Making A Positive Difference In The World

Founded over a century ago, Bettys & Taylors Group is a family-owned business home to three iconic Yorkshire brands – Yorkshire Tea, Bettys Café Tea Rooms and Taylors of Harrogate. For generations, the business has been baking treats and blending tea and coffee, while remaining true to its founding Yorkshire and Swiss roots. 

Selling sustainably to solve problems at home and abroad

Bettys & Taylors Group purpose is ‘to make a positive difference in the world’. It’s the purpose that unifies and demands that the business protects and nurtures the natural and people resources upon which it depends.

In Bettys & Taylors tea and coffee supply chain, the business works with certification partners, such as the Rainforest Alliance, to improve environmental standards across its supply chains. Furthermore, at an industry level, the business is championing climate change adaptation techniques, ensuring farmers are better placed to face the effects of global warming.

The company is supporting a range of social impact programmes across its global supply chain designed to improve lives, livelihoods and secure the long-term supply of quality tea and coffee. Examples of this work include projects in 28 communities to provide access to safe, potable water and equipping 55 schools and 22 medical centres with rainwater harvesting systems.

The Group has also supported numerous educational projects abroad, in countries such as Rwanda, Kenya and Malawi, including bursaries for meals, building classrooms, and funding equipment to help over 11,000 children get the most out of their time at school. 

Gender is a significant focus area, and the company has invested in long-term programmes that help address a range of challenges women face in rural communities, by providing access to resources and training and through improving sanitation and health care facilities.

 In 2018, Taylors signed up to the UK Plastics Pact with a commitment to eliminate unnecessary plastic; increase the use of recycled plastic; and make all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Earlier this year Taylors completed the switch from oil-based plastic sealant in its teabags to plant-based biodegradable polylactic acid for all Yorkshire Tea cartons.

Taylors achieved Carbon Neutral® certification for its tea and coffee range in 2019 and in 2020 Bettys & Taylors was recognised as a Carbon Neutral company covering all its operations. This year, Taylors was honoured to be awarded a UN Global Climate Action Award for its pioneering programme to help combat climate change while improving farmer livelihoods and ensuring a long-term supply of quality tea and coffee

Bettys & Taylors believes that business can and should exist for the wider benefit of society, the environment, and all stakeholders. Much of the Group’s community work has a long history. The Trees for Life campaign was launched in 1990 with a pledge to plant 1 million trees. In February 2020 the company celebrated the 30th anniversary of the campaign, which has now supported the planting of 5 million trees around the world.

Meanwhile, the Cone Exchange, the flagship community project of Bettys & Taylors Group, has continued to grow over the last decade. As Harrogate’s unique community scrap store, the Cone Exchange works with hundreds of Yorkshire schools, community groups, social enterprises, and charities to transform trash into treasure and encourage young people to become environmentally aware. It also provides a valuable resource for crafters from the local area. With the help of dedicated volunteers, the Cone Exchange now recycles and re-uses waste materials from Bettys & Taylors, as well as other local companies.

Community care during the COVID-19 pandemic

Bettys & Taylors Group has been at the centre of the community response to the pandemic across Yorkshire. The group has been working hard delivering tea, coffee, bread, cakes, and biscuits to frontline NHS staff at 11 Yorkshire hospitals, six community healthcare teams across the Yorkshire and Humber region, as well as the army, NHS staff and patients at the Nightingale Hospital Harrogate.

The business also supported the major vaccination centres in Leeds, Bradford, York, and Harrogate, including smaller local centres, with donations of tea, coffee, cakes, and biscuits to support the volunteers and staff as they rolled out the vaccination programme this year. 

From Coast-to-Coast runs, cookbooks, lockdown quizzes and a virtual trek to origin, dedicated employees found countless innovative ways to fundraise in 2020 – despite the practical challenges – for eight branch charities, reaching a total of £53,000. Recognising the pressures facing charities due to the pandemic, the business also provided an additional £10,000 donation per charity.

In 2020, Betty and Taylor’s donated £110,000 to the Two Ridings Foundation as part of their Yorkshire Coronavirus Community Fund for the provision of grants to organisations working in our region to provide food and support for families and vulnerable people. Our donation helped 11 organisations working in our local area. For example, a grant to strive Yorkshire supported counselling for 16 people affected by increased anxiety from the pandemic. Meanwhile, wellbeing therapy was provided to support remote working, and Northallerton Business Network provided a series of online sessions to support small business owners keep their businesses running. Larger grants were given to Craven & Harrogate Citizens Advice Bureau to increase staff capacity, and to New Beginnings, an organisation working to support victims of crime, violence, and abuse, which had experienced a 40 per cent increase in demand on the back of the pandemic.

In 2021, again in partnership with Two Ridings Foundation, Bettys & Taylors allocated grants of £165,000 to support 46 charities and community groups rebuilding post-pandemic. 

We are proud to be promoting the valuable community work of Bettys & Taylors as part of Family Business Week.