An alternative to bottled water coolers was showcased on Episode 1 of Series 6 of The Dragons Den. The funding for the project failed after a taste test by The Dragons.
Theo Paphitis also informed the contestants that he had reduced his carbon footprint by being “plumbed in.” In his words he had “already dealt with it!”.
Freshwater Coolers plc have always advocated plumbed in water coolers.
Series 6, Episode 1 of The Dragon’s Den which was screened on BBC2 21st July 2008, showcased a cooler designed to produce water from air. The product professed to produce “the purest water on the planet” but failed to secure any funding after a taste test by the Dragons.
Freshwater Coolers plc has always advocated mains fed water coolers and provide cool, chilled filtered water using reliable, tested methods.
Our mains fed water coolers meet all current Health and Safety standards and promote the minimisation of carbon emissions associated with other water supply provision such as bottle fed products.
Freshwater Coolers plc specialise in mains fed water coolers, fountains and hot water boilers. The company will not consider any other method of water delivery to the business market.
Following the recent installation of Freshwater drinking water coolers at Kings Heath Boys School Birmingham the bursar Mrs Gibbons said “We have noticed a real change in the behaviour of our children since we removed our vending machines. The water coolers provide a healthy alternative”
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Daily Telegraph Monday 17 December 2007
London tap water has been rated superior to expensive mineral waters in a blind tasting conducted by some of the most sophisticated drinkers in the country.
At less than 1p per litre, it beat 20 bottled waters, including some which sell for £50 a litre, in the survey conducted by Decanter, the wine drinkers magazine.
The panel, made up of Masters of Wine, top sommeliers and some of the most experienced palates in the country, voted tap water supplied by Thames Water third equal in a tasting of 24 products.
The top scoring water was Waiwera , from New Zealand, which sells for £9 per litre at Claridge’s. This was followed by Vittell, which costs 39p a litre at Tesco.
The result comes a month after the National Consumer Council launched a campaign to force restaurants to offer free tap water.
Bottled water,considered a luxury until the 1980’s, has become a key part of most restaurants’ menus.
Claridge’s, the hotel in Mayfair, launched an entire water menu earlier this year, featuring 30 brands from around the world. The star product on the menu is a 42cl bottle of Volcanic, found more than 200 yards under volcanic rock in New Zealand’s Rotomo HIlls, which sells for £21 - the equivalent of £50 a litre.
However, it came a lowly 18th place in Decanter’s tasting. Bling H2O, from California, the second most expensive at £40 a litre, came 22nd. Its bottle is encrusted with Swarovski crystals.
Hardly any of the esteemed tasters realised that the London water, drawn from a kitchen tap in South Kensington, was the cheapest.
Terry Threlfall, the sommelier at Michelin-starred Chez Bruce in London, picked it as his favourite, giving it 19 points out of 20.
Guy Woodward, the editor of Decanter, said the tasting was instructive in showing up the “outrageous” prices charged for mineral waters.
He said: “It’s bad enough that restaurants get away with charging largely ignorant consumers scandalous mark-ups on wine, but charging £5, £10 and £20 for a resource which is freely available is an outrage-particularly when even the most well-trained palates couldn’t tell these supposedly superior products apart from plain tap water when tasting a range of waters blind.”
Engineering company Denso Marston has halved its £10,000 bill for bottled water thanks to FWC. Buying bottles for its 11 coolers, the company still ran out during the Summer.
“We immediately saw the benefits,” said Denso Facilities Engineer, Andrew Clark. “Apart from never running out of water again, we benefit financially and from health & safety - no dirt contamination from the bottle necks and no-one has to lift the 20kg bottles.” Andrew added, “Our Purchasing Dept is delighted! it has lead to savings on processing delivery notes, deposits, invoices and payments - not to mention the hassle of storing massive bottles of water. We can’t understand why we didn’t think of it before!”