Worcester Business Journal

18 Worcester Business Journal | October 1, 2018 | wbjournal.com 224 million cases per year, with sales topping $500 million. Sales have grown at 20 percent in recent years, and Polar has even gone international, showing up on aisles in South Korea. Much of the production takes place on the same South Worcester site off Southbridge Street where Polar has always been based and where half of its total space of 2 million square feet sits. Under the giant inflatable bear wav - ing to motorists in I-290, machines are cranking 24/7 to make not only Polar's own ever-growing roster of drinks but also many of its competitors. During a tour with WBJ in September, A&W, Trader Joe's, Crush and Gosling's were a few of the other brands whose products were making their way along production lines or stacked on pallets. Christopher Crowley, Ralph's broth- er and the company's executive vice president and treasurer, leads the tour, checking in with employees monitor- ing the production line and point- ing out the precision each machine requires. "It's all very steady, very predictable," Crowley said. "We can rely on what we make." e sprawling plant includes two as- sembly lines each cranking out 120,000 12-packs each day. Others lines assem- ble 1,200 cans per minute. Competition, both good and bad Polar is bottling some of its compet- itors at a time when soda appears to be in quick retreat. A 2014 Gallup poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans said they avoid soda in their diet, and by 2017, soda was overtaken by bottled water as the top beverage segment, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. Polar's own research has found 46 percent of its drinkers previously drank cola or diet cola. "Even though it's been around for awhile," Stanford said of seltzer, "you've really seen in the last five years and really in the last couple years es - pecially, this really exponential activity when it comes to sparkling water." While these days mark an opportu- nity that Polar's founder never could have imagined, the trend away from soda has also brought soda's giants to seltzer. Coke's revenues from soda peaked in the late 1990s, and Pepsi's declined aer around 2005, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. Both companies have reacted in large part by growing into bottled water and juices. Last year, Coke bought sparkling mineral water brand Topo Chico for $220 million. Early this year, Pepsi launched its Bubly seltzer line, and then in August paid $3.2 billion for So- daStream International, whose seltzer machines let people make sparkling drinks at home. It is moves like Pepsi's this year that worry Ralph Crowley Jr., whose otherwise quiet confidence extends throughout the company's 1,700 em- ployees, or at least does at the Worces- ter headquarters. "We're paranoid," Crowley said, "because we know everyone is out to get us." But Polar admits all the celebrity attention LaCroix has gotten and all the money being invested by Coke, Pepsi and others brings something else to the very low-key Polar: publicity to the seltzer market. "It's the best thing that could happen to Polar," Stanford said. "Because Polar is already an established product. Polar only stands to gain from all that." F O C U S T H E F O O D & D R I N K I S S U E W A MAJOR ANNIVERSARY... A NEW BUILDING... A MAJOR COMPANY MILESTONE Whether it's the celebration of a major anniversary or the opening of a new headquarters, Worcester Business Journal's Custom Publishing Division can help you create a custom magazine for your business. Our division's top flight team of writers and designers can help you tell your story – and make your business look great! Based on our unique publishing model, it's surprisingly affordable. Can we create a CUSTOM magazine for you? Call WBJ Custom Corporate Project Director Christine Juetten at 508-755-8004 ext. 270. Worcester Business Journal WBJ Custom Publishing Division Celebrating 50 Years of Growth, Jobs and Development 1 50 Years 1 9 6 5 - 2 0 1 5 C E L E B R A T I N G An advertising supplement to the Worcester Business Journal A T T L E B O R O | S T U R B R I D G E | S W A N S E A 2 0 1 6 H O L I D A Y G I F T G U I D E Shrewsbury Public Library: Building the Next Chapter SHREWSBURY Building the Next Chapter public library Honoring the Past: Representing the Future LAKEWAYCOMMONS An advertising supplement to the Worcester Business Journal Continued from previous page Source: Beverage Marketing Corp. 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 U.S. consumption (in millions) '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 789.8 146.1 The sparkling water market U.S. sparkling water consumption has taken off in the past two decades.

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