Client Focus: Samovar Tea Lounge
Samovar Tea Lounge makes the delicious and intriguing world of tea approachable and affordable, and perhaps just as important, sustainable. Samovar Tea Lounge is grounded in the values inherent to tea: community, vitality, and equanimity. Voted "Best Tea of the Bay" by San Francisco Magazine (July 2008), "top ten place for tea in America" by USA TODAY (January 2008), and featured on CNN and in the New York Times, this local tea house features organic, fair trade teas and serves fresh tea around the clock: tea breakfast, brunch, lunch, high tea, and dinner. Samovar was founded five years ago and currently has locations in Yerba Buena Gardens and the Castro-Mission district of San Francisco with plans to open new locations in the near future. It also has an impressive array of teas and accessories that are available for purchase online.
The name Samovar Tea Lounge comes from "the Eastern European or Southwest Asian tea invention called a 'samovar' meaning 'self boiler.' It was created for the sole purpose of boiling water for tea. A samovar embodies the tea-lifestyle perfectly: The drinking of tea, gathered around the samovar, was always done with leisure, and amongst friends and family in a warm and cozy environment."
Samovar is motivated to make a difference, and sustainability plays an important part in that goal. As founder Jesse Jacobs notes "the business isn't just a profit-making mechanism, but rather a vehicle for the greater good." The company incorporates green practices in its day-to-day operations, including:
| • | Napkins made from hemp, rather than paper; | |
| • | Environmentally-friendly cleaning products; | |
| • | Hand soap made from natural and organic ingredients; | |
| • | Sourcing its primarily organic and fair trade products from local, small businesses, supporting the local economy, and hiring locally within San Francisco, creating over 50 jobs in San Francisco; and | |
| • | Sourcing its teas from small family farms, supporting their traditional way of life, also primarily fair trade and organic. |
"Being a tea company, we are dependent on the natural environment. Therefore, our sustainability as a company is directly tied to being environmentally minded. We focus on sustainability as a key to creating a successful and long term business. Sustainability is an integral part of our business," says Jesse. Teas and other ingredients come from an international network of suppliers which Jesse believes "connects farmers with customers" on an international scale.
Samovar Tea Lounge is also motivated to give customers a unique tea experience. "Specifically an escape from the day to day, a place to have a little bit of peace in a world full of chaos," says Jesse. It's a place to go when you want to make time for yourself or spend with the people you love. "Making people feel good, feel healthy and attain happiness is rewarding." The tea lounge has enjoyed a tremendous following, especially through word-of-mouth. "When we hear that customers love what we do, we know we are doing our job," says Jesse.
Samovar recently launched a video series promoting world peace entitled, "Passage to Peace: Exploring Tea Culture Today." The 16-video educational series is "aimed at promoting universal peace by engaging viewers in the culture of tea and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the families and individuals who cultivate tea for a living." Forbes magazine recently featured an article on the "Passage to Peace" video at Forbes.com. The article noted that the video explores "the important role of socially and environmentally-conscious businesses like Fair Trade."
To learn more about Samovar Tea Lounge and the "Passage to Peace" video series, please visit www.samovartea.com.
Our Role
Hanson Bridgett is proud to represent Samovar Tea Lounge and contribute its legal expertise to Samavor's growth and success. The firm provides Samovar with corporate, business and real estate advice, as well as legal counsel regarding marketing and operational issues, among other things.
Attorney Profiles
Scott Smith first started working with sustainable businesses several years ago while performing legal work for a Stanford University investment program. He understands how investors can have an effect on more than the bottom line. "I saw first-hand how large scale efforts by entrepreneurs and companies could have a positive effect on social and economic issues within communities that needed the investments most," said Scott, a corporate attorney at Hanson Bridgett who works with Samovar Tea Lounge.
Jonathan Storper works with Hanson Bridgett's sustainable business clients, including Samovar Tea Lounge. He believes that representing sustainable business clients fits in well with his own values of social responsibility. In addition, Jonathan's extensive volunteer work with organizations such as the Investor's Circle—a network of angel investors, professional venture capitalists, foundations, and family offices who are using private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable economy—enables him to better serve his sustainable business clients.
