The business use of the medicinal-mineral waters: the bottled water industry in Spain (1875-2013)

Abstract

From a historical perspective, the bottled water industry went from an appendage of the spa business to one of the most important activities in the European food industry. Within this industrial sector, Spain registered a spectacular expansion in the last decades, growing in ranking both in the production and consumption per capita of bottled water in Europe. This article pursues two basic objectives. First, it seeks to identify the different stages of the bottled water business history and the make up of the great entrepreneurial groups that dominate the current Spanish market. Second, it provides new statistical data on production and consumption of bottled water from a long run perspective and it reconstructs the business history of the major bottled waters trademarks that lead the market.