Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005030053
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Perrier had planned to re-enter the U.S. market by the first week of April, but its comeback was delayed by problems in rebuilding inventory and in getting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
Perrier was back on store shelves in the Washington-Baltimore area last week but it will take longer to trickle into the Roanoke Valley. "I'm hopeful we'll have some product back into supermarkets and restaurants by the middle of May," said Jim Archer, marketing manager for Blue Ridge Beverage Co., the local Perrier distributor.
Blue Ridge Beverage gets its Perrier from a bottler in Richmond and the water is not expected to begin selling again there until around May 7, Archer said.
The first shipments of Perrier into the valley will be the company's original, unflavored variety. Blue Ridge Beverage doesn't expect shipments of flavored Perrier until the middle of July, Archer said.
Officials at Quibell Corp., the small Roanoke company that competes with Perrier in the sparkling-water market, have said they hope to hang onto some of the business they gained when Perrier in February recalled its entire U.S. inventory, following the discovery of trace amounts of cancer-causing benzene in samples taken from store shelves in North Carolina.
The Perrier recall gave a tremendous boost in sales to Roanoke-based Quibell and other bottlers of sparkling water. Blue Ridge Beverage distributes both Perrier and Quibell and Archer said he was thankful to have Quibell to offer customers when Perrier pulled out.
Initially, because Perrier is returning to the market in stages, Perrier will have less shelf space in stores than it had before the recall, Archer said.
The reaction of the public to the new Perrier will determine whether Quibell will be able to hang onto the shelf space it gained when Perrier left the market. Most retailers have indicated they are going to wait and see how Perrier sells before deciding how much shelf space to give it, Archer said.
"I think our buyers are still fairly bullish on Perrier," Archer said. "We feel the brand is still strong and will do reasonably well coming back."
Kroger will assign space based on the movement of the various water products, said Joann Boone, a Kroger spokeswoman in Roanoke.
"We've always been a big supporter of local Quibell," Boone said. Kroger believes Quibell will hold on to a portion of its gains and will grow, she said.
Tom Webster, manager of Harris-Teeter on Grandin Road Extension, said his store probably will return to the same shelf allocations as before the recall and then watch how sales go before making a final determination.
At the Winn-Dixie on Virginia 419, manager David Barker said he, too, probably will return to prior shelf arrangements.
Archer said he was concerned the whole bottled-water business might suffer as a result of the Perrier recall, but Blue Ridge Beverage's water sales remained strong and close to prerecall levels.
Perrier traced the benzene contamination to the failure of workers to change filters on time on a well that provides carbon dioxide for its manufacturing process.
Discovery of the benzene forced Perrier to admit that its water does not flow pure and naturally carbonated from its spring in Vergeze, France. The FDA has ruled that Perrier must drop from bottle labels by July 30 claims that its water is naturally carbonated.
Elimination of the benzene problem has not ended Perrier's woes, however. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that New York state officials were objecting to the company's use of the term "sodium free" on its labels after a sample of the product showed sodium levels above those FDA regulations allow for such a designation.
Before the recall, Perrier had held 85 percent of the U.S. market for sparkling water.
by CNB