| Industry | Speciality Tea & Coffee |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1886 |
| Founder(s) | Walter Whittard |
| Headquarters | Witney, Oxfordshire |
| Number of locations | 78 |
| Area served | UK |
| Products | Tea, Coffee, Ceramic, Chocolate |
| Owner(s) | EPIC |
| Employees | 942 |
| Website | http://www.whittard.co.uk |
Whittard of Chelsea are an international retailer of coffee, tea and various items that are used for the consumption of hot beverages. Instant tea, Hot chocolate and Confectionery are also amongst their leading products.
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The company was founded in 1886 by Walter Whittard, a merchant from London.[1] Originally the company only sold tea, however within a few years it had diversified. The company has some 77 retail stores across the United Kingdom, as well as providing global sales from its website. They have tasters of drinks which change from time to time. The company expanded in the 1980s and 1990s in the UK and abroad. International stores are in places such as Abu Dhabi, Australia, Chile, Cyprus, Dubai, Kuwait, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and the United States. In the year to the end of March 2007, the company reported a loss of £3.2m. The chain of shops employs 950 people in the UK. Whittard of Chelsea also operate a wholesale business, Boaters, that sells flavoured coffee products. The Icelandic investment company Baugur bought Whittard of Chelsea in 2005 for about £21m.
On 23 December 2008, it was announced that Whittard of Chelsea was placed into administration after its owners, Baugur, was hit by turmoil after Iceland's banking crisis.[2] On 24 December the administrators, Ernst & Young, stated that the company had been sold for an undisclosed sum to EPIC private equity partners.
Approximately a third of all UK stores were closed in the wake of the sale, the store closures and management restructuring continues today.