Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/300684
freshcup.com | May 2014 45 Q: Why a van and not a tea shop? A: The van was my low-risk way of funding this venture, and I thought, if I can get a van I can learn as I go. Just because no one is really doing tea in England, so I didn't know if everyone would hate it. I thought getting a shop might be crazy. I then bought Watson and turned to Kickstarter and put my idea to the world, and the world was kind to me. Q: What are the advantages of having a mobile business? A: The obvious advantage of the van is your overheads are low, so if times are slightly tough, you just don't trade. If I'm not trading I'm not paying, whereas in a shop you're desperately fighting to pay your rent and have to put in as many hours as you can. The flexibility of the van is great and much less scary for a new business. Q: What is the next phase of Good & Proper? A: I always thought the answer to that question was "a tea shop," and I think that's still the case. The prob- lem with the van is that it's basically only takeaway, and takeaway is such a difficult thing with tea because a lot of the culture that surrounds tea is about sitting and having a cup of tea. But having a space where people can come in, I can get the tins down from the shelf, they can smell the tea, see it, touch it, buy a pack of tea to take home, sit down. The whole experience is something I really want to be able to do. Q: Are Londoners getting more excit- ed about good tea? A: It's ver y much happening right now. Ever y single magazine and newspaper in England is talking about how "something is happen- ing in tea," there are more and more boutique tea companies appearing, but there is just still such a long way to go to where coffee is. It's just going to take time. And coffee will help, actually, because people are becoming more discerning about what they like anyway. Q: Are there any teas your customers favor? A: The vast majority of my sales are still what people call breakfast tea. Most people will just say, can I have a "tea," and I know they mean a black tea with milk. I don't want to scare them off, so I say, "Absolutely, our breakfast tea today is an Assam or a Kenyan," and I give it to them, and hopefully they come back and say, " That was a really good cup of tea." And that's kind of my ideal customer, even more so than the dis- cerning person that wants to drink a delicious hand-rolled oolong. That's great, but almost the most exciting customer is the person that really doesn't care, but you give them some- thing better, you tell them what it is, and suddenly they're engaged and they're like, "Oh—that was much bet- ter than a normal cup of tea." I love being able to share that moment with someone, when they kind of suddenly decide they do like [that tea] more. Or even better, when I win a coffee drinker over. P H O T O O F T H E VA N ( B O T T O M , C E N T E R ) B Y S I M O N K I M B E R May14_magazine.indd 45 4/18/14 10:44 AM