Seth Goldman co-founded Honest® Tea in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Thirteen years later they were acquired and are now a $160 million division of Coca-Cola.
Today, Honest Tea is the nation’s top selling ready-to-drink organic bottled tea and Honest Kids® is the nation’s top-selling organic children/youth beverage.
The brands are carried in more than 100,000 outlets in the United States, including all Wendy’s and Chik-fil-A restaurants.
It was a long, tough, and fun road to get to where they are today. One of the best food business books I have ever read, Mission in a Bottle tells their story. I interviewed Seth about the book and he responded with sage advice for emerging food startups:
- "I can't ask others to invest if I'm not completely invested in myself."
- The biggest mistakes that almost put the company under
- Why the company needs to shift and evolve along the way
- Dealing with competitors inside the tent
- "Creating a successful company depends on your ability to successfully two questions"
- How to sign on and have success with distributors
- Learnings from an unsuccessful run with Barnes + Noble
- How he sold Canada Dry Potomac after 4 years of rejections
- Why the "little things" add up and can make or break your company
- "You have to win in New York" - Learnings from a Red Sox fan
- On selling their company to Coca-Cola
- How Seth managed a harmonious and prolific relationship with his co-founder
- Negotiating shipping rates
- The main problems he sees in advising food startups
Selected links from the episode:
Honest Tea
Mission in a Bottle (note from Matt: Read it!!)
Coca Cola Venturing & Emerging Brands
Ripple Foods
Beyond Meat
Calvert Investments
American Beverage Association
Bethesda Green