Business Spotlight: Lightning in a Bottle

Superbugs. Rashes. Cuts. Germs.

These are the enemies of Nixall owners Cap Briant and Kip Glass. The business partners are going to battle with what they’ve developed as a natural water-based combatant to such maladies.

Just months removed from key Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration approvals, Nixall organizers are pushing the product and strategically developing its marketing avenues. They’re bottling up the solutions by the pallet and distributing to such resellers as Family Pharmacy, MaMa Jean’s Natural Foods Market, West Plains Veterinary Supply and a handful of Walgreens stores.

The Nixall product line ranges from surface cleansing to hand sanitizing and topical wound treatment to bacterial disinfectant. They’ve also developed a watering solution for plants, an animal care product and a medical response line, including an Rx version designed to treat first- and second-degree burns, bed sores, diabetic foot ulcers and post-surgical sites.

“There are some things this liquid won’t do, but it’s a short list,” says Briant, who made this discovery his pet project in 1998.

Last year, Nixall moved about $100,000 in product, and with the right distribution channels in line, Briant projects 2013 sales reaching $3 million.

“We didn’t have an FDA-certified product until Jan. 1. It couldn’t be sold except as a cleaning product. That kind of limits what you can say,” Briant says, calling the government green lights game changers. “It’s actually a Tootsie pop, not just a Tootsie roll.”

The breakthrough
The organizers say the key to treating such wide-ranging issues is electrolyzed anolyte water.

Tucked into a Nixa industrial park off Highway 160, four production workers fill vats at least 4,000 gallons large with tap water. The next step, Briant says, is simulating the natural occurrence of lightning striking the ocean, which reportedly creates healing properties.

In the lab, workers pump the water with concentrated energy, while simultaneously pressurizing the water and feeding in an ocean-type brine solution.

“We have to make three or four events happen at once,” Briant says, noting anolyte water properties have been known for decades, but because it quickly loses potency, commercial application has been limited. “This liquid was used in World War I. The secret is in the stabilization process.”

In recent years, Briant hit a research and development jackpot.

“I bought my first machine to start toying with in 1998. It’s been an on-and-off deal,” he says. “I couldn’t figure out how to stabilize this water. I could make it great. I just couldn’t figure out how to get this fine balance.”

Organized under Seriously Clean Ltd., the principals hold their stabilization formula close to the vest. “We don’t want to talk about our secret, because then it’s not a secret,” Briant says.

While the lab is off limits to guests, Briant says once the water is electrolyzed, it’s bottled in concentrated gallon sizes or diluted, ready-to-use spray bottles. Some bottling operations are outsourced to Aire-Master of America in Nixa and a St. Louis bottler Briant declined to name.

Until the government approvals, Briant and Glass pushed the product through word of mouth. This year, they hired sales representative Jill Neleman, who leads the agriculture division.

Neleman works with three ag distributors – West Plains Veterinary Supply, American Midwest Distributors in Kansas City and MFA Inc. in Columbia – for placement in 1,000 locations across five states. She’s expecting to reach 2,000 locations through the summer.

West Plains Veterinary Supply General Manager Darell Bandy says the animal health care supplier placed its first Nixall order a few weeks ago. Bandy says he saw Briant at a farm show and became familiar with the product.

“The product is similar, only better, than a competitive product we’re carrying,” Bandy says, referring to Vetericyn, what he considers the first anolyte water product on the market. “It sold like gangbusters when it first came out. Since then, there have been a few similar lines.”

The supplier still carries Vetericyn, but Bandy says Nixall proves favorable with its pricing, packaging, minimum order policy and low freight costs due to proximity.

Nixall is now among some 200 vendors West Plains Veterinary Supply distributes to stores in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Neleman also secured Nixall’s first national retail chain.

“We’re starting with the Walgreens, and one in Texas, even,” she says. “We started local, with the Nixa Walgreens, because it takes some education.”

Next steps
Briant and Glass connected through Raised Right Meats, a free-range and grass-fed farming operation Glass ran for 13 years. He walked away from his Autumn Olive Farms in Bois D’Arc last August while it was a profitable venture. Glass says in his last year of operation, Raised Right Meats grossed $160,000.

“It wasn’t because I wasn’t making money. (Nixall) has grown so much. I had to make a choice,” he says, noting his decision wasn’t popular among his 700 regular customers.

Seriously Clean also has ventured into bottling solutions for other labels such as Green Now head-to-toe skin care; Marshfield’s GreenerTouch, a product for flowers and plants; and Mama J’s, a line for national vocal coach Jan Smith.

The Mama J’s product, scheduled to launch after Memorial Day, was born from Smith’s clients fighting continual colds and sicknesses on tour. In her Atlanta studio, she’s coached Usher, Justin Bieber, Rob Thomas and Drake.

“The stars were wanting a spray to protect them from getting colds and sick on tours and the straining of their voices,” Briant says. “They were dissatisfied with the alcohol-based things that are drying out their hands. They demanded a new spray.”

With sights set on advances in medical and government applications, Briant says the partners have hired international law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP to help procure government contracts. He says the company is on the verge of a large medical deal.

“It’s a fight to keep up,” he says. “It expands with an email and phone calls every hour.”