A luxury Singapore restaurant, charging almost $500 per person for dinner, exclusively serves water from the Swedish company Nordaq. Executive Chef Martin Öfner stated that every aspect of the dining experience, from dishes to non-alcoholic beverages, utilizes water sourced from Nordaq. The water undergoes purification and bottling on-site using local tap water.
Nordaq aims to diminish the reliance on single-use plastic water bottles within the hospitality industry, encompassing both common plastic bottles found in hotel rooms and glass-bottled mineral water served in upscale restaurants, which can travel vast distances. Nordaq's bottles are devoid of plastic labeling for easy washing and reuse, and feature wide mouths suitable for cleaning in regular dishwashers. Mandarin Oriental Singapore has implemented Nordaq's water system since 2023, supplying bottles to its rooms, restaurants, spa, and gym. Hotel Manager Cindy Kong conducted a tour of the bottling facility for CNBC Travel, demonstrating the water's journey from washing and inspection to filling and sealing. They can produce 500 bottles of purified water per hour. Nordaq operates within a burgeoning market of premium sustainable water companies. Castalie water is featured in over 700 hotels in France, while Purezza water is available in over 5,000 establishments across 13 countries. The Indian hospitality company ITC Hotels developed its own 'zero-mile' water brand, SunyaAqua, to reduce single-use plastic bottles across its 140 hotels. Swiss sustainable water brand Be WTR also targets the hospitality sector