WELCOME
A message James Woodrow
In an increasingly fast-paced world, 1750 aims to offer an expert, long-term perspective on the biggest topics, trends, challenges, and opportunities in the global natural beverages industry. It also serves to update you – our valued colleagues, customers, and partners – on we're working on at Finlays.
In November 2023, we said a fond farewell to our friends at James Finlay Kenya (now known as Browns Plantations Kenya). I’m pleased to say that the transition has been a success and the team at BPK are settling in nicely to the Browns family. Importantly, with our support, Browns has made excellent progress on delivering the action plan in response to the allegations of abuse which emerged there last year. Finlays Tea Extracts Kenya, which is situated on the BPK site, remains part of the Finlays family and is going from strength to strength.
As we shared with you in last year’s edition, we are steadily increasing our focus on the US and Asian markets and have broken considerable ground over the previous 12 months. Our ultimate aim is to fully integrate our extracts businesses into one entity so that we can better meet customers’ needs wherever they are in the world. In this magazine, you’ll find a special feature on the North American Foodservice channel, which is a key priority, as well as insight into how Finlays is rejuvenating its approach to tea extracts. Plus, we offer you a sneak peek inside our US-based Analytical Research Centre - the science engine of Finlays.
Asia is another exciting region for Finlays, particularly through our joint venture, Damin. While this joint venture has existed for a number of years, we are now starting to work more closely together and we are excited about what the future holds. You can find out more in our article about Damin and its customer Sam's Club.
In Europe meanwhile, I am more than delighted to announce that our state-of-the-art cold brew coffee facility is now open for business. This is a hugely exciting moment for us as we aim to replicate our success in the US by bringing a premium cold brew coffee offering to this side of the pond.
Elsewhere in the UK, Finlay Beverages has continued to place its customers at the heart of all it does and has established a strong platform to lead the development of tea and coffee in the UK retail and Out of Home channels. And I’m pleased to report that Finlays Colombo, Finlays MEAC and Casa Fuentes, our Argentinian tea farm, are all performing well with exciting plans in the pipeline.
2024 was also the first year that we reported on Sustainable Future 2030, our sustainability strategy. There is no doubt that the natural beverages industry is facing an existential challenge from the threats of climate change, supply chain disruption and human rights. In our Sustainability feature, you can find out more about how we’re “taking action today for the beverages of tomorrow” across these three key areas.
And of course, you’ll also find a heady mix of analysis on topics as diverse as Artificial Intelligence, creating a winning culture, innovation, the rise of private label and much more besides.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks to all our customers, partners, and team members around the world. Our success is only thanks to you.
I hope you enjoy this edition of 1750 – and, as ever, if you have any feedback, please do share it with our editor Thom.Walton@Finlays.net
Kind regards,
James Woodrow
Group Managing Director
James Finlay LimitedSwire House 59 Buckingham Gate London SW1E 6AJ United Kingdomwww.finlays.net
Editor: Thom Walton Thom.Walton@finlays.net
Creative Director: Giulio MazzariniArt Director: Jun Chan Design Assistant: Sophie HuntGem Creative Design
All contents © James Finlay Limited 2024 Finlays is part of The Swire Group
