Case Studies - Orange Pekoe

Even as a young woman Marianna Hadjigeorgiou had a dream of opening a high class specialist coffee and tea shop. Marianna, who comes from a background in catering, took a degree in Hotel and Catering and gained professional experience through a series of jobs in the restaurant and hotel business. With foresight she also gained experience in business management through Business Link, for whom she also acted as an adviser. Once she felt that her background training was complete, Marianna turned her energies to realising her dream – to establish a venue where the very best coffee and tea could be served together with impeccable light refreshments at a realistic price.

Marianna’s fiancé Achilleas Agridiotis is passionate about coffee, while she herself is an enthusiastic tea drinker. Her vision was to create a shop, and eventually a small chain, offering a relaxing and intimate environment in which to meet friends and relax. Pleasant surroundings where it is possible to have a delicious light snack, a piece of homemade cake and a really delicious cup of tea or coffee at a reasonable price – and thus Orange Pekoe was conceived. Nowadays Achilleas runs the kitchen, supervising the food and anything to do with coffee, whilst Marianna concentrates on the tea side of the business. She also supervises the giftware as well as undertaking the challenge of running a growing brand, the marketing and the expansion plans - Orange Pekoe is launching an e-commerce site this year and the plan is to open another 3 shops within the next 2 years!

Before she opened the shop, Marianna received a great deal of pre-start help from business adviser Liz Nowlan of southlondon.biz and Merton Chamber. Although Marianna knew exactly where she wanted to go in a business sense, it was Liz who helped her clarify her workload and priorities.

As the business has grown, she has also found the mentoring help of Jenny McCarter, another of southlondon.biz’s highly expert team of business advisers absolutely invaluable.

Marianna feels that southlondon.biz helped her clarify and execute her initial vision, and has been a constant support during her first period of expansion, stating that: "When you are a new business even as an owner/manager you may have the knowledge to implement strategies but that doesn’t mean you have the time! Liz and Jenny have been amazing, a real support. It is so reassuring to know there is someone to talk to that can listen and give you advice."

Orange Pekoe can be found at:

3 White Hart Lane
Barnes
London
SW13 0PX Tel: 0208 876 6070

Website: www.orangepekoeteas.com

Orange Pekoe has been awarded the Time Out Best Tea Room 2008 Award