Eden Tea has successfully competed against big brands in the local tea market to gain clout as a household name, even winning awards in successive years. The brand’s achievements talk of a product that has within a short period captured consumer tastes and preferences.
To Joseph Ngige, the General Manager of the holding company Karirana Estates Ltd, part of Eden Tea’s winning formula is the freshness of its products and their appeal to consumer taste buds.
“We take a relatively short time in processing, packaging and distribution, and this has endeared us to our loyal customers,” he says. “We leverage on efficiencies from bush to cup, and we enforce stringent quality assurance along the entire process,” Mr. Ngige adds.
Karirana Estates enjoys a strong tea heritage that gives Eden Tea consumers the confidence that they are taking the best tea from the highlands of Limuru, produced and packaged professionally in a clean and hygienic environment.
Leveraging on technology has enabled Eden Tea to slash down the time taken to place and process orders by more than a half. The system allows for real-time order placements, payments, scheduling, tracking deliveries and communication with consumers and customers.
Marketing through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter has expanded the awareness on Eden Tea product portfolio to consumers.
To enhance efficiencies in operations, the management at Eden Tea applies the Kaizen methodology of continual improvement. “We have adopted Kaizen tools such as just-in time, autonomous maintenance and total quality management to increase our efficiencies,” says the Factory Manager, Mr. John Nguluu.
Behind the Eden Tea brand is a strong team of dedicated and diligent staff who have developed strong relationships with customers. Driven by five core values – integrity, teamwork, customer focus, continuous improvement and corporate social responsibility – the Eden Tea team works to ensure that all business objectives are met and that customers are happy. Karirana Tea Factory maintains 2005 food safety management certification.
In a market where the prices of basic goods have shot up, Eden Tea products remain fairly priced. Besides, given its high quality, Eden Tea is very economical to consumers. “Our customers use less tea leaves to prepare more cups of refreshing tea. Our products too, give a very rich aroma and colour to the tea,” says Karirana Estates Sales and Marketing Manager Humphrey Mwangi.
As a mark of its competitiveness, Eden Tea has over the years won awards at the Annual Tea Packers Competition, the highest accolades in the tea industry in Kenya. At the recent Annual Tea Packers Competition, Eden Tea clinched the Brand Universality Award and emerged the First Runners-Up in Excellence in the Tea Sector, packers’ category.
The competition was organized by the Agriculture and Food Authority’s Tea Directorate, and judging was done by the Marketing Society of Kenya. In the last 3 years, Eden Tea has been crowned Overall 2nd Runners up (2017), Best Brand Resonance; Best Branded Tea (2016); Overall 2nd Runners-up (2015).
The awards reflect the value that tea consumers place on the brand. “We dedicate these awards to our customers and consumers,” says Mr. Ngige.
