About The Teaguy

What Inspired Me...

Brendan in the Teahouse

There is this very groovy, bohemian chain of high end teahouses in Prague. I happened into one in 1997 and was so smitten by the whole scene that I wanted to immediately package up this concept and take it to Canada.

-The Teaguy

After Spending some time in Prague and soaking up the atmosphere of one of the coolest teahouses I had ever been to, I returned to Edmonton and in May of 1999 I opened up Steeps - the Urban Teahouse. It was the Canadianised version of the place in Prague that had so resonated with me. Within two years the teahouse was starting to gain popularity and was showing some profit.

I then went to Calgary and with two other partners opened Steeps in Mount Royal in 2001. Within a few short months, Steeps Calgary was performing way beyond our expectations.

The success of the Calgary store opened up the opportunity to initiate two franchised Steeps locations in Edmonton and Sherwood Park. Both of these teahouses opened in 2003 and have done very well, proving that it is possible to franchise a teahouse concept.

In 2005 I moved to Vancouver and put a deal together with a group to open up a flagship store on West Broadway. It is one of the best designed teahouses in Vancouver and has been warmly embraced by local tea aficionados. The Teaguy then moved to Kelowna, BC to help create his sixth teahouse project, Chai Baba. Chai Baba is a smaller concept, focused entirely on loose leaf teas and tea based latte's, using one of North America's first Teapresso machines.

The Teaguy now resides in Toronto ON, working with Teaopia to develop a Mall based retail tea bars.

"Gratitudes for all your help on my project. I had no idea how much I would benefit from your input. Thanks to the teaguy, Chai Baba Teahouse is on its way to becoming a successful turn-key company. Every aspect of what you brought forward was immensly helpful, from creating the store layout, to training me to make tea lattes. Thanks Again"

-Tina Prichard
Chai Baba Teahouse
Kelowna, BC.

If you would like to keep tabs on me and this industry's trends you should take a look at my blog
theteaguy.blogspot.com