At just 26, CEO and co-founder of tea company Tavalon, John-Paul Lee quit his job and sold everything to start a now successful business in the hopes of making tea accessible to an American audience.
That was five years ago. Now Tavalon is found in over 400 restaurants, department stores, and cafes with operations in the USA and South Korea. The company also has nine shop-in-shop locations and sells its products at Cipriani’s and Bloomingdales to name a few.
“The average American perceives tea to be very Asian, European, a grandmother’s beverage, and something you drink when you’re sick … pinkie up in the air. I wanted to change all that. I wanted to say here’s a new way of looking at tea. It can be fun, young, sexy, and accessible,” said John-Paul.
After working in the corporate world for four years as a consultant, Lee says he wanted to leave the rat race to start his own business. “At that point I could have been scraping gum off the streets of New York as long as it was my own business so I was ready to do whatever it took,” he said.
While in London on business, Lee was sitting in a Covent Garden café drinking coffee when he looked up and realized everyone was drinking tea.
Lee started racking his brain, trying to think of how he could make tea—the second most widely consumed beverage in the world—popular on the U.S. domestic market.
After traveling across Europe and Asia and visiting over 300 tea houses, tea farms, and plantations, Lee came to the realization that for him, it comes down to branding, perception, and marketing. Excited and full of ideas, Lee came back to the United States and along with his business partner, an attorney at the time, quit his job and sold everything in pursuit of reintroducing tea from a fresh perspective to the United States.
That was five years ago. Now Tavalon is found in over 400 restaurants, department stores, and cafes with operations in the USA and South Korea. The company also has nine shop-in-shop locations and sells its products at Cipriani’s and Bloomingdales to name a few.
“The average American perceives tea to be very Asian, European, a grandmother’s beverage, and something you drink when you’re sick … pinkie up in the air. I wanted to change all that. I wanted to say here’s a new way of looking at tea. It can be fun, young, sexy, and accessible,” said John-Paul.
After working in the corporate world for four years as a consultant, Lee says he wanted to leave the rat race to start his own business. “At that point I could have been scraping gum off the streets of New York as long as it was my own business so I was ready to do whatever it took,” he said.
While in London on business, Lee was sitting in a Covent Garden café drinking coffee when he looked up and realized everyone was drinking tea.
Lee started racking his brain, trying to think of how he could make tea—the second most widely consumed beverage in the world—popular on the U.S. domestic market.
After traveling across Europe and Asia and visiting over 300 tea houses, tea farms, and plantations, Lee came to the realization that for him, it comes down to branding, perception, and marketing. Excited and full of ideas, Lee came back to the United States and along with his business partner, an attorney at the time, quit his job and sold everything in pursuit of reintroducing tea from a fresh perspective to the United States.
“We were 26 at the time and we treated it as a very expensive business goal. If we fail, we will learn more than what we will ever learn in any business school, but if we succeed then we’re doing what we love, which is our passion, the rest is history.”
Lee and his partner were presented with a challenge—getting Americans to think of tea in a new way, and doing it all on a shoestring budget. Lee admits he had to be very creative and think outside the box.
“If you don’t drink any tea it’s a very uphill battle to convince you: here’s a hot tea, here’s an ice tea, and it’s been done for centuries.” The company had to come up with a fresh way of introducing tea to the public.
“But if I find out that you enjoy a cocktail once in a while,” he continued, “I’m going to incorporate alcohol with my tea and now we have a whole line of tea cocktails. We have green tea martinis, chai martinis, green tea infused mojitos, etc. It’s really about incorporating fun with tea, and incorporating it into our social environment,” says Lee.
This inspired a new line of products from tea infused gummy bears to tea chocolate almonds.
Lee and his partner were presented with a challenge—getting Americans to think of tea in a new way, and doing it all on a shoestring budget. Lee admits he had to be very creative and think outside the box.
“If you don’t drink any tea it’s a very uphill battle to convince you: here’s a hot tea, here’s an ice tea, and it’s been done for centuries.” The company had to come up with a fresh way of introducing tea to the public.
“But if I find out that you enjoy a cocktail once in a while,” he continued, “I’m going to incorporate alcohol with my tea and now we have a whole line of tea cocktails. We have green tea martinis, chai martinis, green tea infused mojitos, etc. It’s really about incorporating fun with tea, and incorporating it into our social environment,” says Lee.
This inspired a new line of products from tea infused gummy bears to tea chocolate almonds.
“That’s how we showcase a new life, and a new direction for tea and that’s why our slogan is ‘the future of tea.’”
In addition to having a wide range of products, Tavalon incorporates music in its appeal. “I love music,” says Lee. “There’s over 3,000 varieties of tea so what we try to say is for every genre of music out there, there is a type of tea out there. We draw that correlation.”
“What the rest of the world calls blends and infusions, we call mixes, remixes and uncut, and that’s how we create a normal understanding for tea. It’s a relatable and accessible component for tea because music is a common ground that people can appreciate and understand.”
Lee notes that what really gave him the inspiration of starting his own company was a combination of wanting to get out of the corporate rat race and having the right messages around him.
“My family comes from a long history of entrepreneurship. They wanted me to be stable, climb up the corporate ladder, and have a steady income,” said Lee. “That’s exactly what I didn’t want.”
“Everybody said you’re absolutely out of your mind, you’re crazy. When I heard that, it was almost like a challenge.
“I drive off of challenge,” says Lee. “Watching this baby grow has been inspirational to me, it’s amazing. That feeling you cannot match with anything, it’s a great project and tea is a great place to be.”
In addition to having a wide range of products, Tavalon incorporates music in its appeal. “I love music,” says Lee. “There’s over 3,000 varieties of tea so what we try to say is for every genre of music out there, there is a type of tea out there. We draw that correlation.”
“What the rest of the world calls blends and infusions, we call mixes, remixes and uncut, and that’s how we create a normal understanding for tea. It’s a relatable and accessible component for tea because music is a common ground that people can appreciate and understand.”
Lee notes that what really gave him the inspiration of starting his own company was a combination of wanting to get out of the corporate rat race and having the right messages around him.
“My family comes from a long history of entrepreneurship. They wanted me to be stable, climb up the corporate ladder, and have a steady income,” said Lee. “That’s exactly what I didn’t want.”
“Everybody said you’re absolutely out of your mind, you’re crazy. When I heard that, it was almost like a challenge.
“I drive off of challenge,” says Lee. “Watching this baby grow has been inspirational to me, it’s amazing. That feeling you cannot match with anything, it’s a great project and tea is a great place to be.”
In the beginning Lee says that two of the biggest challenges were funding and his age.
“Being underfunded, that causes a trickle effect of problems. If I were to change anything, it would be to fund ourselves for a bigger expansion plan because for us, we scraped everything we had, I was so stubborn that I didn’t take anybody else’s money.”
“I was also very young,” said Lee, “and being Asian I actually looked younger than I was so I would go into landlord meetings trying to get leases and they would look at me saying: ‘I’ve been in business longer than you’ve been alive,’ what are you going to do here. So it was impossible. I got shut down almost fifty plus times by landlords.”
Lee says he took these hardships as lessons and opportunities to grow. Along the way, he also realized that he couldn’t do everything himself. “The more you surround yourself with smarter people than you, the better off you’re going to be. Teamwork, absolutely, I didn’t believe in that before but I do now, 100 percent.”
To Lee, his experience in growing Tavalon has been highly rewarding. “I used to work long hours consulting and it doesn’t even compare to having your own business. You never stop thinking. I dream about tea, I wake up thinking about tea,” he said.
“I was also very young,” said Lee, “and being Asian I actually looked younger than I was so I would go into landlord meetings trying to get leases and they would look at me saying: ‘I’ve been in business longer than you’ve been alive,’ what are you going to do here. So it was impossible. I got shut down almost fifty plus times by landlords.”
Lee says he took these hardships as lessons and opportunities to grow. Along the way, he also realized that he couldn’t do everything himself. “The more you surround yourself with smarter people than you, the better off you’re going to be. Teamwork, absolutely, I didn’t believe in that before but I do now, 100 percent.”
To Lee, his experience in growing Tavalon has been highly rewarding. “I used to work long hours consulting and it doesn’t even compare to having your own business. You never stop thinking. I dream about tea, I wake up thinking about tea,” he said.
“When I was working nine to five I couldn’t get enough sleep,” continued Lee. “I couldn’t wake up in the mornings and now I can’t go to bed late enough, and I can’t wake up early enough. It’s amazing how much it changes your lifestyle.”
Lee says the company is constantly growing and expanding on the international as well as the U.S. market. “It’s never boring,” says Lee.
Lee says the company is constantly growing and expanding on the international as well as the U.S. market. “It’s never boring,” says Lee.
