Friday night was our annual Teapot dinner. This event is where we welcome all employees that have been with our company for 7 years. We had 4 new members coming in Friday night and now have over 60% of all employees in the teapot club.

What made Friday night that much more special is that we honored my father, David C. Bigelow, for 50 years of running the company and for 50 years of outstanding leadership! He was not aware that we were planning anything for him… so many people helped make this event come to life. Everyone wanted to have a hand in the planning as their way of being able to give back to him in some way.

He has done so much for all of us. His vision, his compassion, his drive and his high moral standard have defined what Bigelow Tea is today. I was a little nervous that my presentation would not do his good work justice. He deserves only the best. He has and always will be my role model.

Cindi Bigelow

I have a quick story to tell from a couple of weeks ago…I had just come back to the office after two days on the road for business.  The weather in New York did everything but cooperate.  What should have been a one day turn around trip to visit an account but it turned out to be a 36 hour extravaganza!  Hours stuck on the tarmac only to have my return flight cancelled before I even landed from my flight out!  The visit was super but the transportation side of the trip was a nightmare.  Getting home was impossible…delays, long lines, cancelled flights.  After another 4 hour delay (yes I was sitting on the plane), they pulled us all off for mechanical reasons.  At that point I cried “uncle,” I knew it was best for me to spend one more night away, so I woke up at the crack of dawn and took an early flight home so I could get into the office at a decent hour.

Starting at 7 am before I even boarded my flight to come back home, I was getting phone calls asking me when I was going to be in the office. When I landed the phone continued to ring with the same question.  I said to myself “geez, tough group, I barely landed back in the area and everyone is all over me!”  Needless to say, I drove home, put on some fresh clothes and headed into the office.  Upon my arrival, one of my teammates jumped out into the lobby and asked me into his office.  Once again I thought “these guys are brutal…no rest for the weary.”  After loading some rather large business issue on my shoulders, I looked at him and clearly explained this was not the proper venue to address such an issue.  He then asked if we could grab a quick bite before our upcoming meeting.  I agreed and off we headed to grab a sandwich in our cafeteria upstairs.

As I was walking into our cafeteria, I could see through the window in the door that ALL of our employees were in there (not at all how the shifts work for lunch breaks) and they had a video on me.  I stopped and almost refused to go in thinking they had made a terrible mistake.  They were obviously celebrating something for me but I had nothing that needed to be celebrated. With that, my associate pushed me through the door and I received the most beautiful round of applause, smiles and cheers.  It was my 25^th year with the company, and I had completely forgotten it!

The room was decorated with balloons, we had two HUGE cakes and I had the most spectacular time.  Just to see the look in each of their eyes when I finally got up to speak and tell them thank you for all they have done to make my 25 years so outstanding.  I am the lucky one…they each made me feel so loved.  One at a time almost each employee came up to me to share stories of a moment we had together and gave me a hug.

I cannot even try to share with you how I felt.  Exhausted but elated…shocked but loved.  It was so wonderful.  What made it even that much more special was how much they caught me off guard.  I was so surprised, I was completely speechless, not to mention welling up with emotion.  25 years at Bigelow Tea…that is pretty darn special!

Cindi Bigelow

On a beautiful, sunny spring day in May, Bigelow Tea hosted a special event filled with a truly memorable day of fun and learning at Fenway: the oldest baseball park in our country.

The day’s events included tea education along with a Bigelow Tea tasting followed by a once in a lifetime talk with Terry Francona and concluding with a moving tour of Fenway Park.

Carrie Hammond, Marketing Manager, Terry Francona, Red Sox Manager, Sherri Luba, Marketing Administrative Assistant, Scott Ricci, Marketing Director

Red Sox Manager, Terry Francona, was a true gentleman; taking time to chat with us over his cup of Bigelow Green Tea with Pomegranate , answering questions, signing autographs and snapping pictures before going on air for his pre-game show on WEEI. We asked lots of fun questions such as:

Q: “What is your favorite memory of the game?”

A: Seeing the guys storm the field after the 2007 Series win, guys from 6 or more countries embracing in pure joy.

Q: “Who’s your favorite Yankee?”

A: Derek Jeter, great guy, amazing athlete.

Q: “Who’s first to the locker room before games?”

A: Dustin Pedroia, since day one in the majors and probably always will be, he gets everyone going!

The park tour followed with fun facts and lots of history. Did you know…

• The red seat in right field is a marker of the furthest hit ball?
• Ted Williams hit that ball 502 feet and the record stands to this day!
• The dots and dashes on the white stripes of the manual scoreboard are the initials of Mr. and Mrs. Yawkey in Morse code, former owners of the Red Sox!
• The waiting list to work behind the manual scoreboard is over 7,000 names long!!!

Our sincere thanks to the “Fenway “team” for ensuring the day went off without a hitch (or a strike) and our personal and heartfelt thanks to Terry Francona for making this day a true home run!!!

Carrie Hammond
Marketing Manager
Bigelow Tea

Yes, we have a winner for the Constant Comment® Story Contest written by Debora Dickinson.  Thanks Debora for sharing this with us!

As far back as I can remember, my mother bought Bigelow’s Constant Comment Tea, she loved her coffee too, but would relax in the afternoon with her tea in our living room, and when I became a teenager she shared it with me. We would sometimes sit out on our outside front porch in the summer when everything was rich and green and the morning doves were cooing, crickets were noisy and read a good book savoring our CC tea. As I grew up and life became more hectic, time did not always allow for us to sit on the front porch. I never developed a taste for coffee and continued to drink Constant Comment every morning and made iced tea with it, and it became my staple. I moved to other cities to work and live over the years, and had a family, but almost every time I drank Constant Comment tea I would think of my home and my mother and our time together.

So two years ago when she was diagnosed with a terminal disease, I flew home and we cried together and spent our time with each other and we would again sit every day and have our tea, remembering our times 40 years earlier, our summertime’s sipping tea on the front porch. Constant Comment was our very favorite and she would always buy me a box to have for myself when I came to visit for the holidays. Once she even put one in my Christmas stocking! I don’t have a daughter now to share my tea time, but I am acquiring a daughter in law next spring and we will be having an afternoon tea shower for her. I can’t wait for her to taste my Constant Comment. It will seem as if my mother is somewhere there with us in spirit. It was just one of the pleasures in life that we enjoyed in common.

Debora Dickinson with her mother.

Last week the Red Cross of Mid-Fairfield County held their “Evening of Recognition” and Bigelow Tea was honored to sponsor this very special event. The evening focused on recognizing all of the generous people who give their talent, time and support to run events like blood drives and disaster relief efforts. These are people who do not get paid financially yet are rewarded in spades by making a difference; especially in difficult times like the present.

There are many organizations like the Red Cross that have dedicated people supporting numerous worthy causes and it is easy to forget what these special people do, day in and day out, to make our world a better place. Events like this give us the opportunity to say, “Thank you for ALL that you do to help improve the lives of others.” YOU are special!

Dean

Image provided by the City of South Gate, California

Bigelow Tea helps celebrate both spring and the flowery arts with a special participating booth and activities at the 45th Annual Azalea Flowers Festival, held in the city of South Gate, California on March 20th and 21st. The delight that comes from a great cup of Bigelow tea fits right in with the City of South Gate, who has sponsored this dazzling Azalea Flowers Festival since 1966. It has become the City’s annual celebration of the springtime blooming of its official flower, the Azalea. Bigelow Tea is proud to participate in this 45th Annual Azalea Festival, which expects up to 20,000 participants for both days.

Image compliments the 45th Annual Azalea Flowers Festival

Azaleas are called “the royalty of the garden” by flower lovers; and the many thousands of named varieties can thrive in several growing conditions across the United States. Bigelow Tea (also know as Royalty to tea lovers everywhere!) knows something about growing too — and so it’s a natural fit for Bigelow Tea at the Azalea Flowers Festival. And lucky visitors who stop by our Bigelow Tea hospitality booth will enjoy selected samples.

Image compliments the 45th Annual Azalea Flowers Festival

Festival participants will also have a flurry of activities to choose from, including a golf tournament, car show and talent search. But perhaps best of all will be our Bigelow Tea product samples…hot samples of Bigelow Green Tea or Cozy Chamomile, and the warm-weather-is-here Chamomile Mango will be served up for visitors at the famous two day Azalea festival. We will also hand out 2-teabag samplers, and coupon for more great tea products. Beautiful Azaleas, exceptional Bigelow Tea samples, and that warm Southern California sun team up for a great “first week-end of spring” event!

As Bigelow’s Customer Service manager, each January my Call Center and Customer Service staffs and I promote events in our Fairfield location all month long to celebrate January being Hot Tea Month. Some of the fun things we did this year included weekly emails of fun tea trivia and facts, having a blind tea taste challenge and creating a Bigelow crossword puzzle for employees to fill out for the chance to win some great prizes. We also served fruit platters one day in the kitchens throughout the building so that employees could enjoy a healthy afternoon snack with their favorite cup of tea.

The culmination of all these fun events is the hosting late in the month of an annual afternoon tea party for all employees. The afternoon tea is held in the building’s cafeteria. The serving tables are covered with white linen tablecloths and decorated with beautiful flower arrangements. The members of Customer Service and the Call Center help to serve the tea and the food. This year the menu consisted of cucumber sandwiches, sweet and savory ham sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, raspberry cookies and chocolate cookies with White Chocolate Kisses glaze. A wide selection of Bigelow teas was offered, including black and herbal teas, green teas, Novus, organic teas and of course, our 2 new Valentines teas, Sweetheart Cinnamon and White Chocolate Kisses. The staff also offered herbal iced tea and Constant Comment Punch. Before the event concluded, a raffle was held, where the lucky winners were the recipients of the decorative flower arrangements.

Bigelow’s Boise and Louisville locations also celebrated Hot Tea Month with tea parties and raffle prizes for their employees. January being Hot Tea Month is certainly a terrific way for the Bigelow Company to celebrate tea and share in fellowship, food and fun!

J David Silva
Customer Service Manager

It is officially NATIONAL HOT TEA MONTH…I just love January for that reason. It is cold out, holidays are over, and we need nothing better than a warm cup of tea to make us feel cozy. Whoever picked January to celebrate hot tea knew exactly what they were doing! It is 15 degrees outside today in Connecticut…what a perfect time to put on the kettle.

I guess it would not come as a surprise to anyone that we make a big deal of this event inside our company. We send out tea facts almost daily, we hold tea parties, we have raffles events…for it is a national holiday (at least to us) or is at least nationally recognized. Either way, I ask you to raise your cup of tea (you have to go get one first — Bigelow I hope) and let’s cheers this special occasion….

Cindi Bigelow

The Tea Association of the USA first introduced national Hot Tea Month in the early 90’s as a way to help its member companies give their marketing campaigns a single voice. “The National Hot Tea Month campaign has given smaller companies a chance to attach their marketing efforts to a national program,” says Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the USA. “The result is a small, regional effort with a much larger, national feel.”

Last year, Bigelow Tea celebrated Hot Tea Month with afternoon tea parties for employees. Why not host your own tea party and join in the celebration? Or try a hot tea you’ve never tried before like Vanilla Caramel or Cinnamon Stick?

Warm up…it’s Hot Tea Month!

How can you resist? 106.7 Lite fm is sponsoring a free skate in New York City’s Wollman Rink in Central Park this weekend, December 13th and 14th. The fortunate first 1,000 listeners will be treated to free admission and free skate rentals each day. Lite fm’s DJs will entertain the crowd throughout the event with music, contests and prize give-aways…

And if that’s not enough, Bigelow Tea will be there as the “Official Tea” of the Free Skate New York. Come get your Bigelow Tea samples, and if you’re super lucky, you could go home with a Bigelow Tea Chest as well! For more, listen to Cindi Bigelow here.