The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) warmly congratulates our dear friend Andrew D. Peykoff, Sr. on being appointed the first Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Macedonia to the State of California, based out of Ontario, California. Peykoff is the Founder and Chairman of Niagara Bottling, LLC – the largest private label bottled water company in the Western Hemisphere.
“I’m a proud Macedonian from California and now deeply humbled by the confidence of the Macedonian Government in appointing me as Macedonia’s Honorary Consul in California. I will do my best to honor the memory of my parents, who immigrated from Egejska Makedonia,” said Peykoff during the official opening ceremony. “Each Macedonian mother and father teaches their children: the keys to a happy life are strong family values, strong work ethic and strong savings ethic. Whatever you do, stick to it. Get busy, do it yourself. Don’t wait.”
The official opening ceremony of the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Macedonia was held on Friday, November 30, 2012 in Ontario, California. Attendees included Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Pesevski, Ontario Mayor Paul Leon of Ontario, Mayor Rick Gibbs of Murrieta, California State Assembly Member Norman J. Torres’ Field Representative Alfonso Altamirano, Andrew Peykoff, II, son of the Honorary Consul General and President & CEO of Niagara Bottling, LLC, the Consul Generals of Bulgaria, Croatia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Mexico, UMD Los Angeles Representative Dimitar Nasev, St. Mary Macedonian Orthodox Church Reverend Father Risto as well as Parish President Mite Ristovski, members of the extended Peykoff family, and friends of Niagara Bottling, LLC.
“Prime Minister Gruevski’s Government could not have made a better choice to appoint Andy to this role. He has been an exemplary Macedonian-American, a man of great knowledge, wisdom, humbleness, and a role model for our future generations,” said UMD President Metodija A. Koloski today.
“Andy’s accomplishments in both personal and professional aspects of life speak louder than words and we cannot express how grateful we are that he will take up this new role to promote our homeland in California, and help to strengthen Macedonian-American relations. UMD and our Los Angeles team are ready to assist Andy any way we can,” said UMD Los Angeles Representative Dimitar Nasev during the official opening ceremony.
Peykoff has been a long-time supporter and friend of the UMD, and also serves on the Board of Directors of Macedonia 2025.
Photos courtesy of Mayor Paul Leon of Ontario
Biography of Mr. Peykoff
Niagara Bottling is the largest private label bottled water company in the Western Hemisphere. Family owned since 1963, Niagara’s founder Andrew Peykoff Sr. moved to California as a milkman in 1961. In 1963, he started his own water company, delivering high quality low cost water in five-gallon glass containers for homes and offices using his garage as his storage area.
In 1967, Niagara opened their first bottling plant. In 1988, they started bottling 1-gallon bottles and in 1994 bought their first blow molder to make one-gallon polyethylene bottles. In 1988, the company began leading the technological revolution in the water industry by investing in injection and blow molding to create North America’s lightest PET bottle. As the company continued to grow, they expanded into offering single serve private label and branded bottled water to retailers and wholesale customers with the same focus on offering an unmatched combination of quality, price, and service. Growth continues, and today, the company has twelve geographically diversified production facilities servicing nearly every major retailer in the U.S.
Almost 50 years later, with production capacity of over 20 billion bottles of water per year, Niagara is the industry leader in high speed automation and emerging plastic technologies including vertical integration and light weighting. Niagara received the Best PET technology innovation Award in 2009 recognizing the Eco3 bottle design as the most innovative technological accomplishment in the PET industry. In 2012, Niagara also received an international award for development of the “nested pack,” which eliminated corrugated.