From concept to creation. This is our story.
What originally began as a cactus water concept for me in 2017 eventually led to something much bigger. I had been an avid consumer of coconut water for years and had always thought of creating something healthier, but never got around to executing my ideas. Being a longtime resident here in the great state of Arizona I thought about all the edible desert plants we have here and how incorporating them into a healthy beverage could be something very special and unique. But I thought to myself which ones would I use.
While in the boy scouts during my youth here in Arizona and on an expedition with my group, we met with a local Navajo tribe where our group where taught about the exotic desert botanical of Arizona. In particular, the prickly pear cactus and it's many health and medicinal properties. Little did I know that the acquired knowledge of the prickly pear cactus I had obtained from the great Navajo people of my state would lead to me starting my own beverage company years later.
So, in 2017 I began looking for prickly pear suppliers here in Arizona and set on my journey to create a prickly pear cactus water. I spent countless hours, days and months searching endlessly for a co-packer and packaging companies who could supply bottles and caps, as well as labels. I spent countless hours having my kitchen recipes tested and had to navigate around what seemed like never ending challenges.
Eventually I was able to get my first beverage produced and launched. Wild Blossom - Wildcrafted Prickly Pear Cactus Water was released in 2018. Bottled in elegant 12 oz glass square bottles with a beautiful package. I was able to get the beverage in a few local stores and began my path down learning the beverage industry. Submitting my beverage to all major players as well as local and regional distributors but was unable to secure distribution. With my beverage retaining a short shelf life and being cold storage along with my inexperience in the business my cactus water was short lived and I had to discontinue. I had to rethink and rebrand as I had come too far to just quit.
One of the ingredients I used for my cactus water was an exceptional blue agave nectar, and it was this single ingredient that changed my life. I took my blue agave nectar and bottled it in the same bottles as my cactus water and branded it as 'Dulce Azul'. I began the entire process of submitting my new raw blue agave nectar to the former distributors who had originally passed on my cactus water from local to regional and even national levels. Within months I landed my first major and national distributor and went on over the course of the next 3 years to scale out nationally. My beverage business was later reformed as a food & beverage business and then acquired by a major company in late 2022.
In January of 2023 I decided to start a new beverage business and formed The Wildcraft Company, Inc.. I had learned a lot in my 6 years within the food and beverage industry and felt quite confident that I could come back and deliver even better products this time around. Not knowing exactly where to begin and going through some old archives I stumbled upon my original recipe for Wild Blossom Cactus Water from 2017. I thought, "Wow! This would be great to revisit and make even better." However, knowing that several companies had entered the market with a prickly pear cactus water, I thought simply introducing another cactus water into a saturated market wouldn't be a wise idea. After researching, I realized there are so many more exciting and innovative combinations to create truly unique prickly pear beverages. Thus I began with creating a prickly pear lemonade and experimenting with other exotic fruits and vegetables to bring forth something truly special. After a year of formulation and testing out hundreds of combinations and different suppliers I hit the jackpot and developed what I believe to be one of the best prickly pear beverages on the market. The original name from my cactus water was reused and is now called Wild Blossom - Wildcrafted Prickly Pear Lemonade™. The evolution of Wild Blossom has now grown to become a mocktail brand beverage that will have a variety of alcohol-free classic craft cocktails manufactured with our own spin on the recipes, with the addition of organic and wildcrafted fruits, vegetables and spices added to them.
We were able to sell over 50,000 bottles of our Wild Blossom Prickly Pear Lemonade in just a few short months of launching the brand without any distribution and by means of a variety of farmer's markets we attended. We were also able to secure over 100 Arizona based retail accounts including over 15 ACE Hardware stores believe it or not, as well as a distribution deal with a major distributor early 2024.
This is only the beginning...
~ Anthony Cogdell - Founder & Owner