U.K.-based Dash Water is crossing the pond to enter the U.S. market through a partnership with digital beverage house Iris Nova.
Founded in 2017, Dash is positioned as a premium sparkling water that infuses its flavors using real fruit rather than extracts. Similar to other brands that have embraced fruit and vegetable “up cycling,” the brand sources “wonky” produce that can’t be sold by farmers due to appearance or lack of demand. The zero-sugar, zero-calorie line is available in 12 oz. slim cans in five flavors: Blackcurrant, Cucumber, Lemon, Raspberry and Peach.
As well as having career experience in the beverage industry, Dash co-founders Alex Wright and Jack Scott both come from farming backgrounds, which inspired the pair to think of a better-for-you drink venture that could also address the problem of food waste. According to the United Nations, an estimated 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted globally each year, valued at around $1 trillion. What’s more, based on the company’s own research, 66% of consumers would pay more for a product committed to a social cause.
With concept in hand, Wright and Scott partnered with food waste charity Feedback to secure sourcing partnerships with farmers and suppliers and launched Dash into a relatively wide open European market for flavored sparkling waters, particularly in the premium segment. Despite the popularity of unflavored carbonated water, Wright noted that flavored varieties only began to gain traction with UK consumers following the country’s introduction of a “sugar tax” in April 2018, which coincided with explosive growth for the category in the U.S. In addition, Scott said, consumer attitudes toward beverages with artificial sweeteners began to shift negatively.
“It’s taken Europe just a little bit longer to wake up,” said Scott.
As Dash, alongside other emerging brands such as Ugly, began to shape the zero-sugar flavored sparkling water market in Britain, it has purposefully carved out a foothold on the category’s premium end and particularly with female consumers. The company’s European distribution footprint consists of 5,000 stores across 12 international markets; after selling 2 million cans in 2019, Dash is targeting more than 5 million cans this year.
Though traditional retail has proved fruitful, Dash is focusing on online sales for its U.S. debut. The brand ships around 9,000 cans through its website each day in the UK, and e-commerce will comprise around 30% of its total business this year.
The partnership with Iris Nova, which kicked off on June 24, will allow U.S. consumers to order Dash through the company’s text messaging platform, and also help lay the foundation for an eventual move into traditional retail. Since announcing The Coca-Cola Company’s acquisition of a minority stake in the platform in December 2018, Iris Nova has expanded its presence in physical stores, securing placement for its flagship functional beverage brand Dirty Lemon in around 1,000 outlets across the country, including 500 Walmart locations. In February, Iris Nova CEO Zak Normandin said the move represented Dirty Lemon’s need “to go into more mass distribution to acquire customers profitably.”
After having initial discussions with Normandin, whom Wright called “the best marketer in beverage, in our opinion,” several years ago, earning the backing of Iris Nova has helped solidify Dash’s ambitions in the American market. The British brand joins a growing group of independent beverage startups now available via the platform, including Minna, Halo Sport, Olipop, Sanzo and Tres Lemon. However, unlike those brands, Iris Nova is not an investor in Dash.
“I think what captured our imagination is when Zak said that he can really see how Dash is unique within the U.S. sparkling water category, mainly around the sophisticated branding and the story around the wonky fruit,” Scott said. “As the category has become more established and mature, we believe Dash has a space at the premium end of that.”
For Dash, its journey toward the goal of “owning the premium space” in the U.S. begins today with its debut at all six Los Angeles locations of influential natural retailer Erehwon, where it will be sold for $1.75 per can.
“It’s an ‘everyday premium’ price point that we are trying to hit,” said Wright. “Initially, it’s all about building the single impulse cans in the perfect outlets, that being specialty stores, bodegas and fashion retailers, and then shipping 12-pack cases for direct-to-consumer.”
Launching through Iris Nova is the first piece of Dash’s U.S. strategy, but the company is already exploring further steps toward its goal of securing a domestic manufacturing base, likely on the East Coast, by Q1 2021. For now, though, the brand is absorbing a slight hit on importing costs and keeping a lean operation, with nine full time employees and no plans to add more staff in the near term. Despite their ambitions, Scott and Wright are taking a measured approach to future growth.
“For the time being, we’ve got a lot to do within the straight sparkling water category,” said Scott. “The Dash Water brand is quite pure, and we are reluctant to tamper with it in any way.”