British tea giant Typhoo might get unexpected new owner from vaping industry
One of UKʼs oldest tea makers enters administration after facing major money problems. Supreme‚ a well-known vape seller wants to buy the troubled company in an unusual industry crossover
A well-known British tea maker thats been around since early 1900s is getting help from an unexpected source. Supreme‚ the company behind popular e-cig brands like 88Vape and Elfbar‚ wants to buy Typhoo Tea which just went into administration
The tea maker had some rough times lately: its money problems got worse due to supply-chain issues and broken partnerships (the companys trying to fix things with administrator Kroll). The situation became so bad that they needed quick help to save the business
Supreme isnt just about vapes — they sell different stuff like batteries and protein stuff; now they want tea in their mix. This move comes right when the govt is making it harder to sell vapes: theyre planning rules thatʼll keep kids away from e-cigs and stop ads that children might see
- Revenue dropped from £34m to £25m
- Losses went up to £38m
- Debt reached £73m by fall-2023
- Factory break-in caused big damage
Last month Dave McNulty became the new boss and started fixing things up — he changed how they get tea from Africa working with just 3 farms instead of 300; this was meant to stop bad stuff happening to women workers. But these changes might make tea cost more in stores
The tea business isnt what it used to be: people are drinking less tea and more coffee energy drinks and bubble tea instead. Numbers show tea drinking will drop about 8% in next few years — thats making things harder for old companies like Typhoo whoʼve been making tea since the old days
