After Hurricane Helene washed away her tea business, she’s calmly working to rebuild
It’s been about seven weeks since Hurricane Helene swept through the southeastern U.S. And many small businesses along its path are still trying to find their footing in the aftermath.
Jessie Dean owns one of those businesses: Asheville Tea Co., a tea producer in Asheville, North Carolina. The facility where she made her tea was completely swept away by heavy rainfall and flooding caused by the hurricane. Dean joined “Marketplace” host Amy Scott to talk about how she’s faring.
Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Jessie Dean: When Hurricane Helene hit, it was just a huge shift for us, as I’m sure anyone can imagine. We have sort of built our business over the last eight years and had moved into our first facility that was our own to manufacture our tea on a street called Thompson Street in Asheville. It’s right beside the Swannanoa River. When Helene hit, we lost all contact. Our cellphone service went out, our internet went out. The storm was coming through, and we didn’t know what was happening for hours. Later we found out that the water had risen 27 feet and had completely swallowed our building whole.
Amy Scott: I’m sure you’ve been doing some math in the week since. What is this going to cost you to replace all that equipment and inventory?
Dean: I mean, we estimate that we lost close to half a million dollars in equipment and inventory, which for us is more or less everything and is a huge hit, you know. I will say that we’ve had just an incredible outpouring of support from other tea companies, from local businesses, from our customers, from our farmers and from so many people. And so, we don’t need to pay that much out the gate to start to rebuild, which is really phenomenal. But it is going to take funding, and it is going to take a lot of support. I think it’s going to be an exciting time when we have some tea back. And we do anticipate having some tea made by the holidays. But it’s also going to be an extremely long road, and I’m sure it’s going to be filled with ups and downs as we go because we can only make what we can make. We’re going to have to inchworm along for sure.
Scott: What about programs aimed at helping small businesses recover? Are you getting any funding or grants or loans through those programs?
Dean: We did receive a loan from a local [community development financial institution] called Mountain BizWorks. They are phenomenal and have been very helpful, really, since our business started, but they have been providing some relief funding in the form of a bridge loan that’s hugely helpful just to allow us to get some tea made and start to resupply on ingredients and packaging and things like that. But it also is a loan. It’s something that we’re going to have to pay back at some point, in addition to the debt we already had on equipment and inventory that was lost.
Scott: You said you’re hoping to start selling again in time for the holidays. Where are you making your tea?
Dean: Yeah, well, we actually have two co-manufacturers that we are going to work with, and they are based in different locations outside of North Carolina. And so our tea bags will be made of the same material, they’ll look the same and be the same ingredients, and we’re still getting herbs from local farms too. So that’s very exciting, and that’s been our focus, really. We’ve really zeroed in on getting some tea made, and then we’ll start to rebuild the actual facility.
Scott: What’s your favorite tea that you make? What would you like to have a cup of right now?
Dean: Oh, I love that question. You know, one that I tend to drink a lot of is called chamomile lavender. It was one of the first blends that I had made, and it’s obviously chamomile and lavender, and then we blend it with tulsi, which some people call holy basil, and anise hyssop, which is in the mint family, but it has a little bit of a licorice taste. And so, it’s just one of my personal favorites.
Scott: It sounds very calming. We could all use a cup of tea about right now.
Dean: That’s right. I think maybe that’s why I’m feeling drawn to that one.