T2 (tea products company)

Startup

In 1996, Jan O'Connor and Maryanne Shearer each invested $50,000 to launch the company as equal co-founders.[9]

According to T2: The Book, Shearer stated that her business relationship with O'Connor began to deteriorate after she returned to work in March 2000 following the birth of her first child. This led to a legal dispute, ultimately resulting in O'Connor's departure from the business. In October 2001, Bruce Crome, Shearer's partner, purchased O'Connor's share in the company.[10][11]

Investment partnership

In 2007, Maryanne Shearer and Bruce Crome sold 50 percent of T2 to retail investors Jonathan Dan and Phillip Blanco. Following disagreements over growth strategies, Shearer and Crome bought back 25 percent of the company from Blanco, while Dan retained his investment.[12]

Acquisition by Unilever

Multinational company Unilever acquired T2 from Shearer and Crome in October 2013. As of 2015, Shearer was T2's Creative Director. In announcing the acquisition, Shearer highlighted Unilever's role in adopting sustainable agriculture practices for the tea industry as a good value fit for T2.[13] T2 had worked with Fairtrade since 2009 on its English breakfast tea blend.[14] In 2017, writer Jayne D'Arcy used the term "Unilever-ed", to describe the company's shift from being locally Melbourne-owned.[15]

The purchase price was estimated to be less than $100 million[16] and was later disclosed as $60 million.[17] Legal services for T2 were provided by Baker & McKenzie and Harris Carlson, with financial advice from Deloitte. Legal services for Unilever were provided by Johnson Winter Slattery, with financial advice from KPMG.[18]

Unilever reached an agreement in November 2021 to sell the majority of its tea business to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for €4.5 billion, roughly US$5 billion.[19] This included the T2 business. The sale was completed in July 2022, with the new company named LIPTON Teas and Infusions.[20]

Stores

On 1 July 1996, the first store was opened at 340 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A second store was opened on Fitzroy Street, St Kilda,[21] but was closed after 12 months due to low patronage. However, the following year sales increased 20% which prompted the company to expand into Sydney.[22]

In November 1999, a store was opened in Chadstone Shopping Centre, Melbourne. The success of this store helped to increase T2's revenue beyond $1 million.

In 2002, T2 expanded to Sydney with a store in King Street, Newtown. By 2004, the company had grown to six stores, and by 2005 to eight stores. At this time, the company had 55 team members with a total revenue of $4.4 million. In 2006, revenue was $8 million.

In 2008, T2 moved its operations from Fitzroy to a leased office in the Port Melbourne area.[23] In August 2012, the company leased a warehouse at 50 Cyanamid Street in Laverton North.[24] In September 2012, T2 leased a building at 35 Wellington Street in Collingwood, with the intention of relocating the head office to that location.[25] In September 2012, the first Tasmanian T2 store was opened in the Cat & Fiddle Arcade, Hobart.[26]

In May 2013, a T2 shop was opened at 269 Little Collins Street, Melbourne.[27] That same year, T2 opened a store in Cairns Central.[28]

In 2014, 18 new stores were opened. Three of the stores opened in London,[29] England, United Kingdom, (including on Shoreditch High Street[30]) and one in New York City, New York. A year later, a fourth London store was opened at 290 Regent Street, in the West End.[31]

In 2017, the first T2 stores were opened in Scotland[32] (131 Buchanan Street, Glasgow[33]), and in Singapore,[34] the first outlet in Asia.[35] As of November 2017, there were over 96 stores across Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Asia.[36]

In 2023, T2 announced that due to "unprecedented changes" of the past few years, they have decided to "close all operations in the Northern Hemisphere to focus on regions closer to home such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore".[37] T2's US stores closed on 19 February 2023, with its US websites trading until 22 February 2023 (with the exception of their Valley Fair location in California, which remained open until 25 June 2023).[38]

Wholesale

Beginning in the mid-2000s, T2 was supplying tea to approximately 300 cafés and restaurants across Australia.[39] Eventually, this number increased to 400, including a few international accounts.[40]

By mid-2011, the number of wholesale accounts had grown to approximately 500.[41] By 2015, T2 was supplying 3,000 wholesale accounts.