The Hatchery Networking- Booming Beverage w/Tiesta Tea
Steeped in Chicago, Tiesta Tea has built a strong presence around the U.S. in a highly competitive market. From developing a prominent brand to launching new SKUs, Co-Founders' Patrick Tannous and Dan Klein will take you on their journey to success.
Tiesta Tea has grown in five years to being the fastest growing company in the specialty tea industry (according to a recent Nielsen data report) with over 7000+ points of distribution throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East. Mr. Klein has conducted business with Fortune 500 companies such as Target, Safeway, Office Depot, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Winn-Dixie and several more. Mr. Klein has successfully raised multiple rounds of funding for Tiesta Tea, bringing in a total of $2.3 million to date. Mr. Klein has been featured in several industry and press publications including Fresh Cup Magazine, NBC Chicago and the Daily Herald. Tiesta Tea was also nominated for Forbes’ Most Promising Companies of 2012 and for Top 20 Companies in Chicago by Red Rocket Ventures.
About The Speakers
Patrick:
Patrick co-founded Tiesta Tea while attending his senior year of college at UIC. Since starting in 2010, Tiesta Tea can now be purchased in 7000+ grocery stores across the country. Tiesta Tea is the fastest-growing specialty tea brand in the USA (according to Nielsen) and has held that title for 9 straight quarters. Tiesta Tea has secured placement deals with five of the top ten chains in the USA including, Costco, Target, Safeway/Albertsons, Amazon, The Kroger Co., Sprouts Farmers Market, HEB and many more. Most recently, Tiesta Tea has launched 85 Loose Tea Scoop Stations across the country with 150 more coming in 2016. Tiesta Tea is on a mission to make loose tea understandable, accessible and affordable to mainstream consumers. Tiesta Tea has also raised over 3mm in venture funding. Patrick is a die-hard Chicago sports fan and he enjoys traveling the world. He spends the majority of his free time with his friends and family, and he will accept a ping-pong challenge from anyone.
Dan:
Dan is an active guest speaker, having spoke at the following: World Tea Expo 2012: Marketing to Millennials Panel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Finance and Food Science Courses - James Scholar, DePaul University: Entrepreneurship Courses, University of Illinois at Chicago: Entrepreneurship Courses, Glappitnova: Entrepreneurship Speaker, and the IGA Rally 2015: Grocery Innovation Panel. Dan’s hobbies include sports, live music, travel and spending quality time with family and friends.
Thank you to our event sponsor Groupon
This seminar is produced by The Hatchery, a collaboration between ICNC and Accion Chicago to bring education, capital, and support to the Chicagoland food entrepreneur community. Food entrepreneurship programming is funded in part by:
