英国Typhoo茶即将登陆印度

Typhoo set to debut in India

SUTANUKA GHOSAL

摘要：Typhoo品牌曾经属于英国John Summer，后来被Apeejay公司购得，现在Apeejay公司准备在印度推广Typhoo茶品牌。12月底新工厂即可完工。卫报称，2005年第一食品公司以8000万英镑的价钱将旗下的Typhoo品牌卖给了位于加尔各答的Apeejay国际茶叶公司。第一食品公司是在1903年由伯明翰杂货商John Summer创建的，当时Typhoo品牌是英国市场上继PG Tips和Tetley之后的第三大茶叶品牌。第一食品的经营哲学是，让自己的品牌拥有数一数二的市场份额。

Typhoo, UK’s iconic tea brand which was launched in 1903 by Birmingham grocer John Summer, is poised to debut in India. The Apeejay Tea Group (ATG), which acquired Typhoo 2005 along with other speciality tea brands such as London Fruit & Herb, Natureland and Heath & Heather fruit from Premier Foods plc, will introduce it in the country in the current fiscal.

Talking to ET, Deepak Atal, managing director of Apeejay Tea said: “We are setting up a tea bag and packing factory in Kolkata on Hyde Road for Typhoo and other speciality tea brands. Construction work has already begun. We are importing tea machinery from UK.” “The factory will be ready by end-December and we hope to launch the brands in India this fiscal. This will be Typhoo’s first major foray outside UK. It is present in a small way in Australia and New Zealand,” he added.

Incidentally, ATG is also putting in place a strong marketing team for marketing Typhoo and other associated brands. “Apeejay Tea is essentially a bulk tea player and we don’t have a marketing team than can facilitate movement of value-added tea. We also need to work out a brand promotion strategy to position the Typhoo brand in the market,” said Mr Atal.

Incidentally, after it bought over Typhoo from Premier Foods, ATG was investing and reviving it in the UK market. “We are now ready to expand the reach of the brand,” he said.

Typhoo has a wide range of products within its fold. Apart from decaffeinated tea, it also has Typhoo Fruit & Herb, Typhoo Green Tea and Typhoo QT, the instant white tea. It also has a number of speciality teas like Freshbrew, Glengettie, Melroses and Ridgeways within its fold. At present, the entire blending and packing for Typhoo is done at Moreton, Wirrel in the UK.

“Once Typhoo gets to India, it will become easier to market it in the neighbouring countries. It will be cost competitive. However, a final decision on the expansion strategy will have to be decided by the Typhoo team in the UK,” Mr Atal said.

ATG, which has 17 gardens in Assam, will use its own teas for the Typhoo tea bags. It will also buy tea from the Nilgiris and Darjeeling gardens. “We may also buy teas from Sri Lanka for Typhoo tea bags,” he elaborated.
The company is also sprucing up its Mantra and Mahamantra brands. While the Mantra brand is available in polypacks, Mahamantra is available in 5 kg packs. ATG will use a significant portion of its total production of 22 million kg for these two brands in the current fiscal year.