ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 6, 1996 TAG: 9605060102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: BARNABY J. FEDER\New York Times
Imagine coffee without the coffee, soda pop with just the pop. That's Water Joe, perhaps the strangest New Age beverage yet - artesian well water mixed with a dollop of caffeine.
Here in the Midwest, where Water Joe first appeared in October, it is proving to be the beverage of choice for a surprising mix of people united solely by their need for a jolt: truckers and traveling salesmen whose stomachs rebel at the day's fifth or sixth cup of coffee or can of cola, bartenders and students trying to stay alert in the wee hours, coffee fanatics looking for ways to brew their java with an extra kick and folks who want their breakfast orange juice to be a real eye-opener.
Oh, and don't forget those raucous futures traders at the Chicago Board of Trade, where to avoid messes, bottled water is the only beverage allowed on the trading floor.
Water Joe's inventor, David Marcheschi, and his partners say they are as surprised as the next person at some of the ways the beverage is being used. Their market research was, to put it generously, scanty.
``We figured all we needed to know was that a lot of people drink water, coffee and Coke,'' Marcheschi said. The name Water Joe, he noted helpfully, was a nod to World War II slang for coffee.
Even though no one involved in Water Joe's development can afford to work full time to promote it, sales are rapidly climbing in the the 12 Midwestern states where it is now available. About 70,000 cases of Water Joe are shipped each week to 12 states. It is usually priced 89 cents to to $1.09 a bottle.
``We made our coffee with it,'' said Rocket Phillips, an Omaha talk show host who has featured Water Joe on his program even though the new beverage has not reached Nebraska retailers yet. ``Everyone was buzzing around pretty good.''
Increasing the buzz from coffee was the last thing on the mind of Marcheschi, now a 29-year-old mortgage broker, when he first conceived of Water Joe as an Arizona State University undergraduate. He was dreaming of a healthier alternative to the stomach-churning coffee and colas he reluctantly consumed to stay alert while studying.
That idea was on the back burner until two years ago, when a friend's father who owns a small beverage company here suggested that he chat with the company's chemist. It took six months for the chemist to come up with the first batch of Water Joe and even longer for Marcheschi to find a bottler of high-quality artesian well water willing to produce it.
Testing of early versions with friends and acquaintances turned up many uses Marcheschi did not anticipate from his student days.
But some experts wonder whether in the long run Water Joe will generate more bemusement than revenue.
``Bottled water drinkers are interested in a pure product while drinkers looking for caffeine are used to getting it from other sources,'' said John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest, a trade publication in Old Greenwich, Conn. ``I question whether the twain will meet.''
Others say astute marketing just might pay off handsomely.
``Anything that is strikingly new in beverages can cause a sensation and some get carried across the threshold into establishing a business,'' said Thomas Pirko, president of Bevmark LLC, a New York-based consultant to the industry. ``Image counts more than taste in why people buy beverages.''
But Pirko warned that even though many of the worst health fears associated with caffeine have been discounted, both the beverage industry and consumers will steer away from any product seen primarily as a caffeine delivery system.
The average American over 18 consumes about 200 milligrams of caffeine daily. Caffeine's clearest drawback, researchers say, is that it is addictive and can cause people trying to quit to suffer headaches and other withdrawal symptoms.
Marcheschi and Connor's joint venture partner is Artesian Investments Inc., a holding company for Nicolet Forest Bottling Co., which is based in the Chicago suburb of South Barrington.
``We hope to have nationwide distribution by the end of the year,'' Connor said.
One more immediate goal is to generate enough profit to take on full-time employees, starting this summer with Marcheschi himself. He is patterning some of his plans on the tactics of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the ice cream moguls who are his entrepreneurial idols.
For instance, Marcheschi wants to travel to college campuses this fall in a Water Joe van that will recall the brightly colored cowmobile in which Ben and Jerry traveled around the country.
His campus slogan: ``Meet Your New Study Buddy.''
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB