#4 of Time Magazine's Top 10 Food Trends: The war on bottled water

I subscribe to Google Alerts for information about bottled water.   At least once a week I find a new site that is worth spending some time with.  This week I discovered a food service industry blogger - Nick Borelli - whose blog is called NickSpace ("My goal is to make our client's vision a reality!").  His article about changes in the way bottled water is being handled in restaurants is worth a read. 

Pouring Water

In 1992's The Player, Tim Robbins' character, the consummate Hollywood insider, showed his sophistication at restaurants through his ability to differentiate among various kinds of bottled water. But today, that same Hollywood macher would never ask for anything but tap. Because of the environmental costs of producing and shipping bottled waters, more and more chefs are offering only filtered tap water to customers.

Mario Batali and his business partner Joseph Bastianich stopped selling bottled water at their New York City restaurants Del Posto and Otto earlier this year, and eateries in Florida and Massachusetts are also serving only tap. The U.S. Conference of Mayors voted in June to recommend that City Halls stop serving bottled water even at special functions. Once hip, bottled water is now unforgivably '90s.

Water is something that we are really looking at in 2009 as we go green. One of the easiest ways we can help the enviroment is to only offer water by request. You will notice more and more restaurants not pre-setting water for all guests. This is a great way to conserve our most precious resource. We are also looking into alternative ways to "produce water". A very interesting company is Natura. 

I'd never heard of Natura.  But I have spent alot of time thinking about machines for dispensing pure tap water in many locations to help us wean ourselves from using bottled water when we are thirsty and need to trust the water supply.

NaturaSome research results on Natura will be posted soon.  In the meantime check our NickSpace.