DIALOGUE
Taking an Honest Look
at the Future:
Partnering with Coke to Build a Billion Dollar
Beverage Company with a Conscience
An Interview with Seth Goldman, President and TeaEO of Honest Tea
Over the past decade, Seth Goldman has made the Honest Tea brand live
up to its name time and time again. As the first certified organic bottled
tea, he ensured products were sustainable and healthy, but then went
the extra mile, taking steps to launch the first certified fair trade tea as
well as purchasing ingredients that supported
non-profit organizations and community proj-
ects around the world. Honest Tea, with a low-
sugar, “tad sweet” taste, along with its brand
authenticity, was a refreshing option for many
consumers, and today it’s the top selling natural tea in the United States, bringing in over
$23 million in sales in 2007. But even after
topping the charts at natural food stores, the
mainstream beverage world is a hard one to
break into. After years of grass-roots efforts
and partnering with all sorts of distributors to
help get him in the door, from charcoal and
cheese to corned beef, the company was still
only breaking even. So as Honest Tea approached its 10-year anniversary,
Goldman had to be honest with himself and the investors in the Honest
brand and he came to the realization that the company needed a distribution partner to help take their product to the masses.
Then Coke came calling.
