Honest Tea
Industry: Organic beverages
Headquarters: Bethseda, MD
Founders: Seth Goldman and Berry Nalebuff
Founded: 1998
Markets: Nationwide
Interviewed: Seth Golman, Founder and TeaEO
Honest Tea was started in Seth Goldman’s basement, in the pursuit of a less sweet, but flavorful, beverage. Over ten years later, the company is the best selling brand of organic bottled tea in the country. Seth Goldman met his co-founder Barry Nalebuff in graduate school, where Nalebuff was the professor for one of Goldman’s classes. Nalebuff’s research into the tea industry uncovered that tea purchased for bottling by American companies was the lower quality dust and fannings left after quality tea had been produced. So, Seth Goldman and his professor decided to start a company that sold Honest Tea, made with real tea leaves. Organic certification, the uniqueness of the product offerings, and the firm’s fair trade philosophy have facilitated the company’s rapid growth and great success.
Community involvement at Honest Tea is driven by the realization that while tea is consumed by the wealthiest countries in the world, it is produced by the poorest. Honest Tea strives to improve these communities however possible when doing business there. When presented with a purchasing decision between two financially comparable alternatives, the company attempts to choose the option that better addresses the needs of economically disadvantaged communities.
Honest Tea
5019 Wilson Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814
Tags: corporate philanthropy, Honest Tea, organic beverages, Seth Goldman
