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LonjeviTea Kombucha would not be what it is today without the support from our friends and families.  We micro-brew and bottle an organic and raw sparkling probiotic tea that is deliciously energizing.  From the beginning, LonjeviTea Kombucha has been a collaborative organization.  Michaela and I started working on the business concept in our final semester of the Green MBA program at Dominican University.  The most important thing we learned there was how to ask for help!   From graphic design, to photography, to marketing, to bottling, and more - If we don't know how to do it, we ask our amazingly talented and generous friends and industry colleagues. 

Since LonjeviTea Kombucha is only a two woman operation, monthly we throw bottling parties.  We send an e-mail out to our friends to see who wants to come hang out, listen to music and help us fill bottles for a few hours, in exchange for a gallon of Kombucha and a family style meal.  We have named all of our Kombucha brewing tanks after those who have helped us.  It's pretty fun to take weekly Kombucha samples and talk about how "Sarah's Kombucha tastes a little more tropical than Becca’s."  We brew our Kombucha in a collaborative workspace, where we share resources with more experienced food industry entrepreneurs, who have taught us a few of the things we didn't learn in grad school, like how to drive a forklift and pack a pallet. 

We joke about how we have three "graphic designers on retainer", all of whom work in exchange for Kombucha, baked goods and gratitude.  Several professional photographers have helped us with product shots and more.  Our Northern and Central California “mobile billboards” are our cycling team members wearing their LonjeviTea Kombucha Cycling Kits when on bike rides.  We've even had pro-bono work done by lawyers and professors at the Green MBA to develop contracts and other legal documents.  Our sales and marketing mentor has over 25 years of experience in the natural foods industry and manages over 30 major brands.  We periodically have meetings with him that ultimately end with “field trips” to Whole Foods to observe the Kombucha isle.  Our families have also played a large role, editing marketing materials, giving us old pickup trucks and designing bottling equipment that fell in our price range.  

So far it's been a blast to collaborate with all of our friends and industry colleagues, and we look forward to doing it some more and someday hopefully being able to pay them with money or our labor in return for any of their future ventures! 

If you're impressed with any of our friend’s work, check out their sites: 

Photography:
Chrissy Atikinson: christinetknsn@yahoo.com
Morgan Bellinger

Graphic Design:
John Hygelund
Zack Dill

Marketing - Sponsorships:
Bike Monkey: Northern California Cycling Association that puts on races and other event and published magazine "Bike Monkey" 
Touchtone Cycling
SLO Nexus