Honest Tea relocates to Coca-Cola headquarters
Honest Tea will relocate from Bethesda, Maryland to owner company Coca-Cola’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta following the resignation of Seth Goldman.
The company will be relocated to new offices by the end of January 2020, according to a press release.
Coca-Cola said the move “allows us to fully integrate the Honest business into the company’s portfolio, as well as strengthen collaboration among the team and increase opportunities for career development for these associates.”
Goldman founded the company in 1998 with his Yale business school professor and friend Barry Nalebuff, producing “freshly brewed and barely sweetened” bottled tea as alternate to the heavily sweetened teas reconstituted from tea powder. The firm generated first year sales of $250,000 but now Honest Tea and its related lemonades, juices and kid’s drinks earned $600 million last year. In September the brand launched Honest Coffee, a cold brew.
Goldman was named ‘TeaEO Emeritus’ in 2015. Coca-Cola invested $43 million for a 40% stake in the company and later purchased the firm in 2011.
“In 2015 I was fortunate to create an arrangement where I was able to spend half my time with Honest Tea and the other half of my time as executive chair of Beyond Meat,” Goldman explained. “At the end of 2019, I will step away entirely from my employment with The Coca-Cola Company and cheer on Honest Tea from the sidelines,” he said.
Goldman plans to remain in Bethesda, overseeing Beyond Meat as executive chairman.
