Member Article

Tea business brews further success

A Sunderland entrepreneur is on a winning streak when it comes to her business, Honeybush and Butterbum Limited. Having been crowned winner of Tyne and Wear’s Biz Idol competition in 2006, Sharon Olver is now in the running for Grazia Magazine’s Female Entrepreneur of the Year award. Sharon set the company up with Stephen Grinsell, of the University of Sunderland Business School, where she gained her BA in Applied Management.

Honeybush and Butterbum, which operates under the brand name ‘t’, supplies loose leaf white tea to delicatessens, fine food stores and health food shops including Fenwick. Sharon has already appeared in glossy weekly magazine, Grazia, where she was named as one of its regional finalists. Since her magazine appearance the company has been inundated with product enquiries and secured new orders to supply customers in London, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France.

Sharon said: “We came up with the business idea because we identified a gap in the market, it was virtually impossible to buy loose leaf white tea on the high street. “White tea has lots of health properties and it is only a matter of time until it becomes a regular item on every health conscious person’s shopping list.”

Honeybush and Butterbum’s success is built on support from Sunderland City Council’s Business Investment Team, which has provided ongoing business advice to the company and financial assistance via a Business Marketing Grant.

Cheryl Jones, a business development assistant from Sunderland City Council, said: “The council is fully committed to helping Sunderland’s business community wherever possible. We are proud to be associated with Honeybush and Butterbum and wish Stephen and Sharon every success for the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .