Wednesday July 8, 2009 | 2 comments
When I was asked to move to Toronto and join Teaopia a little less then two years ago, it gave me great pause for thought. I hemmed and hawed and after several months of this and much discussion with the owner, my belongings and I left BC (British Columbia), and shared a U-Haul across several time zones to Canada’s largest city.
So, here I am now, finishing my tenure at Teaopia and contemplating my next step in tea – my passion and chosen vocation.
It was a whirlwind ride here in TO. Eight store openings in 16 months. It’s hard to believe we pulled it off, but the stores are open, staffed, and running well. My immediate co-worker, Frank, became a good friend and trusted comrade. Teaopia is thriving and on a solid track for consistent growth. I am elated and happy that I was a part of it.
Ultimately though, my spirit lies in the west. It calls me all the time and near the end, it has been like a slow creep – poking its head up everywhere, reminding me to go west again, to go back to where it all started for me in tea.
In the meantime, though, there is so much to see. So many new openings, so many new tea concepts have sprung up and are springing up. Creativity in this sector is infectious right now – and so it should be. We have to think outside the box, challenge the status quo, and present tea to the masses in all its forms – wild, hip, trendy, stoic, traditional, healthful, relaxing, contemplative, and tasty. The world is catching on to tea and as retailers we have to be ready to offer up the best concoctions we can.
Now look across the street. See those long lineups at Starbucks in the morning? How many times have you wished you had just 10% of that business? But why just 10%? Why not 50%? Is it achievable, people? Can we do it? I believe we can, and the way it is achievable is by recreating what it was that brought those salivating regulars across the street in the first place – the beverage.
So as I tour around the next month or so on my move back west, I am hoping to visit as many tea bars as I can. I want to taste your best. I want you to pull out all the stops and go create something fabulous. This is my challenge to you.
It is the peak of the iced tea season – nothing can fail now! Call me if you need some help.
I agree that innovation is the stimulus to continue the tea explosion phenomenon. How exciting it must have been to be a part of so many openings. I look forward to reading about your journey home and the unusual tea bars you discover.
The other side of the coin of this ancient beverage – is that it hasn’t changed at all in 1000′s of years. I tend to be more of a traditionalist when it comes to tea. Thank you for helping to nudge me to explore new directions.
Ah yes, this is just what I needed being in one of the hardest hit areas of the recession (so they call it) in the U.S. This is the word: Passion. It’s something that is just in you. You think about it at night, in the morning and all points between. You try to do it better every day.
We had the owner of a plaza where one of the two Starbucks that closed within a 2-mile radius of us came to our shop last week. He and his asst. spent about 1/2 an hour tasting, looking, questioning. We then got a fax offering us that space and he then had his broker call. We have made a counter offer…a crazy one. But now is the time to be crazy.
This morning one of the closed store’s customers came for the first time…shocked at what she saw and tasted. We get ex customers from coffeehouses on a regular basis.
Yes, Brendan, the sky is the limit. I’d love to meet you because we share the same vision. So does Argo. And T Tea Bar. And Teapod. And others. But, as you said, the TASTE/PRODUCT has to be ‘there’. And more. We have to ‘wow’ people with what we are doing with tea. Steven Smith of Tazo is back in the game! Game on…bring your best game is what we say to the coffeehouses around us because we are playing ours.
Fresh Cup magazine just wrote about our brewing system (May 2009) and we are excited at the possibilities.
Teaopia was blessed to have you on board. We would be. Your passion is what moves things forward and we have it as well. The best thing..the best..is seeing the amazement on a customer’s face when they taste loose leaf brewed to the max. They seriously cannot believe it.
Enough rambling . Thanks, Brendan, for your pioneering in the field, for your vision, your passion. We would be thrilled to have someone like you on our team here in So. Calif., where we are looking at moving south and west to San Diego and L.A. counties. It’s wide open, my man!! Let’s ‘brew’ it!