“Do the right thing, and good things will follow”

by Conor McEneaney ’13

Over break, the Entrepreneur Club traveled to Bigelow Tea Company in Fairfield, CT. The day started off with an introduction from Mr. David Bigelow, a recipient of the Avon Old Farms distinguished alumnus award and a truly remarkable man. He gave a quick description of the company’s upbringing and its rise to the store shelves.

The eighteen students who went on the trip then split up into two groups for a tour of the operations. One group traveled to the area where they make the tea, and the other group went to the packaging area, asking questions along the way. Our two tour guides, Jim and George, are both long-time members of the company (15 and 22 years, respectively) like many other employees. Jim stressed the sense of community and belonging at Bigelow Tea, saying, “You can truly feel the family atmosphere here. The Bigelow family treats us with respect and we give it back. We truly are one big team here, going towards a goal.” As we went though the floors of the massive factory, our guides introduced us to countless members of the work force who have worked for the company for 30 or more years. Bigelow’s commitment to their workers was extremely apparent. For example, in the economically tough year of 2009, the Bigelows gave all 350 employees a one thousand dollar bonus. Additionally, after seven years with the company, employees are introduced into the tea pot club and join the Bigelow’s for a night full of fun and food.

Following an in-depth look at operations in the factory, we came back to the meeting room for a tea tasting event with the current president of Bigelow Tea, Cindi Bigelow. She spoke to us about what tea is, how it is made, and what makes each type of tea different, including the medicinal benefits of each kind. She compared Bigelow’s Black, Green, and Earl Gray teas to their competitors, and showed us what makes Bigelow tea special, like not using tea dust in the tea bags, using a special liner that cost an extra ten million dollars each year, and how Bigelow keeps a reasonable price while assuring the highest quality. In the process, she made eighteen students who were skeptical about tea into tea drinkers, and exclusively Bigelow tea drinkers at that, as she pointed out all of the faults of the other companies. For example, Tazo, Twinnings, Lipton and Stash have inferior packaging and a higher cost for a mediocre product.

After we became experienced tea drinkers, we were informed on the sustainability efforts around the factory, including a nine hundred solar panel display and a huge compost initiative. She also spoke about the possibility of the operation going geothermal in the near future. Our tour guide, Jim, who spearheaded the sustainability movement at the company stressed the ideas of reusing, recycling, and reducing. The company passionately embraces all three of these values. For example, the company’s solar panels gave enough energy to power 53,000 houses, and the company’s waste was reduced from 200 million tons to 95 million tons in just four years. Jim added that these sustainability efforts would not be possible if the company was not as family oriented because many of these initiatives do not add profits for 7 to 10 years forming the strong motto for the company: “Do the right thing, and good things will follow.”

In a meeting after the trip, it was apparent that the most important takeaways from the day was that with a good team and network of people anything is possible, and that passion is extremely important in one’s pursuits. A variety of Bigelow tea is offered in the refectory, and if you are interested in the inspiring story of David Bigelow and the Bigelow Tea Company, you can check out his book,” My mother loved Tea,” in the library.

See the article written by Cindi Bigelow about our visit!