| |
Duncans Tea Limited
Bigelow Inc
Hillsdown Holdings plc.
Brief notes on the leading tea companies that operate in the
UK market (in alpha sequence) are as follows:
a) Associated British Foods. Own
Twinings who buy for
Fortnum and Mason.
b) Camellia plc
is the parent company of various holding
companies around the world. It is a most successful producer
and respected PLC. It provides the major content of many
familiar brands.
c)
Clipper is a Dorset-based independent company. It has an
innovative approach to the market and proves that there is
room for new entrants (it started in the 1980s). The
emphasis is on niche and Fairtrade products.
d) Dilmah, which operates in Britain but has HQ in Sri
Lanka, is the brand owned by MJF. The MJF Group’s origins
date back to the 1950s, just after Sir Lanka, then Ceylon,
became independent from British colonial rule.
Merrill J Fernando, the founder of the Group, had his early
tea training in Ceylon and in the then-Mecca of tea, Mincing
Lane, London. Questioning the system that prevented him from
marketing Ceylon Tea packed at origin, Merrill returned to
Ceylon determined to change the structure of the trade. That
took him almost 25 years. In 1974 he established his own
company, MFJ Exports Ltd. That company was the genesis of
the MJF Group which is today the 7th largest tea packer in
the world and Sir Lanka’s leading exporter of value-added
tea with a turnover of approximately 8 billion rupees in
2000.
Merill heads the family-managed Group to this day, with his
two sons and a dedicated team of professionals. The Group
retains Merrill’s early emphasis on integrity, tradition and
personalised customer service. The Group’s Dilmah brand,
coined by the Founder from the names of his two sons Dilhan
and Malik, is known for its quality in almost 90 countries
around the world. Dilmah claims to have revitalized a
category in decline through genuine innovation, quality and
freshness. In pursuit of excellence Merrill integrated the
family tea business with ownership or investment in
plantations, printing and packaging, tea broking, import and
distribution of equipment and materials for the industry.
The Group employs approximately 1,500 staff and workers in
its trading and production activities.
The company engages in innovative marketing that perhaps
only an “underdog” could achieve. Where legislation prevents
certain claims from being expressed on the box the answer is
to enclose literature for the buyer
|
|
