20th June, 2007: Budgets at Bigelow
It is budget time for us, since our season is busiest during the winter we have made our fiscal year July through June. This means we are estimating how many tea bags we expect you to buy, when you will buy them, and what flavors you will choice. All of this is of course scientifically done and has a zero percent chance of error, well ok so it is a best guess. After we have determined all of that we then spread the production over our facilities and notify our vendors of what we need and when we need it. This is then forwarded to our three plants so they can determine the staffing and production requirements. Now all of this is probably what you do when you create your home budget each year so you might be able to relate to the fun times we have during this process. And like you we try to make sure we come within +/- 3% of our budget. So when you are in the tea isle do not forget to pick up that box of tea, we are planning on it.
Dean
Posted by Dean at 8:47 am |
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Hey Dean trust me I reading Accu Weather newspage they reporting that we may have colder than usual winter in 2007 to 08
Blame on El Nino or LA NINA or Global warming I think Bigelow tea going do lots of business if the weather geeks are predict it LOL!
Comment by Kelly — June 20, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Hi Dean…what is going on at Bigelow??? My local grocery store has it on the bottom shelf now and only 2-3 flavors. Boooo… AND my very favorited decaf cinnamon herbal and my all time favorite Fruit and Almond are gone!!!! This is horrible! I don’t want to drink new age tea…at twice the price. Or green tea…there is more to life than green tea. This is all a fad anyway. Every time I make a cup of my favorites, which I now can’t do anymore, everyone in the break room says…hmmmm what IS that? You guys are making some BIG mistakes in your marketing plan! Trust me, I teach marketing!!!
Comment by Beth — June 25, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
You asked about the availability of the Cinnamon Spice Herbal and the Fruit & Almond Herbal Teas.
These flavors have been discontinued and we apologize for any inconvenience, and disappointment, this may cause you. Currently, we have some inventory on hand. While supplies last, you can order these flavors from us directly, by calling our toll-free number, 1-888-244-3569, Monday through Friday, between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm EST.
There is a minimum purchase of one case which is made up of six individual boxes of one kind of tea. The cost per case is $17.75, plus $5.95 for postage and handling. For your convenience, you may use your Visa, American Express or Mastercard.
Again, thank you for your interest in our teas. We do appreciate your comments, and will be happy to share them with our Marketing Department for you.
Customer Service, Bigelow Tea
Comment by Valorie — June 26, 2007 @ 10:44 am
Living overseas, it is my delight to wake up to a taste of home with a cup of Bigelow’s fruit and almond tea to get the day started. It was a short “relationship” as I only discovered this flavor less than two yrs ago. What happened? I would sooo love to order a case a.s.a.p.! It’s taken me a lot of research to find this information.
Please re-consider continuing this tea as anyone who has a cup of tea at my home, falls in love with this delicious flavor.
Comment by Anne White — September 21, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
Anne,
The Fruit & Almond Tea has been discontinued and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Currently, we have some inventory on hand. While supplies last, you can order this flavor directly from us by calling our toll-free number, 1-888-244-3569, Monday through Friday, between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm EST.
There is a minimum purchase of one case which is made up of six individual boxes of one kind of tea. The cost per case is $17.75, plus $5.95 for postage and handling. For your convenience, you may use your Visa, American Express or Mastercard.
Bigelow Tea Consumer
Comment by Valorie — September 24, 2007 @ 9:49 am
While I understand there are delicate efforts and issues that factor in to a product line’s continuance or demise, I am curious if there is ever a consideration that if interest is maintained, that a product line will be reinstated.
I am discussing the Fruit and Almond Tea.
We had found perfect bag tea and now it is gone.
It was difficult to find outside of a variety pack and now this… sigh
I suppose we have to stock up on the stuff you have left.
Comment by Jeremy — September 27, 2007 @ 1:18 am
LOVED THE FRUIT AND ALMOND TEA ALSO..PLEASE CONSIDER REINSTATING IT…. EVEN TOOK IT ON VACATION WITH ME TO ARUBA….:(
Comment by Joanne Savitz — October 6, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
I too love the fruit and almond tea, and live on it in the winter. Please consider bringing it back!
Comment by Angela Comstock — October 10, 2007 @ 6:23 pm
The cooler temperatures of fall sent me to the store with a list for those chilly weather supplies. Iknew I had been missing my Fruit & Almond tea but was hopeful that with cooler weather it would reappear. When it didn’t I did some research which led me here only to learn that it has been discontinued. I hated to hear that, it is one of those teas that lures even the non tea drinker in with it’s aroma and heavenly taste. Any way you’ll reconsider bringing this one back?!
Comment by Karen Duncan — October 24, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
Please, please, please bring back the fruit and almond tea. Not only is it great in the winter, but I love making iced tea with it. Wonderful!
Comment by Tracy Mateer — October 30, 2007 @ 9:46 am
I second all the comments about bringing back Fruit and Almond. I’d stocked up on it and used the last bag last night . . . only to find out that that may, indeed, have been the last bag!
I certainly hope you will reconsider bringing back this delicious product.
DJ
Comment by David Jones — November 2, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
I have also been searching for my favorite fruit and almond tea, and am now dissappointed to find it has been discontinued. I would love to see it brought back. My daughters and I enjoy a cup of tea together in the evenings,and this is a perfect sweet and soothing flavor blend. I will order a case, but am wondering how much longer it will be made available? Please reconsider!
Comment by Melody Conroy — December 12, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
The Fruit and Almond tea is my husband’s favorite. We have been looking for it everywhere. Please consider bringing it back, we cannot find anything like it. Thankyou.
Comment by shantel geren — December 24, 2007 @ 6:31 pm
My mother and I loved fruit and almond tea, and are very disappointed that it has been discontinued. Why did Bigelow decide to discontinue this flavor, perhaps their best? *We promise to buy it even more often if you reinstate it!*
Comment by H.E.O. — December 25, 2007 @ 3:31 am
Fruit & Almond is my all time favorite! Is Bigelow planning on reinstating it or is it gone forever?
Comment by Patricia DuBois — December 30, 2007 @ 5:56 pm
I have to agree that it was a huge mistake for Bigelow to discontinue the Fruit & Almond flavored tea. PLEASE reconsider bringing it back. We all miss it terribly!
Comment by M.S. — January 8, 2008 @ 9:10 pm
Our entire art group fell in love with the fruit and almond tea. It was everyones wish list for the holidays. We were crushed to find out it had been discontinued. Marketing focus groups would pay for all of this feed back. Reinstate this product.
Comment by mw — January 23, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Please, Please reinstate the Fruit & Almond flavored Tea it was my favorite and there was no flavor like it. I am very disappointed it was discontinued. It was the only flavor my daughter would drink. I have tried other flavors of yours and they are not even close the same
Comment by Lisa Hinman — January 25, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
I too have been to my grocery store to buy my husband his favorite fruit and almond tea and found out it is discountinued. He does not drink coffee or soda and he drank fruit and almond tea every single day. This tea was so good. Please bring it back. It is all sold out on your website.
Comment by Elizabeth — January 25, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
Please bring back Fruit and Almond! It is the most delicious tea in the world.
Comment by Liz — January 27, 2008 @ 12:42 am
Please bring back Fruit & Almond. At least tell me the secret recipe.
Comment by Colin Clark — January 28, 2008 @ 12:31 am
Let me join the bandwagon requesting that Fruit & Almond tea be brought back. I kept patiently checking each time at the grocery store for the tea to be on the shelf only to find out it’s been discontinued. It is the most relaxing, wonderful flavor to sit and unwind with. What a shame. I haven’t been able to find a suitable replacement and think Bigelow should reconsider.
Comment by Monica — January 28, 2008 @ 9:23 am
I have to agree with everyone else that the Fruit & Almond tea is the best. Please reconsider bringing it back! Both my boyfriend and I always stock up on the teas. Whenever anyone is over either one of our house and we serve the tea they fall in love with it. I have a 10 year old and there was a time that I could not get her to drink tea, however she loves the Fruit & Almond tea. We need that tea to stay on the shelves!!! PLEASE!!!
Comment by Myra Aletha — January 28, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
I agree with all the above on the Fruit and Almond tea, I can’t drink any other since I’ve tasted it…..its so delicious and comforting, a perfect tea, please bring it back, and let me know if you have any left in stock…thank you!
Comment by Debbie — January 30, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
I have to wonder if Bigelow has ever experienced quite as dramatic a reaction to discontinuing a tea before. Fruit and Almond is clearly a signature flavor and sorely missed by so many customers. Tea, and its benefits, has been highly advertised lately, and there are hundreds of choices out there. However, quite honestly, none that I have tried have compared to the Bigelow Fruit and Almond. And apparently, I am not alone. It seems obvious to me that your company would be as close to heroic as a tea company can be by simply bringing back this wonderful herbal blend. No one makes anything like this. I am actually rationing what I have left and truly dreading the day that I drink the last cup. I don’t know why this one ever went away, but please, please, listen to your customers and bring back this peerless tea.
Comment by Erin — February 6, 2008 @ 9:50 am
The painful process of discontinuing a tea….not fun but unfortunately a necessity. Each year we have the wonderful opportunity to create new and exciting flavors for our tea consumers. The receptivity to our new flavors over the years has been outstanding, whether it was with our Pumpkin Spice, Green Tea with Pomegranate or one of our newest AriZona teas that has the powerful antioxidant Acai in it. Our tea consumers have come to know that when we put our name on a tea, it is the most flavorful, freshest tea possible.
However, with all the fun work in creating and introducing new teas, we have to occasionally let go of our slower moving/slower selling teas because when a tea flavor reaches a certain point of sales, it becomes almost impossible to run a very limited quantity of teabags on our equipment. Then comes the hardest part of all…we have to share news with our wonderful consumers that a tea will not be produced any longer. Of course, with that decision, we make lots of really lovely people very unhappy. The letters, the phone calls, the emails come flooding in pleading with us to reconsider. We try very hard to take care of our faithful consumers and provide some of the discontinued tea through the website but eventually we get to a point where the tea is not longer available.
The reality is, we cannot make those passionate fans happy and that is not fun…We have over 80 beautiful teas and with that our warehouses would explode and our machines would revolt if we did not eventually let some of our slower moving teas retire to the Bigelow Tea “pasture.”
So for all you amazing fans that we cannot satisfy 100% by taking away one of your favorite teas…we are very sorry. Please know if we could, we would love to supply you with every tea you ever wanted from us, but that is not truly possible.
Thank you for loving those teas and I can only hope that you might find a wonderful substitute somewhere in our array of teas that makes you just (or at least close to “just”) as happy.
At least I can dream…..
Cindi Bigelow
Comment by Cindi — February 7, 2008 @ 7:12 am
I have a full court press working on this; we just need a few more days to figure this out! It is hard to get some of the ingredients needed in small quantities but I promise you, my team is all over this!!!!! We have one ingredient that is causing the majority of the problems……
Cindi Bigelow, President
Comment by Cindi — March 5, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
I am not sure if my original comment transmitted, so I am going to repeat it -
We have a Tuesday night Bible study group of 8 - 10 people and we look forward to enjoying our cup of fruit & almond tea each week and we just do not have that anymore!
We always discuss if anyone has found it in
any local stores each week when we “grab” our beverage prior to starting our study.
We really do miss it inspite of the many other flavors, that one is the best. Some folks have resorted to water rather than another flavor of tea. Fruit & Almond was really a special flavor and it is missed!
Comment by Shirley Pysher — March 12, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
I must echo all these numerous comments. Fruit and Almond is the BEST herbal tea available. Why would the company discontinue it when so MANY people are requesting its return? Perhaps there is another tea that isn’t quite as popular that can be discontinued?
Comment by Pat — September 24, 2008 @ 10:24 pm
Pat,
Keep reading the blog. You will see that Cindi Bigelow, President, found a way to bring it back. It was a process as you will see. You can purchase this tea by going to our website, http://www.bigelowtea.com.
Thanks for your comment,
Valorie for Bigelow Tea
Comment by Valorie — September 26, 2008 @ 6:09 am
I found this blog quite by accident after spending the better part of the past year searching high and low for Fruit and Almond tea. It is my favorite hands down, and although I have tried others that had the word “almond” in them, nothing even comes close to the perfect mix of subtlety and zip that this one has. I can’t tell you how I’ve missed it — or how thrilled I was to see it available again on your site. Last night I ordered a case, along with a new teapot to celebrate.
I have an opened box of Fruit and Almond from way back — it’s expired, of course, but there are two tea bags left that I had been reluctant to use. Just didn’t want to see it go or throw the empty carton away. I have been a tea drinker for many years, also going through a phase of trying every loose tea in the book and keeping a card file on them with my reviews. Always like to have a good choice of teas in my house for my guests. But this one is the special one for me — thank you so much for bringing it back!!
Comment by Toby — November 7, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Add me to the list of devastated Fruit & Almond lovers who can no longer find a single box in any of the grocery stores within 50 miles of my home. I honestly don’t understand your decision not to bring it back to mass availability, when you consider the strong reactions of so many people with excellent taste!! I have not checked into ordering it by the case, and while I don’t really like the idea of spending that much money on a few boxes of tea all at once, if this is my only option, then I know I will be doing it…but please, please, find a way to bring this wonderful tea back to the store shelves. I have to tell you, some of the new flavors you’ve brought out, do NOTHING for me, whatsoever!!
Comment by Karla — November 24, 2008 @ 11:21 pm
Another saddened Fruit & Almond fan. And here I was thinking that the grocery stores nearby were just failing to stock it (resulting in my having to buy Celestial Seasonings instead).
Comment by Elisa — November 28, 2008 @ 10:32 pm