A new Chicago startup is joining the growing pack of “enhanced” sparkling beverages that have become popular among millennials interested in the burgeoning wellness market.
Heywell, which hit shelves in September, is a sparkling wellness water made with a combination of vitamins, adaptogens, herbs, berries and organic caffeine from green coffee beans. It's low-calorie, low-sugar and comes in three flavors, each designed to have a specific kind of effect on your mood, the company says.
There’s “energy + immunity,” made with a gooseberry that’s rich in vitamin C, “energy + focus,” which has an amino acid that fosters concentration, and “calm + restore,” packed with calming lemon balm. Each have 15 calories or fewer and no more than 2 grams of sugar.
The company was founded by Britt Dougherty and Ashley Selman, who have a combined 25 years of experience working in the beverage industry. Most recently, the two were marketing executives at MillerCoors, but quit the company in 2018 to launch heywell.
“We were working long hours and often found ourselves wanting to stay on our wellness journeys, so we’d look for products like functional beverages that could help us stay healthy,” Dougherty said. “Unfortunately, we were often disappointed. We were finding products that were actually providing more barriers to wellness, instead of breaking them down.”
Though the recipes vary for each flavor, all three have schisandra, an antioxidant super berry that heywell says helps de-stress and sustain energy and concentration. The beverages also include L-theanine, an amino acid naturally found in green tea.
The founders picked the name, heywell, to convey an invitation to wellness.
“What was important to us was creating something that was accessible and inspirational,” Selman said.
Manufactured in Los Angeles, heywell can be bought locally at shops like Foxtrot, Goddess and the Grocer and select yoga studios for $3.99. Heywell can also be purchased on its website. A six-pack costs $24.99 and a 12-pack sells for $45.
Heywell joins a growing group of other Chicago beverage startups, such as Tempo and Petal, which both make sparkling beverages. Outside of Chicago, New York-based Recess may be heywell’s biggest competitor as the company produces canned sparkling waters designed to improve concentration and calm the mind.
“It was really important for us to have the functionality but not to taste it,” Dougherty said. “Your water is working harder for you.”
