Tapping Into Tea - Capitalizing in Foodservice

To those of us in the know, the rising crest of tea’s popularity wave is no surprise, we’ve been watching the swell for years. Our enthusiasm is piqued with every new health study, every new statistic that shows that people continue to choose tea over sodas and juices, and every validation that 5,000 years of history and mass worldwide appeal will eventually cross over into the US mainstream.

Restaurants are both aiding and benefiting from the frenzy. Our largest beverage behemoth, Coca-Cola reported that across all foodservice outlets tea sales were up a glaring 17 percent in 2010 alone. Mintel Menu Insights recently forecasted a 53 percent increase in iced tea beverages from 2008 to 2013. What soda wouldn’t do for those numbers...

Signature blends are a growing segment that I, personally, am very excited about. The limitless array of flavors aided by a healthful reputation make tea a win-win for any restaurateur. One may custom tailor flavors and descriptions to match and enhance their menu or setting, and give customers a unique and healthful sensory experience.

For examples of how successful custom blends can be, check out Adagio’s Signature Blend program, where customers may create a proprietary blend for others to purchase and review. One clever tea temptress created a line of blends inspired by the BBC Sherlock series earlier this year. In the brief 6 months since their creation, she has sold a whopping 13,000 bags of tea to adoring peers. As she has promoted her good work on her own Tumblr page, many of these purchases are from new customers. The power of having a niche is exemplified beautifully here.

For your establishment, you might try blending two simple teas and giving the blend a unique house blend name: Peach and Vanilla could be Peach Cobbler, for example. It is National Peach Month, by the by, National Picnic Month, too... We also don’t discourage renaming an existing blend of ours to make it your own- serving our very popular Irish Breakfast and calling it Mountain Sunrise is completely a-ok.

However you decide to go about it, adding a signature house tea to your offerings is a simple and accessible upsell. From Nation’s Restaurant News:

Stella Maemoto, manager of the Tea Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Las Vegas, said having a point of distinction is key to successful tea sales. She noted that the lounge’s most popular tea is the Mandarin orange blend, made with black tea, Mandarin orange blossoms and a hint of vanilla.

“A lot of our customers go for that because they know they can only get it at our property,” she said.

Here in the dog days of summer, on the brink of back-to-school and cozy autumn, timing is perfect for rethinking your tea program. Read on for ways to broaden your appeal to kids and families at this start of the new school year, as well as ways we have made serving and selling tea even easier for you.
Jump on in, the tea is delightful!