But losses are growing, too, in a tough market dominated by Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. waters. After raising $1.4 million from wealthy investors in private placements last year, Skinny last week reported it had just $60,000 in cash left as of June 30, plus a credit line from United Capital Funding Corp.
That money "will only be sufficient to fund our anticipated levels of operations for a minimal period," Skinny said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week.
How can Skinny Water survive, let alone get to the $25 million a year sales level (at $1.49 a bottle) that Donald McDonald, the company's president, figures is its break-even point?
"The company is raising additional capital," appealing to private investors, Michael Salaman, cofounder of the company with McDonald, told me Thursday. Skinny is also trying to boost sales by signing up distributors for No. 3 soft-drink-maker Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., including Philadelphia-based Honickman Affiliates Ltd. and others in New England and the West Coast, along with chain stores such as CVS Caremark Corp. and Target Corp., McDonald says.
Dr Pepper sometimes signs up brands that its outside distributors like, such as Fiji Water and Big Red, for its own larger direct-sales network, Dr Pepper spokesman Chris Barnes told me. No decision has been made in Skinny's case.
Michael Zuckerman, whose family was partners with the Honickman family in a King of Prussia-based soda-bottle business, sits on Skinny Water's board, along with some prominent Philadelphians.
