By Braun Jones, Partner, WWC Capital Group, LLC
Although there are quite a few quality programs slated for ACG National Capital over the summer months, we wanted to take a moment to highlight an upcoming event that will honestly be interesting and informative.
This Friday, Bethesda’s own Seth Goldman of Honest Tea will be joining the ACG National Capital monthly meeting to discuss the story of the amazing growth of the company he started in his own kitchen. Honest Tea is the nation’s best-selling organic bottled tea company, with products distributed through more than 30,000 outlets in every state, as well as overseas.Seth Goldman is President and TeaEO of Honest Tea, the company he co-founded in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Over the past 12 years, the company has thrived with a more than 60% annual compound growth rate, as consumers have shifted toward healthier and more sustainable diets.
In 2008, The Coca-Cola Company purchased a minority interest in Honest Tea, fueling further growth as Honest becomes the first organic and Fair Trade brand to move into the world’s largest beverage distribution system. That same year, Seth was named Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year for Greater Washington D.C.”
In addition to being named one of The Better World Shopping Guide’s “ten best companies on the planet based on their overall social and environmental record,” Honest Tea recently received Greenopia.com’s coveted 4-Leaf Rating as “the greenest beverage company.”
An entrepreneur at heart, in 2008 Seth co-founded Bethesda Green, a local sustainability initiative in Honest Tea’s hometown. In its first year Bethesda Green installed dozens of recycling bins and helped area restaurants convert their grease waste into biodiesel.
The monthly meeting is on Friday, May 21, 2010, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner. If you’re interesting in taking part in this organic conversation with Seth, be sure to register here, and don’t be late for tea time.