Some entrepreneurs have a passion for a certain field since birth. Other entrepreneurs find what they have been missing later in life. For Sean Shafik, co-founder and CEO of TK Hibiscus, he found a hole in the health market and decided to help fill it. Since then he has been passionate about raising awareness for his product and providing people with affordable, healthy teas. We sat down with Sean to learn more about his company and what makes his product unique.
Tell us about your business
We are the only company on the market focused on producing organic hibiscus products. We launched at the end of 2013 with our teas and we are currently in around 500 stores including The Fresh Market, Whole Foods and Giant Eagle Market District. We will be launching on Amazon.com grocery soon as well.
Why did you start your business?
I am passionate about food, wine and healthy eating. While working on wall street a few years ago I was diagnosed with pre-hypertension. I started to drink hibiscus tea to help lower my blood pressure and when I saw that there were no brands out there focused on this healthy, delicious ingredient I saw an opportunity and went with it.
How did you come up with your business name?
We initially called the brand Tres Karkade which essentially means “very hibiscus”(hibiscus tea is known as karkade in Egypt where our father is from). The name was tough to pronounce/remember so we started calling it TK. We added the Hibiscus to align our brand with our key ingredient and to make a statement that we are the hibiscus guys. Hence TK Hibiscus was born.
What makes your product unique?
We are the only company that produces products with hibiscus as the main ingredient for both its great taste and numerous health benefits.
Where do you see the business in the next 5 years?
We see TK Hibiscus expanding its distribution nationally and to a few international locations over the next few years. We also see TK benefiting from the growth in online grocery shopping and believe this channel will provide great opportunities for us to grow outside of traditional channels. In 5 years we also expect our product portfolio to be larger and more diverse as we introduce many new and innovative hibiscus-based products.
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