Famous tea firm Typhoo on brink of collapse as drinkers switch to coffee

Typhoo Tea is set to fall into administration after the more than 120 year-old firm saw sales slump and losses surge.

The famous brew maker, whose tea has been much-loved for generations, filed a court notice to appoint administrators. raising fears for its over 100 workers. The move “affords the company some breathing space to explore solutions”, Typhoo’s chief executive Dave McNulty told the .

Its difficulties come amid tough competition not just from other tea brands by the rapid growth of coffee drinking. Many manufacturers also saw a jump in costs after ’s invasion of . Typhoo’s latest company filings showed losses in the year to last September ballooned from £8.4million to almost £38million while its sales fell by a quarter to £25.3million. It had 116 employees as of late 2023.

In August last year, Typhoo suffered a further blow when trespassers broke into the company’s former factory in Merseyside and occupied the site for several days. Typhoo said at the time that they caused “extensive damage” and made the site “inaccessible”. The company had been trying to sell the factory, in a deal which eventually went through in June this year. But Typhoo said the incident made up the bulk of £24million of exceptional costs that year, and that it had “materially” affected its day-to-day running.

Founded in 1903, Typhoo has long been one of Britain’s best-known tea brands. Adverts from the 1980s starring Su Pollard of Hi-de-Hi! fame and TV presenter and singer Cilla Black included the famous slogan “You only get an OO with Typhoo”.

Since 2021, private equity firm Zetland Capital has been its majority shareholder. It hired the former head of Burts crisps, Dave McNulty, as its new chief executive in October, while also launching a shake-up of its supply chain.

The overhaul was intended to stop sexual violence against women working on tea plantations in east Africa, and resulted in reducing the number of plantations in its supply chain in the region from 300 to just three. Mr McNulty told the BBC that Typhoo had appointed administrators at EY.

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