12 years of Good & Proper!

Becoming a B Corp!

Well, we officially became a B Corp at the tail end of last year, but we managed to keep it under wraps until the new year, so we’re still counting it as a 2024 highlight! Becoming a certified B Corp with such a small team was no easy feat, but it served as an invaluable way to recognise the many ways we’re ‘doing things properly’ at Good & Proper. We’re incredibly proud to be part of this community of organisations using business as a force for good, and are excited about the path of continuous improvement this now puts us on as we grow.

Joining the ETP

As small players in a very large and mature industry, we see our role as helping to set a new standard for tea. Harnessing the collective power of our industry is essential, so one of our goals this year was to join the the Ethical Tea Partnership. We’re delighted to now be part of this global membership organisation working to create a thriving, socially just and sustainable tea sector for all, and we have already had many an opportunity to both listen and learn from the big guys, as well as offer a new perspective around the table.

Tea travels

Every year we try to head out to see more and more of our suppliers, some of whom we’ve been working with for over 10 years. This year we had some fantastic trips to both Sri Lanka and Kenya. As core components of our breakfast blends, the volumes of tea we buy from these two regions are growing fast, so it was invaluable to spend some time with our producer partners there, hearing first-hand the challenges they face, both economical and environmental, and better understanding how we can support each other as we grow.

Visiting and being served at 10 Downing Street

Thanks to being part of the wonderful Buy Women Built community, I was invited to attend a very special Afternoon Tea at Downing Street. I spent the week leading up to it panicking about choosing the right teas to serve, getting them through security in good time and, of course, what on earth to wear, so it wasn’t until I was standing there in the room, cup of our Earl Grey in hand, and surrounded by the most incredible fellow female founders that it really hit home quite how special this moment was. I was honoured to have been included and reminded of how important creating visibility is for the next generation of girls to start dreaming.

Being served in all areas of Wimbledon 2024

It doesn’t get much better than this for a pinch-me moment - I am pretty sure that at some point in the early days I must have manifested this - Good & Proper, served at the most British of all events…🎾 Well this year was a dream come true. It took a full team effort, running around the site, delivering training to around 3000 staff and getting venue after venue after venue set up for success (seriously, there are SO many venues on that one site), but we did it, we loved it and the feedback was fantastic. The cherry on the cake was knowing that David Attenborough had a cup of our Assam - a super fresh batch of which we had brought over especially for the Royal Box 🍃 Bring on next year!

Growing the team from 5 to 10!

Now I have to say I wouldn’t recommend doing this as quickly as we did 🤯 and it’s still only very small numbers so I can’t imagine how painful it must be for bigger businesses! But despite the intense growing pains this caused, trying to get everyone up to speed, keeping the focus and not letting culture slip in the process, every Monday when I join our weekly team video call I can’t believe how many little squares there are on the screen! I love seeing everyone’s faces and feel honoured that each of these brilliant individuals is working so hard to build the business with me.

Moving into not one but TWO new offices - current one soon to have a beautiful tasting room 👀

More people means more office space! And you don’t realise how much stuff you have until you have to move, and we’ve had to come to terms with this not once but TWICE this year. Despite the boxing up and lugging and endless culling involved, it’s always fun unpacking old style packaging, handmade tea trays from our Tea Bar and old photos of me and Watson the tea van (OK, so I’m not that good at the culling part). Madness to think it was just me and the van back then, and now our new huge office is home to a ten-strong team 😱

Relaunching our Guest Tea programme

Much to the excitement of Brewer’s Pick fans, we relaunched our Guest Tea Series in October. We’re always receiving samples at the Good & Proper HQ, so the team and I are eternally tasting small-batch teas from around the world that are unlikely to make it into our permanent collection. Our Guest Tea Series is a chance for you to try the very best of the team’s favourites, and the first in our new-look line-up was the much-loved Amba Ceylon Chai, which is still available to buy for a very short time 👀

Bringing back The Big Iced Teaser and The Proper Shake Up

After a COVID-induced hiatus, we welcomed the return of our Good & Proper Partner competitions, The Big Iced Teaser and The Proper Shake Up. We created these competitions not only as an excuse to bring all of our Hospitality partners together, but also to show everyone that there’s no limit to the exciting things you can make with tea, from iced tea to tea cocktails. Both events were a great success, with each line-up of competitors blowing us away with their tea-based creations. I can’t wait to do it all again next year 🍸

Launching our tea bags into Ocado

We’ve had 12 of our loose leaf teas in Ocado since 2021, and they’ve been seeing strong growth every year since then. But it was very exciting this year to add to our range on there, offering our Ocado customers access to our tea bag format too. We’ve been in for a few months now and it seems those customers are pretty pleased to see them!

I will have to stop there, but with all that to be proud of, one thing is clear and that is that none of it could have happened without you. So THANK YOU for being such an important part of it and here’s to getting good (and proper) tea into even more hands in 2025!

Emilie