Transparent Tea Supply Chain - Tealet

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Elyse Petersen, founder of Tealet, located in Las Vegas, NV, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Tealet is a decentralized, international supply chain platform for tea producers and tea business buyers. Transparency in the supply chain is a modern concept in the global commodity market as the consumer has been conditioned the seek the lowest price for products versus the highest value. Much of Tealet's work is not just providing trust-building information between a network of suppliers and business buyers but also educating the consumer about the value of high-quality production and provenance information. Consumer labels such as fair-trade have provided an injustice of "sustainable consumption" that only serves as a corporate marketing tool that doesn't provide autonomous sustainability to the origin of our products.

Tell us about yourself

I am a food scientist with experience working in "big food." At a young age, I was jaded by the lack of sustenance in the Western food system and joined the Peace Corps to work with rural farmers in Niger, West Africa. Here I was inspired by the happiness that was derived from the primitive relationship the community had with the food, as they only consumed what they were able to produce. When I returned to the states, I was committed to helping restore that connection between production and consumption in the Western food system. My first job as a food scientist was with a green tea manufacturer, where I became curious about the lack of traceability of raw material tea to the final product. This has led me on the journey to entrepreneurship, where I have learned that the centralized, corporate model of production does not encourage transparency, so a new, innovative decentralized model needs to be built.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment so far as a business owner was finding a point of profitability that diminished the business's need for additional funding while at the same time receiving international awards for our innovation and marketing. With patience and dedication, I am sure now the business can continue to grow in relevance and revenue to mature into the market innovator it is meant to be without the need for heavy venture capital funding.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The hardest part of being a business owner is the sacrifice of financial and emotional security that comes with the stability of a salaried career. There are times when times are difficult with the business, or there are challenges with the market, and it is the owner that has to make the sacrifice to ensure that bills are still paid. You have to truly believe in the outcome of your product and business to be prepared to make these sacrifices.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

1. Start building a community that believes in your mission as quickly as possible.
2. Experiment with as many ways possible to monetize this community with the value of your mission, not with ads.
3. Set up your own financial and mental security via side hustles that are not too distracting. Invest in mental support systems such as therapy or peer support groups.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://tealet.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peaceelyse
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tealettea/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tealettea
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peacelyse/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.