4th December, 2007: Sit back and enjoy the Holidays!
Well I don’t know about everyone else, but I have spent the last three weekends (yes three) doing almost nothing but getting ready for the holidays and buying Christmas presents. I think I am really missing the point of this special time of year. It shouldn’t be about putting up garland and lights and buying gift after gift. I know that “intellectually” but I think I don’t know it spiritually. I just want to make sure that all those special people I give gifts to light up with a warm smile. Well that is good but how do I balance the need to delight people and still not get caught up in all the hustle and bustle? I did share a cup of Bigelow vanilla caramel tea over the weekend with a friend, and no joke, that helped (must be all the L-theanine). Any advice is welcome. Until then I better keep the kettle on every day!
Here’s to the holidays, learning how to truly enjoy them with those we love, and still have some time for ourselves!
Cindi Bigelow
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comments (2)
19th November, 2007: Bigelow Tea Wins Award From The Bridgeport Regional Business Council
How exciting, we just won an award from the Bridgeport Regional Business Council for all our efforts to support the environment. Upon winning this prestigious honor, the BRBC came into our facility last week to see some of our good work and they created a 90 second video for the award dinner coming up on December 6th. We will definitely make the video available on the blog once it is complete.
What makes the award special to me is that all the hard work being done by our “green team” is being noticed and appreciated. I truly love to see credit where credit is due and this team has worked very hard! I am looking forward to the evening but mostly what makes the evening exciting is knowing how proud the team will be when their fine work is being shared with the hundreds of people attending the event.
Cindi Bigelow
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comments (2)
24th October, 2007: To Hope for a Cure
Cooler weather is here…yeah. And so is hot tea season! It is great to see all the tea machines in full swing, packing off hundreds of thousands of teabags each day. We are so fortunate that the majority of our team on the production floor making the cases and cases of tea have been with us for over 7 years-some up to over 30 years! It is such a warm feeling watching the pallets of our tea getting loaded onto the trucks at our dock and then pulling out of our parking lot. Our tea is heading toward the store shelf and if we are lucky, it will find a home in your kitchen! I hope you are getting in the mood with this chilly weather to start steeping the water and then pouring yourself a good hot cup.
While you are enjoying the tea, let me draw your attention to that fact that it is National Breast Cancer Month. Let’s reflect on those that we know or don’t know and let’s collectively hope that a cure is on the way…that would be something to think about over a cup of Bigelow Tea!
Here’s to a cure,
Cindi Bigelow
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
18th October, 2007: Bigelow Tea is a Favorite among Natural Food Stores Thanks to Aaron Lawrence
I’m writing today to personally thank Aaron Lawrence for helping us get Bigelow Tea into the hands of a lot more consumers.
Last month we introduced an incentive program with our natural foods broker, Advantage Sales and Marketing to help kick start our fall tea season; one man in particular has proven to us that he can sell tea. His name is Aaron Lawrence. As a Territory Rep. for natural food broker Advantage Sales and Marketing, Aaron is helping to make Bigelow Tea a favorite with natural food stores across the country like Whole Foods/Wild Oats.
I had the pleasure of meeting Aaron at the Natural Foods Expo last month in Baltimore. We invited Aaron to stop by our booth and had our picture taken together along with Angie Lewis, Business Development Manager, Advantage East. That’s Aaron on the left.
Aaron really enjoys selling. He has a “natural” (no pun intended) way about him. Originally from Westbury, NY and now residing in Lauderdale by the Sea, FL, Aaron got his start in the natural food industry with Wildfire Sales. He made the move to Advantage a year ago because he wanted to work for a larger company to gain more exposure to the natural food industry and we’re glad he did!
As our way of saying thank you, Aaron received a bonus along with a 3 day/2 night trip to our beautiful Bigelow Charleston Tea Gardens in South Carolina.
Congratulations Aaron. Given Bigelow Tea’s links to healthy living, you make a perfect fit. Keep up the great work and have a fun trip!
Cindi Bigelow
Left to Right: Aaron Lawrence: Advantage Territory Rep, Florida, Cindi Bigelow, President Bigelow Tea, and Angie Lewis, Advantage BDM, Eastern Region (Business Development Manager)
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
4th October, 2007: 20th Annual Bigelow Tea Community Challenge
Well the 20th annual Bigelow Tea Community Challenge just finished up this past Sunday and WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY! Our largest turnout by far! Over 1000 people were in the three events (Kid’s Fun Run, 2 mile walk and a 5K)-not to mention the 200 plus that came with our participants. The weather was picture perfect-breezy 75 degrees. The day was everything I could have hoped for! I think one of the best parts was just sitting back during the affair and seeing the families roaming around, smiling and just enjoying their experience. By far my most favorite aspect of the Community Challenge was seeing the team that planned this event (that I have worked with during the year) get “their moment in the sun.” This group of people just shined! The race committee had absolute and complete ownership of this event. They spent hours and hours, months and months preparing….then the day came. They were like hardcore soldiers running the different areas- preregistration, registration day of the race, walkers area, kids sign up, food, water stations, etc. etc….and they ran these areas with great aplomb. Yes, that was my favorite part of the race, seeing these marvelous people make this event as truly special as it was and always will be….I can proudly say it is one of the best run community events in Fairfield County, raising over $55,000 for local charities. And it is such a huge success because of the sole dedication of the Bigelow Race Committee….ah yes, it was a beautiful day!
Cindi Bigelow, President
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
25th September, 2007: New Tea and Valued Employees come together at Bigelow
Well our season has started off very strong (thank goodness). Lots of fun things going on, our new Chai ready-to-drink products have just been launched, Mocha Chai (my favorite) and Vanilla Chai (fabulous as well)…. We have partnered with the very best company, AriZona, to help us and what great (and fun) partners they are! This product is SO GOOD…..less calories than that Frappaccino drink but with tons of flavor. We also just launched this month three hot tea bags made with AriZona flavors…Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey, Green Tea with Ginseng, Honey-Jasmin, Mandarin Orange, and Green Tea with Pomegranate and Acai. I am telling you, not all tea bags are created equal…you have to try these to believe them!
Well I have to go, I have to get ready for our “Teapot” dinner-yes that is really the name of the event. It is for all of our employees who have been with our company 7 years or longer. Believe it or not, almost 70% of our company is in this club! Anyway, 10 new members are coming in this year from our Fairfield location and they really look forward to their induction. SO got to go…..
Cindi Bigelow
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comments (6)
3rd September, 2007: Bigelow Celebrates Labor Day with our Annual Retiree Luncheon
Just had 30 retirees come back for our annual retiree luncheon, and it was really lovely. To be able to reconnect to our employees that have dedicated years to building this business, who are the foundation of this company, well…it means a lot to my entire family.
Every summer, we send out invites to those who have retired from Bigelow Tea. We are never sure how many will respond positively to the luncheon and each year we are pleasantly surprised with the high turnout. This year was no exception, I actually think it was our biggest turnout ever. Our luncheon included individuals who worked during the 60 and 70’s and retired almost 20 years ago to those who have retired in the last few months.
What never ceases to amaze me is the comradery between them, even after all these years. The chatter, the laughs, the stories about their years here-it is a very special afternoon. I have to say, it is after an event like the one we had today, it clearly reminds me the value of a family company.
Cindi Bigelow, co-President
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
24th August, 2007: Bigelow Tea Community Challenge
The Bigelow Tea Community Challenge is coming up-it will be our 20th year of hosting this fabulous event. We have already raised more money than ever before, almost 50K!!!! It promises to be our most successful….some fun things for this year’s race…Cannondale donated a great bike for us to raffle off, Warren Travel of Westport came back and gave us two round trip tickets on American to fly anywhere in US to also be raffled and Mercedes Benz is giving us a car to loan out for a week! Should be a super fun family day….we expect over 1200 participants.
September 30, 2007 starting at 9 am at Wakeman’s Boys and Girls Club in Southport, CT, we will have a kid’s fun run, a 2 mile non competitive walk and a 5k run! And what is even more special is the fact that besides being a great event for the community with tons of goodies, all the money goes to such wonderful charities. I visited one of them yesterday, the Grasmere Home for the elderly. It is a place that you can bring your elder parent (or relative) from Monday to Friday and they enjoy great activities and get involved in various projects. The center is for those that need help and a little more attention than those that can go to our local senior center (another wonderful place the race supports!). While I was there, they were working on the photographs they had taken while doing a photography outing to the shore in our town. It was so heart warming to see how the seniors were enjoying the fruits of their labor. As usual, it brought tears to my eyes to see them in that environment. So I am truly looking forward to our upcoming Challenge, I promise to share with you all kinds of pictures and some fun stories about the day!!!
Cindi Bigelow
Posted by Cindi at 6:00 am | Comment (0)
8th August, 2007: Governor Rell Signs Energy Efficiency Bill at Bigelow Tea Headquarters
Governor Rell signs new Energy Efficiency Bill
“DO ONE THING,” that is the new program Governor Rell announced today as she came to Bigelow Tea to sign the most comprehensive energy efficiency bill in the history of Connecticut. If we all do “one thing” every day to conserve energy, we will make a huge difference long term for our state and our planet: turn off the lights earlier, unplug your cell phone charger, run your dishwasher as late at night as possible…all simple options we can do to make a difference.
The Governor came to Bigelow Tea for the bill signing as we had just installed almost 900 solar panels on our roof-enough to generate up to 20% of our energy requirements in a much more environmentally friendly manner. Part of the bill that Governor Rell signed into law encouraged a 10% reduction in electricity requirements from Connecticut businesses…and I am so excited to say we did our part! But it doesn’t stop there, yes we installed solar panels, but we are committed to doing even more.
We need to all do our part and “do one thing” every day to help make our planet a better place. Yes, it was a super day here at Bigelow Tea!
Bigelow Tea headquarters rooftop ribbon cutting with Bigelow family and staff. Our new solar panels are in the background.
Posted by Cindi at 9:39 am | Comment (0)
7th August, 2007: The Greening of Connecticut
Very exciting, our Governor, Jodi Rell, is coming here this week to sign an environmental bill on our rooftop, standing by our newly installed solar panels. We worked very closely with the state of Connecticut to pull this project together, and Governor Rell, who has been really trying to drive for a more environmentally friendly state, is coming here to show her support for our work as well as to help promote this new bill.
The bill is extremely extensive. It includes things like expanding the “green building” requirements for state facilities and new school projects, it authorizes $30 million in bonding for energy efficiency in state buildings, it extends and expands the sales tax exemptions for energy efficiency and the bill even provides grants to people who replace their furnaces with more efficient models.
Governor Rell clearly sees the need to push for a “greening” of our state and Bigelow is proud to be a part in helping achieve that goal. The solar panels we installed on our roof will eliminate approximately 5 million pounds of carbon dioxide every year. That equates to reducing cars on the road by 5 1/2 million miles of driving a year or is like planting 33 acres of trees….I like to think of it as Bigelow Tea just got a little greener.
We are proud of our part in helping to protect our planet earth. We will keep you posted as we continue along in our quest.
Time to go, but it is too warm for a hot cup of Bigelow Tea, I think I am going to make green tea with mango and then put it over ICE!
Cindi Bigelow
Posted by Cindi at 6:05 am | Comment (1)
