Meet Rosemary, a visionary entrepreneur with a passion for blending tradition and elegance. As the founder of an online premium tea gift business, she has crafted a brand that celebrates the art of tea gifting, offering exquisite blends that create meaningful connections.
Beyond her business, she is deeply committed to empowering women and inspiring the next generation of female entrepreneurs. Her journey reflects resilience, creativity, and a desire to encourage others to pursue their dreams, proving that with determination, women can lead and succeed in any industry.
What inspired you to start Pétale Tea, and how did you identify the gap in the market for premium tea gift sets?
I believe that each of us has our own “blooming” moment. As you know, we are Singapore’s first blooming tea specialist, and we believe in enjoying each blooming moment. When brewing the tea, as you wait for the tea to infuse from a tea ball to a tea flower in your teapot, it takes a couple of minutes. During those minutes, we want you to slow down and enjoy the blooming moments.
When we say “blooming” moment, it means looking forward to a moment of achievement, reliving a precious memory, or cherishing a significant milestone. Everyone has their own “blooming” moments, and while our journeys may be different, each one is unique and worth celebrating. This concept inspired the creation of Pétale Tea.
When I started Pétale Tea seven years ago, there were already more than 50 tea brands. Everyone wanted to be like TWG. I asked myself, how could I differentiate my brand in the quickest possible time? What is my Unique Selling Point? Creating a normal tea blend wasn’t enough to stand out. I realised the only way was to do something no one else was doing—blooming tea. While blooming tea is popular in Europe and the States, their flavours are common and easily found.
Your focus on sustainability is impressive. How do you approach redesigning your packaging to reduce the carbon footprint by around 50%?
Typically, teas are kept in tea tins. When we started, we wanted something unique, different, and sustainable. Seven years ago, we introduced pillow packaging. Our teas are loosely packed in large cartons, and the packaging is flattened, which takes up less space during shipment.
Maximising storage space reduces the carbon footprint. However, this approach requires more work for our local operations because we manually pack the teas when each order comes in. This differs from typical brands where teas are pre-packed in tins or boxes.
What do you think makes Pétale Tea stand out from other tea brands in Singapore, especially in the corporate gifting space?
When dealing with corporate customers, we are highly customisable. One service I’m especially proud of is curating tea blends based on a company’s brand story and values. Each tea blend becomes unique to the organisation. I always speak to my customers to understand their organisational culture, the purpose of the event, or the goal of the corporate gift.
Most corporate clients want something meaningful, and we believe Pétale Tea aligns with that. Giving our tea symbolises growth and blooming moments, which resonate with the values of many organisations.
We created unique flavours that tell the story of Singapore, such as Ondeh Ondeh, Nasi Lemak, and Bandung. These flavours showcase our local heritage. We also offer other unique blends like Peach Mango, Lychee Rose, and Japanese Muscat Grapes.
Many of my clients work for high-profile brands and have very high expectations. While we know nothing is perfect, I strive to deliver near-perfect solutions and always exceed what we promise.
Curating unique flavours and blends is a key part of your business. How do you go about selecting and sourcing the teas for your collections?
We have different tea suppliers from various parts of the world. Each time we visit a trade fair, we speak with these suppliers. We usually pick their most popular and unique blends and work closely with them to develop recipes that we curate ourselves.
We’re fortunate to have partners who are very supportive. Even when we do R&D in smaller quantities, they’re happy to assist because they find our flavours special and enjoy the challenge of creating something unique compared to other tea brands.
What has been the most rewarding experience for you since launching the business, and what keeps you motivated in this industry?
One of the most rewarding experiences is growing the brand from nothing to something. I remember the early days when I was running pop-up stores, doing the designs, and handling everything myself from home. The growth over the last seven years has been tremendous.
A particularly rewarding moment happened at the end of 2024. My longest-standing employee, who has been with me for five years, sent me a greeting card with a personal message. He thanked me for pushing him and growing with him since our previous work environment to now at Pétale Tea. He wrote, “Let’s look forward to more growth and a better Pétale,” and even referenced our hashtag, #BloomWithPetale. This was deeply touching because he belongs to a category of people who don’t usually express feelings or emotions.
For him to send this card meant that I had impacted his personal growth. That card, the first personal message from him in seven years, truly touched my heart.
Corporate gifting can be highly competitive. How do you build relationships with corporate clients and ensure they keep coming back?
When dealing with corporate clients, I focus on understanding their pain points. Especially post-COVID, everyone is pressed for time, stressed, and under pressure to meet high expectations. I aim to solve their problems efficiently and provide on-point solutions so there’s no back-and-forth.
Many of my clients work for high-profile brands and have very high expectations. While we know nothing is perfect, I strive to deliver near-perfect solutions and always exceed what we promise.
Credibility and reliability are crucial in today’s business environment. Clients appreciate that I’m resourceful. They trust me not only to solve their current problems but also to recommend reliable partners or peers if needed. This trust fosters repeat business and is the key to building long-term relationships.
What are your future plans for this business, such as introducing new product lines?
We hope to set up our first physical store—a conceptualised tea bar in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board and eventually with tourism boards in other countries to curate personalised tea bars specific to each location. We’ll start with Singapore, and by 2025, we aim to expand into Indonesia.
We’re currently working out the details and administration, and we expect to enter the Indonesian market within the first quarter of 2025. I want Pétale Tea to become the next favourite tea brand in Singapore, alongside the big names we already know.
Where do you see yourself and what’s your vision for Singapore in the next five years?
I aspire to be a role model for female entrepreneurs and the younger generation. I want to show them that everyone has their own “blooming” moment. It’s okay if we don’t “bloom” now; we may “bloom” later than our peers. It’s just a matter of time, and you have to believe in yourself. If I can inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs, especially young women, that would be a meaningful achievement.
I also hope for a more conducive business environment in Singapore, with schemes to support budding entrepreneurs in overcoming the initial challenges of high rent and manpower costs. Additionally, initiatives to help promising local brands expand overseas would be fantastic. Singapore has many brilliant ideas and entrepreneurs, and creating opportunities for their growth would benefit everyone.
Connect with Rosemary: PétaleTea and Instagram.
