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Award winners North America USA

California-based family firm Niagara Bottling has been one of the fastest-growing businesses in

America in the last 20 years. Niagara was founded

in 1963 by Andy Peykoff Sr. and is now led by

second-generation Chief Executive Officer Andy Peykoff II. Andy’s success at Niagara has been

truly remarkable. Today, Niagara is America’s

largest private-label bottled water supplier. Andy

is a big believer in family business, and says

that Niagara could not have achieved such great

success if it had not been family controlled.

Europe

North America

Latin America

Asia-Pacific

Andy Peykoff II Niagara Bottling, LLC.

“You really have to work harder than non-family members to get the same level of respect.“

Andy Peykoff II, President and CEO,

Niagara Bottling, LLC.

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in high school or college athletics. Andy himself was a Junior Olympic athlete and a volleyball player. “Athletes are used to ups and downs,” he says. “They are competitive, and they look at how to get the job done. In business, we might make something great, but we continually have to find ways to make it better. We’re competitive, not in the sense of being cutthroat, but in the sense that everybody wants to win.”

When Andy’s father Andrew Peykoff Sr. started in 1963, “He began bottling high-quality but low-cost water in five-gallon

glass containers for home and office delivery,” says Andy. “Those early years were not about having a big company, but just making a living.” Andrew, who recovered from his stroke, is the Chairman of Niagara Bottling today, and still helps with overall strategy. Andrew came to California from New York. He first worked as a milkman before starting the company. His father Dimitri Peykoff was an immigrant from Macedonia who ran a bar and a candy store in Buffalo, New York.

Niagara opened its first bottling plant in 1967. “For 25 years, we were a five-gallon delivery business,” says Andy. But in

Second-generation family businesses often include great entrepreneurs and great innovators, and Andy Peykoff II is a great example of this. He took over the business in 2002, when he was 26 years old, after his father had suffered a stroke. In just 14 years in charge, Andy has grown revenues nearly 80 times over. That rapid growth has made Niagara America’s largest supplier of private-label bottled water (i.e., store-brand bottled water). Today, the company has 2,800 employees and 22 production facilities throughout the US, and recently opened a plant in Mexico.

A strong team as the basis of success

Andy achieved this tremendous growth by focusing on building a strong team. He surrounded himself with sharp young people, many of whom knew nothing at all about the water business when he hired them. “You want people who are bright, hardworking and passionate,” he says. “That’s more important than a resumé.”

Andy believes strongly in the importance of teamwork, and this leads him to gravitate toward individuals who were involved

Award winners North America USA

The company has 22 production facilities throughout the US, and recently opened a plant in Mexico.

Niagara’s innovations include the creation of the “nested pack”, which increases the density of packages and accommodates 17% more bottles per pallet.

Today, Niagara has the lightest bottles and lightest caps in the industry: a bottle only weighs 7g.

01 Andy developed an interest in the business at a very young age; 02 the whole family in front of the future plant; 03 Andy as CEO, with his father.

01 02 03

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of urgency. Andy says that this mentality promotes innovative thinking and risk-taking. “It’s perfectly okay in our company if you fail,” he says, adding that trying and failing often leads to ultimate victory.

Niagara’s innovations include the creation of the “nested pack” which increases the density of packages and accommodates 17% more bottles per pallet. “That has eliminated more than a million pallets a year,” he says. “Those sorts of things are important. Pennies mean everything in our world. Such advances prompt the sincerest form of flattery. Our competitors always copy us.”

Family business can adjust to the market quickly

Niagara was also the first bottling company to manufacture its own caps. And since Andy became CEO, some 70% of the plastic has been taken out of the company’s bottles. Today, Niagara has the lightest bottles and lightest caps in the industry. “We went from 23g bottles to our 7g bottles today,” he says. “That only happened by our willingness to take risks and our willingness to fail. We kept our heads up, continued to attack the opportunities and ended up with a game-changing solution for the industry. ”

Having recently established a bottling plant in Mexico, Niagara has its sights on other countries. Andy says that Niagara will target growth in markets where the demand for bottled water is just beginning to grow rapidly. “The two biggest costs for us are plastic and freight,” he says. “Freight costs come down the closer you can get to your market.” Andy also sees opportunities for Niagara to continue to expand its portfolio in both sports drinks and bottled sparkling water.

Andy has discovered that being part of the family that controls the business is not always easy. “You really have to work harder than non-family members to get the same level of respect,” he says. “But the flipside of this is that one is given more opportunity at a young age than they otherwise would have been given.” Andy is convinced that being a family business has helped the company with its ability to make decisions rapidly and adjust to changing market conditions. “If I look back at our

company, if we had had other non-family shareholders involved, such as private equity, there is no chance we could have done what we did.”

Andy is not thinking too much about succession. He has six children, but his eldest is only nine. Andy’s broader commitment to family, however, remains paramount. In 2014, he led the creation of Niagara Cares, which supports initiatives that help disadvantaged children and their families. “I have a soft spot in my heart for kids,” he says. “The smile of a child — there’s nothing better.”

father took off from the business to recuperate after his stroke, we grew the business by 50%. He came back and said, ‘Maybe I can now let you run it, and maybe I don’t need to come back.’” Rarely do successions happen so smoothly.

Creating a sense of loyalty and belonging among the employees is important at Niagara. All six of the employees who report directly to Andy today were hired around the time he took over. “We are very growth oriented, and we are very teamwork oriented,” he says. “There are not a lot of walls. We have a sense

1988, Niagara started bottling one-gallon bottles and, in 1994, the company bought its first blow molder to make one-gallon polyethylene bottles.

The company continued to invest in molding technology, which enabled it to take the lead in the industry by creating North America’s lightest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle in 1998. Four years later, Andy took over as CEO and hired his own team of executives. Andy says that his succession to the top job proved to be quite straightforward. “During the year my

Award winners North America USA

Andy Peykoff II

President and CEO

Company name: Niagara Bottling

Generation(s): First and second

Founded: 1963 in Irvine, California, US

Industry: Retail and consumer products,

beverages

Employees (2016): 2,800

“It’s perfectly okay in our company if you fail.”Andy Peykoff II

Andy became CEO after his father suffered from a stroke.