New York Spring Water – Halcott, NY

New York Spring Water started with one of the simplest business concepts imaginable: bottling pure spring water from the Catskills and shipping it to areas that need it.

Of course, the implementation of any business is never that simple.

Richard Zakka, a New York City real estate developer and weekend Catskills resident, had a dream to develop a water-bottling company in the Town of Halcott, using a spring under Vly Mountain that generates billions of gallons of pure Catskills water every year.

While obtaining the lease for the spring and land for a processing facility that was necessary to power his business enterprise, Zakka also invented his own twist on the bottled-water market with VBlast, a patented bottled water system that releases flavors, vitamins and minerals into the water when the consumer twists the cap open. This design ensures that the flavor and vitamins are fresh when the consumer drinks it, giving the fledging company a leg up in a crowded marketplace.

In addition to VBlast, New York Spring Water sells a regular bottled-water line without the twist cap; Aqua 84, a line infused with 84 vitamins and minerals from the Himalayas, and VBee, a children’s oriented brand.