A look at Hardy’s Beverages in Memphis

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) visited Hardy Beverages in Memphis on Thursday as part of the department’s month-long tour to celebrate National Black Business Month. TNECD plans to visit nine black-owned businesses in the department’s nine regions. Hardy Beverages, at 5815 E. Shelby Drive, was the first stop on the August tour.

“Our state is defined by the brands that call Tennessee home, and it’s important that we continue to recognize the businesses that are pillars across the state,” said TNECD Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter.

McWhorter said the department has been discussing this tournament for some time and hopes to do something similar again next year. McWhorter said the selection of Hardy Beverages and eight other businesses in the tour was to highlight companies that are making significant impacts in their respective industries and communities.

Hardy Beverages co-founder Carolyn Hardy speaks during a presentation to TNECD Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, at the Hardy Beverages location at 5815 East Shelby Drive in Memphis, Tenn. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development visited Hardy Beverages as part of the department's month-long tour to celebrate National Black Business Month.

“[We] they want this to be a badge of honor,” said Memphis Mayor Paul Young. Young added that the impact Hardy Beverages has had on the local business ecosystem and its growth should be celebrated especially in a city that has one of the largest populations black people across the nation.

Co-founder Carolyn Chism Hardy launched Hardy Beverages in 2015. The beverage company specializes in hydrogen-infused water that caters to active lifestyles with health benefits in mind.

The company launched its first brand, HWTO, in 2022. Adding hydrogen to water increases antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, making it comparable to sports and recovery drinks. The popular brand helps with metabolism, Hardy said. Since the launch of the HTWO brand, the company has launched three additional brands: Nightlyfe, an electrolyte-infused version of HTWO for recovery; Skhy, a CBD-infused water in various flavors; and Rallye, hydrogen water for pets.

With the introduction of the brand, Hardy Beverages has continued to grow. The company offers its products online and wholesale, although the East Coast has the lion’s share of the company’s market compared to the West Coast, Hardy said. The business also expanded its international footprint in March, entering the Kuwaiti market, she said.

It’s significant growth for a company that began packaging and bottling by hand in its early days. With growth, the company has added a packaging and automated conveyor belt system using the SOMIC packaging technology system. The addition of the new system came from a partnership with Bernadette Fuller who works with the University of Tennessee’s Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Partnership (TMEP).

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Fuller said the company packs approximately 60 to 80 pallets a day with about 120 bottles of product on each pallet. As the company added the automated system, they also worked with TMEP to purchase a KUKA robot. The robotic arm helps stack pallets and organize Hardy Beverage products for delivery. Fuller said the robot speeds up production by about 10 times and helps avoid any bottlenecks on the packaging line. (Previously two employees would be involved in organizing pallets and securing them through forklift operations.)

The ecosystem created by the logistics component of the manufacturing facility was a point of pride for Hardy. She acknowledged that the company is helping the trucking and manufacturing business with its wholesale operation and that flows into the direct sales and retail components of the business. The logistics component of the business stems from the Hardy family’s decades in the transport and manufacturing sectors. Co-founder Marino Hardy worked in the industry with Baskin-Robbins at its Memphis facility (plant closed in 2022) and Carolyn Hardy previously worked in the packaging industry with JM Smucker Company in Memphis.

“She had the top and I had the ice cream,” Marino joked about how the pair learned the industry at separate companies.

The product’s health benefits are an added benefit for Carolyn Hardy. With obesity, hypertension and diabetes on the rise—especially in lower-income neighborhoods—offering a product that helps mitigate the effects of those conditions is a source of pride for him and the company.

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