An early pioneer in the craft tea movement, we specialize in organic, hand-harvested, garden-to-cup teas and coffees, as well as sweeteners, snacks and other tea and coffee accessories — all reflecting our emphasis on affordable luxury, and our commitment to organic, ethical, sustainable, socially conscious business practices.
Building on an almost 20-year track record of success that has taken us from our founder’s kitchen to over $1 million in sales per year, we’re setting our sights on White Lion’s next stage of evolution — and the future of the craft tea space as a whole.
Read on to learn more about the future of craft tea — and how White Lion is leading the way.
Because it’s 2016, and consumer behavior has changed.
Gone are the days when consumer dollars went to whichever Fortune 500 brand advertised the loudest; today’s consumers are conscientious with their cash. They gravitate toward smaller, niche, boutique brands that reflect their tastes as individuals, and their values as human beings — values like sustainability, social responsibility, and a health-conscious lifestyle.
Nowhere is the evolution in consumer behavior more apparent than in the beverage space, where the past several years has seen the rise of a thriving craft movement. It started with wine, when a small group of innovators began to showcase the difference in flavor, quality, sustainability and experience that come from crafting products in small batches that are sustainably sourced and meticulously made.
Tea has been experiencing a renaissance in the American imagination over the past several years: as research points to the numerous health and wellness benefits of tea — particularly in comparison to it’s sugar-packed and hyper-caffeinated cousins, soda and coffee — an increasing number of consumers are seeking out tea as a more natural, health-conscious beverage alternative.
Combine all of these things together — the rise of small, artisan brands; the increasing emphasis on sustainability and social responsibility; the status of tea as a up-and-coming beverage of choice — and you get White Lion: the first tea brand that’s tailor-made for the future of tea.
White Lion grew out of a simple mission: to celebrate life, and all of the small, affordable, everyday luxuries that life has to offer.
We made our reputation providing upscale tea programs for the hospitality industry, including hotels and resorts, cruise lines, restaurants, spas and coffee service venues.
Today, our brand consists of a robust collection of products, all reflecting White Lion’s signature combination of quality, sustainability and affordable luxury.
White Lion®
Our signature brand: a collection of rare, beautiful whole-leaf teas hand-harvested from the world’s finest gardens. From production and blending to packaging and presentation, White Lion’s attention to quality and detail is apparent in every sip.
White Bamboo™
White Lion’s mid-market sibling, launched in 2015 in response to the rising demand for high-quality organic tea at wallet-friendly prices. Like White Lion, White Bamboo reflects our commitment to organic, sustainable, ethical practices: White Bamboo teas are all responsibly sourced, garden-to-cup, organic, green, bio-dynamically grown, and fair-trade whenever possible.
White Lion K-Cups
White Lion is proud to offer rich mountain grown Kenyan coffee in convenient single brew cups. Our coffee is 100% Arabica from family owned farms near Mt. Kenya. They have nurtured and protected the land and the trees for more than 40 year perfecting every step of production from seed to cup. You can taste our passion and pride in every serving.
Other Signature Products
In addition to our signature teas and coffees, White Lion offers a variety of tea and coffee accessories, all designed to deliver a luxurious, relaxing tea experience.
Private-Label
White Lion is proud to be a fully certified and regulation-compliant production facility, meaning that not only do we have the ability to produce teas in-house — we also have the ability to private-label teas for our B2B clients in the hospitality and wellness industries.
At White Lion, we understand that building a business in the 21st century is about more than doing well for ourselves: it’s about doing good for our world. That’s why White Lion is committed to sustainable, ethical, socially conscious business practices.
Our commitment to social responsibility is perhaps best expressed in our Pride Mission™.
At White Lion, we believe that pride and dignity stem from economic empowerment, and we are committed to doing our part to promote these values, both in our community and beyond. Through our Pride Mission™, we offer education and jobs for individuals who would otherwise be overlooked.
White Lion began in 1998 as Sir Aubrey’s Tea Co. Almost 20 years later, and now operating under the White Lion name, we have grown into one of the premier producers of luxury organic tea in the United States.
Our current B2C sales channels include a robust White Lion website and an existing Amazon platform whereby we were recognized as a top holiday seller by Amazon. We recently added four additional Amazon platforms: Amazon Prime, Amazon Pantry, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Quidsy.
White Lion has a growing number of distribution partners that includes national distributors, specialty distrbibutors, and direct B2B customers in the hospitality space.
Direct B2B customers include major hospitality brands such as Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Starwood, Sandals, Holland America Cruise Line, MGM, Caesars, Trump, Four Seasons, and Gaylord Entertainment.
White Lion opened the door with Sam’s Club in 2015 and delivered over 100 palletts of coffee K-Cups servicing 50 Clubs. Additional opportunity for tea is currently under discussion.
White Lion is proud to be the exclusive tea company distributed by Universal Companies, the largest distributor in the Spa Industry servicing the USA, Canada, Mexico, & the Caribbean. White Lion products are also available through Avendra-approved Gourmet Foods International, Sysco, and US Foods.
Contracts have recently been signed with Grand Canyon University to be the exclusive tea provider throughout the campus and adjacent office and hotel complex. There are 35 food service outlets that include a variety of restaurants, coffee shops, and cafeterias. This is one of the first contracts to be signed through our distribution network, and there are a number of other exciting large scale opportunities like this in the works.
Our list of B2B clients are expanding, our B2C presence is growing, and with American tea culture continuing to evolve and thrive, it only gets bigger and better from here. For more information on the future of White Lion and how you can be a part of our journey, request access to the Business Plan tab of this profile. We look forward to speaking with you!
White Lion founder and President Kathryn Petty first entered the business world at the age of 17 with a clerical position at a State Farm Insurance agency. After earning a dual degree in nursing and business, Kathryn established her own State Farm agency in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Over the course of 15 years, she developed the branch into a multimillion-dollar business before selling the agency in 1994.
Kathryn’s passion for life and natural entrepreneurial talent led her to a second career in the “lifestyle” industry — specifically, tea. Inspired by her time spent living in London in the 80s, Kathryn realized she wanted to be a part of helping tea culture make the leap “across the pond,” and founded Sir Aubrey’s Tea Company in 1998.
Almost 20 years later, Kathryn is still at the helm of the company now known primarily under the name of the signature brand — White Lion. Today, White Lion is served in some of the world’s finest resorts and spas, and has earned a customer base that is the envy of the industry.
Kathryn is proud to be a woman founder and entrepreneur, and is actively involved in the female entrepreneur community. She became certified with the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council in 2003, and served as the WBEC-West Arizona Vice-Chair in 2010, progressing to the WBEC-West Arizona Forum Chair in 2011. She currently serves on the WBENC National Forum.
A Twenty Year Sales, Business Development Executive and Entrepreneur, Chris has excelled in the Food and Beverage industry focused on new business development, e-commerce, foodservice distribution, new product development and supply chain management with Fortune 500 Companies as well as Start-up Organizations.
Prior to joining White Lion Tea, Chris was the Director of Business Development for J&J Distributing in Saint Paul, MN one of the largest Produce Wholesaler and Processor in the Upper Midwest Region. Chris was responsible for all sales and business development activities for the Foodservice Division managing over $8 million in revenue. While in this position, Chris conceived and developed an industrial Fresh Squeezed Juice operation in 2012 that generated over $2.8 million in revenue within 24 months with net margins of over 35%. He secured the highest food safety standards a Fresh Squeezed Juice processor can obtain (FDA Approved 5 Log Reduction Certificate) for this facility. He also negotiated and won a $5 million annual supply chain management agreement with a Fortune 500 company based in Eden Prairie, MN.
Chris is a Board Adviser to two small and successful Food and Beverage manufacturing companies in Minnesota; Roastery 7 a small micro coffee roaster serving Wholesale and Institutional accounts in the upper Midwest region and CakeWalk an award winning artisan bakery with wholesale and retail operations in Northfield, MN.
Chris is always looking to be on the leading edge of the next food and beverage growth category and is excited to join the White Lion Management team and help lead the team to even greater success!
Tyler manages all aspects of production for White Lion, including purchasing, QA, HACCP and FDA Organic compliance. He is responsible for meeting manufacturing efficiencies and costs objectives. Tyler brings 9 years of experience with White Lion, and has been instrumental in the company’s transition from a sales and marketing organization to a fully operational and compliant tea manufacturing facility.
Brian has been part of the White Lion team for 7 years, and has been instrumental in the company’s growth and evolution by managing all of the technology, e-platforms, perpetual inventory software and accounting data needed to support the ongoing growth of the brand, as well as day-to-day operations at the company.