This SLO company sold local spring water for 114 years. Now it’s been bought by Nestlé
All Eric Mulay ever wanted to do was run his family business.
As a third-generation owner of Crystal Springs Water Co. in San Luis Obispo, work and family were closely tied for Mulay.
He co-owned the business with his brother, John Mulay Jr. His office was his childhood bedroom.
“I would go home to go to work every day,” Mulay said in a phone interview with The Tribune on Tuesday. “It was what I always wanted to do.”
That ended in August, after Mulay and his brother sold the local full-service water company to Nestlé Water for an undisclosed sum.
Nestlé officially took ownership of the 114-year-old business on Aug. 1.
Mulay said the decision to sell was because neither his nor his brother’s children wanted to take on the business.
“It was not easy,” he said of the decision. “It was a struggle.”
114 years in business in San Luis Obispo
Crystal Springs Water Co. began in San Luis Obispo around 1905.
At that time, local schoolteacher Mary S. Spaulding began selling water from the spring at what is today Rockview Place near the South Hills Open Space, according to the history page on the Crystal Springs website.
She sold the water to neighboring ranchers until selling the property in 1925; the next owner continued the tradition of selling the water locally.
Eventually, a man named Walter Hudson bought the property with the intention of bottling and delivering the water with the help of a newly accessible invention — the automobile.
Hudson owned the business up to World War II, but after his son was killed in action, and Hudson himself died, the business was sold to Mulay’s grandfather, Edmund Downing Jr., in 1944.
Under their family, the business grew to include production of drinking, fluoridated and distilled waters, as well as water softening systems and a commercial coffee and tea service, according to the Crystal Springs website.
The company did home deliveries of both gallon bottles and 16.9-ounce bottles, all using water from the local spring. Their service area stretched from Paso Robles to Santa Ynez.
Mulay declined to disclose how many customers the company served or how much revenue it brought in, saying just that it was profitable leading up to the purchase.
What happens to Crystal Springs next?
In an emailed statement Tuesday, a Nestlé Waters North America spokesman said the company bought Crystal Springs as it is hoping to expand its ReadyRefresh bottled water delivery service on the Central Coast.
The company will not be sourcing its water from the local San Luis Obispo spring.
According to the statement, former Crystal Springs customers will be able to purchase Nestlé Waters’ Arrowhead or Pure Life branded waters, to be delivered by the Santa Maria branch.
“No action is required by customers at this time and their water will continue to be delivered as scheduled,” read the statement. “We look forward to welcoming Crystal Springs Water Company’s associates into the ReadyRefresh family and serving our new customers.”
Because Nestlé did not purchase the spring or its production facility, several local positions were cut, according to Mulay.
Mulay said prior to the Nestlé acquisition, he had about 28 people on the payroll. Only about eight of those have transferred over to the new ownership, he said.
“It’s a different business for (Nestlé),” he said. “I had local customer service. I produced everything local. They don’t need a lot of that.”
Mulay said most of the delivery carriers will remain the same, noting that most long-time customers should not see a change in their service.
Moving forward, Mulay said he doesn’t know what the future holds for him now that he has sold the family business.
“Will I regret it later on? I don’t know. Maybe,” he said. “But I had to take a chance on it while the offer was on the table.”
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