Industry Fairtrade Tea Owner Royal Wessanen Founded 1984 Headquarters Beaminster | Area served International Website www.clipper-teas.com Number of employees 90 (2012) | |
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Founder Lorraine and Mike Brehme Products Tea, organic tea, hot chocolate, coffee Parent organization Wessanen Great Britain Holdings Limited | ||
Clipper teas a different kind of tea company
Clipper is a British, fairtrade tea company based in Beaminster, Dorset founded in 1984. In 1994, they were one of the first companies in the UK to receive the Fairtrade Mark. Clipper was purchased in 2012, by Royal Wessanen, for around £50 million. It is the UK's sixth biggest tea brand and export sales represent 20% of group turnover with products currently sold in 45 countries.
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History
Clipper Tea was started in 1984 by wife and husband Lorraine and Mike Brehme, who were master tasters. They wanted to start a company with ingredients had been ethically sourced and naturally produced. It started in their Dorset kitchen with two chests of Assam tea, which they bought for £50 and sold to local health food shops in the Dorset area.
The principles laid down were "always a pure, natural product – there isn't a single artificial ingredient in any of our products". However, the couple divorced and in 2007 they sold to Fleming Family & Partners, a fund backed by one of Britain's wealthiest families, for around £25- £30 million.
In 2008, Perry Haydn Taylor's creative branding agency, big fish, was approached to rebrand the business. They created new Clipper packaging and slogan "Natural, fair & delicious".
In 2012, the business was sold to Royal Wessanen. Michael Brehme was believed to have retained a very small stake in the business and will have considerable gains at the re-sale to Wessanen. Big fish continue to work with the brand.
Clipper is the UK's sixth biggest tea brand and export sales represent 20% of group turnover with products currently sold in 45 countries. In the first six months of 2013 exports grew by 36% while the 2012 full year increase was 40% above 2011. Export growth is vitally important to the business and has allowed Clipper Teas to invest over £1 million in capital expenditure upgrading its manufacturing facility in Beaminster.
Clipper produces 95 varieties of tea with up to two million tea bags made per day.
Ethics
Clipper is the UK market leader in Fairtrade and organic tea. It was an ethical business from the start. Mike Brehme said "I was in tea already, and I realised there was child labour involved and I thought, "That's no way to make a living." When we first started" Lorraine says, "Fairtrade was very much in its infancy". Whilst out shopping one day she wandered into the Body Shop and picked up a book about how to shop with a conscience. She didn't buy it, but instead copied the telephone number of the Fairtrade Foundation, and resolved to approach them for advice.
So Clipper became involved with the Fairtrade Foundation in its earliest stages and policy development. All of Clipper's tea is purchased from estates where there is no exploitation of workers. In 1994, Clipper was one of the first three companies in the UK to receive the Fairtrade mark and then decided to produce a magazine, called "The Teapot Times", about the history of tea production and the positive impact buying Fairtrade goods had on communities around the world. Clipper also became official advisors to the Fairtrade Foundation for tea.