Alkaline spring water company Flow has named former Nestlé Waters head Maurizio Patarnello as CEO to oversee the brand’s global expansion.
Patarnello joins Flow after more than 27 years with the Swiss conglomerate, most recently as CEO and chairman of Nestlé Waters where he oversaw brands including Nestlé Pure Life, Perrier, San Pellegrino, Poland Spring and Acqua Panna. He held the role from 2017 until his retirement in 2019.
Patarnello became aware of Flow when he and the brand’s founder and former CEO Nicholas Reichenbach met in 2018 at the World Water Congress. Patarnello said he was impressed by Flow’s branding, design and flavor and believed the brand’s emphasis on sustainability was helping to “change the standard of the industry.” After his retirement, he wanted to take on the task of scaling an entrepreneurial brand into a global competitor.
“After 27-plus years of a corporate career, I wanted a new challenge,” Patarnello said. “The kind of challenge I was looking for was to take my experience in the category, and my knowledge and my passion, and to put it at the service of something completely different, innovative and with a strong purpose. So that’s where I am.”
Reichenbach will remain with the company as executive chairman. He said Patarnello’s experience in the global bottled water category will allow Flow to grow at scale without making major mistakes. Though Patarnello said there is no way to “copy and paste” his Nestlé Waters strategy, he noted his knowledge will allow the brand to move swiftly as it seeks to dominate in the premium water segment.
“I’m not stepping back, I’m stepping aside,” Reichenbach said. “Because Maurizio is a force of nature and I believe our partnership together will have a little bit of the yin and yang as we balance ourselves out.”
The appointment comes one month after Flow announced it would take the company public this year on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) with a $50 million public offering. The IPO will be followed by a secondary offering on the NASDAQ within the next 12 months.
“When Nicholas says we want to take it all the way, that’s what he means,” Patarnello said. “The decision to go public is linked to having the resources available for the brand to fully use its potential.”
Flow is currently available in over 30,000 retail doors in the U.S. and Canada, with much of its sales driven by the natural and specialty channels. Sales increased 44% last year to over $25 million and the company aims to achieve 65% ACV in the grocery channel by next year. Flow raised $45 million in a Series D funding round last year.
Next month, Flow will add 950 Target stores nationwide with four SKUs, including 1 Liter multiserve cartons, 500 mL six-packs and two flavored variations. As well, 480 locations will carry the brand’s functional Collagen-Infused and Vitamin-Infused lines. According to chief revenue officer Tim Dwyer, the rollout is part of a new phase of distribution expansion that includes partnerships with 40 additional DSD houses to grow Flow’s footprint across the U.S., including Polar Beverage in the Northeast.
Reichenbach noted Flow will also begin this spring tapping its celebrity investors and shareholders, including singer Shawn Mendes, with consumer facing ad campaigns to drive brand awareness.
In addition to the water brand, Flow also owns over $100 million in assets, including its two artesian springs located in Canada and Virginia, making it among the only premium bottled water brands sourced in North America. The company also operates a subsidiary, Planet A Co-Packing Solutions, which produces products for other Tetra Pak packaged beverage brands including Vita Coco and meal replacement orro.
According to Patarnello, Flow is also exploring two additional production sites in North America in the near future. He noted that in addition to giving Flow a strategic base to scale its own business globally, the company hopes to expand the use of recyclable packaging throughout the beverage industry.
“There are two strategic dimensions here,” Patarnello said. “On one hand this is taking Flow all the way. The other hand this is taking the packaging all the way. And that’s why we foresee for the future a potential expansion beyond the two premises that we have today and it will go hand in hand with the development to the brand.”