Family-owned Niagara sells water to Costco, Wal-Mart

Despite the name, that bottle of Kirkland water from Costco Wholesale Corp. isn't from the rain-swept Puget Sound area. It's from Irvine-based Niagara Bottling LLC.

Family-owned Niagara provides bottled water to Costco, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Safeway Inc., which sell it under their own labels, be it Kirkland or Safeway's Refreshe.

In addition to supermarkets and other stores, Niagara sells water to casinos, auto dealers and other businesses-the minimum order is 20,000 bottles. Niagara puts the buyer's name on the bottles' labels, and the businesses offer them to their customers as an amenity.

Providing bottled water for others is the company's market niche, Peykoff said.

Niagara sells water under it's own name, too. In fact, that's how the company got its start in the 1960s, when founder Andy Peykoff landed in Orange County from Buffalo, N. Y. Back then, he started his bottled water business by knocking on doors, offering five-gallon glass jugs of water for 95 cents.

Today, Niagara still delivers its own brand of water to homes and offices from its Irvine headquarters. You also can find Niagara bottled water on the shelves of Big Lots, 99 Cents Only Stores and other retailers.

Peykoff and other family members declined to say what Niagara's sales are. The Business Journal estimates the company's yearly revenue to be in the $100 million range, driven by sales to big retailers.

Bottled water is flourishing. It is set to surpass soft drinks as the leading beverage by the end of the decade and is rivaling beer, coffee and milk for second place by the end of this year, according to New York-based market tracker Beverage Marketing Corp.

Drinking of soft drinks, milk and beer have leveled off in recent years. But bottled water sales are rising and are expected to reach 23 gallons...