Innovation

Sapsucker’s innovation of maple water has changed the landscape of mineralized bottled water. The innovation process includes applying numerous major technological trends in its harvesting of maple trees to create a unique beverage with a smooth and sweet flavour (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Sapsucker’s water is harvested during the early spring season, where the equal balance of a cold and hot climate allows the maple trees to draw moisture up from its roots and trunks giving it a nice and subtle flavour along the way, when the sap is extracted from the tree. Using the age-old process and harvesting at the right time ensures that the trees are at no harm and can still produce throughout their natural lives. Because early spring season only provides such a little window for harvesting, the product is later pasteurized and put through tetra packaging after the harvesting process so it can lengthen its shelf life as the beverage itself can naturally spoil after 48 hours (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). Overall the nature of sap water provides consumers with an organic product that has many healthy nutrients and antioxidants that highly mineralized bottled water may not have, which supports good health and well-being (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Furthermore, the emergence of such innovation required a lot of research and work with the University of Guelph Food & Technology Centre to figure out the beginning steps in creating the product and the suitability of such a unique beverage. “My husband and I have always made maple syrup in the spring, drink the sap raw, we knew that the sap was healthy and full of antioxidants and grew from there,” (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Inspiration

Sapsucker was founded by two families; the Chapmans and the McGlaughlins. Family is one of the core inspirations surrounding the brand. Being raised in rural areas with country roots, the families were inspired to pave a path to build careers and families (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). The Co-Founder explains that, “[harvesting trees for sap water] was something we all enjoyed doing every year together … we knew it was a healthy drink, and we wanted to support the growth of the product the we have enjoyed for so many years,” (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Furthermore, coconut water was a big influence for the product explaining that, “coconut water paved the way for us, so we knew we wanted to have low sugar healthy and natural foods,” (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

With the rising trend of healthy eating, Sapsucker’s purpose was to provide a product that would create value to the consumers and to the company. Surrounding its brand around being locally sourced and sustainably produced, and being born in the home of some of the best preserved natural habitats in North America. The Co-Founder explained that, “[they] knew there would be market for it if there were people looking for products like what [they] were looking for – healthy, local and sustainably produced,” (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Overall impact

Sapsucker's innovation of using the sap from maple trees to create a beverage has had several impacts on the business. The first impact being the increase in technology. The Co-Founder explained that, "[they] are constantly increasing and looking for new technologies to grow," (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). Without the increase and growth in technology the business would not be where it is today. There is a window of about 48 hours from the tapping of the maple trees to packaging, if not, the product will spoil (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). Due to this Sapsucker had to create a way in order to not only quickly harvest, but also find packaging that would lengthen the shelf-life of the product since trees can only be tapped in the spring (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). The technology continues to grow at Sapsucker, as they, and the Canadian government hope to be selling this product internationally in the years to come (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

The second impact of the innovation on the business is that now the company is venturing into other trees to tap for beverages – including birch trees, which they were successful in doing. This product according to the Co-Founder is not as sweet as the maple water, but has a great taste (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). This product is also lower in sugar and richer in antioxidants than their original product (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).. Both products are harvested in a sustainable way, and both provide many health benefits to the consumer (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Business benefit

The benefits to the type of innovation that Sapsucker has created as it relates to business include the, "movement forward in technology and products offered to the market," (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). Since there are few competitors creating a similar product, the technology was not available. Nancy and her husband worked with the GFTC (Guelph Food Technology Centre) in order to understand how they could best produce, harvest, pasteurize, and package their product to be mass produced (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Sapsucker has been successful with their products, and have shown growth through their experimentation with other beverage products. The company is providing technology to the market that was not there before, this will help many different businesses in the future (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Social and environmental benefit

Sapsucker poses many societal benefits to Canadians. The good encompasses healthy ingredients in their maple syrup that are sufficient in antioxidants while containing no preservatives providing Canadians a healthier alternative (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). Sapsucker refrains from outsourcing from outside of Canada and purchases locally, assisting in maintaining employment in Canada and supporting local farmers (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). The future looks prosperous for society as Sapsucker continues to exclusively work with local Ontario farmers to ensure that the best harvesting practices are used to benefit the company, customer, and the environment (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

The environment is a main focus for Sapsucker as they exercise sustainable agricultural practices by tapping into the same tree for up to 200 trees, utilizing the resource to the resources full potential without leaving any waste (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). The packaging used by Sapsucker employs tetra packaging, which currently is the most sustainable and shelf-stable way their product can be sold (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). This method is a far more superior alternative than bottled water as it decreases the amount of garbage being thrown out. Nancy Chapman, the owner of Sapsucker describes that her company’s objective “is to be the most sustainably packaged water” (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018). Extracting sap from trees and converting it to water is more beneficial to the environment rather than withdrawing it from traditional sources such as aquifers. Sapsucker is currently partnered with the Guelph Food Technology Centre (GFTC) as this organization can provide information on the most modern technology to ensure efficiency and sustainability is met in future (N. Chapman, personal communication, February 05, 2018).

Interview

Nancy Chapman, Co-Founder