When Alabama’s Darien Craig had the idea to create a game-changing tea brand, he enlisted the help of his childhood best friend Brandon Echols to help put his ideas in action. Together, the American duo have built a tea empire called Y’ALL SWEET TEA which has disrupted the tea industry nationwide and shown that honesty, social media and creative thinking can build a community unlike any other.
We sat down with Darien to learn more about his company and how it has taken a massive market share of consumers away from the likes of Lipton and changed the way Americans enjoy their sweet tea and biscuits… and why in business everything is “figureoutable”!
1. How has Y’all Sweet Tea reformed the tea industry here in America?
We have brought new life to the industry. We have spent the majority of our Marketing Efforts growing a fairly large but tight knit community on Facebook/Instagram, and our Newsletters. We are from Alabama so Sweet Tea is huge here and we really lean into that. The majority of our following are Southern Women who love watching Brenda Gantt, Making Homemade Biscuits, and Drinking Y’all Sweet Tea!
2. From starting with just an idea to now being the fastest growing tea brand on Amazon, what is the secret ingredient?
The secret for us was to make sure we were delivering a Premium Product most importantly, It took around a year to get the tea formula right. After that the key has been to use social media to connect with our audience on a Daily Basis! I feel like I know all of our Followers Personally because of the amount of times per month we talk with them, answer questions on Facebook Live, and how responsive we are on Social. We have never looked at the Competitors in our space. They own so much of the market, if we spend any time looking at what they are doing, we would be too afraid to move forward. Instead we have stayed in our own lane and done the best that we can, and it is working!
3. How important is having a positive mindset overall related to one’s health and success in business?
Business is HARD. There are very tough decisions to make with nobody coaching you on what to do next. If you aren’t staying positive, writing down all of your ideas, and trusting in your gut on the next move, you might not make it out here! We have also built a great team of people who are like minded and all work towards growing the company. The positive energy and culture we have built also really helps with our health and success in business.
4. Describe to us the process behind what goes into each new product you and your partners formulate?
I often get inspired to make a new product from something random. We take it to the drawing board, and oftentimes, we ask our customers directly on Facebook. “What would y’all think if we make a ___________?” That has given us the answer many times. The funny thing is, a few times, the customers didn’t like the idea so we listened and didn’t take that product to market. However, on the flip side of that, our customers have helped us launch many new products that have been our best selling items of the last 3 years!
5. Personally, which tea is your favorite? And any new products coming out you can tease us about?
I love an ice cold glass of our regular Sweet Tea! However, last year we put our flavored teas on the map! Georgia Peach sold 10,000 bags in 35 minutes on its first launch and 20,000 bags on its second launch. This year we have 5 Brand New Flavors coming our and they are FLAT OUT AMAZING!! Several of the new flavors, we will be the only tea company in the industry selling them! (We are doing a Half Lemonade & Half Sweet Tea that is SOOOOO Good!!)
6. What is your advice to other Americans wanting to start their own company?
1. Look at how other brands in your space are doing business. If possible, find a way to stand out from them. Then lock in 100% and do not worry about the moves they are making! Don’t compare your Year 1 to someone else’s Year 10-20-50! I saw that the tea industry as a whole was failing on Social Media, realized we needed to spend a lot of time there, and then never looked back up at what our competitors were doing!
2. EVERYTHING is figureoutable! Don’t not do something because you don’t know how at the moment. Google, YouTube, Chat GPT can really help your learning curve. You might have to take down pages of notes to figure out a small task, but it can be done!
3. Use Social Media! Sounds too easy but you would be surprised at how many new business owners I meet and speak to that do not use social media at all to grow their business. It is FREE and we are all on it!
7. Why are you proud to be American?
I am proud to live in a Country where any person in any walk of life can chase their dreams. I have chased my dreams my entire life and I take a lot of pride in getting to do that!
Americans come together with unity both when times get tough as well as when things are great and need to be celebrated!
We have incredible Holidays to honor the people and events that have gotten us to where we are as a country now.
