Honest Tea
| File:Honest Tea Company Logo.gif | |
| Type | Iced tea |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Honest Tea, Inc / The Coca-Cola Company |
| Distributor | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Introduced | 1998 |
| Website | www |
Honest Tea (U.S.) is a bottled organic tea company based in Bethesda, Maryland. It was founded in 1998 by Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company.
History
Honest Tea was founded in 1998 by Seth Goldman, a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Management who got the idea to found a beverage company while he was at business school; the idea behind the company was to bring beverages to market that were less sweet and organic, and to conduct the business using fair trade principles.[1] Goldman and one of his Yale professors, Barry Nalebuff, conceived the idea for the company and raised $500,000 in startup funds from friends and family.[1]
The first order for Honest Tea was from Fresh Fields, an East Coast natural grocery chain that was later acquired by Whole Foods Market.[1] By 2006, Honest Tea had revenue of $13.5 million and was selling about 1.5 million cases a year.[1]
The Coca-Cola Company purchased a 40% stake of the U.S. company at $43 million in 2008.[2] It bought the rest of the company in 2011.[3]
In 2009, Honest Tea US received an unpaid endorsement when the The New York Times reported that it was President Barack Obama's preferred beverage.[4]
A separate small company, Springleaf, controls the "Honest Tea" trademark in Australia. Honest Tea lost an attempt to claim the rights to the phrase in Australia in 2007.[5]
Appears that Annabel Young WON her case against Coca-Cola in Australia as the original brand name holder, retaining the Honest Tea brand.[6] Refers to alleged activities to impede her claim to the brand.
In 2013 Honest Tea had sales of $112 million worth and in June 2014 sales for 2014 were projected to be around $130 million.[1]
Notes
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- ↑ Paul Ziobro March 1, 2011 Coke Buys Rest of Honest Tea
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External links
- No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
- An interview with Seth Goldman on Bloomberg TV on YouTube
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