Q:
How are you trying to get the word out about yourself
in a town that already has many quality-focused tea
retailers?
DK:
We have a chilled drink menu we've been
developing, which will allow us to be on the
front burners of people's minds all year. We don't want to be
just a cold weather hot-beverage supplier. We've also been
doing a lot of events around town over the past year and a half
mentioning the new store. We don't actively sample at events
because it's so much to keep up on, but we can give people a
tea bag. I love sending people home with something they can
think about the next day. It gives them that reminder that a
local person put this in their hand.
Q:
Do you envision opening more tea bars?
PP:
The core team that's been involved from the
beginning truly believes that this is a winning
concept. The store on Mississippi is a bit of a live experiment,
letting us play around with a lot of ideas—both internal ideas
and ideas our customers give us. We're still in that mode. But I
very much see us developing multiple locations. How many and
how soon? It's still too early to say.
freshcup.com May 2013
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