Kim Havelaar, founder of Roqberry, a new brand of tea, tells us the inspiration behind the company specifically focused on foodies, tea and food pairings.
What do you currently do?
I am the founder of Roqberry, a premium tea company which won
seven Great Taste awards this year. Our focus is on foodies, food and tea
pairings, and bringing big flavour to tea. We work with high quality
ingredients and hand blend them in the UK. Roqberry offers both unique
flavoured blends as well as top quality artisan varieties.
What was the inspiration
behind your business?
In one word: Flavour. Tea has so much flavour
potential beyond the traditional blends. It also pairs really well alongside
food to enhance the overall experience. Having lived in, and travelled to,
quite a few countries in the world I take much inspiration from world cuisine.
What defines your way of
doing business?
Roqberry’s ethos is ‘blend the rules’. The
‘rules’ refers to the rules of tea; the way to treat and blend it properly, the
steps to brewing it to get the best results, and the importance of using
quality ingredients. This is blended with the ‘rules’ of flavour, taking
inspiration from world cuisine and the amazing flavours sometimes found in even
the humblest street food.
It also refers to not being afraid of the
unexpected. Our ‘Sushi & Spice’ tea might be quite a leap from the
expected. Seaweed and wasabi in a tea? But if it tastes good, then why not?
What do you admire?
Resilience. Not giving up in the face of
adversity. Whether that is in business or in your personal life.
Looking back, is there
anything you would have done differently?
Of course. I can think of quite a few things
and it’s all part of learning. With my background being in the corporate world,
I didn’t have any contacts in the tea or hospitality industry. This made for a
difficult start. With hindsight, I’d start building my network much sooner,
right from the very first inkling of the idea.
What advice would you give to
someone starting out?
Be honest with yourself about why you are
starting the business and make sure it’s something that really drives you.
Running your own business is a lot of work and can be very stressful. You need
to have a driver that’s authentic and gives you energy when times get tough. If
you have this, you’ll enjoy the ride. I also firmly believe you’ll have a
bigger appeal to customers.
Secondly, I’d say beyond understanding the
external market, make sure you really know your product. Understand what’s
needed to ensure its quality, what inherent limitations it has, and what its
potential is for innovation.
