The start
It all started in 1919 when Narandas Desai, founder of Wagh Bakri Tea Group, established Gujarat Tea Depot in Ahmedabad in 1919. The story of Wagh Bakri Tea Group is very inspiring. And if your story found a way in Philip Kotler’s (the father of marketing) book, probably it is worth looking.
The man behind Wagh Bakri
Narandas Desai, a second-generation member of the Desai family, had 500 acres of a tea estate in South Africa. He started producing tea in 1892 in South Africa. He was one of the most honest and experienced tea estate owners in South Africa, but fortune had planned something different for him.
Racial discrimination in South Africa forced him to return to India. When he came to India all he had was knowledge and skills of cultivating and producing tea and also the support of a close friend Mahatma Gandhi.
Parag Desai, Executive Director, Wagh Bakri Tea Group, told BestMediaInfo.Com in a recent interview
“My grandfather migrated from Durban to India in order to support his close friend Mahatma Gandhi in freeing the country from the British. The intention was to free India from British rule and go back to Africa. But the problem was much bigger than what they thought it would be. He gave his entire life to the freedom struggle and tea was the only thing he knew, so eventually, he had to open a tea shop.”
The logo secret
Wagh Bakri Tea Group’s logo communicates the message of social equality. It features a picture of Wagh (the tiger represents upper class) and Bakri (the goat represents lower class) drinking tea from the same cup.
Switching To Packaged Tea
In order to expand, Wagh Bakri Tea Group entered the packaged tea segment in 1980. It was the third generation of Desai family who decided to sell packaged tea in India, and the group launched Gujarat Tea Processors and Packers Ltd. in 1980, but it was not an easy ride. People were sceptical about the quality of packaged tea as they were used to lose tea. But slowly and steadily people started accepting packaged tea.
Today, Wagh Bakri Tea Group sell its tea in more than 40 countries and 15 tea lounges keeping in mind the growing popularity of tea cafes in India. The premium tea brand has a turnover of Rs.1200 Cr. and over 40 million Kgs of tea distribution. The group has strong market hold in Western states of India likes of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Chhattisgarh, & Goa, and vying for dominance in Northern and Eastern states of India.
