Absopure

A Century of Quality Refreshment

T

his book celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of Absopure Water Company, whose history is as fascinating as the geology that underlies the natural springs from which it gets its water. Founded in 1908 as a brand of General Necessities, a Detroit-based coal, ice, and water delivery service, Absopure is a testament to the tenacity of the American entrepreneurial spirit.

During the early years of the company’s boom, it emerges as Detroit’s leading ice and water delivery service and a major innovator in the growing refrigeration market. Then, two decades later, the parent company collapses under the weight of the spiraling stock market and subsequent Great Depression. As the assets that make up General Necessities are sold off piece by piece, many of the resulting new companies either fail themselves or are doomed to become little more than historical footnotes.

Absopure is the exception, its new owners proving that even the worst of times down does not necessarily mean out. Absopure quietly thrives, and in 1956 the company’s story takes another dramatic turn under the new ownership of William P. and Mary Young. With a singular desire to expand Absopure’s reputation and its reach, the intelligent, driven young couple begins to experiment with new water bottling materials and manufacturing techniques. The company begins to make bold strides into the emerging grocery and single-serving markets. Decades later, they take a leadership role in environmental stewardship by in-

novating advanced plastic recycling and manufacturing technologies.

Today, that small, local water delivery outfit (along with its sibling companies owned by the Young family) is a multimilliondollar-a-year operation whose bottled natural spring and steam-distilled water can be found in homes, offices, and groceries across the nation. The story of that journey is, more than anything, the story of three generations of the Young family united in the shared desire to continue and expand a legacy that for over one hundred years has meant the first name in quality water and quality service.

Book Development by www.bookhouse.net

®

JACKET DESIGN BY JILL DIBLE PRINTED IN CANADA

A Century of Quality Refreshment

A Century of Quality Refreshment T HE S TORY OF A BSOPURE WATER C OMPANY

Acknowledgments would like very much, on behalf of all our Absopure family, to recognize with grateful thanks my late parents, William P. Young and Mary E. Young, for their vision, dedication, and love for the business that gave all of us a great opportunity for personal growth, passion to win, and a sense of accomplishment.

Our deep gratitude and appreciation go to all of our customers for allowing us the opportunity to serve and deliver Absopure’s quality products for over one hundred years in Michigan and, now, nationally.

Thanks also to all of our suppliers.

In bringing this book to reality, various people have patiently assisted me in remembering names, events, and historical research. Now I must attempt to remember all of them myself. I apologize to anyone I may have omitted.

Special thanks to my family and William Patrick Young, my son, for his support and energy to help make it happen. Also to Diana Walker, who kept us all directed to delivering a book of historical facts, and on time. Also to Dave Daugherty, who electronically and graphically brought us together. Thanks to Frank Zolenski for his attention to detail. Further thanks to our historians: Dave Beer, Don Rezanka, and Ed Ryder. In addition, gratitude to a great researcher, Bob O’Donnell, and my personal assistant, Sharon Hedgcock, who has a memory for all seasons.

Further, I acknowledge: the Hodde family: Bud and Blanche; the Angott family (Tom and Larry); the Bell family (Bill and Kathy); the Conti family (Ralph and Joanne), and the Bill Schroeder family —all of whom have given Absopure years of their support and advice.

I acknowledge the important contributions of the following people, who either racked their own mine: Artmemory Amelotteor promptedBill Carbott Paul Robinson Frank Taylor

I

Jim Bittikofer Robert Breach John Camp

Glen Davis Tom Jabaro Mike Nagle

Tom Schindel Bill Slat Jim Steinke

Frank Versaggio Leann Underhill

I hope you enjoy this descriptive book on the one-hundred-year history of the Absopure Water Company.

Again, many thanks to all of those wonderful contributors who helped make it happen.

—William C. Young PRESIDENT Editor: Rob Levin Publisher: Barry Levin Chief Operating Officer: Renee Peyton Project Manager: Diana Walker Managing Editor: Sarah Fedota Senior Writer: Rena Distasio Copy Editor and Indexer: Bob Land Photo Editor: Jill Dible Jacket and Book Design: Jill Dible Photographer: Thomas S. England Printed in Canada

Copyright © 2008 Absopure Water Corp.

Absopure Home & Office Delivery 8845 General Drive Plymouth, MI 48170 1 (800) 4-ABSOPURE or 1 (800) 422-7678 Absopure Grocery & Wholesale Division 8835 General Drive Plymouth, MI 48170 1 (800) 334-1064

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Absopure Water Corporation.

Book Development by: Bookhouse Group, Inc. 818 Marietta Street NW Atlanta, Georgia 30318 (404) 885-9515 www.bookhouse.net

Thomas V. Angott 1926–2008

We dedicate this book to the memory of our friend Tom Angott, who passed away as the final drafts were being prepared for this printing.

u Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Contents Introduction – 9

Chapter One – 15

The Absopure Tradition

1908–1956: The Foundation of Quality

Q UALITY WATER R UNS D EEP

I T B EGINS

WITH

I CE

Chapter Two – 29

Chapter Three – 45

1956–1986: The Young Years

1986–Present: The Bottled Water Revolution

“N O B ETTER P EOPLE

TO

W ORK F OR ”

F ROM L AUNDRY S HELF

TO

B EVERAGE A ISLE

The refreshment industry has undergone many changes in trends and technologies over the past one hundred years, but one thing has remained the same. Absopure’s service providers continue to embody the company’s tradition of personalized service and can-do spirit.

INTRODUCTION

The Absopure Tradition QUALITY WATER RUNS DEEP

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

9

T

o fully appreciate the hydrological roots of Absopure Water Company, you must go deep. Deep inside the ground, below a spring located just outside Detroit, where water has been circulating for centuries, the product of complex geological forces that occurred so many millions of years ago, the human brain struggles to comprehend the time frame.

10

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

Introduction

Still other geologic forces operate today, forces we can see, understand, even feel.

These forces push the water to the surface, where it slowly seeps and spreads along the ground, as pure in content as any form of water on earth.

For nearly one hundred years, Absopure has been harvesting, filtering, bottling, and delivering water from this spring. Established in 1908 as an ice delivery service, Absopure soon shifted its focus to delivering five-gallon bottles of water to homes and businesses throughout Detroit.

Today, Absopure’s operations in Plymouth, Michigan, are a model of high-tech efficiency, with tens of thousands of bottles of all sizes each day speeding along production lines for filling, packaging, and labeling. Along with its spring water, customers can also choose from purified, distilled,

p One of the ways Absopure moved large chunks of ice from its harvesting sites to distribution centers in Detroit was by barge down the Detroit River.

Today, the company’s transportation system is much more high-tech, but every van, semitruck, or tanker still bears the unmistakable Absopure logo.

fortified, and flavored products. But while Absopure has expanded into all facets of the water-bottling industry, that five-gallon bottle, delivered with a smile, sealed with a handshake, and backed by a century of personalized customer service, still defines the heart of the company.

To understand why bottled water makes up such a major segment of America’s refreshment industry, you have to travel back to eighteenth-century Europe. Then it was a popular practice among the continent’s upper classes to “take the waters” at natural mineral springs like Eger and Carlsbad in the Czech Republic and Baden-Baden in Germany. These waters, it was believed, had medicinal properties capable of curing a host of ills. As a result, a separate industry sprang up to bottle those waters for use by people not healthy enough to visit the springs.

A similar practice developed in the United States around 1820, when a preacher named D. O. Griswold began bottling the effervescent spring waters of Saratoga Springs, New York. Whether because of natural contaminants or those produced by human civilization, the vast majority of available water, no matter how “natural,” must be treated to make it safe for human consumption. The exception is water that slowly filters up from deep in the ground to natural springs or wells, along the way losing much of its contamination. So by the end of the nineteenth century, bottled spring water was no longer regarded as exclusively medicinal, but as necessary to everyday survival. t Water coolers are not just for offices. For over a century, Absopure has also provided families throughout the region with a plentiful supply of safe, healthy, and great-tasting drinking water.

Then in 1913, the city of Philadelphia installed the country’s first permanent chlorinated water treatment plant. The rest of America’s major municipalities soon followed suit, and by 1920, nearly everyone had easy access to a safe, clean, daily water supply. It was a terrible blow to the bottled water industry.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

11

Introduction

t America’s fledgling nineteenth-century water bottling operations most likely produced only a couple dozen bottles per day. Today, Absopure’s state-of-the-art facilities can fill, label, cap, and package hundreds of thousands in a twenty-four hour time frame.

Down but not out, bottlers throughout the nation regrouped and began to focus their five-gallon bottle delivery service on places that could not afford to invest in plumbing or tap into their city’s newly purified water supply—rural farms and communities, factories, and small shop owners. In this way, America’s bottled water industry quietly survived until the next shift in the tide.

That shift came in the late 1960s. After decades of sewage and indus-

trial waste either leaking or being deliberately dumped into its nation’s lakes and rivers, Americans began to question whether even the most carefully monitored municipal water supplies was safe.

The industry got another boost in the 1970s, when French company Perrier introduced to the market the concept of the single-serving water bottle. Together, these events started a resurgence in the popularity of bottled water that continues to this day.

It is against this historic backdrop that Absopure Water Company celebrates its one hundredth anniversary in 2008. While a handful of large corporations are responsible for nearly half the bottled water sales in the United States today, the other half reflects the combined efforts of hundreds of mostly private operations. Absopure is not only one of them, but is one of the most highly regarded in the industry.

Family owned and operated since the beginning, Absopure has never lost touch with its people or its clients, even while pioneering new technologies, expanding its reach, and establishing pioneering ventures to support its operations. Retirees and current employees alike speak of their tenure with affection, pride, and respect. Customers laud the quality of Absopure’s product, the efficiency of its service, the friendliness of its people, and the integrity of its dealings. A company with deep ties to the community, it continues to assist those in need, both locally

q Everything a home or office needs for high-quality refreshment is available from an Absopure service provider— from five- and three-gallon water bottles to juices, coffees, teas, hot chocolate, even soups.

and throughout the country.

Absopure today represents the state of the art in bottled water. It also represents the very best of the industry’s history and traditions, selling a safe, great-tasting product backed by an unwavering commitment to personalized service.

From bottled water’s humble beginnings in home and office delivery to its status as an integral part of a $6-billiona-year industry, Absopure has been there every step of the way. This is the story of that journey.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

13

This five-gallon glass water jug was for many years the standard size for home and office water delivery. Made from thick, sturdy glass, these bottles had to withstand not only the rigors of filling and transporting, but also numerous washings and sterilizations for reuse. In 1910, the cost of a five-gallon bottle of Absopure Aerated Distilled Water was $3.75. Cooler rental with daily ice delivery ran an extra $3.00 per month.

CHAPTER ONE

1908–1956: The Foundation of Quality I T B EGINS

WITH

I CE

L

ike many sons born in the late nineteenth century whose fathers died at a young age, David Abraham Brown found himself faced with the daunting task of suddenly having to provide for his family. In his case, that meant not only his mother, but also ten brothers and sisters. So in 1896, the twenty-one-year-old, who had lived in Detroit since he was five years old, did what any enterprising young man in his position would do: he started a business.

Partnering with his brothers Julius and Israel he established Brown & Brown as a coal distribution service to homes and businesses throughout Detroit. By 1899, the Detroit Business Directory listed Brown & Brown operating out of three locations—294 Woodward at Elizabeth, 353 Fourteenth Street, and 549 Michigan Avenue.

In 1903, the Browns purchased the assets of the People’s Ice Company, adding ice delivery to their roster of services under a division called General Ice Delivery Company, which was located in Detroit’s Fairview Station at the foot of Lycaste Avenue. (A few years later, it moved its administrative offices to the Washington Arcade, according to city directories at the time.) They also purchased a natural spring just outside the city at Twelve Mile Road and by 1908 were selling water and ice under the brand name Absopure.

The summer of 1908 may not have been the warmest in Detroit’s history, but for the nearly half-million people living in the metropolitan area, temperatures that regularly hit the high eighties were hot enough. Unlike today, cooling off was not a matter of simply flipping a switch. Instead, when the sun blazed down and the heat rose from the streets, ice was the one thing that could make life more bearable.

With it, restaurants and pubs provided chilled refreshment to their customers. Hospitals stabilized patients’ temperatures, and hotels ensured their guests a comfortable night’s sleep with cooling systems crafted from fans and blocks of ice. Most importantly, ice allowed grocers to eas-

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

15

ily keep meat and other perishables fresh for their customers, who then stored their purchases safely inside insulated wooden iceboxes, free from the worry of food-borne illnesses.

Fire and ice—undoubtedly the two greatest necessities for human development and survival throughout the ages. In Detroit, the Brown brothers had the necessities market cornered. In the end, however, it would be ice, not coal, that would form the foundation for the expansion of this fledgling business.

A Growing Company The move into ice delivery was a savvy one, for ice harvesting and delivery had been big business in the United States since the early 1800s. By the mid-nineteenth century in New England, for instance, the industry ranked among the region’s most important and was a major American export second only to cotton.

Although the technology to manufacture ice was well in place by 1908, General Ice Delivery Company harvested the majority of its product from natural sources. Each winter season, the company sent its ice harvesters up to the lakes, ponds, and marshy deltas that emptied into the Detroit River. There, they carved out massive blocks of ice that they either stored at on-site ice storage houses or floated on barges down the Detroit River to the city’s docks. Once at the docks, the blocks were then loaded onto wagons and driven to the company’s nine ice stations for distribution.

By 1912, the company was advertising its product under the name Absopure Manufactured

and

Certified

Natural Ice, the certification speaking to the public’s general concern over the safety of natural versus manu-

David A. Brown and his brothers, Julius and Israel, establish Brown & Brown Coal Company to distribute coal to homes and businesses throughout Detroit.

16

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

Brown & Brown now operating out of three locations.

1903

1899

1896

factured ice. To reas-

t This photo of Absopure’s Dubois ice station from around 1908 reveals the extent of the company’s operations even in its earliest days.

To streamline the delivery and sales process, Absopure sold its ice via coupon books, with each nine-cent coupon entitling the customer to a twentypound block of ice.

The Browns purchase the assets of the People’s Ice Company, adding ice delivery to their roster of services under a division called General Ice Delivery Company.

Although moving ice could be hard, dangerous work, the ice tong made the job a little easier. Ranging from one to several feet in length and forged from heavy steel, these instruments were imperative when moving slippery blocks of ice from the wagon into the home or office.

sure their customers, the brothers brought in an inspector from New York City, a Professor Sparks, to put his certified stamp of approval on the purity of Absopure’s lake ice.

At the Natural Ice Convention in November of that year, Brown addressed his audience on the topic of “Advertising Ice,” revealing to his audience not only that his company allocated about ten thousand dollars a year to advertising but also its customer service philosophy: “[It] begins with the man who meets your customer and serves her every day.” And the person who really runs the business is the “man on the wagon.” As it turns out, this philosophy would be one of the guiding principles through-

General Ice Delivery Company purchases an artesian well just outside the city at Twelve Mile Road and begins to sell water and ice under the brand name Absopure.

18

1916

1912

out Absopure’s entire history.

1908

q When General Necessities incorporated in 1916, David A. Brown held seventy of the one hundred issued shares, valued at ten dollars per share.

As this 1927 certificate shows, the price per share over a decade later was still the same, but by then the company had filed to increase its capital stock from $6 million to $7 million.

The average price of ice in the summer of 1912 was twenty-two-and-a-half cents per one hundred pounds.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

David and Israel form General Necessities Corporation as a manufacturer and distributor of coal, ice, ice cream, refrigeration, and water.

1908–1956: The Foundation of Quality

On June 30, 1916, Brown, his brother Israel, Robert Houghton (owner of another Detroit ice delivery company), and four others filed articles to incorporate under the name General Necessities Corporation as a manufacturer and distributor of coal, ice, ice cream, water, water coolers, and refrigeration. Headquartered downtown at 301 Washington Boulevard and

p By the late 1910s, Absopure had grown its operations to include nine ice distribution centers. This one at Congress and Cass Avenue most likely served a client base that fell within a two- to three-mile radius.

with property and other assets valued at $1.5 million, the company received its articles of incorporation on July 3. David A. Brown took seventy of the initial one hundred shares and assumed

1923

Albert Stein sues General Necessities for premises liability after he falls down an elevator shaft while moving a two-hundred-pound block of ice up to the third floor of one of the company’s buildings.

1920

1920

the presidency of the company.

Construction of new General Necessities building at 2011 Park Avenue is completed.

General Necessities boasts nine ice distribution centers, 350 delivery wagons, four ice manufacturing plants, and nearly 150,000 tons of reserve ice.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

19

This building served as the General Ice Delivery Company’s headquarters as well one of its four ice manufacturing sites. Ice was manufactured by mixing a volatile liquid—in this case ammonia—with water, boiling that mixture, and then evaporating it in a process that produced temperatures cold enough to freeze water into ice. The square-shaped structure on the building’s roof is the “liquidator.”

20

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

21

p An early Absopure ice wagon and its delivery driver.

Within only a few short years after the company’s establishment, its fleet would increase to over 350 “horse powers,” with those wagons a familiar daily site on the streets of Detroit.

Such was the demand for ice that only a few years later, General Necessities was operating four ice manufacturing facilities throughout Detroit. Further, the company held over 125,000 tons of ice in storage at its six lakeside icehouses, and within Detroit itself, another 20,000 tons.

Moving that ice was another marvel of manpower and organization.

With nine delivery stations extending from Highland Park to the river and

from Fort Wayne to nearby Grosse Pointe, nearly every Absopure customer was located within a mile of readily available ice. The company’s fleet of 350 horse-drawn delivery wagons ensured

Michigan Supreme Court makes final ruling in Stein v. General Necessities, reversing an earlier ruling by a lower court awarding Albert Stein a sixteenthousand-dollar judgment.

22

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

Miller Automotive Supply secures franchises for three Illinois counties to sell Absopure’s iceless “Frigerators.”

1927

1926

1925

that those users received their product in a timely manner, either in whole blocks or chipped

General Necessities files amended articles of association, authorizing its directors to mortgage the corporation’s property to meet its outstanding debts.

1908–1956: The Foundation of Quality

down by the driver into whatever size was needed. For years, a popular summer pastime for Detroit’s children was to follow the Absopure trucks and gather up the falling chips of ice to suck on.

Changing Times There was a reason that the six men who incorporated under General Necessities had added refrigeration to their list of services. They realized that safe, efficient mechanical refrigeration could eventually make their ice delivery business obsolete. Never afraid to innovate, the company invested heavily in research and manufacturing and developed its own “Frigerator” under the Absopure brand name. As an ad from the January 1926 Saturday Evening Post illustrates, this refrigerator was apparently a hot seller throughout the region as well as in Detroit. Thus began the General Necessities division called the Absopure Refrigeration Corporation, with W. J. Carlyle as its president, at 1560 Theodore.

General Necessities also continued to capitalize on the demand by homes and offices for a trustworthy supply of fresh drinking water. Although

q The first refrigerators manufactured for home use were simple insulated boxes that housed chunks of ice. In the early 1920s, consumers were introduced to true electrical refrigeration. Absopure’s own “Frigerator” was state-ofthe-art for the times and could be found in homes and businesses through-out the region.

Detroit’s municipal water system had been chlorinated since 1913, not all the city’s homes, offices, and factories could afford to hook into the main lines. Additionally, many multistoried buildings at the time were unable to afford to construct plumbing that would pump water up to their top floors. Finally, due in large part to Henry Ford’s burgeoning automobile manufacturing industry and the additional business opportunities it created, Detroit was experiencing a boom in population, which swelled from about half a million in 1908 to over 2 million by the early 1920s. The demand for safe, easily accessible drinking water rose accordingly. To meet demand, the brothers added another water division: Absopure Distilled Aerated Water Company, on Michigan Avenue near Twelfth, which provided customers with distilled water in five-gallon glass bottles.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

23

The Business of Ice

U

ntil the advent of mechanical refrigeration in the 1920s, keeping cool was a labor-intensive job.

As far back as 1000 B.C., the Chinese cut chunks of ice out of frozen lakes and ponds and stored

them in pits dug in the ground. By 400 B.C., the ancient Persians had invented passively cooled refrigerators to keep ice frozen in the desert. These dome-shaped yakhchal were incredibly heat-resistant thanks to foot-thick walls constructed out of a mortar of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash. By the nineteenth century in America, ice harvesting was a bona fide industry, although not without its dangers. Working in below-freezing temperatures and wielding saws as tall as an adult, picks honed to precision sharpness, and tongs forged from heavy steel, harvesters had to keep their wits about them. One miss with the gaff hook or slip of the tongs and a block of ice could cripple a man. Steam- and electric-powered saws made the job easier if you could get them, but for the most part, ice harvesting was done almost entirely by hand.

The ice was then cut to size and carefully stored inside insulated icehouses, layer after layer alternated with straw, sawdust, or flannel, until it was distributed to customers via horse-drawn wagon.

From Boom to Bust By 1923, the future looked bright for General Necessities. That year, it moved into its new headquarters in a neighborhood that would become Detroit’s toniest business district. Located at 2011 Park Avenue overlooking the Grand Circus Park, the twelve-story architectural masterpiece was designed exclusively for the company by renowned architect Albert Kahn, who also happened to be David Brown’s brother-in-law. Today, the building is part of the Park Avenue National Historic District. During this period of growth, the patriarch of a family whose own history has been intertwined with that of Absopure’s first appeared on the scene. Samuel Angott, a former office

Company bankers purchase the ice and coal delivery assets and form Detroit City Service Company. General Necessities’ water assets remain with the corporation.

24

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

Under the authorization of David A. Brown, General Necessities borrows $100,000 from Madison Investment Corporation, to be paid in full once sale of the ice cream business is made to Borden.

1929

1928

1927

boy for Henry Ford, joined the ice company and later rose to the position of plant manager.

Circuit court rules on Frigidaire Corporation’s suit against General Necessities for a 1920 home refrigerator patent. Patent is declared invalid, and General Necessities prevails.

1908–1956: The Foundation of Quality

As General Necessities’ water and ice businesses continued to grow (by the end of 1926, the company controlled roughly 60 percent of the ice market in Detroit), so too did its refrigeration division.

Not only did the company sell refrigerators, it had by March 1926 issued franchises, along with training, to various automotive supply companies to sell refrigerators in three Illinois counties.

By late 1927, however, the corporation began to flounder. In October, General Necessities was in danger of defaulting on $3 million in bonds and $1 million in other notes. To fulfill its obligations, the company filed amended articles of association, authorizing its directors to mortgage the corporation’s property. Two of its divisions—the ice and delivery assets, valued at $7.3 million—were purchased by the company’s bankers, who in turn formed the Detroit City Service Company.

When the American stock market crashed in 1929, it was a sound heard around the world. Thousands of businesses faltered in the wake of the crash, either immediately or within a few short years. In Detroit, one source noted that nearly 40 percent of the city’s businesses would eventually fail. Already weakened, General Necessities was not in a position to weather the storm. u The process of distilling water has been traced as far back as ancient Babylonia. Distillation still remains a top method by which Absopure ensures healthful and refreshing drinking water for its customers.

By April 1928, the company was once again borrowing money to stay afloat, although it had intended to pay off the $100,000 loan from Madison Investment Corporation with the sale of its ice cream division to Borden. The

sale, for $650,000, was completed in 1929, but the absence of evidence indicating formal corporate authorization led to a lawsuit by Guardian Trust Company. Nathan Gross was appointed receiver of General Necessities against Brown and Madison Investment Corporation. On September 23, 1930, the case came before the Michigan Supreme Court, which ruled against

David A. Brown leaves Detroit to set up residence in New York City.

Over two thousand people attend a testimonial dinner at the Commodore, officially welcoming Brown to New York City and paying tribute to his status as a “Charity Leader.” President Hoover sends his personal congratulations.

1929

RL Polk Directory lists Absopure Distilled Aerated Water Company, operated by General Necessities Corporation, at Michigan Avenue near Twelfth, Tel Glendale 5809.

1929

1929

Brown and Madison.

Two General Necessities assets, Absopure Frigerator Company and Vogt Refrigerator Company, are purchased to form Absopure Refrigeration Company with plants in Detroit and Louisville.

Borden buys General Necessities’ ice cream business for $650,000.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

25

Other legal troubles, including a lawsuit instigated by Frigidaire Corporation for patent infringement (Frigidaire later lost), only added to the struggling company’s troubles.

According to papers housed at the American Jewish Archives, by 1929, despite being named as a defendant in two lawsuits, Brown left Detroit for New York City. There he established the Broadway National Bank and Trust Company and the Broadway National Company, with himself as chairman of the board of directors. Two years later, he entered the newspaper business as president and publisher of the American Hebrew and Jewish Tribune weeklies. A half-century after founding the ice company that would form the basis for Absopure, David Abraham Brown died in New York City on December 23, 1958, at the age of eighty-three.

The Portteus Years As is often true with disaster, for every house that comes tumbling down, a more solid structure is built out of the rubble. Although the state of Michigan dissolved General Necessities Corporation in 1932 for failing to file an annual report, one of its assets was available for sale.

History remains tight-lipped regarding Arthur Portteus and his brother-in-law, William H. Gard, who bought General Necessities’ water delivery division in 1933 and incorporated it under the name Absopure Water Company Inc. at 310 CPA Building. Given that they purchased an unstable business in an even more unstable economy, it is tempting to dismiss them as naïve. Still, Great Depression or no,

America

was

America. If you were smart and worked hard, it was undoubtedly a land of ample

The lawsuit instigated against David A. Brown and Madison Investment Corporation by receivers of General Necessities for improprieties arising from Brown’s 1928 loan deal goes to court.

The Michigan Supreme Court votes in favor of the receivers.

26

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

General Necessities Corporation is dissolved by the state of Michigan for failure to file an annual report.

Remaining assets are put up for sale.

1933

1932

1930

opportunity.

t By 1912, the average American ice making plant, of which this Absopure operation was mostly likely typical, could produce eighteen to nineteen tons of ice a day at an average cost of a few dollars per ton.

That meant a much lower cost to the end consumer than the going rate of twenty-two-and-ahalf cents per one hundred pounds of harvested ice.

Arthur Portteus and William H. Gard purchase General Necessities’ water business assets and incorporate under the name Absopure Water Company Inc., with address at 310 CPA Building.

1908–1956: The Foundation of Quality

By all accounts, the duo was both savvy and hard-working, and they were able to capitalize on the continued demand for water delivery and water cooler rental and sales. Another Absopure asset they had purchased along with the company name was an excellent artesian spring u “Wild Bill” Donovan, a pitcher with the Detroit Tigers from 1903 to 1912 and again in 1918, takes a break at an Absopure Water Wagon in the team’s dugout at Bennett Field.

From the beginning, Absopure has promoted the health benefits of staying hydrated and is able to bring its water wherever needed, indoors or out.

located at a slight ridge on a plot of land in Oakland County near Twelve

Mile

Road.

Then, it was bucolic Michigan countryside.

Decades later, the lot still appears rural, with

a broad yard and large trees sprouting from the grounds—but metropolitan Detroit has enveloped it with busy streets, subdivisions, and office parks.

In September 1936, Portteus replaced Gard as president of the company, and he and his wife, Belle, would now run Absopure together.

From the spring site, at which they also lived, the Portteuses drew water into tank trucks that then traveled to the Absopure bottling plant at Fourteenth and Henry in Detroit. From there, employees worked assembly-line fashion to fill hundreds of five-gallon bottles for distribution throughout the city. It was during this period that Absopure’s reputation for a trusted product coupled with efficient, economic, and friendly serv-

Absopure moves to 2025 Henry Street, and Joan Sprague replaces Belle Portteus as secretary.

1951

Arthur Portteus replaces Gard as president. Arthur’s wife, Belle Portteus, is appointed secretary. Business address is now located 2457 Grand River.

1938

1936

ice began to solidify.

The business address moves again to 201 CPA Building.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

27

Those lucky enough to have worked with William P. Young remember him as mechanically gifted and exceptionally resourceful, a man who could stay up all night to rebuild a bottle washer transmission as easily as he could don a suit and meet with potential customers.

CHAPTER TWO

1956–1986: The Young Years “N O B ETTER P EOPLE

TO

W ORK F OR ”

D

on Rezanka remembers his childhood in 1940s Detroit as an idyllic time filled with soapbox derbies, ball games in the streets, and ice cream at Eagle Dairy. His companion for many of those adventures was William C. (Bill) Young, whose parents, William P. and Mary Young, lived in a two-story brick home just down the street from the Rezankas’ on Worcester Place, a homey, three-hundred-yard-long tree-lined avenue between Woodward Avenue and John R Street.

Rezanka also recalls that day in 1957 when, as an easygoing high school graduate hoping to earn some pocket money, Mary Young came back into his life, not as the block mother who had watched over him in his boyhood, but as his boss. Having taken over Absopure Water Company a few years back, the Youngs were growing their operations, and they needed help. One thing led to another, and Rezanka found himself in the water business.

“I did everything, from cleaning the stills to delivering water to washing windows and painting the trucks,” he says. “And remember, back then, everything meant by hand.”

Including filling the water bottles. From the Fourteenth and Henry plant, Absopure’s tanker trucks would head out to the spring, fill up, and head back. “Once they returned,” says Rezanka, “we’d attach this long pipe with six spigots to the tanker, put a long table underneath the spigots, insert the bottles, and just start filling.”

In between tanker truck runs, Rezanka and his half-dozen co-workers filled the distilled water bottles from an army surplus distiller that William P.—or Big Bill, as everyone called him then—had purchased and converted to natural gas. “It was back and forth, between the distiller and the tanker, every day, all day.”

That was during the week.

While Mary ran the day-to-day operations, her husband spent Saturdays scouting for equipment to

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

29

improve production, often with Rezanka in tow. “Those are some of my fondest memories,” Rezanka says. “The man was a mechanical genius. He could understand any machine, no matter how complex.

If he didn’t have it, he’d make it. If it broke, he’d fix it. I think that’s what gave Absopure their advantage early on. Their costs were low because Big Bill found and maintained the machinery to do things more efficiently.”

William P. and Mary’s only child, Bill Young, who would join his parents in the business in 1967, remembers that while his father was the technical visionary, his mother embodied the company’s conscience. “She was the relationship person. If you had a problem, she would sit with you for hours to work q Although they would come to run a multibillion-dollar-ayear business, Mary and William P. Young never put on airs. Throughout their lives the couple remained generous, hard-working, and down-toearth, qualities that earned them not only success but also admiration and trust.

it out. She had a lot of compassion, but she was no pushover. She had the guts to tell you off if you needed it.”

Although Rezanka left Absopure in 1961 to join the army, what he learned working for Absopure stuck with him for the rest of his life, helping him develop a strong work ethic that he applied to a career in the automotive sealing industry with companies like Rockwell International and TRW. “You couldn’t have found better people to work for,” he says. “I learned so many things from Bill and Mary. Most importantly, I learned you don’t slack off. You work until the job is done.”

Early Years at Absopure One of five siblings born in Bay City, Michigan, to immigrant parents of German and Ukrainian decent, William P. Young left school with only an eighth-grade education. Regardless, he had a virtual Ph.D. in curiosity, drive, and mechanical know-how.

“My father had an ambition level like no one I’d ever met,” says Bill. “When he was determined to do something, no one could concentrate like

William P. Young, president of William P. Young and Company, and his wife, Mary Young, purchase Absopure from Arthur and Belle Portteus for sixty

30

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

David A. Brown dies at age eightythree, fifty years after establishing the Absopure brand.

1960

1958

1953

he could.”

Top company sales leader and future executive vice president Dave Beer is hired as a route driver.

1956–1986: The Young Years

p A tanker truck pulls into the Plymouth plant to unload its cargo—twelve thousand gallons of natural spring water pumped that morning. Seven of these tankers, plus two sixtyfive-hundred-gallon trucks, pump, transport, and unload around the clock.

The 1940s were the heyday of soda and beer production in the United States, and bottling industries thrived throughout Michigan. Young worked for the Sebewaing Brewing Company in Sebewaing, Michigan. In 1945, he went to work for Liquid Carbonic, based in Detroit, and later with the Detroit bottling equipment manufacturer George J. Meyers and Company.

Mary, who was also born and raised in Bay City, married her enterprising

sweetheart in 1939. With energy and drive to match her husband’s, she was far from a stay-at-home mom. Once Bill was in school, she ran the family’s grocery store, Marbil’s, on Nevada Street.

In 1956, Young left Meyers to strike out on his own. He established his own water bottling equip-

The Youngs relocate the water plant to 2527-35 West Hancock Street in Detroit.

1961

Jim Bittikofer, current production manager for Home and Office, is hired to wash and fill water bottles.

1961

1961

ment sales company, William P. Young and Company, and proceeded to cold call local businesses. One

William and Mary’s only child, William C. (Bill) Young, contracts with Hoover Universal in Detroit to purchase half-gallon dairy bottles made from polyethylene, a high-density, odorless, and tasteless plastic.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

31

p The old Absopure plant at 2527-35 West Hancock Street in Detroit still remains in the Young family’s hands. Preserving their past is important to them, so they oversee the property’s upkeep and make sure the building always has a fresh coat of paint.

morning he walked into Absopure to make a sale. He walked out having made a buy.

“I don’t think it took him but two days to decide,” Bill continues. “My dad came home that night and said to us over dinner, ‘Well, I bought a water company today.’”

The purchase price, including all assets and the Oakland County spring,

was sixty thousand dollars.

From 1956 to 1961, the Youngs concentrated on continuing Absopure’s decades-long reputation as a reliable supplier of quality drinking water—both distilled and from the spring—to homes and businesses throughout metropolitan Detroit.

“When I started, everything was built around the five-gallon bottle service,” says Dave Beer. An-

Absopure continues to grow business by adding single-gallon water jars to the five-gallon water delivery service it provides to home and office customers.

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

The Youngs purchase Absopure’s first used Uniloy blow molding machine from Breece & Yeasel Injection Company, thus enabling Absopure to manufacture its own plastic bottles.

1967

1964

1964

other young man from the neighborhood who hired on with the company in 1960 as a route driver. Beer

Bill Young graduates from University of Detroit and joins Absopure full-time as vice president.

1956–1986: The Young Years

would eventually retire in 2003 as Absopure’s executive vice president. “We made over a hundred stops a day, with between two to three bottles per stop.”

At the old Hancock Street plant, now an empty building that the company still owns, the days began at 6 a.m., with the drivers lining up their trucks to be loaded with the day’s orders. Armed with their route books, which contained tickets for the water delivery orders, they would work with the office to map out the day’s route. Communications in the office were rudimentary at best. If one of the four employees in the office wanted to speak with one of the seven route guys in the truck bays, they simply slid open an interior window in their upstairs office and called out.

After checking their loads (the trucks had been loaded the night before), the drivers began their deliveries. In the days before plastic jugs and pallet jacks, hoisting fifty-pound glass water bottles, whether up onto an eight-foot-high truck bed or over one’s shoulders, required superior strength, aim, and reflexes. Drivers developed such muscular control, they could pick a five-gallon bottle up by its neck, flip it in the air, and yet have it land softly on their shoulders without doing any damage. Beer, like many drivers from the 1960s, still bears the telltale “saddle” indent in his shoulders from doing this. Other hazards were less innocuous. “In the winter, if you were lifting a bottle and heard it start to crack”—a tell-tale tink sound—“because it had froze?” Beer shakes his head. “You learned to let the thing drop and get out of the way before it shat-

q A family business in the truest sense, William P. Young not only passed his legacy onto his son, William C. (Bill) Young, but also to Absopure’s employees. “The Youngs always talked openly about their vision,” says Dave Beers, “and they always encouraged everyone to become part of it.”

tered all over you.”

By 3 p.m., the drivers began returning to the Hancock Street facility, lining up the seven trucks along the street to be checked in. Since the drivers delivered and sold water orders and collected payment, the cash had to be reconciled and inventory counted.

The process started all over again the next morning as thousands of Detroit residents grew accustomed to the Absopure trucks gracing their streets.

Bill Young Joins the Business They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but in Bill Young’s case, that would be two trees—for he embodied his father’s exceptional mechanical ability as well as his

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

33

What’s in a Name?

J

ust as Absopure’s owners have diligently maintained the purity of its ice and water, they have also understood the importance of establishing and defending the company’s intellectual property. At the

1912 ice convention, David A. Brown highlighted the crucial role that using the single trade name “Absopure” played in the company’s sales success. In the 1920s, sensing that the increased supply of plentiful, cheap electricity and continuing technological innovations would allow smaller refrigerators to replace iceboxes in the home, Brown moved the company into that market segment. In 1929, Frigidaire, then owned by General Motors, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against General Necessities. General Necessities ultimately won, establishing an important legal principle, but by that time had foundered in the Depression. Finally, when the Youngs purchased Absopure in 1956, they faced a challenge to the use of the company’s very name from former employees of the Portteuses, who set up a competing firm under the name “Alsopure.” The Youngs hired an attorney to establish that the new firm’s name was too similar to the long-established Absopure trademark. Alsopure backed down, and the

mother’s people skills. “He is a tremendous salesperson,” says Bill’s son, William Patrick Young, who himself started in the family business in 1990 after graduating college. “And he has vision. He can make things work that other people think are impossible.”

Sixteen years old when his parents bought Absopure, Bill was involved in the business from the beginning. First as an eavesdropper during dinnertime discussions, and then later as a route driver after school and in the summers, Bill developed a thorough understanding of how the water business worked.

He was also thinking about where it could go.

Hence, the period from 1961 to 1973 at Absopure was defined by innovation and growth, some of it implemented by Bill, for this was truly a family operation. Ideas and initiative were always encouraged, no matter what your age or position.

Bill and his dad started experimenting with smaller-sized bottles and with materials other than glass.

The Angott family, longtime supporters and friends of the Youngs and investors in Farmer Jacks and Farm Maid, contract to purchase all their plastic bottles from Absopure.

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

Contract with the Angotts allows the Youngs to establish a separate bottle manufacturing operation, Plastipak.

1972

1967

1967

“We even tried paper milk-carton jugs,” he says. But Bill knew there was only one viable solution. “The

Absopure celebrates $5 million in sales.

No doubt one of the greatest changes to home and office delivery was the switch from glass to plastic in the 1970s. While still reusable, these plastic bottles are lighter and less expensive than the old glass jugs which weighed fourteen pounds empty, fifty-six pounds when filled with water.

Recycled PET bottle pellets at Clean Tech, Absopure’s recycling affiliate. These “foodgrade” pellets are used to manufacture a variety of food and beverage containers.

Clean Tech works closely with the FDA to maintain the strictest standards on this unique capability, made possible by Clean Tech’s advanced recycling technologies.

1956–1986: The Young Years

The Youngs Inspire Close Ties

M

any factors have gone into making Absopure the success it is today, including the support of a number of longtime friends and col-

leagues. “One of my dad’s finest qualities was that he inspired people,” says Bill Young. “And when people get excited about what you’re doing, they want to help.” An early source of support came from Bud and Blanche Hodde, with whom the Youngs became friendly after William P. Young installed bottling equipment in the Hoddes’ family beverage business, Squirt Detroit. That acquaintanceship grew into a decades-long friendship defined by mutual assistance and sound business advice. Bud Hodde also introduced the Youngs to one of his associates, Bud Shaeffer, who would eventually serve on Absopure’s advisory board well into the 1990s.

way to go was plastics, but the problem was, those early plastics tasted and smelled so bad, we couldn’t use them.”

In 1961, Bill heard that Hoover Universal in Detroit had developed a machine called a Uniloy to make half-gallon dairy bottles out of high-density polyethylene that had no odor or taste. He made an appointment with Hoover’s owners and negotiated the sales of those bottles to Absopure. He was only twenty-one years old.

A few years later, another thought occurred to Bill: why buy when you can produce? In 1964, Absopure purchased its own Uniloy blow molding machine from Breece & Yeasel Injection Company in Jackson Center, Ohio, as well as several more machines from Bodker Dairy in Detroit.

In 1967, the Angott family, investors in Farmer Jack’s and Farm Maid and lifelong friends of the Youngs, committed to purchasing all their plastic bottles from Absopure. A pivotal event in the company’s history, that agreement allowed the Youngs to establish their own bottle manufacturing plant, Plastipak Packaging Inc. Today, Plastipak is a world leader in the industry, with dozens of facilities in North Amer-

Absopure and Plastipak are purchased

by Beatrice Foods, with Bill Young remaining as regional director of the two divisions.

1978

1973

ica, South America, and Europe.

As a division of Beatrice Foods, Absopure introduces Cap 10 brand sparkling mineral water to the beverage market and produces its first order of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for a major client, Pepsi.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

37

Jim Bittikofer, production manager for Home and Office, oversees the five-gallon filling system. Having worked for Absopure since 1960, his knowledge and resourcefulness have proved invaluable to the company.

Known as a jack-of-all-trades, employees are still fond of saying, “Give Jim a roll of duct tape, and he’ll make anything work.”

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

39

The Angott and Young Heritage

T

he Angott and Young families have enjoyed close ties that go back to Absopure’s earliest days. In the 1920s, Sam Angott worked as plant manager for General Necessities before founding one of Michi-

gan’s most successful dairies in 1930. In a twist of fate, in the early 1940s, he hired William P. Young to install equipment at Angott’s dairy processing plant, Farm Maid. Ten years later, Young helped develop production lines for the Angott family’s new soda pop business. The Angotts in turn would become Plastipak’s first major customer, signing a contract in 1967 that guaranteed the purchase of the dairy’s plastic bottles and crates from the Youngs’ new venture. “All through the years, the Angott and Young families have worked together to help one another in their respective businesses,” says Bill Young. “We owe Larry Angott

them a great debt of thanks.”

The year 1967 also marked Bill Young’s graduation from the University of Detroit with a degree in electrical engineering. He would never use it directly. Instead, he would apply his education and vision to growing his family’s business.

The Beatrice Foods Period By the early 1970s, Absopure was a leading producer of bottled water to homes and offices throughout the Midwest.

It had recently acquired its main competitor, Panacea Water Company, and it was extending its grocery business into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. With a readily available source for bottles, Absopure had also been able to take its first steps into the wholesale grocery

t The Young family’s ability to inspire loyalty has resulted in one of the highest employee retention rates in the industry.

Another of its long-term employees is Diana (Walker) Thomas, shown here in a company advertisement. Hired in 1971, Diana went on to oversee Home and Office and then retired in 2007 after twelve years as director of human resources.

business with gallon and half-gallon bottles of distilled water.

In early 1973, one of the giants in the food and beverage industry, Beatrice Foods, took notice. “We had been sell-

40

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

Absopure’s water coolers are perfect for industrial locations with multiple production or manufacturing lines, making it possible for employees to stay hydrated even in the absence of plumbing.

ing them plastic bottles but didn’t know they also wanted us to produce the water for those bottles,” Bill recalls. Beatrice made the Youngs an offer on both Absopure and Plastipak. The family talked it over and agreed to the sale, with Bill remaining on board as regional manager of both divisions.

Ed Ryder, longtime legal counsel for the Youngs, represented them in the transaction. He recalls the sale was far from business as usual. “I had worked on a number of mergers and acquisitions and knew that when a family business sells to a large corporation, they tend to take the money and get out. Not the Youngs. They stayed and worked. They wanted to push themselves and push Beatrice. Not because q Cap 10 brand sparkling mineral water was introduced to the beverage market in 1978.

Featuring four natural flavors,it remains a popular option for people who want the effervescence and flavor of soda without the sugar and calories.

they were workaholics. That’s not the right word because the Youngs never considered what they did as work. They considered it exciting and fun.”

Because Beatrice operated on a decentralized basis, Bill was allowed a large amount of leeway to run the two divisions. As a result, Absopure thrived, introducing to the market several notable products, including Cap 10, one of the country’s first flavored sparkling mineral waters with natural fruit essence.

Likewise, Plastipak produced its first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for a major client, Pepsi.

At the time of the Beatrice purchase, Absopure posted $5 million in sales. Nearly ten years later, that number would hit $50 million.

By the early 1980s, however, Beatrice was experiencing problems and made plans to sell off many of its divisions. When the Youngs realized that Absopure and Plastipak were in danger of getting lost in the shuffle, they offered to buy them back. In August 1982, Absopure and Plastipak were back in the

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

1956–1986: The Young Years

Youngs’ hands as two separate divisions.

To support a growing business, the family also launched within the next several years two new company affiliates. White Line Express, a trucking service established in 1984, now serves customers coast-to-coast through facilities in the Southeast and Midwest. In 1986, Absopure became the first water company to recycle its own plastic bottles when it opened Clean Tech, whose

p Absopure and its Clean Tech recycling affiliate work together on sustainability of the environment through “bottle-to-bottle” recycling. Established in 1986, Clean Tech is one of the largest plastic bottle recyclers in the country, recycling over 3 billion bottles per year.

Dundee and Canton, Michigan, plants now recycle over 3 billion bottles per year. These companies together created a self-sufficient system that would give Absopure a distinct ad-

The Young family purchases Absopure and Plastipak back from Beatrice Foods, forming two separate corporate entities.

1982

1982

vantage in an industry that was about to experience a resurgence of unprecedented proportions.

Absopure continues to expand business into the wholesale market, selling gallonand half-gallon-sized bottles of distilled and spring water to grocers throughout the region.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

43

Absopure service provider Brian Fair is more than a driver. He is the manager of a mobile refreshment store. Here, he loads his truck with a large office delivery, which, like most Home and Office routes, he repeats about once every twenty days.

CHAPTER THREE

1986–Present: The Bottled Water Revolution F ROM L AUNDRY S HELF

A

TO

B EVERAGE A ISLE

lthough we now take for granted the fact that we can walk into just about any retail outlet and purchase a single-serving bottle of water, up until the early 1980s, bottled water was not considered a viable grocery product.

“We weren’t competing against other water companies,” says Dave Beer, who helped pioneer Absopure’s grocery sales in the 1970s. “We were competing against municipal water supplies. So we went in and told grocers our steam-distilled water was a great product for their laundry aisles because women used it in their irons.”

Which is why he so vividly remembers the first time a major grocery store purchased Absopure’s steam-distilled water as a beverage. “We made our pitch to Bob Garbarino, the buyer for Farmer Jacks, and a few of his district managers. When we were done, every manager gave us the thumbsdown. Then Garbarino turned to me and said, ‘How soon can you have a truckload in our warehouse?’ It was a very important sale for us.”

So how did bottled water move from laundry to beverage aisle and eventually become more than just refreshment but a way of life?

Looking back, there seems to be no one single contributing factor to the phenomenon, but, rather, a convergence of several trends. The American public’s growing distrust of tap water’s safety certainly played a part, as did the 1980s fitness craze, which no doubt sparked interest in the necessity of proper hydration for optimal athletic performance.

Bill Young outlines another contributing factor. “Quality bottled water in single-serving packages provided American consumers with portability and convenience. That is what moved the bottled water industry, and it’s what moved us.”

To meet the growing demand, in 1985 Absopure moved its small packaging operations from the Detroit plant to a more centralized location in Plymouth (Home and Office followed in 1991), and by 1990 it was producing two-and-a-half-, one-, and half-gallon bottles for the wholesale grocery

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

45

market. In 1995, the company produced its first single-serving PET bottles, whose sales by the end of the year hit the $1 million mark.

Absopure’s Single-Serving Market “In the late 1990s I’d walk into a store like Meijer and see ten to fifteen different brands of bottled water on the shelves,” says Mike Nagle, vice president of sales and operations for Absopure’s grocery market. Nagle, who has been with the company since 1988, says that today’s store managers now stock mostly the big national brands plus one or two regionals. “That’s one of our biggest accomplishments, that we’re one of those regional suppliers still on the shelves.”

No easy feat in a water market dominated by international giants CocaCola (Dasani), Pepsi (Aquafina), and Nestlé (Perrier and Poland Spring), which

The Young family launches White Line Express, a coast-to-coast trucking company.

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

William C. Young negotiates purchase of Buffalo Don’s Artesian Wells to supply the growing Chicago and Wisconsin markets.

1985

1985

together make up about 50 percent of the bottled water market nationwide.

1984

q Customers can purchase Absopure’s 16.9-ounce natural spring water either singly or in packs of fifteen. The size is a big seller at grocery and convenience stores, as well as mass merchandise stores like Target and Wal-Mart, club stores like Sam’s Club and Costco, and even ood service businesses.

Absopure moves its small packaging operations from Detroit to the current Plymouth location.

1986–Present: The Bottled Water Revolution

In any event, there are certain things beverage giants do not offer their customers. Store branding is one of them. Absopure began offering store branding service back in the 1970s, and today it makes up a large percentage of the company’s single-serving production, whether for national chains or regional retail outlets.

Robert Breach, director of sales, notes another reason for Absopure’s suc-

p As vice president of sales and manufacturing for Absopure’s grocery division, Mike Nagle, shown here in front of a half-liter production line at the Plymouth plant, works to ensure the overall profitability of grocery’s operations.

Absopure is first to market with a clear gallon plastic jug.

1990

The Young family forms Clean Tech recycling company to handle the waste from its bottled water operations.

1988

1988

cess in such a competitive single-serving market. “Not only are we smaller, more nimble, and we

Absopure is producing two-and-a-halfgallon, one-gallon, and half-gallon bottles for the wholesale grocery market.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

47

Maintenance technician Bob Levanseler oversees the loading of thousands of Plastipak bottle preforms into the blow-fill system.

Currently, Plastipak is working to reduce the amount of plastic used in its water bottles, while still retaining their durability and strength.

1986–Present: The Bottled Water Revolution

make decisions faster,” he says, “but our upper level is always involved. Mr. Young meets with many of our customers personally.”

That accessibility, continues Breach, is rare in the bottled water industry. “When I worked at Evian, I maybe spoke with my boss once a month. Here, not a day goes by that I don’t speak to Mr. Young. Even when I’m traveling, he calls at the end of the day for a recap.”

Frank Zolenski, Absopure’s marketing director since 1992, points out that unlike many corporate conglomerate producers, Absopure has a compelling story to tell about its water. “Many bottled waters are nothing more than municipal supplies that have been purified,” he says. “But we haven’t strayed from the core of our business, which is our natural spring water. Our products remind people that not all water is the same, that ours comes from a natural source, a real place.

p Absopure is always on the lookout to develop additional natural spring sites. This one in Missouri features the distinctly crisp taste that makes the company’s spring water so popular with consumers.

Quality, in our taste and in our service—that is what our reputation stands on.”

Producing for the Grocery Market Step inside Absopure’s production facility and you might think you’ve just entered a greenhouse.

The air is warm and humid, thanks to continually running machinery and the ever-present supply of water; only instead of flowers, the product is bottled water.

It starts with the blow fill machine, which takes two-inch-sized preformed tubes manufactured at Plastipak and blows them into fully formed clear plastic containers, around one thousand a minute in the case of the half-liter bottle sizes. Overhead, conveyors speed the finished bottles on their way for filling, labeling, capping, and packaging, while a sophisticated computer system with cameras and LCD flat screens monitor the process every step along the way. The process is continual, a 24/7

Home and Office division moves operations to Plymouth location.

1995

Bill Young’s son, William Patrick Young, graduates college and joins the company.

1991

1990

operation that typically breaks only for Christmas and New Year’s.

Absopure starts packaging PET singleservice packages, producing approximately 1 million bottles by the end of the year.

Home and Office division adds coffee service to its beverage delivery, featuring the products of local Detroit roasters, Becharis Brothers.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

49

When filled, capped, packaged, and wrapped, the water is conveyed in an overhead tunnel across the street to the 180,000-square-foot storage facility, the heart of Absopure’s distribution operations.

From there, over a hundred trucks per day leave the warehouse destined for homes, offices, grocery stores, and other destinations throughout the nation.

Plant manager Frank Versaggio, who spent five years in the bottling industry in Texas before joining Absopure in 2003, says the operations are as efficient and high tech as it gets. In 2007 alone, five high-speed production lines—a two-and-a-half-gallon line, a one-gallon line, and three high-speed PET beverages sizes—sent over 35 million cases out the door.

Even more impressive than Absopure’s state-of-the-art operations is the dedicated team that backs it all up. “There’s a real sense of unity here,” says Versaggio, “an all-for-one mentality that I haven’t experienced in this kind of environment before.”

Additionally, he says, the small but well-delineated chain of command doesn’t intimidate but inspires everyone, regardless of title or position, to do what is necessary to get the job done.

“I remember we had just put in the high-speed line in 2005, and we were having some problems,” Versaggio continues. “At one point I looked up and noticed Mr. Young [Bill] had walked in. But he didn’t stand around dictating or complaining. There it was, ten o’clock at night, he had someplace to be, but what did he do? He called his wife and started handing me tools. I’ll never forget that. He leads by example, and that makes me want to do a better job.”

t Absopure sells a variety of water coolers in sizes and colors to fit any home or office décor. Customers can choose from white or black, stainless steel, three colors of wood grain, or a ceramic crock with wooden pedestal.

Home and Office in the Twenty-first Century Home and Office, the division upon which Absopure’s reputation for personalized service and quality product is built, likewise continues to thrive.

Although Absopure’s service providers no longer bear saddle-like indents on their shoulders from handcarrying fifty-pound bottles of water, they do share something in common with their predecessors.

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1986–Present: The Bottled Water Revolution

“Service is as much a product as anything else we sell,” says William Patrick Young, who worked as Home and Office marketing coordinator at the Champaign, Illinois, St. Louis, and Grand Rapids plants before relocating to Plymouth and taking over all Home and Office operations in 2000.

Going back to the days of General Necessities, the core of Home and Office has always been its five-gallon water sales and water cooler sales and rental. In 1990, Absopure added full coffee services, and in 2000, William Patrick began to explore additional options. “Our company culture is based on protecting our q A state-of-the-art computer monitoring system ensures that production manager Frank Vesaggio can monitor the plant’s blow fill production line from start to finish. He is instantly notified of any changes in the process, thus reducing costly downtime.

assets, and the assets of the company are our clients,” he says. “So how do we partner with those clients to best fulfill their needs?”

p Although its scope has widened to include the entire Midwest, Texas, and California, Absopure’s Home and Office delivery operations are still defined by that one-on-one contact between customer and service provider.

One way, he realized, was through vending. “Already, we were getting requests from customers for vending services. It also makes sense in terms of what we’re already providing for them.”

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

51

After single-serving bottles are capped, they are sent down the line to a series of accumulation tables, which allow a final visual inspection by production technicians like Gordie Johnson.

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

53

Quality control technician Lance Song tests and ensures that Absopure products meet and exceed all federal, state, and local quality standards. Not only is the content of the water tested up to ten thousand times each

1986–Present: The Bottled Water Revolution

When Art Amelotte hired on with Absopure in 1989, he was one of seventeen route service providers. Today, he oversees a team of around thirty Home and Office sales and service specialists whose routes, or territories, include over fifty thousand customers across Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana.

Included in his duties is training his team not just to deliver but also to sell. Echoing the philosophy first outlined by David A. Brown back in Absopure’s early years, Amelotte says, “If all you want to do is drive a truck and deliver water, you’re in the wrong job. We do business differently than our competitors. About 80 percent of our customers are on a regular schedule because they’re not buying products, they’re buying the service that ensures they get what they need when they need it.”

State-of-the-art technologies like GPS tracking and a delivery manage-

p As office managers become increasingly concerned with providing their employees with a variety of quality refreshment options, Absopure continues to innovate new ways of meeting those needs.

ment system keep things running smoothly. Absopure’s IT department even converted their SAP (Structural Analysis Program) software to directly monitor the company’s delivery program. “We deliver to the end user in the majority of cases,” says Amelotte, “so not only do we run more efficiently but we can respond more rapidly to our customers’ needs.”

The Purest Thing You Can Drink There is a reason that David A. Brown and his partners called their ice and water Absopure. Purity among ice and drinking water was as much a concern one hundred years ago as it is today. The company’s seven spring water sources and steam-distilled processes ensure some of the best-tasting water in the industry. Diligent testing ensures its safety.

Jim Bittikofer, who is production manager for Home and Office but who has been with the company since 1968, remembers that the Youngs were continually testing their water, even though there

William Patrick Young assumes position of vice president of Home and Office. Adds vending services to the division’s roster of products.

2003

Absopure expands into St. Louis area.

Purchases Waters of America, Tyler Mountain, Merci, and Pine Valley water companies.

2000

1996

was as yet no government oversight of the industry. Still, says Bittikofer, water bottlers have always

Grocery division now running twoand-a-half-gallon, one-gallon, and one beverage line. Puts out 7 million cases that year.

Mary Young dies three weeks after retirement at age eighty-three.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

55

been self-monitoring. “We did voluntary in-house testing to stay in compliance with the American Bottled Water Association standards. We also sent samples to an outside tester in Detroit.”

Outside inspectors, says Bittikofer, were primarily concerned with cleanliness. “They were looking for bait traps for mice and whether there were proper air curtains over the production areas to keep out flies. They wanted to see if the guys were wearing hairnets and gloves and if the bathrooms were clean.”

Today, however, water is one of the most heavily regulated food products in the United States. “In 1956, there were no standards of identity for water, so you could call it what you want,” says Glen Davis, quality assurance manger for Absopure since 1990. “But with the passing of the Safe Drinking Act in 1978, the EPA started setting guidelines for

t One of Absopure’s recent innovations is this clear gallon jug with a separate blue plastic handle. “We work on our packaging business parallel to our bottling business,” says Bill Young. “Each provides insight into the other—what consumers want, how best to market, what is needed to provide convenience and value.”

health risks in bottled water.”

Those guidelines not only set acceptable levels for arsenic, lead, and other minerals, but also protect drinkers from bacteria and chemical, human, and animal waste.

To ensure the absolute purity of its water, Absopure tests its water over ten thousand times annually, starting at the source where the water is transported from Absopure’s natural spring sites.

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

1986–Present: The Bottled Water Revolution

“Every load of water transported from our springs into the tanker is tested,” says Davis. Once back at Absopure, it is run through two processing systems to remove particulates: one featuring sand and charcoal and the other a series of super-fine micron filters. The final process involves treatment via ozone to destroy bacteria, a process three hundred times more effective than chlorine.

Likewise, Absopure’s steam-distilled water, which starts off as treated municipal water, achieves its purity through superheating to 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

p “We wouldn’t be where we are today without the help of a lot of key people,” says Bill Young. Some of those people are featured here. In the photo at left, the core Home and Office crew. In the middle, area service leader Jim Vinton confers with William Patrick Young. In the photo at right, from left to right are Dave Beer, Diana (Walker) Thomas, and Bill Young.

The vapors are then allowed to cool, and the condensate is captured for final filtration and ozone treatment.

Yearly testing reports line an entire shelf in Davis’s office and are so extensive they each fill a three-inch-thick black binder. Inside are FDA and Department of Agriculture findings, county health department inspections, and voluntary inspections by NSF International, a not-for-profit, non-

William P. Young dies.

2005

Absopure introduces to the market two unique products: the fridge pack for single-serving bottles of water and naturally fluoridated spring water in single servings.

2004

2003

governmental safety testing organization that performs audits for the International Bottled Water As-

Absopure introduces to the market a clear gallon jug bottle with a separate blue plastic handle.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

57

In Times of Trouble

T

he Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was one of the Cold War’s tensest moments. In anticipation of imminent conflict with the Soviet Union, households throughout the United States

were stocking up on the basics, including bottled water. In response, Absopure started production of five-gallon metal cans of purified, vacuum-sealed water for storage in fallout shelters and basements.

Years later, a woman in Grosse Pointe found a couple of those cans in a corner of her garage. She called Absopure, and Dave Beer eagerly drove out to her house to pick them up. Once back at the plant, he popped the lid on one of the cans and had it tested. Sure enough, it was as pure as it had been the day it was sealed. Since then, Absopure has happily loaned a helping hand— and millions of bottles of water—to all manner of worthy causes. Absopure’s generosity has included everything from charitable athletic events to disaster relief efforts where safe drinking water is an imperative for survival.

Recent assistance includes the 1993 Cryptosporidium outbreak in Milwaukee; the blackout of August 14, 2003, that shut down much of Ontario, Canada, and the Midwest and Northeast United States; Hurricane Katrina; and the devastating floods that hit the nation’s midsection in spring 2008.

sociation, of which Absopure is a member. Absopure also commissions water analyses from private testing companies, which are ongoing to ensure Absopure’s quality. In all its years of operation, Absopure has maintained the upmost standards for water safety.

The Future of Absopure As Absopure entered the twenty-first century as a top regional producer of bottled water, it also suffered the loss of the two people who had been so instrumental to that success. In 2000, only three weeks after retiring from the company at eighty-three years of age, Mary Young passed away. William P.

t Absopure produces several waters designed to meet the needs of children. The eightounce Short Sport is perfect for lunch boxes. The eightounce Natural Fluoride is an excellent source of an important mineral, which occurs naturally in Absopure’s artesian well water.

Young, her devoted husband of sixty-one years, followed in 2004. It was the end of an era at Absopure.

“Their love and their passion are what built this business,” says Bill Young. “My father was without a

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A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

A dazzling array of Absopure’s products.

The company provides just about everything needed to stay properly hydrated, including natural spring water in 8-ounce, 16.9-ounce, 25-ounce, 1-liter, and 1.5-liter sizes. Also shown here is Montreaux, Absopure’s sparkling and nonsparkling mineral water in 1-liter and 1.5-liter bottles, and Vigor, a 20-ounce calorie-free performance water.

doubt my mentor, and my mother taught me sensitivity to human behavior. More than that, they taught me integrity and trust.”

They also left a tremendous legacy. Established as a family-owned and -operated business, it remains so today, with Bill Young as president and his son, William Patrick, overseeing operations for Home and Office.

At sixty-eight years of age, Bill Young remains excited about moving Absopure forward into a second century. With a solid presence in the Midwest, the company has spent the past decade expanding its presence in the St. Louis area, and by the end of 2008 will move from a regional to a national company with the addition of new bottling facilities in Dallas, Texas, and Modesto, California.

“Our goals are to maintain our top quality while continuing to improve the convenience of our packaging,” says Young. “Obviously, we also want to continue to exceed all standards set by both federal and local governments and make sure that our bottled water business remains a good steward of the environment.” q On July 25, 2008, Absopure was presented with a proclamation honoring its centennial and signed by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. In attendance from left to right are William Patrick Young, Michigan State Representative Marc Corriveau, and corporate counsel for Absopure, Robert O’Donnell.

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These steps toward sustainability will happen, he says, not only via their own recycling business, Clean Tech, but also through lighter plastic packaging, supporting curbside collection programs, and endorsing legislation that keeps communities clean.

Young also intends to continue to pioneer new bottled water products.

“We’re talking water that’s not only enhanced with natural flavors but also with vitamins and minerals that address consumers’ specific health concerns.”

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

To that end, Absopure is already offering water that contains natural fluoride.

“And we can’t say it too often, but our customer relationships are the cornerstones of our operations,” says Young. “We will always strive to improve our service along with our quality. To us, the customer who buys one bottle of

p The day starts early at Home and Office. Here, a truck is loaded and carefully checked by a route manager and sales and service specialist before heading out on delivery.

water is just as important as the customer who buys a thousand.”

When Absopure was first established in 1908, it quickly became one of the Detroit area’s most trusted brands for safe, quality refreshment. One hundred years later, thanks to the vision and hard work of its owners and employees, Absopure has emerged as one of the leading innovators and service providers in the bottled water industry. As the company expands its reach into all corners of the market nationwide, it will no doubt continue to touch millions of people each day through nature’s

Introduces Vigor, an enhanced performance water fortified with calcium, magnesium, and vitamin B12.

2008

Absopure has now installed three more high-speed lines plus its first blow fill line, producing over 25 million cases for that year.

2007

2006

purest form of refreshment.

Absopure becomes a national company with the addition of two new bottling facilities in Texas and California.

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

61

Index Numbers in italics indicate photographs and artwork.

—— Absopure Water Company adding one-gallon water jugs to delivery service, 32 Beatrice Foods period, 37, 40–42 becoming national company, 61 bottled water production, 27, 29, 31 corporate generosity of, 58 customer service focus of, 18, 55, 61 defending intellectual property, 34 Dubois ice station, 16 extending grocery business and beginning wholesale grocery business, 40 friends and colleagues of, 37 future of, 58–61 Home and Office Division, 40, 44, 45, 49, 50–55, 61 ice distribution, 19, 22–23 ice making plant, 26 ideas and innovation encouraged at, 34–37 importance to, of advertising, 18 moving packaging operations to Plymouth (MI), 45, 46 producing for the grocery market, 49–50 product delivery, 13, 22, 33 production facilities, 11, 12, 52–53 production process, 38–39 products of, 11, 59 purchased back from Beatrice Foods, 42, 43 reputation of, 13, 27, 32–33 shift from ice delivery service, 11 success of, in single-serving market, 46–49 testing of water, 54, 55–58 West Hancock Street plant, 32 Absopure Distilled Aerated Water Company, 23 Absopure Frigerator Company, 25 Absopure Manufactured and Certified Natural Ice, 16– 18 Absopure Refrigeration Company, 25 Absopure Refrigeration Corporation, 23 Absopure Water Company Inc., 26 Alsopure, 34

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Amelotte, Art, 55 American Hebrew, 26 American Tribune, 26 Angott, Larry, 40 Angott, Samuel, 24, 40 Angott, Thomas V., 5 Angott family, 34, 37, 40 Baden-Baden (Germany), 11 Beatrice Foods, 37, 40–42, 43 Becharis Brothers, 49 Beer, Dave, 30, 32–33, 45, 57 Bittikofer, Jim, 31, 38, 55–56 blow fill machines, 48, 49, 51, 61 Bodker Dairy, 37 Borden, 24, 25 bottled water as grocery product, 45–46 single-serving market for, 46–49 bottled water industry disrupted by municipal chlorination, 11–13 history of, 11 recovering in 1960s–1970s, 13 Breach, Robert, 47–49 Breece & Yeasal Injection Company, 32, 37 Broadway National Bank and Trust Company, 26 Broadway National Company, 26 Brown, David Abraham, 15, 16, 18, 19, 25–26, 30, 34, 55 Brown, Israel, 15, 16, 18, 19 Brown, Julius, 15, 16 Brown & Brown, 15–16 Buffalo Don’s Artesian Wells, 46 Cap 10, 37, 42 Carlsbad (Czech Republic), 11 Carlyle, W. J., 23 chlorination, 11 Clean Tech, 36, 43, 47, 60 coffee service, 51 Corriveau, Marc, 60 Cuban Missile Crisis, 58 Davis, Glen, 56–57

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

Index

Detroit City Service Company, 24 Detroit, booming population of (1910s–20s), 23 Detroit River, 11, 16 Donovan, “Wild Bill,” 27 Echols, Grace, 53 Eger (Czech Republic), 11 Fair, Bryan, 44 Farm Maid, 34, 40 Farmer Jacks, 34, 45 Ford, Henry, 23, 24 fridge pack, 57 Frigerators, 22, 23 Frigidaire Corporation, 24, 26, 34 Garbarino, Bob, 45 Gard, William H., 26, 27 General Ice Delivery Company, 15, 16, 18, 20–21 General Motors, 34 General Necessities Corporation, 18, 19, 22, 24–25, 34 George J. Meyers and Company, 31 Granholm, Jennifer, 60 Griswold, D. O., 11 Gross, Nathan, 25 Guardian Trust Company, 25 Hodde, Blanche, 37 Hodde, Bud, 37 Hoover Universal, 31, 37 Hoover, Herbert, 25 Houghton, Robert, 19 ice as big business, 16 harvesting, 24 importance of, in early 1900s, 15–16 manufacture of, 20 ice tong, 17 International Bottled Water Association, 57–58 Johnson, Gordie, 52 jug bottle, clear plastic gallon, 57

Nagle, Mike, 46, 47 Natural Fluoride, 58 natural spring sites, 49 NSF International, 57 O’Donnell, Robert, 60 Panacea Water Company, 40 People’s Ice Company, 15, 16 Pepsi, 37, 42 Perrier, 13 PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle pellets, 36 bottles, 37, 42, 46, 49, 50 Pine Valley (water company), 55 plastic jugs, clear gallon, 47 Plastipak Packaging Inc., 34, 37, 40, 42, 48, 49 Beatrice’s purchase of, 37 purchased back from Beatrice Foods, 42, 43 Portteus, Arthur, 26, 27, 30 Portteus, Belle, 27, 30 refrigeration, added to General Necessities’ list of services, 23 Rezanka, Don, 29–30 Ryder, Ed, 42 Safe Drinking Act (1978), 56 Saratoga Springs (NY), 11 Sebewaing Brewing Company, 31 Shaeffer, Bud, 37 Short Sport, 58 single-serving market, 46–49 Sprague, Jean, 27 spring water, 11, 27, 49, 55 naturally fluoridated, 57 Stein, Albert, 19, 22 Stein vs. General Necessities, 19, 22 store branding, 47 sustainability, 60 Thomas, Diana (Walker), 40, 57 Twelve Mile Road, artesian spring near, 15, 27 Tyler Mountain (water company), 55 Uniloy blow molding machine, 32, 37

Kahn, Albert, 24 Levanseler, Bob, 48 Liquid Carbonic, 31 Madison Investment Corporation, 24, 25–26 Marbil’s, 31 Merci (water company), 55 Miller Automotive Supply, 22

vending, 51 Versaggio, Frank, 50, 51 Vigor, 61 Vinton, Jim, 56 Vogt Refrigeration Company, 25 water distillation of, 25 drinking, increased demand for (1920s), 23

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company

63

heavy regulation of, 56 sources of, 10–11 water bottles five-gallon, delivery of, 11, 13 water bottles (cont.) glass, 14 plastic, 35 single-serving, 13 water coolers, 10, 41, 50 Waters of America, 55 White Line Express, 43, 46 William P. Young and Company, 31–32 Young, Mary, 29, 31, 55, 58 Young, William C. (Bill), 29, 31, 33, 57 accessibility of, 49 on the Angott family, 40 on the Beatrice purchase of Absopure, 40–42

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encouraging move to plastic bottles, 37 on future of Absopure, 60–61 leading by example, 50 on his parents, 30, 37, 58–60 joining Absopure, 32, 33–34 on packaging business, 56 on popularity of bottled water, 45 Young, William P. (Big Bill), 28, 29, 33, 57, 58 career of, before joining Absopure, 31–32 early years at Absopure, 30 as mechanical genius, 29–30 purchasing Absopure, 32 working with Angott family, 40 Young, William Patrick, 34, 49, 57, 60 working in Home and Office division, 51, 55 Young family, 40 Zolenski, Frank, 49

A Century of Quality Refreshment: The Story of Absopure Water Company