Argo Tea's CEO on outlasting Teavana and going cashless
When Starbucks bought Teavana for $620 million in 2012, some experts predicted trouble for Chicago-based Argo Tea.
But in July, Starbucks announced it would close all 379 Teavana stores. Meanwhile, Chicago-based Argo keeps steadily growing with an eye toward the future.
"We never really had an ambition to build a thousand-store chain for tea. Our ambition and dream was always about bringing tea, a tasty, quality product, and revolutionizing the beverage industry," said Argo Tea CEO Arsen Avakian, an Armenian immigrant who co-founded the company in 2003 with two friends.
Argo is using its 40-plus stores as test labs
