to be as energy-efficient as possible,” Pennington added. “Through our distribution partnership, Proud Source will deliver full truckloads to PepsiCo hubs, and PepsiCo will redistribute product to their distribution centers across the division, streamlining our distribution process, and minimizing our transportation footprint. As Proud Source expands, we are committed to providing regionally sourced water and never having our product travel more than 1,200 miles from the source.”

The firm currently employs over 20 people in Mackay. “Since 2017, Proud Source has experienced tremendous growth with business doubling every year, increasing job opportunity within the Mackay community, and planning for expansion to new spring sources.”

Pennington added: “As a sustainably run business, we’ve pledged to never bottle more than 5% of the Mackay spring source’s output. That being said, as the demand for Proud Source and recyclable alternatives to bottled water grows, we have exciting plans in the works to expand our footprint, while still maintaining the brand’s core ethos of sustainability…There are no plans to expand our Idaho production facility at this time, but we do have regional expansions planned for summer 2021 that will allow us to stay true to our sustainability goal of only delivering product to consumers within a 1,200-mile radius.”