A Case Study
Change Starts Here
With Indigenous Inspired Teas.
History Of The Brand
Started as a school project, the founder of Sarjesa Tea Alexandra, was looking for a cup of tea on her way to class. She purchased a tea that would be funding small business and supporting indigenous communities in other parts of the world. This gave her a thought, what would happen if there was a tea that supported marginalized communities and small business right here in her own community. From there the idea bloomed into a much more tangible concept. If every culture has tea, what if we could use tea to bring awareness to the issue of violence and mistreatment of indigenous women while using local plants to educate people on the land around them? It might be tangible, but it is still a big idea! It’s the concept Sarjesa tea was founded on, coupled with the idea that Canadians can effect change in the world around them with both their actions and their purchases.
From here starting the brand up and getting everything prepared would be an intensive process. Alexandra set out to establish relationships with Indigenous Elders and other community members to create tea blends. She worked with Indigenous artists to create the packaging that was able to convey the values and goals of the Sarjesa brand. The result of this hard work was something amazing, truly unique flavours that were created for a cause. The socially focused tea company was able to support local violence prevention programs for women in crisis through the sale of a high-quality tea. Alexandra and her small but mighty team started producing their high quality tea, and sharing their amazing mission and story while selling to local coffee shops and independent stores.
Blending Of Business
One of our sales managers Chris reached out to Alexandra last year to invite her to the Curve warehouse for a tour. He did this to tell Alexandra about his big idea of blending her high quality tea with a with Curve’s successful sales and distribution team. Curve would be able to help build the Sarjesa brand, while also meeting our mission of aligning with companies that we share values with. Gaining the respect and trust of Alexandra was no easy task as her personal values and the values of Sarjesa were the priority. Chris was able to convey that we would not simply be distributing Sarjesa, but we would be taking an active role in selling the product to our customers. We would connect Sarjesa to new retailers and work together to aid in managing production increases and planning out future retail strategy. Chris went on to say that carrying Sarjesa and everything it stands would be a privilege for Curve. Alexandra gave us her trust and we take that trust seriously.
It starts with showing the product to retailers and buyers, telling the brand story, and of course drinking the tea. Chris and Curve Key Account Manager David proudly took on this duty. Listings with new stores started to grow.
Alexandra trusted us to help her navigate the retail sales environment, and as a facilitator of the relationships between brands and retail stores, Curve has found a home here. Guiding new brands as they grow and helping them to adapt their business model from start up to an industry manufacturer, and everything in between. Working together and forecasting so production is able to keep up with the demand of an ever-expanding list of retailers.
Alexandra at Sarjesa expressed gratitude towards this saying “just the ability to ask questions and to have someone there to answer them is amazing”. Our priority is to be there to answer all the questions, and we may even have a few questions ourselves. Through a mutual process of working together we build a business and foundation that is extremely immeasurably valuable.
It is still a privilege to work with Sarjesa and to tell new retailers how amazing the tea is while amplifying the values behind it. We were able to get the brand on the shelf with the beautiful packaging and flavours helping get it off the shelf.
Where to Next?
Curve is working with Sarjesa to increase the sales in the channels they participate in. This is a brand with exceptional opportunity for growth with the strategy we have developed with Alexandra. Growing this brand will have an impact on raising awareness of violence against women while also creating jobs for women. Jobs that give them the security to be able to possibly remove themselves from dangerous situation.