Sweet Leaf Tea Company is a producer ofready-to-drink organic branded teas and lemonades owned byNestlé. It was founded inBeaumont, TX in 1998 by Clayton Christopher and David Smith.
On April 2, 2008, Sweet Leaf Tea Company announced $18 million in private funding fromCatterton Partners.[1] On May 29, 2008, Sweet Leaf Tea Company filed suit against an Arizona-based company for the name of their sweetener, SweetLeaf Stevia.[2]
Sweet Leaf Tea was founded in 1998 inBeaumont, TX by Clayton Christopher,[3] using $10,000 and his grandmother's recipe for home-brewed iced tea made with cane sugar.[4][5] Early production consisted of brewing tea in crawfish pots in Hen's kitchen, using pillow cases as "tea bags" and; then using garden hoses to transport the tea toplastic bottles.[4][6]
In March 2009,Nestlé Waters North America invested $15.6 million in the company. In 2012, Clayton Christopher stepped down[7] asCEO and was succeeded by former Nestlé General Manager Dan Costello.[8][9]
In April 2010, Sweet Leaf acquired Cincinnati-based Tradewinds Beverage Co.
In 2012, Sweet Leaf replaced the organic brewed tea used in the original recipes with organic tea concentrate.
Sweet Leaf originally had its headquarters inBeaumont, Texas.[12] The headquarters moved to Austin in October 2003.[13] In the mid-2000s, Sweet Leaf headquartered in an area west ofDowntown Austin.[14] In 2007, Sweet Leaf relocated to the South Congress area.[15] In April 2009, the company began to look for a larger headquarters space.[11] In October 2009, Sweet Leaf announced that it planned to move its headquarters to aLEED certified building during that month.[16] In December 2009, the company moved its headquarters to the Penn Field Business Park in South Congress.[11]
1 Brand owned byGeneral Mills; Produced by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced byCereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere.2 Brand owned byGeneral Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license.3 U.S. production rights owned byThe Hershey Company.4 U.S. rights and production owned by theSmarties Candy Company with a different product.5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned byAssociated British Foods.6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé.7 Brand owned byPost Foods; Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland.8 Philippine production rights owned byAlaska Milk Corporation.9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned byFraser and Neave.10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia.11 Used only in the Philippines.12 U.S. production rights owned by theFerrara Candy Company.13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019.14 Brand owned byMars, sold by Nestlé in Canada.15 Produced byFroneri in the U.S. since 2020.
