Charbrew teas secure deal with Lakeland
Sep 1 2010 by Karen Dent, The Journal
A SPECIALIST tea brand created by a Newcastle University graduate is going national after securing a deal to stock its products with lifestyle store Lakeland.
Charbrew teas will be sold in the company’s 46 shops from today and will also be available in Booths – Britain’s biggest independent supermarket chain – from the start of October.
The brand is the brainchild of entrepreneur Adam Soliman, 22, who set up the Global Tea and Coffee Exchange a year ago after graduating in accountancy and finance from Newcastle University.
He said: “I was looking to get into banking but obviously the credit crisis was during that time, so there wasn’t much going on in the jobs sector.
“During my last term, I decided I wanted to set up the business.”
Mr Soliman, who is through to the finals of the North East Blueprint competition where he will compete against enterprises set up by graduates from the region’s other universities, received support from the university, Tedco and Young Enterprise to get his company off the ground.
Northumberland entrepreneur Dr Tony Trapp’s ABC Fund at the Newcastle University provided £3,000 of funding and he also scooped £2,000 from the Santander Business Incubation Awards.
The company itself is based in Blackpool after Mr Soliman moved back in with his parents to save money while he establishes his business.
Mr Soliman, who has two packers working with him, said: “I am doing absolutely everything – the branding, advertising and sales is a big side of it. It’s pretty much seven days a week, nine hours a day. I get them all blended in Germany, but I tell them what I want and I taste all the samples.”
Mr Soliman started selling his blends of black and herbal teas at farmers’ markets and smaller shops but is now targeting the bigger retailers as potential stockists. He is in talks with department store Fenwick in Newcastle and has a third meeting scheduled with supermarket chain Sainsbury’s.
“I’m still a big tea drinker but I try not to drink my own because I don’t want to drink away the profits,” said Mr Soliman.
