While most of the black tea category was in decline, demand for more premium envelope, string and tag formats was likely to be a “large piece of the future growth” of the Clipper Teas’s business, Mark Bagwell claimed.
In this exclusive interview, Bagwell – operations director at parent company Wessanen UK – said Clipper, based in Beaminster, Dorset, was well-placed to take advantage of that growth.
“While most of the black tea category in the UK is very traditional, it is in decline,” he said.
‘Seeing quite a lot of growth’
“But there is a premium black tea segment, in which we are seeing quite a lot of growth. There is real international demand for envelope, string and tag products.”
Bagwell also said green tea was now a “massive part” of the overall category, while trends in organic and organic and Fairtrade had been maintained, if not growing.
Since Clipper Teas was bought by Dutch organic specialist Royal Wessanen in 2012, production has doubled at the Beaminster site.
The business is currently being consolidated into one new factory on the premises, which will boost capacity dramatically when it opens later this year.
Capacity to fulfil demand for a decade
In this second exclusive video interview, Bagwell said the new factory would make the business more efficient while providing the capacity to fulfil estimated demand for a decade.
Meanwhile, read more about how Bagwell plans to make Clipper a global brand – part of our ‘Me and My Factory’ series of profiles – in this exclusive interview.
And find out more about how the organic and Fairtrade specialist makes its tea in this exclusive photogallery of images taken from Food Manufacture’s tour of the existing operation.
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If you think you would make a suitable Me and My Factory candidate, Food Manufacture’s associate editor Noli Dinkovski would love to hear from you.