Rose water has become a popular trend among beauty and skincare gurus who are looking to reap the benefits of the product's cleansing and moisturizing capabilities. But now rose water is making its way into the beverage industry.
Petal, a beverage startup born in Chicago suburb Highland Park, is making a new rose water-based, sparkling botanical beverage, similar to a tea drink.
It is an all-organic drink made with zero caffeine, calories and sugar. The main ingredient is, of course, rose water, and it’s naturally sweetened with Stevia and Erythritol, which helps fight free radicals. Petal currently comes in three flavors: Original rose, mint rose and lychee rose, and sells for $1.99 per 12 ounce can.
It was founded by CEO Candice Crane, who was born in South Africa, a region of the world where rose-based products are popular. While growing up, Crane said her grandmother was an avid user of rose-based products, regularly drinking the beverage and using rose toner on her face.
Besides its delightful aroma, Crane said rose water also has wellness and health benefits like elevating one’s mood, hydrating skin and facilitating digestion. Rose-flavored water is made by steeping rose petals in water, similar to how any flavor of tea is made. It has roots back to the Greeks and Romans, who bathed in it for its antiseptic and antibacterial properties.
“In 2017, I really noticed that rose water was trending in the beauty industry,” Crane said. “Almost every cosmetic company was coming out with their own line of rose water as a toner. And the only other rose water beverages were filled with sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.”
That’s when Crane decided to launch Petal in April 2017 and then spent the next year formulating the recipe, executing a marketing strategy and designing the product’s packaging.
“People are more conscious about artificial ingredients,” Crane said. “People are moving away from the diet sodas and the sweet drinks that they have grown to love over the years. The world needs some rose water with some sparkles in a beautiful can and I’m going to deliver it to them.”
After a year of formulating the recipe and ramping up for an official launch, Petal, which is manufactured right outside of Milwaukee, was introduced to the market on May 25 at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.
“That was the first time that we presented it to the public and the response was incredible,” Crane said. “People were so excited and they were telling their friends about it.”
Shortly after, Petal was available in Sunset Foods, a grocery store in Highland Park, where more than 1,000 cans of the beverage sold in the first three hours of it being on the shelves.
“There was a lot of hype about the brand before it even hit the shelves, so people were excited to come on in and buy their first can,” Crane said.
Since then, Petal has sold about 6,000 cans and can be found in more than 25 retail locations, including all five of Sunset Foods’ locations in Illinois, Fresh Farms in Niles, Indiana, and Foodsmarts in Logan Square. Additionally, Crane said Petal will be available in all Plum Market locations, one of which is in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.
Going into the summer, Crane said she is focused on expanding Petal throughout the Midwest region, but over the next five years, hopes it will become a national brand. Crane also has plans to release new flavors of Petal within the next year.
The startup currently only has three full-time employees, and to get off the ground, Crane said she invested her own money into the startup.
“It’s our generation’s obligation to create better consumer products,” Crane said. “I hope that consumers enjoy it with me.”
