After spending more than seven years in many different facets of the tea industry, I’ve seen a wide variety of strategies and tactics that have garnered success for tea businesses around the world – from small retail shops to major tea companies. Indeed, there are numerous things a tea business can do today to be highly successful.
Today, it’s more important than ever for the overall business of tea to grow and attract and welcome new tea drinkers. And while some businesses in the tea industry may have been impacted or slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a ton of opportunity and new and exciting ways a tea business can flourish in 2022 and beyond.
Here are nine key tips for growth-minded tea businesses, to make tea fresh and exciting for newer audiences.
Double-Down on Your Audience
Tip No. 1 – Make Your Tea Café or Tea Shop a Must-Visit Destination
In many cities, there’s usually a tea spot that every tea enthusiast goes to. However, looking at the big picture, there are not a lot of tea-oriented cafes. The ones that do exist – and have sustained for a long period of time – have turned their venue into a destination. For example, West China Tea has become a popular local/tourist spot in the city of Austin, Texas. They’ve integrated their identity with Austin so much that many Austin tourists make West China Tea a must on their to-do lists when visiting the city.
The same goes for Hugo Tea in Chicago, Ill. Hugo Tea has made itself famous and synonymous with the Chicago beverage scene, and it’s a destination for many who seek tea when traveling to the Windy City. Of course, something can be learned here. Consider investing in your tea shop or tea cafe in a way that makes it integral to the local community but also becomes a must-visit destination for out-of-towners and tourists.
Tip No. 2 – Offer Retail Therapy, Online
Brand recognition doesn’t necessarily take place in retail spaces. Long before the pandemic, there were dozens of online tea shops that curated a line of teas and generated brand recognition for themselves. Many became very recognizable and highly profitable as well. A perfect example is White2Tea — an online tea retailer that has broken down boundaries in marketing to sell a wide range of teas. This company is exclusively online (while sometimes selling to small coffee or tea shops across the United States), and has successfully created a recognizable brand and devoted audience. One takeaway from White2Tea – and various other online tea companies that have a similar business model – is that you can certainly thrive and be very successful online without having a physical presence.
Forward-Thinking Social Media Is a Must
Tip No. 3 – TikTok Is a Goldmine Waiting for Tea Businesses, Don’t Miss Out
Social media has been utilized by companies for marketing purposes across many different platforms. TikTok quickly took over a space that was left behind by Vine, and has landed itself as the largest social media platform in the world. As social media shifts towards attention-grabbing content designed for instant gratification, TikTok is one of the largest untapped marketing platforms that tea businesses of all shapes and sizes can greatly benefit from. While there are prominent tea-related TikTok users, there’s not a large presence of the tea community on the platform itself. There’s a gap that needs to be infused, but the opportunity is there.
Tip No. 4 – Consider Using Short-Form Videos as They’re Replacing Photos & Posts
As TikTok has shaped how social media is utilized, most social media platforms are gearing towards the popularity of short-form videos. Within the last year, Instagram announced that it’d no longer be a photo platform, but rather, a media platform. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have re-shaped their algorithms to push short-form videos to the forefront, too. This means that for the tea industry, a curated product photo shared on various platforms might not receive the engagement that a video would. To change with social media, more and more tea companies should most certainly hone in on creating content that can engage larger audiences with short-form videos.
Tip No. 5 – Don’t Overlook the Importance of Direct Consumer to Company Communications
The way social media has shaped engagement between companies and consumers has been made easier and more convenient. Regardless of the size of your tea company, utilizing social messages to communicate directly to your consumer base is more instrumental than ever to a company’s growth. Given that social media relies on users to impulsively consume more information to stay on social media itself, social media has made it easy for consumers to reach out to companies directly. Instead of relying on website communication, many companies have learned that they can connect to a wider consumer base by responding directly to consumers on social media. Learning to communicate directly to consumers through social media does require time and effort, but the results are rewarding. If your company can sustain it, I would recommend hiring a social media manager to help with more direct social media communication.
Gateway Teas
Tip No. 6 – Remember That Tea Needs Coffee
The truth of the matter is that tea is not nearly as popular as coffee in the West. There are artisan coffee shops on almost every corner in major cities, and many of them have started sourcing teas to help promote a more accessible menu. With this, many tea drinkers have to rely on coffee shops to drink tea as coffee shops are one of the only places many people can buy and drink tea from a cafe. While coffee may be a dirty word for many tea enthusiasts, a lot of smaller brick-and-mortar tea shops have found success by selling tea and hosting workshops at their local coffee shops. Not only is this a win-win for both entities, but this also allows a better opportunity for tea to be introduced to non-tea drinkers. Coffee is the ultimate gateway for audiences to continue to discover more about what the world of tea can offer.
Tip No. 7 – Get on Board! The Boba Tea Frenzy Is Here to Stay, So Let’s Use It
From first-hand experience, I ran a loose-leaf tea shop for two years in Texas that specialized in brewing tea at home – in a style similar to DAVIDsTEA or Teavana. While in a land that’s known for BBQ, George Bush Jr. and the Dallas Cowboys, I had to go against the grain by pushing and promoting the love of loose-leaf tea. While trying to reach out to the general public, the shop I ran needed a hook to introduce the consumer base to loose-leaf tea. That would be boba tea. And you know what the crazy thing is? It absolutely worked. We used boba milk tea with flavored teas from our loose-leaf tea catalog, which was the pinnacle gateway for consumers to be familiarized with loose-leaf tea. Over two years, our sales of loose-leaf tea climbed. By the time I left, gong-fu tea was being introduced and utilized by more and more customers in the region.
That was in 2017. Back then, we were one of the only shops that offered boba in the city. While we didn’t think boba was here to stay and was just another trend, it took off like wildfire. Now, there’s a boba shop in nearly every city and town, and more and more restaurants are carrying it as a permanent menu option. While boba currently has a stranglehold on the U.S. tea market, this is the perfect time to utilize boba tea as a gateway beverage or a way for audiences to discover the wonders of tea.
Tip No. 8 – Craft Cocktails Love Tea – Think About How That Can Help Your Business
Over the last few years, bars and restaurants have been adding more tea cocktails to their menus. With this, more distilleries are making more tea-infused alcohol beverages such as tea-infused champagne, tea liquors, etc. Surprisingly, this is not just another trend – tea has become more of a valuable or sought-after ingredient for bars and restaurants. Variations of Earl Grey Old Fashioneds and White Tea Martinis are appearing in bars and restaurants all over. Bars are discovering that tea is a great tool that can be utilized at a lower cost, yet it yields a higher profit. Now is the time to introduce your tea and brand to the world of alcohol, bars and restaurants. In fact, if you didn’t attend the 2022 World Tea Conference + Expo, co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo, you really missed out. Be sure you attend next time (March 27-29, 2023, in Las Vegas), as two industries collide and create tons of opportunity for collaboration. Just visiting the event’s Tea Bar alone will get you inspired, not to mention the many exhibitors and educational sessions.
Tip No. 9 – Study the Health and Wellness Industry, Look for Paths for Tea
In the Western market, the health and wellness market is a multi-trillion dollar industry that encompasses many aspects of the food and beverage industry. Sometimes, a health trend can ignite and spread like wildfire. The health and wellness industry is responsible for the explosion of green tea consumption, popularizing white tea, and making matcha famous. Now, the health and wellness industry is pushing more and more for yaupon and yerba mate. Restaurants, cafes and retailers that sell food have to abide by certain regulations, especially when it comes to marketing tea. However, there is one thing you can still do. You can analyze the current trends in health and wellness and make that specific tea accessible to a larger audience.
While chasing a trend may not be sustainable for long-term revenue, utilizing current health and wellness trends can be tactful to help introduce an audience fixated on specific trends, and turn the audience onto a larger catalog of tea. Health and wellness is one of the largest gateways you can use to make people love tea for the long-term.
So Many Growth Opportunities… Get Inspired!
While the world of tea is still rebooting after a hard reset from the COVID-19 global pandemic, there are a lot of exciting and new developments in the world of tea. There are so many growth opportunities. And regarding moving the industry forward and growing your business, these tools and tips can be used to help your brand see major success.
And while there are an infinite number of things you can do to move tea forward, there are so many more avenues that can be explored to help keep the world of tea fresh and exciting. With a focus on moving tea snobbery and gate-keeping aside, keeping an open mind and sharing your love of tea, you’ll help the world of tea continue to not only survive but grow further into the future.
Cody Wade, also known by his blog name, The Oolong Drunk, has been tea blogger and tea educator for more than seven years. Wade’s passion for tea started with oolongs, but he has grown to appreciate every umbrella of the tea industry. He’s also given lectures at the Houston Tea Festival, Mid-West Tea Festival and the World Tea Conference + Expo, and he’s forward with his passion with tea education and bringing people together to make the community stronger.
Plan to Attend or Participate in the
World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023
To learn about other key developments, trends, issues, hot topics and products within the global tea community, plan to attend the World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023 in Las Vegas, co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo. Visit WorldTeaExpo.com.
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