The African Business Journal: Joekels Tea Packers

Joekels Tea Packers
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admin on 16 June, 2010 01:30:00
 
There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice
cup of tea. ~ Bernard-Paul Heroux
In 1994, Joe Swart and Jonathan Kelsey saw a huge gap in the South African
market place, and they took action.
“We found that there was a gap in the market for quality tea suppliers, so
we set out to produce quality tea at a reasonable price,” says Swart,
joint Managing Director (along with Kelsey) of Joekels Tea Packers. The
long-term goal of Joekels, the partners say, was to be a serious contender in
the South African beverage market.
And they did just that. Joekels Tea Packers have emerged as blenders and packers
of some of South Africa’s most popular tea brands, having amassed a large
and loyal customer base in only a few years. Headquartered in Pinetown, the
Joekels Tea Packers team have an intimate knowledge of the local tea market. The
company’s brands, notably the strong regional tea brands, Phendula Tips
Tea, Teeco Tea and Southalls Rooibos, are tailored uniquely to the SA customer,
as are National Brands Tetley Tea, Tea Time, Laager Rooibos and Laager Tea4Kidz
brands. Joekels is also the in-house packer for Spar.
“We have brands with different strengths in different regions,” says
Kelsey, of his all-African blended tea (from SA, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Malawi).
“We have very brand loyal consumers and regional brand loyalty. We go to
our regions and try to offer the best quality product at the most reasonable
price for consumers, retail trade and wholesale trade.”
Early success and hard work enabled Joekels to purchase the Laager brand from
Unilever/Bestfoods Robertsons in October 2003, bringing the third largest
selling Rooibos brand in South Africa into its fold. A strategically sound
investment, Laager fit perfectly into the  Joekels family due to its strong
South African heritage and is arguably the second biggest
rooibos—Afrikaans for “red bush” and used to make an herbal
tea—brand in the world. Today, the company has grown to over 60 employees
with a multi million rand annual turnover.
Global comes to town
The successful formula of providing high quality tea at an inexpensive price
caught the attention of global tea conglomerate, Tetley Tea. Tetley had
previously launched a tea line on its own which failed to capture the market in
the way Joekels had. In a show of confidence that cannot be underestimated,
Tetley Group ended up taking a 33.3 per cent stake in Joekels, enabling the
company to extend its reach even further into the growing market that they
helped create.
Tetley approached the company initially to pack the Tetley brand and ended up
acquiring a share in the business “because they saw value in what we are
doing with the rest of our brands and business. We have an infrastructure that
is a perfect platform to launch new products. Our knowledge of the local tea
market is very good, and they recognized that as a value,” Swart believes.
“I think what they were also looking for was some local knowledge which
they didn’t have.”
Distribution
The Joekels distribution operation is the foundation on which the company now
stands. Product is distributed on a national basis and delivery is made within
five working days of stock being dispatched. Kelsey believes this was another of
the draws for Tetley. “They also saw our distribution network was really
extensive and that we cover the whole of South Africa and parts of southern
Africa,” he says.
Expansion
What is the next logical step for a company whose trajectory is only going up?
Keep going, of course. Swart and Kelsey want to see Joekels in the homes of more
Africans in more parts of Africa. Having expansion as a fundamental part of the
business model since the beginning, the ultimate goal is to have their products
throughout Africa.
“What makes us different is our products are quality products at a good
price. If you look at all our competitors, our top quality product is priced
beneath them but the quality is much superior,” says Kelsey. And this is
exactly what he wants to bring to a wider market. “We are putting the
excitement back in tea. We are expanding the market and offering tea in a
different way,” beams Kelsey, with obvious passion in his voice.
Joekels Tea Packers exemplify the power of a strong vision and diligence.
Together, Kelsey and Swart have grown a business that produces local blends for
a local market while creating a sustainable enterprise and employment for South
Africans. A viable presence in the tea market, Joekels will no doubt continue to
be at the forefront of the innovation of tea.
www.joekels.co.za