It turns out that Tsawwassen couple Su-Mari and Tim Hill didn’t need the dragons’ help after all.
After a 90-minute hour pitch for their iLola tea on CBC’s Dragon’s Den TV show in May, edited to a five-minute on-air episode in November, the couple received an offer from one of the most well-known dragons, Arlene Dickinson.
But that was just one of four offers from the panel of entrepreneurs during the show, an experience Su-Mari described as “fantastic.”
“It was just a wonderful experience.”
Instead of making a deal with one of the dragons however, a U.S. company invested which will allow iLola to expand production and markets.
“We actually got offered a better deal right during the same time …” Su-Mari said.
Su-Mari, a foodie and tea fan, came up with the idea of binding loose-leaf tea into a disc that can be stored in a humidor, which controls humidity and preserves flavour. Ilola is a Swahili name meaning, “to grow strong.”
The response has been encouraging with their Tea Disc Essentials named as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things a year ago, and iLola being named number one in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Gifts for Foodies in 2022.
iLola also won a Good Housekeeping best kitchen product this year.
Ilola patented their tea disc globally in 2021 and then launched into the U.S. the next year. Patenting and trademarking alone took more than two years.
“We officially launched it into the U.S. in September 2022 and by October, we were on Oprah’s Christmas list,” she said.
The recognition is encouraging.
“We’ve won various awards and accolades that definitely gives us a little bit of PR, for sure.”
Once the production processes are finalized, the company can scale up production by next summer.
“We’re giving ourselves a good six to eight months to ensure that our processes are set up to handle the growth that we foresee coming,” Su-Mari said.
The company has partnered with biologists at Langara College for research and development to allow them to expand production of the probiotic binder used in the tea disc.
Once processes and procedures have been refined, production will ramp up in their location in Tilbury Industrial Park.
In addition to selling online, iLola also partners with companies in the hospitality field, who until now, have been using a tea bag in a stainless-steel pot.
“The hospitality industry is looking to upgrade their service and so we are talking to some partners to launch it into hospitality as well,” she said.
Jumping into the business big leagues isn’t for the faint of heart. The couple, with five children, sold their condos in Vancouver and now rent in Tsawwassen.
“At some point, you have to either decide, you’re all in, or you get out,” she said. “We are entrepreneurs at heart and we’re not going to do something if we don’t believe in it.
“We definitely have a lot of work in front of us, but there are definitely some very positive turns in the flywheel that you see — hopefully this can take off.”
