We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrea Legg. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrea below.

Andrea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

We had been touring on Equestrian Circus show called Cavalia Odysseo, I was working as an aerial acrobat and Alex was an aerial acrobatic technician. We had been on tour for a number of years and were deciding where we wanted to put down some roots. Alex had grown up in Montreal and I had spent my whole adult life there so that was home BUT since we had been on tour for a few years, we had had the luxury of skipping the Montreal Canadian winters! We dreaded going back and we thought, let’s try B.C and see how it goes! I have family in Nelson so we thought we would give it a go. When we arrived we had had big plans to open a circus school but I became pregnant and that suddenly seemed impossible and also there was already a great group of people who were in the final stages to creating a circus school here in Nelson.
Alex had been working in the cinema business in Vancouver and we needed to create work here since we were about to have our first baby! Alex had always been a serious tea drinker and he immediately gravitated to the only tea shop in Nelson at the time which was Cloud Mountain. The owner was wanting to move on so we considered taking over the tea shop but in the end we decided to go through Community Futures and open up our own Tea Business. You might ask, why tea?
Well, first we are serious tea drinkers and there was a gap in the market to access really high quality ethically sourced/fairtrade tea. Second, we wanted to create something that creates community ( like a circus school) and thought, tea brings people together. It’s one of those consumable products that people will always buy and offer to their friends, family and community.
Third, for a product based business tea has an excellent shelf life and it not expensive to store.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We are Virtue Tea and we got into the tea business because we noticed there was really high quality coffee options here in Nelson but no local places offering high quality ethically sourced fairtrade and organic teas! We wanted to create a company that reflects our values by supporting fairtrade practices, compostable tea bags No plastic/nylon) and recyclable packaging. Soon we will be offering our product in true compostable packaging as soon as this technology is available.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

We have found that participating in our local markets has been an incredible networking and marketing tool to get ourselves known. This venue alone has given us the opportunity to connect with our clients directly and create connection.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The golden rule that Alex’s Grandfather had told him was you can’t fail if your quality of product has integrity and is of high quality and your customer service is impeccable. We strive to be efficient in our shipping and on customer inquiry and never compromise in our quality of product.

Contact Info:

• Website: virtuetea.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtue_tea/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virtuetea.ca

Image Credits
Alex Balcer IG @alex.balcer