Hartley E Johnson of Mark T Wendell Tea Company: 5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business

An Interview With Jason Hartman

Communicate, communicate, communicate. It’s easy to under-communicate when you are juggling so many things all the time, and it’s easy to back away from difficult conversations when you are working with a small group, including loved ones. Ensuring communications stay a top priority will help the machine stay well oiled.

As a part of our series about 5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business, I had the pleasure of interviewing: Hartley E. Johnson

Hartley E. Johnson is the owner of the Mark T. Wendell Tea Company. His business is a 118-year-old tea importing specializing in sourcing high-quality loose leaf teas and tea brewing accessories from around the world. Hartley joined his father in running the family business in 1999, and he has expanded the product offerings, grown sales in both distinct mail order and wholesale divisions, and moved to a state-of-the-art facility in the years since.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

In high school and college, I was always interested in being involved in organizations at a leadership level. At Denison University (Granville, OH), I majored in Psychology with a focus on Industrial/Organizational Psychology. When I graduated in 1995, I entered a management-training program for a global organization. I quickly realized that working for a large company wasn’t my cup of tea (!) and what I wanted all along was to work in a smaller organization where I had control over quality, service, and operations. With the invention of the Internet, the family business was growing fast and I saw a real opportunity there. I ended up joining the business a few years later and loved it! I had grown up with tea in my blood, so it was an easy transition.

Can you tell us a bit about your family business and your role in it?

My father and uncle bought the tea importing company from the original owner, Mark T. Wendell, in 1967. I joined my father in 1999 so I could learn the business. Everything about the role resonated with me right away. Initially, my father continued to remain the lead on product, quality control, sales, and service and I focused on marketing and operations while working to establish a digital presence. E-commerce sales were a new avenue that consumers were engaging in then and I realized we could capitalize on this with our generational customer base of loyal tea enthusiasts. I worked closely with him to learn all aspects of the business and eventually began to focus on product expansion.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

For many years one of our customers was the renowned chef, Julia Child. She would often just call and place an order with my father for her favorite teas. Her voice was unmistakable, so she rarely had to announce herself when placing her order. She loved our flagship tea, Hu-Kwa, a smoky black tea. She had several of our tea tins on the shelves of her kitchen and you could see them when they filmed her cooking shows. Several years ago, the props department for the film, Julie and Julia, called to see if we had those old-style tins in our archives so they could use them in replicating her kitchen exactly! Her kitchen was also displayed in the Smithsonian for many years and our tea tins were front and center!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When my first son was born back in 2001, I was unable to be in the office during regular hours. I spent one evening trying to catch up on inventory and began packing close to 100 tins of one of our teas. Back then; some of the teas still came to us in wooden chests that used nails for construction. Our equipment had a system of magnets to catch any stray nails so that they didn’t end up in the tin of tea. After I hit the end of the production run and sealed all the tins, I looked up and the magnet was missing! I sat there so tired and all I could think of was what my father had once said, “treat every customer like it was your grandmother”. So, I imagined my grandmother getting a magnet with metal pieces on it in her tin of tea and then sat there for hours opening every tin and fishing around for the magnet. I learned quickly to always keep an eye on the equipment occasionally when packing!

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

I think the most significant aspect of our company that most people are surprised at is the longevity. When the company first started, the products were imported to Boston in sailing ships! The product has remained the same, but the world around us has changed so much. We have significantly expanded our product lines over the decades but are fiercely committed to maintaining the same quality standards we have offered for decades. We always put the customer first and show this in every order we ship out. A cup of tea has a different meaning to everyone, but it truly is one of the few items that transcend cultures and time.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

While most of our offerings are loose-leaf teas and herbals, we still continue to get many inquiries for teabag teas. We are finding that our customers want the high-quality aspect of loose tea leaves, but available with the convenience of teabags. We this in mind, we have just created a range of “whole-leaf” teas that are available in pyramid teabags. These great-tasting teas teabags are made with a plant-based material that is biodegradable! It is a great-tasting and eco-conscious product.

Several years ago, Mark T. Wendell Tea Company was featured in a Martha Stewart Weddings article about party favors. They featured one of our most popular sample size tins. It led me to thinking that there is probably a big market for custom products. COVID has slowed a lot of product development for us, but we have recently gone ahead and expanded our custom packaging options, which have been a hit!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are so many people with whom I work who provided help along the way. We wouldn’t be successful without all of the guidance I’ve received and without our incredible employees at Mark T. Wendell Tea Company. I need to give an enormous amount of credit to my father, Elliot, without whom I wouldn’t be in this position today nor would I have the knowledge and skills required to be successful. Of course, my wife, Dina, has always been there with advice and patience during the ups and downs. I always bounce new ideas off her first to get a feel for the general consumer.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I am a huge believer in giving back to the community. I have applied the skills I learned in running a small business to two different non-profit organizations, where I volunteer my time as a member of each of their Board of Directors. I also lost a loved one (a life-long New Yorker) to cancer several years ago, and subsequently created a tea blend called “Manhattan Tribute Tea Blend;” I donate 10% of proceeds from the sale of this tea to cancer research and cancer support charities.

Ok thank you for that. Let’s now pivot to the main parts of our interview. How do you define a family business? How is a family business different from a regular business?

For me, a family business is one which has either been passed down from generation to generation or, which involves two or more family members working together. In my case, we are both of those things! The biggest difference for me initially was the need to work with a loved one — keeping business and personal separate was hard at times, but we both realized that at work we were there to focus on work. The other difference is how deep my personal investment is since this company has literally been a part of my life since birth.

In your opinion or experience, what are the unique advantages that family owned businesses have?

It is a huge advantage to have control over so many aspects of the business. If I want to try something new, I have the liberty to do it. The other benefit is that I have a fair amount of control over my schedule. While I work a lot, I know I can always leave the office to make sure I am attending to my personal life as well.

What are the unique drawbacks or blindspots that family owned businesses have?

In my case, we are a small business, so I’m doing everything from sourcing products to overseeing website content to shipping orders and even taking out the trash! You need to be really flexible and be able to switch gears 100 times a day, and sometimes there is too much to do to get everything done, so being able to prioritize is critical. During this era of COVID, we have seen that we really are at the mercy of so many global supply issues that no matter what type of planning we do on our end; the final result is often out of our control.

What are some of the common mistakes you have seen family businesses make? What would you recommend to avoid those errors?

It’s easy to play it safe and do things the same way they’ve always been done, especially in a multi-generational business. It’s really important not to lose your identity as a business and stay committed to your mission, but also to realize that it’s important to change with the times. It is a fine line at times and one that I think we have embraced.

What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders of family businesses to help their employees to thrive?

The advice that I would give is that your employees are your #1 asset. For my company, without them, we would be out of business. Treat them like family and the rewards will be great! Always be accessible to your employees as well

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean with a story or example?

Leadership isn’t just talking the talk but it also means walking the walk. I try to provide a clear vision so my team is aligned on our business operations, goals, processes, and strategy, but I also want my team to come to me with ideas and suggestions. They know the product as well as me, and I want them to know that their ideas are valuable and help us to be successful as a team. And if they are busy, I’m always going to walk away from my computer, roll up my sleeves, and pack tea tins right alongside them.

Here is our main question. What are the “5 Things You Need To Run A Highly Successful Family Business”? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Define your mission and stay true to it. For me, it’s about staying committed to quality regardless of all the other changes that have been made over the years.
2. Be flexible. As a small business, you don’t have control over external factors. When the price of tea tins went up, I sourced re-sealable bags to offer another option to my customers.
3. You can’t boil the ocean. It’s impossible with a small team to get everything done, all the time. Prioritizing is critical and separating things into “must-do” vs. “nice to do” makes it easier.
4. Sometimes you need to walk away from your desk. It’s easy to stay tethered to work when so much is at stake, but burning yourself out isn’t going to help the business grow.
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate. It’s easy to under-communicate when you are juggling so many things all the time, and it’s easy to back away from difficult conversations when you are working with a small group, including loved ones. Ensuring communications stay a top priority will help the machine stay well oiled.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The “Manhattan Tribute Tea Blend” was created in memory of my father-in-law. He was a successful businessman and a compassionate, kind person. He used to always say “Be Good To Yourself” and this always stuck with me. If you don’t treat yourself with compassion, you aren’t living life to the fullest.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

I have been awed by Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelensky. He is so brave and stands up for what’s right in not only his war-torn country, but the world as a whole. He seems like the type of person I would enjoy sitting down with over a cup of tea.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My inspiration would be to have people go through life treating others with respect and always demonstrate professional and personal maturity. It’s ok to disagree, but you should always do it agreeably.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Our products and services can be found on our websites: www.marktwendell.com and for wholesale customers, www.bulktea.com. We also have a Facebook Page: @MarkTWendell and on Instagram: @Marktwendelltea

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

Thank you for connecting with me and allowing me to share our story. Cheers!