Perrier Water Scare Goes Flat in Southland

Life proceeded quite nicely in Southern California on Sunday in the wake of the recall of Perrier water due to a chemical contamination scare.

In fact, it seems that Perrier--once so popular as a symbol of health in the trendy Southland--has become downright passe in some local watering holes, grocery stores and exercise salons.

“We use Calistoga,” Rose Cafe manager Cheron Vekavat said above the brunch-crowd din in Venice. “It tastes better.”

“Perrier today is a shadow of its former self,” said Carl Lundgren, general manger of Vicente Foods, a Brentwood market popular with the movie crowd. Non-carbonated distilled water, like Evian, is what’s in these days, he said.

“There are so many new source waters around,” said Robert Schwan, general manager of 72 Market St., a restaurant in Venice. “There’s no reason to use Perrier. It’s a little pricey.”

Even at two well-known Westside health clubs--the Sports Connection in West Hollywood and actress Jane Fonda’s Workout Center in Beverly Hills--the recall was a non-event. Both clubs said they serve Evian.

Surely, the recall had an impact at (ixi:z), a men’s clothing store on Rodeo Drive that has the nation’s only water bar??? No. The bar, opened amid some fanfare in late 1986, closed about a year ago, a store spokesman said.

The recall did send tremors through luxury hotels owned by Severyn Ashkenazy--like L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills and Le Bel Age in West Hollywood--because each room had two bottles of Perrier in their refrigerators. The bottles, about 2,400 in all, had to be seized from the rooms, Ashkenazy said.

Perrier’s misfortune, though, was a boon for sales of bottled seltzer water. “They doubled in one evening,” Ashkenazy said.

Michael A. Walker, owner of Farmer’s Market in Newport Beach, said he “pulled it (Perrier) off the shelf Saturday as soon as I learned it was on every news channel on TV.”

The Perrier scare began late Friday when officials of the French-based firm began the recall of as many as 72 million bottles nationwide. Some bottles had been found to be contaminated with benzene, a colorless chemical used in the manufacture of such products as paint and detergents.

North Carolina health officials made the discovery during routine testing, and while U.S. health officials played down the immediate danger to consumers, Perrier took no chances and ordered the recall.

“There is no reason at all (why) it should be in our product,” a Perrier spokesman said. “We don’t understand it.”

Though Perrier has many challengers today, it remains the nation’s most popular carbonated water, with about $150 million in annual sales. Perrier officials say they will stop sales for up to three months, which could cost them $40 million in sales.

One of Perrier’s competitors, LaCroix Sparkling Water in LaCrosse, Wis., said Sunday that it plans to increase its output by 50%.

“We see a chance . . . to jump in and fill the void,” a LaCroix spokesman said.

Not everyone had heard about the recall by Sunday. Chuck Jackson, assistant manager at the Original Irvine Ranch Market in Costa Mesa, said he had heard “not a word” about the recall from anyone.

“I don’t think people care anymore,” he said. “No matter what you eat or drink, you’re going to die anyway.”