Amanda Hamilton, founder of Drink Me, based in Bromley has just been 'Highly Commended' at the London Business Awards for the 'Entrepreneur of the Year Category' and fought off 19 other entrants for the award.

Amanda Hamilton made a very bold decision over ten years ago to leave her well-paid job at the BBC to dive into to the hot drinks industry and create her own instant spiced Chai Latte drink.

Ten years on her Drink Me Chai brand is on supermarket shelves, high street coffee chains and is exported to over 20 countries. If this wasn’t enough she has the demands of two young children and has recently launched a new drinks concept…Bubblefroot, based on the fast growing bubble tea trend!

Her daily London commute to her job at the BBC, led her to realise that the recent coffee market was booming but, as a tea lover, there was nothing similar for tea.

And so, just over 10 years ago, she took the plunge to set up a business selling a range of good quality teas from trendy mobile tea-bars at 6 London rail stations with a 4am start!

A business trip to India her to discover Chai Latte, regarded as the ‘original latte’ with its origins in India dating back 5000 years. The drink, typically served hot in china mugs, is an aromatic blend of sweetened tea, milk and exotic spices.

There had been nothing like this in the UK before and Amanda began importing small amounts of Chai Latte to sell at her mobile tea-bars. Her customers enthused about the drink as much as she did but she was unable to find a supplier in the UK.

She put on her entrepreneurial hat and created her own instant version from her kitchen, after many hours of trials and tastings. The positive response from customers to her Spiced Chai Latte drink gave her the confidence to find a way to make it in larger quantities to wholesale to cafes.

Amanda saw a wider market for her product and made a rudimentary approach to Tesco head office which was met with a positive reaction and Drink Me Spiced Chai Latte was initially listed in 250 of its stores.

Other major supermarkets quickly followed suit. Realising the potential of instant chai latte, Amanda made the decision to sell the tea-bar business to concentrate on building her brand and developing further products.

The brand Drink Me Chai was created with two initial flavours of Spiced and Vanilla Chai. There are now six Drink Me Chai Latte flavours including Green Tea, Peppermint, Chocolate and Mango which are made with natural ground spices and black tea to deliver a creamy, warming, spicy drink.

Amanda commented, “I used to find finance to fund BBC dramas which was a great experience but I always felt like a round peg in a square hole. So, with a colleague, we came up with the idea of opening a chain of tea bars.

"The coffee market had exploded and there didn’t seem to be anything on the market for tea. We packed in our jobs and, with some Prince’s Trust funding, we opened a chain of mobile tea bars in London train stations.

"The units resembled Asian tuk-tuk vans and were a great way to meet the customers face to face I was always on the look-out for new ideas and it was whilst on a trip to India that I first discovered chai latte in its raw format – with spices, tea and milk being boiled up in front of me in a big pot.

"After my first sip I said, 'Wow, what is this?'. It was so different to anything else I had tried."

Drink Me Chai has been a family concern, with Amanda’s father heading its increasingly successful export division and her sister overseeing marketing and customer service.

Always on the look-out for innovation in drinks, Amanda has been the first in the EU to launch her new drink, based on the bubble tea concept. Bubblefroot is a shake combined with complementary balls that deliver a shot of fruit juice as they burst in your mouth.

Bubblefroot has already won an innovation award and is free from artificial sweeteners, colours and preservatives. Coming from a non-business background, it was a steep learning curve to bring her Drink Me Chai brand to market and introduce a very new drink concept into the UK.

Success in a tough industry has not been without it’s pitfalls but her determination and strong family support has ensured that, despite the current economic downturn, her business is thriving and its future looks very bright. Success for this British company, in part, is down to Amanda’s continual drive to support the promotion of her products through PR, social media and attending national and international consumer and trade events.

She works tirelessly to ensure her brand gets maximum exposure and in the last few years has won several business and product awards for her hard work.

Most recently she won the Mumpreneur award for Best International Trader and finalist for Best Product Award as well as winner in the Outstanding Product category in Global Business Excellence Awards.

Last month she picked up Best Entrepreneur at the 2014 Best of the Best Awards and has just been awarded ‘Highly Commended’ at the London Business Awards.

www.drinkmechai.com

Based on information supplied by .