You may have heard the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Two Alabama entrepreneurs decided to make tea instead and were rewarded with a booming business and $500,000 from the reality television show Shark Tank.
The successful tea company named Y’all Sweet Tea came to be after one of its founders, Darien Craig, was fired from his job. Craig shares his story:
“I first had the idea to sell sweet tea in High School. It wasn’t until I was fired from a job a few years later that I decided to pursue it. The week I got fired, I had $7 to my name. With the last paycheck I received, I used the $300 from that check to purchase the first jars of sugar and tea that would eventually catapult this idea. I thought, sweet tea is the most Southern drink, and the word Y’all is the most Southern word. Let’s call it Y’all Sweet Tea!”
Craig did not create the company alone. Instead, he formed a partnership with his lifelong friend, Brandon Echols. The two have shared a friendship since they were six years old, and as they were growing up, their favorite drink was sweet tea. They drank it by the gallons after hours of playing basketball, mowing yards, and hanging out.
The company officially started in 2015, with the pair traveling to festivals and Farmers’ Markets with a pickup truck of freshly made sweet tea. From the experience, the duo realized that their family sweet tea recipe was the best and loved by their customers, but traveling around from event to event was not the best way to market their product.
In 2020, the company’s marketing strategy changed. With the addition of original blends of black teas and a complete brand overhaul, the company took to social media to market its beverage. On April 10, 2021, they launched their website selling gallon-sized bags for consumers to brew their own tea at home. They enlisted the help of Brenda Gantt, a Facebook Icon whose cooking videos reached four million viewers, and other social media influencers to get the word out about their products.
Their efforts have paid off. The company has reported $10.3 million in sales over the last three years, and on November 15, Craig and Echols, along with spokesperson Mama Sue, stood before the Shark Tank panel to pitch their product to the Sharks.
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The promotion was so well received that the pair received three competing offers from the investors. After considering each offer, they settled on a deal that banked them $500,000, with the investors getting 15% equity.
Sherri Blevins is a writer for Mountain Valley News and a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can reach her at [email protected].
