Swiss entrepreneur saves traditional mineral water

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Swiss mineral water is in demand. Worldwide. A news report from Valais made the headlines recently. Because the Chinese want to buy a large source of drinking water at Turtmann VS, as Blick reveals. The project was not well received in Valais. Tenor: “Let’s take care of our clean, healthy water. And definitely don’t sell it to China!”

Even more surprising are the well-known sources in Switzerland still lying fallow. Like Zurzach mineral water, which has been producing the only mineral water in Aargau for decades. In times of global water scarcity you should be able to earn a good chunk of it. At least the layperson thinks so.

Sold for 40 million francs

Investors also became aware of the resource and potential in Zurzach. The Mineralquelle Zurzach AG plant was sold for CHF 40 million. The new owner wants to restart the bottling plant, which was shut down at the end of 2022. At that time, 70 employees lost their jobs. Lithium-containing mineral water from Aargau soil should now be available in glass bottles.

The buyer of the field is Werner Hofmann from Buchs ZH. The entrepreneur became known all over Switzerland when he rented cheap rooms to students in the previously empty luxury hotel Atlantis, above Zurich.

Together with Hanspeter Brunner, former managing director of Mineralquelle Zurzach AG, Hofmann founded the new company Zurzacher Mineralwasser AG. They will lease their facilities and build a new bottling plant there. Most of the industrial halls in Bad Zurzach will be used for other purposes in the future. It is scheduled to be operational in early 2024. The water is sold new in glass bottles. Brunner confirmed a news published by “Aargauer Zeitung”.

Returned to Swiss ownership

Hofmann immediately understood: Water must remain Swiss property! But financing was difficult. Also for a purebred entrepreneur like Hofmann with an excellent network who has been in the business for 52 years. Various banks would give him a basket. The Obwaldner Kantonalbank finally agreed. As the fourth requested financial institution.

Within three months, the future of mineral water was saved. The water will be bottled again in 2024. The logo and label will be different, the marketing will start again. Marketing will focus on the fact that water contains particularly large amounts of lithium and is said to be helpful against dementia and depression. Sustainability also plays an important role – water is bottled in glass.

Start with a few 100,000 bottles

Production will start small compared to the previous operation, which bottled 50 million units last year, according to the report. The new owners want to start with around 100,000 bottles. A production of 1 to 2 million units is then planned, writes “Aargauer Zeitung”.

Zurzach has a tradition of mineral water. It has been in existence since 1957 and was taken over by the German company Riha Wesergold in 1980. The water comes from a well drilled at a depth of 430 meters. Fever: 39.9 degrees. It is also used in the famous thermal baths in Zurzach.

Source :Blick