By Andy Young
NT Beverages Limited is launching the Akuna water brand this month, Australia’s newest artesian water to hit domestic and international markets and the only bottled water from the Northern Territory.
The initial launch will see the Akuna Springs brand come to market, this is a high quality everyday market artesian water in plastic bottles – from the company’s own bottling plant. In June Akuna Blue will launch, which is a more premium still and sparkling artesian water, which will come in 375ml and 750ml glass bottles.
Visha Bhargava, the national marketing manager for NT Beverages told TheShout: “We are very, very excited about the launch this month. Everything has been taking place and it is now all aligned and we will be out in May with Akuna Springs.
“Everyone has been around since 2014 and we are now going to be launching three new products, Akuna Springs, Akuna Blue and Akuna Custom.”
Akuna Custom gives businesses and organisations the opportunity to create personally branded, high quality artesian bottled water for events or customised sales. That brand will also launch next month, at the same time as the premium Akuna Blue.
Bhargava added: “Akuna Blue is something that we are extremely proud of and something that is new for Australia. It is going to be in glass bottles and we’ve made sure that the quality of the bottle is extremely high; it will be high-flint glass for the still water and the sparkling will come in frosted glass.
“We are targeting both on-premise and off-premise with this water. With Blue in particular we will aim at high-end cafes and restaurants and we think it is going to have a strong appeal in those.”
The water comes from an ancient South Alligator Dolostone aquifer located in Acacia Hills, around 50km from Darwin. The $15 million pumping station and processing plant which opened in September 2015, will produce 96,000 litres of water per day and will employ up to 20 full- and part-time employees.
The company is also making its own plastic bottles on-site, which helps to reduce wastage and the overall carbon footprint of the plant.
Akuna Springs will be available this month in 340ml, 300ml, 1.5l and 10l bottles will be distributed through a range of outlets including Metcash Independent Grocers, Worrall Food Distributors, Max Stocks wholesale food distributors, Variety Food and the Metro Beverage Company.