Key facts
- Table service
- 1 litre — shared across a table, best cost per litre
- Single covers and bar
- 500ml
- Delivery and takeaway orders
- 500ml, branding travels to the customer’s home
- Label stock
- BOPP film — everything here comes out of ice
- Why operators switch
- The margin on branded water stays in the restaurant
- Minimum order
- 180 units (6,480 bottles) of 250ml · 145 units (3,480 bottles) of 500ml · 100 units (1,200 bottles) of 1 Litre
- What a unit is
- One unit is one case: 36 bottles at 250ml, 24 bottles at 500ml, 12 bottles at 1 Litre.
The commercial case
Bottled water is one of the highest-margin items on a restaurant menu and one of the least considered. Most operators buy a national brand at wholesale, sell it at a fixed and widely-known retail price, and accept the spread the brand leaves them.
Own-brand water changes the arithmetic in two ways. The purchase cost is lower, because you are buying packaged drinking water rather than a national brand’s marketing budget. And the price ceiling loosens, because a guest cannot compare your bottle to the one they buy at a corner shop for a known price.
This is not a licence to overcharge, and guests notice when they are being worked. It is an observation that a restaurant which has thought about its glassware, its menu paper and its music has usually not thought about the one branded object it puts on every single table.
Sizes by service style
| Service | Size | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Table service, shared | 1 litre | One bottle serves a table of four; best cost per litre |
| Single covers and counter | 500ml | One serving, no waste |
| Bar and lounge | 500ml | Alongside spirits; chilled service |
| Delivery and takeaway | 500ml | Your branding arrives in the customer’s home |
| Cafe grab-and-go | 500ml | Displayed in a chiller, taken away |
| Staff meals and back of house | 1 litre | Cost only |
The delivery-order argument
For any restaurant doing meaningful volume through delivery platforms, this is the strongest single reason to consider own-brand water — and it is usually overlooked.
On a delivery order, the restaurant is invisible. The app takes the interface, the rider takes the doorstep, the packaging is often generic, and the only thing carrying your name into the customer’s home might be a sticker on a bag they discard immediately.
A branded bottle in the bag survives that. It sits on a table through the meal, and frequently in the fridge afterwards, carrying your mark in a household you otherwise reach only through an app that would rather you did not.
Label stock
BOPP film. Restaurant bottles come out of a chiller or an ice well onto a table, condensation forming immediately, and are handled with wet hands. Paper labels mark, cockle and lift, and a peeling label on a table bottle looks like a bottle that has been sitting around.
For a restaurant with a strong visual identity, a restrained mark on a clean field will look considerably more expensive than a full-colour wrap — the same principle as a menu with white space.
Supply rhythm
Restaurants suit a scheduled weekly or twice-weekly dispatch, which is also what moves the account into a better rate tier. Storage is usually the constraint rather than budget: back-of-house space in an NCR restaurant is scarce, and holding three weeks of water in it is expensive in a way that does not appear on any invoice.
A regular small dispatch keeps that space free and the stock fresh. Tell us your covers and your delivery volume and we will build a schedule against it rather than asking you to remember to reorder.
For groups with several outlets, consolidating across sites improves the tier for all of them, with the delivery split by address.
Frequently asked questions
Can a restaurant sell water under its own brand in India?
Restaurants commonly serve own-labelled packaged drinking water. Where a brand owner is selling packaged water commercially rather than serving it, an FSSAI licence in the brand owner’s name is generally expected — confirm your position with a compliance advisor, as it depends on how you are selling it.
What size bottle should a restaurant use for table service?
1 litre for shared table service, since one bottle serves a table of four at the best cost per litre. 500ml for single covers, the bar, and anything going out on a delivery order.
Is own-brand water cheaper than stocking a national brand?
The purchase cost is generally lower, because you are not paying for a national brand’s marketing. The larger effect is that the retail price is no longer anchored to a figure every guest already knows.
What is the minimum order for a single restaurant?
One batch: 100 units of 1 litre or 145 of 500ml. A unit is a case, so those are 1,200 and 3,480 bottles — a busy restaurant is committing to a quarter or so of supply, delivered on a schedule rather than in one drop.
Which label material should restaurant bottles use?
BOPP film. Bottles come out of ice onto tables and are handled with wet hands; paper labels will not survive it.
Which areas does AquaVia deliver to?
Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Deliveries outside Delhi NCR are quoted case by case.
How long does an order take?
A digital label proof comes back in 24–48 hours. Once you approve it, production and delivery run 2–3 business days. Rush orders are possible — say so when you enquire.
Can I see a sample before committing to a bulk order?
Yes. Message the sales desk on WhatsApp at +91 76248 03460 or email info@aquaviaworld.com with your logo and rough quantity, and we will arrange a sample bottle.
Working to a budget? Download pricing brochurePDF · Corporate rate card for the full per-case rate card.