Interview with the Entrepreneur, In Depth: Jamila McGill of Brooklyn Tea - Part 2

In Part 2 of this two-part interview, I continue the conversation with Jamila McGill, who co-founded, along with Alfonso “Ali” Wright, Bed-Stuy’s Brooklyn Tea, which won $10,000 in Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP! Business Plan Competition in 2018.

Ellen Mehling: What was the most difficult thing that happened this past year, with the business? 

Jamila McGill: The most difficult thing… that's so hard to nail. 

I'll name this. We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, and having not [yet] had many sales online, we prided ourselves in quick turnarounds and getting your package out to you in two days. So it really hurt us, when we were seeing the sales increase: the online sales were growing and growing, but nothing had changed with the supply chain. Getting tea from China, in the middle of a pandemic was impossible for some weeks and some months. That is our business, it’s overseas, for the most part, you know, and to not be able to always meet that demand… customers have been in an “Amazon” mentality about turnaround for when they expect things. That was hard because we're in a customer service business; we’re people pleasers in that way. Not being able to hit that target with people who were showing that they wanted to support us, that was really hard. 

It feels very strange; you're having all this new success and you should be happy about that, but, that's just the life of a business owner. You’re hard on yourself about it and you want everything to be perfect. That wasn't perfect. 

Also because it was COVID, we couldn't have all our staff in at one time, because of social distancing. We couldn't have all these hands in the store, just packing away at the same time, that wasn't feasible. And because we were in COVID, we had slashed our inventory in half, because we weren’t selling as much. So when all these sales occurred, we had even less inventory than prior to COVID. It was a lot of trying to catch up and catch our breath, to make it all work, with things beyond your control.  

EM: The best of times and the worst of times, all at once. 

JM: Yes, if that was ever a phrase to be used!  

EM: Aside from the two big surprises of Shonda Rhimes and Beyoncé, were there any other surprises, anything that happened, that you just completely did not expect? 

JM: There was some very sweet moments that happened with the community. One of our original customers during the pandemic - early on, she would bring us homemade meals, just to make sure that Ali and I didn't have to think about extra money to spend for lunch. That was a pleasant surprise. It just showed us how much support we were able to garner in that short year.  

Some of the corporate partnerships were really unique and surprising too. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett have an entertainment company, and we got an email from them ordering gift boxes for their team. Those moments are just insane. I don’t know if that’s the best, professional word to use, but that's just how I feel about it. Just to know that people somewhere in the stratosphere, know our name? I can't really bring into words how special that feels, because we feel like we are still so “Mom and Pop”. Every order we still pack by hand, every label we do, we heat seal every pouch ourselves; this is not a factory. This is two people and some really dedicated staff; it still feels unreal to have some of these bigger names even know we exist. 

EM: How are things going now with the tea shop, are you open at 50% capacity? 

JM: It was announced that we could open up at 50% percent, but we have not opened up just yet. We will probably wait until all of our staff is vaccinated. 

EM: That’s understandable. 

JM: I am about to get my second shot. There are some health standards that we want to make sure we have for ourselves. Even though there's a more global understanding, I think it's up to each business to know what's best for them and for their team. We have teenagers here, and we have to make sure that we're making their parents proud and doing them just. So, right now we're still just takeout and delivery. And we’re still doing online sales. We’re definitely looking to the summer to be completely open. But, again, some of that is still, looking at the numbers. We were never on the first bandwagon of when new things are released, we want to wait and see, “What does this 50% look like for restaurants?”  

EM: That's smart, especially these days: we've got the new strains of the virus, and at the same time the vaccinations happening… 

JM: Yeah, for example in November, diners and restaurants were told to open and then, like three weeks later, we closed. That back and forth for a business as small as us isn't super helpful. It takes a lot to get a business up and running at that capacity and then to reel it back in. It's just hard. 

EM: I understand that you’ve sponsored a college student and gave an award to a childcare center? 

JM: In June of 2020, because we had seen an increase in revenue, our first thoughts were, “Who do we share this with?” So we created an annual college scholarship, and it happened to go to our first ever staff member, who had just received her acceptance letter to Clark Atlanta University. 

We, as her work family, are supporting her in those endeavors. That scholarship will continue every year, and other folks in the neighborhood will have the opportunity to take part.

On top of that we created an annual Community Leadership Award, recognizing organizations and businesses in the neighborhood that are doing the work of uplifting the community in whatever way possible. One of those organizations is Little Sun People; they are an early childhood development center, and they do amazing work with self-empowerment, and cultural identity. We wanted to help them out because those private institutions are really strapped during a pandemic, and we wanted people to know that they aren't alone. And, again, another business organization this year, we'll be highlighting as a community leader, and they will also receive funds as well.

EM: I also heard that you are working with a garden in Crown Heights with composting?

JM: Yes! Tea is wonderful for composting; it’s great for the soil, provides lots of nutrients, and we didn't want it all to go to waste. It was a very serendipitous moment when one of the customers happened to have a community garden [Tehuti Ma'at]. They are doing some great work around neighborhood agriculture. We teamed up with them to create this system where one man's trash became another man’s treasure.

EM: Literally…

JM: Yes, and that’s been going well. We also opened that up to other gardens because we have so much tea that goes out. So there are other smaller gardens that come and grab a bag as well.

EM: Perfect; you have it to give and they need it and want it.

JM: Yes! "Please, take it, please!"

EM: You said you're going to be cautious about reopening... Are there any other things in the works, that you're hoping to do as things slowly get back to normal?

JM: When we do open, we’re going to be cautious, but we're excited to bring back the events and the many marketplaces that we used to hold in the shop. The store used to be a place where other small businesses could come and sell their goods and products and get their name out there. Artists come and they would put on performances; we did rotating art. To be able to get back into that groove and tap back into us being like a cultural piece of the neighborhood, we're totally excited for that. Beyond just Brooklyn we're looking to franchise and open up our second location in Atlanta, which is my home.

EM: How is the planning for that going?

JM: We're looking to do that, probably [this] summer. We're just, you know, taking the necessary steps to get it open.

EM: That's very exciting, congratulations! I wish you both the best of luck. I want you to know I am a big coffee drinker but in honor of this interview I am definitely drinking tea right now – iced tea in a coffee mug, that is!

You can read Part 1 of the interview here.

Thank you very much, Jamila and Ali!

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