Trade Watch V8 No 3 July 2014

SUCCESS STORY

SMAKS: From Luxury Shop to Luxury Brand Eight storeys above the hustle and bustle of Biscayne Bay, with a breath-taking view of the iconic downtown Miami skyline, it’s not hard for Kiran Akal to feel like he’s sitting on top of the world. A reaction that is symbolic of the rise to fame that the SMAKS Luxury Group has recently undergone. In less than 24 months, Kiran took the classic family- owned business based in Trinidad and Tobago, and transformed it into a globally celebrated tea and spirits brand. SMAKS began as a luxury gift shop manned by the matriarch of the Akal family in 1979, but moved into the tea business in 2011. “On my return to Trinidad, I learned that my mother wanted to sell the boutique that she had run for some 35 years. I felt a deep sense of loss, because here I was working with all these companies and developing their brands, so there must be something I can do for my family’s business,” Kiran recounted. As a child, Kiran accompanied his mother on most of her buying trips. As an adult, he spent his formative years studying and living in Europe. Overtime, Kiran became increasingly exposed to fine products and gained a greater appreciation for luxury branding and marketing. “Besides becoming a china and crystal fanatic, I got an understanding of what quality means and how grand firms in Europe made fine products for market. There was no reason why this knowledge couldn’t be applied to my family’s business.” The idea for SMAKS Bespoke Teas started as joke suggested by Kiran’s sister, given his undeniable love for the beverage. Kiran, however, thought it was a brilliant idea. “The West Indies is predominantly African, Indian, and Chinese. These are three regions in the world that grow a lot of tea, and this tea came with them to the West Indies. I immediately saw the connection with these teas, and the things that people came to the West Indies for; things that grew naturally like citrus, chocolate, cocoa, molasses, rum, and exotic spices.” Kiran saw an opportunity to take the tealeaves from one part of the world, one aspect of West Indian history, and combine them with the very essence of the Caribbean life. With that, he set about telling the tale of two Indies, East and West, and bringing them together to create a new chapter in Caribbean history. Today, SMAKS is the Caribbean’s premier luxury tea brand with eleven teas in the company’s product range: Antillean Green, Barbados Silver, Bermuda Pink, Caribbean Chai, Grenadines Purple, Hispaniola, Parang, Tobago Afternoon, Trinidad Breakfast, Trinitario Dark, and Trinitario Light.

SMAKS’ Award-winning Chai Rum

SMAKS teas have won several international awards, and were also presented to Queen Elizabeth II for the Diamond Jubilee. However, as Kiran began to work with tea, he realised the potential for the company to innovate using the aromatic beverage. “Our entire focus was to create the first true luxury tea brand from the West Indies that would be globally recognised. It may seem ambitious, but with the growth and rate of the global tea market, I felt it was something we could do.” Kiran had the desire to create a tea company with a unique model, that would appeal to people all over the world simply because they were the only ones doing it. A model of luxury, quality and innovation, and with this ambition SMAKS Chai Rum, the world’s first tea-infused rum, came about. “Rum, like tea, is synonymous with the West Indies and unique to the entire world. So we decided to do what no one else is doing, be the first company in the world to create Chai Rum.” With the creation of the Chai Rumcame several opportunities for the SMAKS Luxury Group, two of which set the foundation for a whirlwind global encounter. First, the company participated in ANUGA, as part of Caribbean Export’s Caribbean Kitchen pavilion, the world’s leading food fair for the retail trade and the food service and catering market, staged in Cologne, Germany. “I found out about ANUGAwhile showcasing at the Trade and Investment Convention in Trinidad. I jumped at the opportunity because I recognized this as one of the most important food and beverage trade fairs in Europe. I knew that it was going to be a huge event and an occasion to reach hundreds, maybe thousands with our product.”

15 Tradewatch • The Official E-Newsletter of the Caribbean Export Development Agency • Vol. 8 No. 3 July 2014