Archana Sharma – New Delhi
Sunshine Tea is looking at foraying into the South India market to expand their footprint pan India. Speaking on the expansion, Anurag Gupta, CEO, Sunshine Tea, stated, “In June we will be participating in Food Hospitality World trade exhibition in Bengaluru and will focus on growing our distribution network there while understanding the market requirements of the South.” For the Delhi-NCR region, the company has tied-up with retail chains like 24*7 and Modern Bazaar and are currently distributing across the northern region mainly in Punjab, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. Gupta also informed that later this year they will be exhibiting in USA and Germany.
Elaborating on the product, Gupta believes that tea sticks are a better alternative to tea bags as one tea stick contains 2.5 gm of pure leaf tea and is sufficient for at least two to three cups, whereas a tea bag contains 1 to 1.5 gms of CTC tea, which is adequate for only one cup. “With 486 perforations in the tea stick, we try to retain the natural ingredients and add minimal flavouring to the product,” he added.
Being the blenders and promoters of premium tea, Gupta believes that the market for green tea is growing especially since it is gradually being known for its herbal and health benefits. Talking about the sales of the product, Gupta stated that they observed about Rs one crore of sales in 2014 and hope to increase the same by at least 50 per cent in 2015.