Nick Carr represented his partner, Kelley McShane, Monday evening to speak about their company - Granny Squibb's Old-fashioned Ice Tea. Nick was a financial planner and Kelley a tutor living in an apartment building in Providence. When they saw their neighbor, Robin Squibb lugging cases of iced tea, they inquired as to what it was. Robin told them her grandmother, who lived in Saunderstown years ago, came up with a lemon iced tea recipe during extremely hot summer days. The whole neighborhood loved it. Years later in 2009, Robin decided to bottle it and start a business.
As Nick put it, "We asked a question and one and a half months later in 2018 we took a detour from our careers and were in business!" Robin stayed on the first year to advise them...then came Covid and they nearly lost it all because the restaurants (their customers) were closing down. They hung on and are growing exponentially now. Last month with the year only half gone, thus far they topped their totals from all of 2021. The currently have eight flavors, six in bottles and two in cans. They are all organic, non-GMO, preservative-free, gluten-free, kosher, etc.
They are very philanthropic and tie their flavors to causes. Right now they are working with a social justice group in Providence. Their Cranberry Tea benefits Save the Bay and proceeds from the Peach Iced Tea go to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Eventually, they want a flavor in each New England State to benefit a cause in that State.
