Q & A
Montclair’ sAnneand StevePrato arethe forces behind Joe Tea
Originally from Bergen County, Ann and Steve Prato both grew up in families that ran small businesses. The couple’ sfirst venture together was aT-shirt company; they launched Joe Tea in1998, and have since added Joe Chips totheir lineup. Currently, they offer 19 flavors of drinks and eight chip varieties inthe US and 20-plus other countries around the globe. Here, they talk about creating a successful brand, and how they built a worldwide thirst for their products.
Why did you switch from T-shirts to iced tea? Steve: By the early‘ 90s, leading department stores like Hahne’ s, Bradlee’ s and B. Altman had disappeared, and Macys and Bloomingdales were in Chapter 11. Production was going overseas, and we didn’ t speak the languages. Fashions may come and go, but if people like what they’ re eating, they’ ll continue to do it.
Has the beverage business been more your taste?
Ann: There are trends in the food business, too – for example, green teas became big things, so we decided to expand with the trends – but people are willing to take aflyer for adrink with lunch, as opposed to a $ 150 dress. We experimented and adapted incrementally.
Whatwas your first product?
Steve: The legal name of our original business was The TwoLittle Guys Company, so our first product was Two Little Guys Pink Lemonade. We put $ 1,000 inand $ 72,000 on our credit card, and Isold it door-to-door from the back seat ofour Dodge Intrepid. We were either going to sell them, drink them or give them away. We thought we’ d have interest from beverage distributors, but they were going out of business. We’ d been used to department stores, but selling to supermarkets is avery different animal. Youcan’ tput beverages in UPS boxes.
How did Joe Team come to be? Ann: Someone told us,“ I sell 10 times as much tea as lemonade,” and the Joe Teaconcept popped up.
And the distinctive logo?
Steve: We learned from making T-shirts that bestsellers had words and a picture, so we came up with the truck.
How did you grow your brand? Ann: We had big issues to get over in our early days, including that our lime tea tasted like bourbon. Five percent of the people who drank it thought it was great, and the rest wanted to spit it out. We entered into 10 years of tinkering.
What was Joe Tea’ sbig break? Ann: We had to find stores nobody’ s heard of. Steve found the nicest, most interesting accounts in town, like the Cheese Shop [ now Sandwich Theory ]. A Whole Foods buyer went to lunch there, and the company made a purchase order, but never put the product out on the floor. Finally, though, it migrated through their retail store system in the New York metro market. By 2009, we started getting calls from people around the world.
And Joe Chip’ s? Steve: About six years ago, representatives of a potato chip company wanted to buy Joe Teaand sell it with their chips. We said,“ We’ re not for sale, but that’ s a really good idea.” Flavors include barbecue, cheddar, and toasted onion and sour cream.
When did you come to Montclair? Steve: We moved here in1992. We were living in New York City, and asalesman from Wayne said that he would live in Montclair if he could. The town has been incredibly supportive of us. People love food here. ■
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