{"id":25106,"date":"2021-12-20T16:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/regional\/hamiltons-lake-oak-tea-co-is-steeped-in-success\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T20:35:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T20:35:01","slug":"hamiltons-lake-oak-tea-co-is-steeped-in-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/hamilton\/hamiltons-lake-oak-tea-co-is-steeped-in-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton’s Lake & Oak Tea Co. is steeped in success"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Hamilton entrepreneur Meredith Youngson launched Lake & Oak Tea Co.<\/a> almost five years ago, she couldn\u2019t have predicted her company\u2019s rapid rise to success across the city, country, and even continent.<\/p>\n

Before launching her line of all-natural superfood teas, the Dundas native had studied Food and Hospitality at the University of Guelph, developing a passion for cooking that led to her launching her own food blog, Earth & Oven<\/a>, over ten years ago: a resource that\u2019s still thriving today and loaded with plant-based recipes of Youngson\u2019s own design.<\/p>\n

Inspired by a diverse world of international culinary traditions, her talent for crafting nutritious dishes soon became a full-time professional pursuit, landing her a job in Toronto as a recipe developer for one of Canada\u2019s leading meal kit services in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, Youngson was simultaneously dealing with some personal health concerns and, through her attempts to create a solution, ended up also creating the initial seeds of Lake & Oak Tea Co. in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround this time I was navigating symptoms of anxiety, low moods, and insomnia for the first time, as well as some digestive problems,\u201d explains Youngson. \u201cBeing a plant-based nutritionist and cook, my first instinct was to use plants and natural ingredients to help with my struggles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youngson soon got to work on creating her first-ever tea blend to help combat her ailments, ending up with a blend she calls Ashwagandha + Chill<\/em><\/a>, which remains one of Lake & Oak\u2019s popular offerings to this day.<\/p>\n

Further unique tea recipes emerged in the process \u2013 all derived from natural, plant-based ingredients and designed to be as flavourful as they are functional \u2013 and it wasn\u2019t long before Youngson was shaping her own small business around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found many teas on the market were either tasty or <\/strong>healthy, eco-friendly or <\/strong>beautiful,\u201d she adds. \u201cWith Lake & Oak we aim to check all of those boxes \u2013 no compromise needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

That hard work and attention to detail helped Lake & Oak stand out, with the company growing at a quick enough rate that Youngson was able to leave her job at the meal kit service and take the leap into dedicating herself to her business full-time, moving it from Toronto to Hamilton where it has operated ever since.<\/p>\n

The growth has enabled Lake & Oak to create and launch over a dozen popular superfood teas and \u2018Super Latte\u2019 blends with more coming down the pipeline, available through more than 200 retailers of all sizes across North America.<\/p>\n

Recently, the business even got to open its own brick & mortar facility in the Hammer as a dedicated space for production, warehousing, and distribution of their product line.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a space on Frid Street that Youngson pinned down and transformed with the help of local investment management firm Forge & Foster<\/a>, who have also helped her realize her vision for the future growth of the business and its place in Hamilton and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cForge & Foster is supportive of the plans for growth I have in the space, whether we remain a facility or become a retail store of even a caf\u00e9,\u201d she says. \u201cThey appreciate the value Lake & Oak is bringing to Hamilton and Canada. They see the relationship from a holistic standpoint. They want to see the community thrive and be a great place to live and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Lake & Oak\u2019s products have landed on shelves across Canada and beyond in everything from small independent shops to larger chains like Indigo, Youngson is also deeply invested in establishing the company as a Hamilton-proud brand with a passion for all things local.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still really trying to get involved in the community and get the word out that we are made in Hamilton!\u201d adds Youngson. \u201cWhen people find out that we are made here they are so happy and supportive, thrilled to support a local business. We get curious people knocking on our door, wanting to buy directly from the source.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On top of that, Lake & Oak\u2019s products are readily available from a number of Hamilton\u2019s favourite small businesses and shops, including The Casual Gourmet in Westdale, Dundurn Market, Mrs. Greenway in Dundas, Ottawa Market in the Crown Point neighbourhood, Strathcona Market, and A Greener Place in Waterdown.<\/p>\n

Youngson\u2019s passion for plant-based deliciousness also recently led to her inking a deal with Penguin Random House to write a health beverage cookbook called Super Tonics<\/em> that is set to hit shelves in Spring 2023.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that same passion that continues to be the key in Lake & Oak Tea Co\u2019s engine, and it\u2019s more than likely we\u2019ll continue to see this unique Hamilton tea company swiftly scale its \u2018steep\u2019 hill to success.<\/p>\n

Visit Lake & Oak Tea Co\u2019s website here<\/a>, and follow them on social media<\/a>. Locals who join their newsletter here<\/a> will get a discount on their first purchase. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Hamilton entrepreneur Meredith Youngson launched Lake & Oak Tea Co. almost five years ago, she couldn\u2019t have predicted her company\u2019s rapid rise to success across the city, country, and ev...","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":25111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8065],"tags":[6048,19,20,7455,167,7456,4715,1333,7457,4512,772],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/lake4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25110,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25106\/revisions\/25110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cekan.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}