Mlesna tea has created a niche in the tea drinking world with its extensive range of teas exported to 50 countries worldwide, shops at iconic locations and contribution to tea tourism in Sri Lanka. Anselm B Perera, managing director, Mlesna (Ceylon) and Euro-Scan Exports, talks about his three decades long focus on establishing the much acclaimed tea brand By Sudipta Dev
Perera who had started his career at the age of 18 as a tea taster with Brooke Bond, worked with the company for 10 years, before joining Shaw Wallace as manager of tea department, where he was soon promoted as tea director. He established Mlesna at the age of 32 taking finance from the bank. Ten days after he started the company (in 1983), violence broke out and the war continued for 30 years. “We somehow managed to run through the period, till the war ended we remained in business and continue to do so after 33 years. But of course the journey was difficult. My main idea was never to keep on selling tea as a commodity. Whether India or Sri Lanka, we all ship tea like a commodity and on the other side someone packs it and makes it a consumer product. Though the journey was difficult my focus was on a finished product,” said Perera. He pointed out that tea bagging required expensive machinery which he could not afford at that time so he hired tea bagging time from other companies. “When we started we sent quite a lot of tea bags to Sweden, that is why my company is called Euro-Scan Exports,” he states.
Building the brand
The brand name Mlesna is the reverse of Perera’s first name. “All along what I saw during the 13 years of work was that commodity tea was going out and getting distributed across the world, and getting packed elsewhere. Tea goes from Colombo to the UK, gets packed and then goes to Japan, Australia and elsewhere. Of course that was the business they built and we learnt the trade from the English. Most of the people who own companies here now have worked their early life in British companies,” he says.
Instead of competing with bigger companies, his idea was to create a new niche product. “That’s how I started with only high quality tea. In any grade, area, agro climatic region that grows tea, I take the best and make a pack with that. So we serve only the elite, sometimes they may be middle class people but they love quality. We only cater to that segment. As a result my volume is small but my value is pretty high,” mentions Perera. From Sri Lanka he exports the highest value added product. The per kilo price of Mlesna is always over a thousand Sri Lankan rupees. “I have received presidential awards for best value added products export, and also for packaging. All the time we maintain it. The first presidential award I got from President Jayawardena, followed by every president down the line, except the current president.” Mlesna also got the first ever World Star Award for tea packaging in France. The company has in fact received nine World Stars, many Lanka Stars and Asia Stars.
Acknowledging that he does not do low end products though there is a huge volume in that segment, he says, “I feel proud of what I sell. People will buy the second time only if the product is good.” Customer service and customer satisfaction is sacrosanct for the company.
The first shop came up in the very first shopping mall in Colombo, Liberty Plaza. The shop has been there for about 28 years. “When I first started a tea shop, some friends in the trade said I was crazy to start a shop only to sell tea,” states Perera, who today is the proud owner of the largest tea shop in the world, which is also a tourist landmark – the Tea Castle in Nuwara Eliya. The Tea Castle covers an area of 13,000 sq feet. The Scottish brought tea to Sri Lanka so in tribute Perera built a Scottish styled castle, which houses a big tea shop, a restaurant, and a tea bar. The castle looks into Devon waterfall. The area is called St Claire as there is a St Claire waterfall in the area. The castle also houses a 13 foot James Taylor monument. Taylor had introduced tea plantation in British Ceylon.
The company has three restaurants in Kandy, including one at the imposing Tea Fortress, another shop which is a tourist landmark. The third unique tea shop that he is building is a light house on the rock on a coast in Ambalangoda. It is on the western coast of Sri Lanka where tourism is popular. The light house will be a tea shop, a restaurant along with 10 high end chalets. The 80 foot light house will be completed by 2017.
The shops across Colombo and other locations sell at least 300 different products to suit any palate – from adults to a kid. “We have a kiddies blend also,” mentions Perera. The shops also store a wide range of exclusively crafted accessories including designer tea pots, mugs, etc. These outlets are popular attractions for overseas visitors who want to take home the best of Ceylon teas. “My Russian agent came from one of my shops here, and so did my Greek agent. We get lots of buyers from China, who come as tourists to my tea shops,” he remarks.
Global markets
Different teas are made for different markets for instance Maple Tea and Ice Wine Tea for Canada, different blends for Russia market and also a special tea for Greece. For Japan there are flavoured mixes.
The product sale for Mlesna is 70 per cent for export market and 30 per cent sales within the country. Sales within Sri Lanka has increased with growth in tourism arrivals. “Earlier it was 90/10 when tourism was down. Now we have a network of 16 shops all over Sri Lanka. In Russia, Mlesna agent has 55 shops. In Japan there are 15 Mlesna shops. Japan is one of the most lucrative markets. They buy the best of the best and are willing to pay the price. People are grateful that you are giving them a good product,” states Perera. Along with tea, exclusive items like gold plated and platinum plated tea pots, variety of tea sets, sugar bowls, creamers, mugs are also exported.
The company also has shops in remote places like in Latvia, Ukraine. “Our agents in eastern European countries have not opened shops but they are doing good sales,” he points out.
Perera concedes that the India market is developing but it is not fast enough. “We should have more tea going to our closest neighbour. We have a good agent but we have to grow faster. The other biggest issue is non-tariff barriers – labelling law, documentation. USA has security issues, however it is easier to export tea there than to our next door neighbour,” he states, reminding that for 10 years the company had a Mlesna tea shop in Chennai, which had to be shut down.
Future focus
In the near future he is looking at expanding more in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, along with pushing the sales in China and India. With the Indian middle-class becoming sophisticated consumers, he is sure that the finest of Ceylon tea will be liked by them. “I would like to see a whole spread of tea shops in India. You have a good tea drinking population,” he states.
For a man who has spent most of his lifetime (almost 45 years in tea), Perera agrees that it is a walk that has been difficult. “I want my sons to take it to the next level with more shops around the world,” he says. Mlesna’s team of tea tasters comprise of Perera’s two sons and three other people. “The final blend does not come to the factory without my tasting and approving with them. Every single blend that comes to the factory is tasted by me, however busy I am,” he adds. The company currently employs 600 people. In the factory majority of the workforce are girls, while in shops all salespeople are girls. “We had 20 blind girls doing packaging and had received national award for that. A trained blind girl has zero chance of making mistakes,” he asserts.
Sri Lanka will be celebrating 150 years of tea next year with many celebrations and events starting from early 2017 to July – a tea convention, international seminar, tea festival. The tea traders association of which Perera is a member, is working with the Tea Board and other associations to make it a success.
