Chad Willis
Chad Willis launched Plus Brand Industries Inc. in February 2019 and has served as its CEO since that time. Plus Brand operates as a parent company for its two main product lines. The first is Agua Plus, a water that hydrates, balances, and revitalizes after exercise. The second product line is All-Scratch! Technology, a labeling system for bottles and cups. The company has grown beyond initial expectations in three years thanks to the strong leadership of Chad Willis.
Career[edit]
Always an entrepreneur, Willis began his career in financial services after earning a bachelor’s degree in business. He created and launched a portfolio lending marketing company. Chad Willis increased the value of the business and eventually accepted a buyout offer from Wells Fargo Bank.
Although he felt grateful for the experience of working in finance, he realized it was not for him. His true passion was the health and wellness industry. Chad Willis was 19 years old when he opened his first gym. He began developing plans for Agua Plus and All Scratch! Technology while operating his fitness centers.
The pivot to selling bottled water and differentiated tags came after experiencing frustration with trying to sell fat-burning supplements online. Here’s how Willis describes it:
“Before there was ever water, we were killing it in online sales with supplements, including a top-selling fat-burning product. Everybody was buying it, but it was really difficult for us to get it into stores and expand beyond e-commerce. Contrary to popular belief, there’s significant regulation over supplements that purport to burn fat. I started to think about my next idea. I said, ‘OK, I’m going to get something that’s really easy for stores to want. What’s a new hot trend?’ This is back at the end of 2018, the beginning of 2019.”
Plus Brand[edit]
Willis chose to make sports nutrition the sole focus of Plus Brand after launching the company three years ago. He studied the types of bottled water currently on the market and decided to release a better product. That’s exactly what he did with the launch of Agua Plus. Realizing people often confused or misplaced their water bottles in gyms, he created the All-Scratch! product.
Willis feels especially proud that the water bottles his company creates reduce waste. He uses proprietary technology that makes it possible for consumers to differentiate Agua Plus water bottles from all other trash. His eco-friendly design came after experiencing frustration after seeing so much water bottle waste at a family reunion.
“I hosted our annual family reunion, with dozens of relatives coming out for it,” he recalls. “I rented a huge house on the ocean, and I shipped down several pallets of Agua Plus. I had full coolers all over the place. The morning after the first day of the reunion, I woke up to find bottles lying all over the place. Most of them were more than half full and just thrown away and going to waste. I was super frustrated. I started yelling at everybody and telling them that we shouldn’t be causing so much waste.”
Seeing so much water bottle waste in one place prompted Chad Willis to create All-Scratch! technology. After learning that no patent existed for scratch-based technology to differentiate bottles, he created the technology himself. All-Scratch! took more than two years to develop because Willis insisted on getting it just right.
Personal Life[edit]
As the father of two school-age daughters, Willis is all about striving for balance. He loves his business and spending long hours operating it doesn’t bother him. At the same time, he carves out time each day for family life. Chad Willis and his fiancee include the girls as part of an active lifestyle. Their daily routine consists of waking up early and exercising. They allow plenty of time to simply enjoy one another’s company.
The holistic approach Chad Willis applies to work, health, and family is no surprise to those who know him. He knows that too much focus on one area only takes time away from the others. Willis recognizes when he’s getting off-track and quickly rights his path to one of maximum balance and fulfillment.
