Cutting Costs in the Tea Industry

Is your tearoom getting your bank account down? Check out my new article on cutting costs without sacrificing quality. Excerpt:

Cutting costs is all the rage in a recession, but poorly chosen cuts blight productivity, quality and consumer confidence. Tea business owners can make positive cuts, however, if they know what to skip snipping and where to trim.

Costs of goods

With today’s food costs, it is essential that tea shop owners look at costs with “big business manager” eyes, said Dean Jablon, CEO of The Mulberry Tea House, who will speak on the topic at the upcoming World Tea Expo.

Jablon advised evaluating every menu item’s cost. Other sources recommended rectifying under-priced items by adjusting serving and purchase sizes, and making deals.

Jesse Jacobs, owner of Samovar Tea Lounge, scrutinized how products were being prepared and found that about half the time, teas were brewed with an incorrect amount of leaves – most often too much.

“Even a quarter teaspoon too much can make a huge difference when you’re talking about 1,000 pots of rooibos,” Jacobs said. He implemented staff training for standardized, accurate production.


You can read the rest on World Tea News. Check it out and make some (good) cuts!