CHICAGO – LaCroix, a sparkling water housed in colorful cans, has become an unlikely beverage of choice among millennials in Chicago’s tech companies, the Chicago Tribune reports. LaCroix sparking water comes in around 20 flavors, and some companies can hardly keep the beverage in stock.
Around 25 SwipeSense employees shoot through 60 cans of LaCroix each week. “I think that if I were to order more, they would all be consumed,” said Tommy Werner, operations manager at SwipeSense. Werner restocks LaCroix on a weekly basis, the only non-coffee beverage the company provides. “I’ve heard of people coming into the office, not really hearing about LaCroix, and for some reason, coming back and getting addicted.”
Sprout Social, Grubhub, Braintree and other companies are also on the LaCroix bandwagon, buying the sparkling water cans by the case. “The millennial generation, what we’ve seen in general is they’re more focused on clean labeling, natural ingredients and healthy lifestyles,” said Adam Fleck, director of consumer equity research for Morningstar. “That is generally a trend we’re seeing, and I think overall, why carbonated beverages have struggled more recently, while these naturally sweetened—like LaCroix products, the bottled waters, the noncarbonated offerings—these companies have been doing much better.”
While carbonated water is only a small fraction of the beverage market, sales volume of flavored sparkling waters has jumped around 10% annually. “It’s one of the rare growth stories in carbonated beverages,” Fleck said. “Consumers have shown that health and wellness is a predominant decision factor when they’re thinking about what to drink.”