Area served Global Website www.tazo.com Founded 1994 | Industry Beverage Products Teas and herbal teas Headquarters Kent | |
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Number of employees Approximately 50 (2010) Profiles | ||
Tazo Tea Company is a tea & herbal tea manufacturer and distributor founded in Portland, Oregon, now a division of Starbucks based in Kent, Washington.
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History
Tazo (/tɑːˈzoʊ/) Tea was founded in 1994 by Steven Smith. The manufacturing and distribution was maintained by North American Tea & Coffee, a Canadian-based food manufacturing company.
Tazo approached Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in 1998, seeking further investment partners. The company was purchased by Starbucks in 1999 for $8.1 million.
Starbucks opened the first Tazo-branded tea shop in November 2012. It closed a year later and was converted into a Teavana store.
Marketing
The company uses "New Age"-style marketing and product labeling. For example, every box of tea was once labeled as "blessed by a certified tea shaman" and an original tag line was "The Reincarnation of Tea."
Until 2013, the logo used the Exocet typeface, slightly modified. For example, the T in Tazo was changed for readability purposes in 2006 by sliding the cross-piece toward the top of the letter.