The case describes how the English Tea Shop Organic (ETS) brand has created a sustainable ecosystem ensuring the growth of supplier livelihood and the company’s competitiveness in the branded tea space. In 2021, they embarked on their second ten-year plan, which included their transformation into a sustainable, employee-owned business that promoted its brand as purpose – by 2022, 30% of the company was employee owned. The case addresses the challenges ETS faces in building and scaling its brand by attracting the mindful consumer to its organic tea offerings while helping farmers become organic, grow tea more productively, and earn a sustainable living. The case looks at the different options open to them: geographic options; developing its gifting offering that represents 71% of its revenues or focusing on regular in-home consumption; enter adjacent categories; or explore B2B options, possibly in the HoReCA segment. ETS wanted to build its brand further around purpose but discovered that ‘doing good’ wasn’t enough to make people pay a premium price – how could they achieve this? They had developed a blockchain system that could be used to connect with their customers better. But how could they use this to spur growth?

The case describes the story of Sri Lanka based Dilmah Ceylon Tea, a company founded in 1988 by  Merrill J. Fernando. The company had pioneered the concept of ‘single-origin tea’ to its latest innovative Elixir range. The premium positioned tea was ‘picked, perfected and packed’ at origin with a brand based on three pillars: taste, goodness, and purpose. Present in over 105 countries, it had become one of the most well-known Sri Lankan brands worldwide. The group invested a minimum 15% of its pre-tax profits in humanitarian and environmental initiatives through the MJF Charitable Foundation and Dilmah Conservation and Sustainability Unit (DCSU). However, the tea business was becoming increasingly competitive with the largest player, Unilever, about to sell its tea portfolio. The current CEO, Dilhan Fernando, needed to address several key questions, in this context: How could the Dilmah Ceylon Tea brand ensure the margins necessary to thrive and grow? Which customer segments and geographies should it focus on? Could it potentially leverage its investments in humanitarian and environmental initiatives to achieve better margins and