Chances are that your community and business have been affected by the current efforts to slow the spread of the COVID-19. How do we handle such unusual times? Tea drinkers may already have an advantage. Tea drinkers tend to enjoy quiet moments of contemplation and enjoy self-soothing with leafy beverages. Wonderful news, but how you keep your business afloat when customers are practicing social distancing?

For the Brick and Mortar Shop Owner

Hold tea classes live via social media. Announce a time that you are going live (perhaps a set daily time for tea talks) and ask customers to spread the word. At this point you have a captive audience, so use it to share product info, new additions, and events planned for when things return to a more normal way of live. Never has there been a better time for this medium!

Phone, email, or online ordering with curbside pick up. Your local cafes and restaurants are likely already doing this. Ensure your hygienic practices and set some ground rules for your customers. Make sure that they know to not come in the store. Have them call or text upon arrival. Have your staff member be super careful and minimize contact.

Perhaps enact a one or two customer limit in the shop at any one time as a maximum. If you are allowing customers to come in to your shop, post a sign asking people to wait until someone leaves before entering.

Do not allow sampling, sniffer jars, or any customer contact with tea storage tins. Have your team wipe down common touch areas such as tablets, door handles, and pin pads.

If you have an e-commerce website, encourage this form of purchase, versus in-person store visits.

For the E-Commerce Tea Seller

Online tea retailers certainly have a lot less operational challenges than the B&M shop owners, but you can still feel effects of these uncertain times. It is a good time to promote your teas on social media and that you are still operational.

Consider online classes or demos as well. Take this as a good time to connect to your consumers with words of wellness, calm, and provide entertainment and distractions if possible. Share tea drink recipes, demo how to make a tea latte, and perhaps foster conversation amongst your customers to share tea stories.

For All

Be sure to keep updated on all suggestions and mandates from local government and health officials. Checking in with the CDC website is also beneficial.

The beauty of tea, what we do as tea sellers, and our passion for tea can be very beneficial to those around us. Share the mindfulness of a multisteep gong fu session, the calming serenity of chamomile and other soothing herbals, and the overall wellness promoting facets of tea. One day at a time, one moment at a time, and many tasty sips, will carry your customers – and you- through these challenges.