Bottled water sales up in restaurants – and that’s a good thing

Despite the best efforts of bottled water industry opponents, subsequent negative press and a slowing economy, bottled water sales in restaurants continued to grow last year, according to the NPD Group.

The Port Washington, NY-based research firm said in the April 14 issue of Restaurant News that quick-service restaurants reported the most growth in bottled water servings.

An NPD analyst told the trade publication that bottled water’s portability, healthfulness, and a growing variety of flavors are keeping the product a popular menu item. 

Bottled water is ranked as one of the top three beverages in terms of incremental-servings growth, with 134 million more servings of bottled water than in 2006, NPD said. Only iced tea and specialty coffee performed better.