N.B. man starts his own company to replace traditional energy drinks
Work Water came from Brody Hanson's desire to replace traditional energy drinks.
"It's a benefit and a curse to not knowing anything about the business you're going in, and that's where I'm at," said Brody Hanson, CEO of Work Water. "I'm starting from zero in terms of beverage experience."
He saw a market and made it work for him.
"Caffeine is the fuel of the working professional, and so I was one of those that would drink one or two energy drinks a day as an alternative to coffee, I didn't like coffee all that much," he said.
Hanson says he was turned off most off-the-shelf energy drinks, after a deep dive on their ingredient list.
"What's under the hood, I knew there had to be a better, healthier version of this that I could make, so I started mixing and making stuff for myself and once I talked about this to other people, I learned that there were more folks like me who wanted a healthier alternative," Hanson said.
And that's what the Fredericton native set out to create.
"They're no artificial sweeteners, no artificial preservatives, no sugar. What is in it? Stevia is the sweetener that we use, natural flavours, natural ingredients, natural caffeine extracted from green coffee beans, it's a clean label as the industry lingo I'm starting to learn would talk about," he said.
Hanson says the benefit of getting into a business you don't have a background in is getting to question how things are often done.
"Beverages don't ship direct to consumer, so I asked well why not, ok well they're heavy, it's hard to ship, but the landscape has changed; we sell online through our Shopify website," Hanson said.
There was another important aspect for Hanson when designing the beverage.
"The other problem with traditional energy drinks is they look like they're ready for you to compete in the X games, I mean, I'm 39 years old, I'm not looking to snowboard down a rocky mountain I'm looking to stay awake for this meeting, and so it doesn't work to bring out a can of brightly coloured, firework, unicorn, rainbows," he said.
Work Water, which Hanson says taste like -- quote -- "an elevated white popsicle," is already available in about 30 New Brunswick stores.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
BREAKING McGill University seeks emergency injunction to remove pro-Palestinian encampment from campus
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.