Allen Wong, founder of tea company Or Tea, came up with the name from the popular phrase coffee or tea, but owning such a business was never part of his original career plans. After studying hospitality in Switzerland, he retuned to Hong Kong aiming to make his way in that sector. He soon discovered, though, that owning a business had real appeal and he took that path after first working in advertising and branding.
How did you get into the tea business?
After deciding not to pursue a career in hospitality, I joined my friend’s web design company. That was way back in 1995, when not many people knew about the Internet or online marketing. In fact, I knew nothing about technology and became a self-taught web designer simply by reading books. That was my first encounter with start-ups.
After four years there, I was recruited by an international advertising firm to work in their interactive department, but I left after a year because I didn’t think life as a corporate employee really suited me.
In 2001, I started my own advertising firm. We were creative and the company did well, securing a number of big-name clients and picking up several industry awards. However, the issue with advertising is that a creative idea can only be sold to one client for one occasion or campaign. For every new project, you once again have to come up with something original and, after a while, that can become really tough. So, I started to think about developing my own brand.
The chance came in 2009, when my family decided to move to the Netherlands and I was splitting my time between Hong Kong and Amsterdam. After some research, I found that Chinese tea was quite a popular product in Europe. I was no expert, but as a Hongkonger I like to “yum cha” regularly and I did have more than basic knowledge about tea.