Bondi Chai Latte | Outstanding Food & Beverage

I’m Melissa Edyvean, a proud non-coffee drinker and the Co-founder/Director of Bondi Chai alongside my business and life partner, Martin Buggy. Martin and I discovered chai latte in a cafe in Washington DC, and were immediately hooked on this silky, sweet and spicy, tea-based latte. We had a PR/marketing business then, but jumped at the chance to create Australia’s own chai phenomenon and launched Bondi Chai in 2005. From the beginning, we outsourced most of the business’s moving parts - including manufacturing, packing and distribution - to create a business that would support our lifestyle, not drain the life from us. By 2013, the business was strong enough to confidently move into national retail, winning shelf space with Australia’s three largest supermarket chains - Woolworths, Coles and Costco (pg4 attachment). We were also honoured as the NSW Micro Business of The Year and a National Finalist in the 2014 Telstra Australian Business Awards. This set off a period of rapid growth and media attention, with 80 newspapers around Australia covering our story. Within a few years, our business had doubled, setting up a strong foundation for the next phase of our strategy - international expansion (see Question 2). As a methodical, detail-oriented person, I oversee the financial and operational aspects of Bondi Chai. I like to joke that Martin makes the promises, and I make sure we keep them! I’ve also stepped outside my comfort zone to be the ‘face’ of Bondi Chai on our YouTube channel and in the media (pg5). This year, we celebrate Bondi Chai’s 20th anniversary, selling around 7.5 million serves of Bondi Chai a year in cafes around Australia and 17 other countries, including in Europe, China and emerging markets in Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. Proudly, our recent community engagement campaign, the Faces of Bondi Chai (see Q2), which I led, won Marketing Excellence in the 2023 Australian Business ABA100 Awards and a 2024 Bronze Stevie Award for the Marketing Campaign of the Year in the 'Engaged Community of the Year' category (pg6).