indi Bigelow rips open a bag of her family’s Earl Grey tea, splaying the contents out on a crisp white napkin to highlight the dark, black leaves inside. With the scent of Calabrian bergamot lingering, she tears open two more bags from much larger competitors, dumping each onto the napkin, huffing at the contents: synthetic white flavor crystals in one, pieces of light brown tea plant stem, a bitter-tasting filler, in the other.
A lot of credit goes to holding firm to tradition, including still using the recipe Cindi’s grandmother created in her kitchen in 1945 for its signature Constant Comment tea. Her father, David, took over the business from her grandmother in 1959 and ran it for 45 years, transforming it from a niche, mail-order gift shop brand into a grocery store staple. Cindi, the younger of his two daughters, joined in 1986 armed with an M.B.A.
As Cindi’s experience at the company grew, so did the pushback. She proposed a line of holiday-themed teas, but David didn’t have any interest in flavors like pumpkin spice or eggnog. Then came a push into natural grocery stores, but he disliked the idea of piling on more costs to get shelf space and consumer awareness. The tense arrangement lasted for years and wasn’t sorted out until Cindi called a family meeting to unload on her 79-year-old father.
Says Richard Enticott, a veteran botanicals broker who works with Bigelow and its competitors: “They’re not hard negotiators because they recognize their partners need to be successful. In a lot of negotiations we do, price is everything.”
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BrunoRa78262209
Crappy tea. Very crappy.
Is BigalowTea in plastic tea bags? Microplastic is absorved into our blood streams and internal organs.
The Bigelows have accomplished what is only a half-steeped dream for most family businesses: passing the company down from the 1st generation to the 2nd and, with Cindi Bigelow, to the 3rd
What a missed opportunity with that line.
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Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »