Inspiring Conversations with Megan Wheeler of Ellen’s Planted Tea

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Wheeler

Hi Megan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We started back in 2020 during quarantine, my partner and I were both bartenders at the time and out of a job. We were bored and took our love for mixology and applied it to loose leaf tea and herbs, and it just kind of took off from there. We started that October at the local farmer’s market, and opened our first brick and mortar store in 2022. We have been at our current location for about 2 years now, and have been able to expand our availability to lots of herbs and open our cafe aspect of the business, serving drinks and high tea every Sunday.
We have come up with each of our original blends and make them small batch in shop, all without the use of any flavoring-everything you’re tasting is the ingredients themselves.
On the plant side of things we propagate roughly 80% of our plant stock, so we are always adding new things to the floor. This also helps us keep different stock from our competition, and allows us to offer lots of classes and events.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road, but rather a bending and winding road with lots of curves and a few boulders along the way. The beautiful thing about Ellen’s is that it’s very fluid and adaptable, something that has proven viable multiple times over. The biggest boulder in the road so far I would say would be when Back 9 bought our first storefront property only 6 months after being there. They purchased the whole shopping strip, and had plans to demolish the center to create a parking lot for there other project next to us. From the get go there was very little communication, poor intimidation tactics, and lots of confusion for all of us tenants. Ellen’s had just signed a 5 year lease and rumors were going around that we all had to be out of the building by October, and then that the city had condemned the building, none of which there was any legal record of. After many attempts trying to simply communicate with the new landlord, Ellen’s was one of the lucky ones to finally settle on a payout for us to leave, though it was way below a low ball of an offer.
We were extremely lucky though, we were able to snag our current location right at the front of Aggieville with a small kitchen and a rockin rooftop patio. With the transition to the new location we had an investor who planned on super scaling our business. Unfortunately a month after we moved in he had to back out due to reoccurring medical conditions, and we were left with several half started projects and no funding to finish them. Thankfully that is exactly how Ellen’s started, and we were not new to the challenge. It has taken us a little longer to achieve our goals without the funding, however I still strongly believe that Ellen’s would not be where it is at today without the puzzles and challenges we have had to overcome. Just like our original blends without the use of flavoring, we are forced to get creative and use different ingredients and resources that we have to achieve the desired affect, and a lot of times it goes a way we never would have thought of and becomes our next new thing that propels us forward.

As you know, we’re big fans of Ellen’s Planted Tea. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Ellen’s Planted Tea is a loose leaf tea and tropical houseplant shop. We are based in Manhattan KS and are building our online platforms as we serve our customers nation wide. Our unconventional path from mixology to tea and plants continues to power innovation and quality in everything we do. All of our blends are made with simple and whole ingredients, no flavoring added. Everything is made in small batch to ensure the highest quality and consistency, and we truly love what we do.
We specialize in tropical houseplants, offering both high end and common plants, most of which we have propagated ourselves. This allows us to carry a unique and different variety, setting us apart from the other stores carrying plants in the area.
Ellen’s is more than a tea and plant shop, but is developing and growing into a safe space and local hub for the community. Our diy, small business, and welcoming environment allows everyone a fresh and easy place to come in and simply just take a breath.
We are excited to expand the cafe side of our business, and now offer High Tea every Sunday with a rotating menu. We serve classic scones with house-made clotted cream and jam every day, and are starting to work in more pastries and goodies to our everyday menu.
We have monthly events going on, including our monthly Terrarium Night. Our rooftop patio is a great place to come out and enjoy the sunshine, or to rent out for your next birthday, bridal shower, or graduation party.

What are your plans for the future?
We are working on our weekend late night hours, offering an alcohol-free space to come out and hang out, study, or simply just to vibe, along with our adaptogenic mocktail menu.
We are also excited to be adding coffee to our menu and expanding the food side of the business, which will come with both earlier and later hours that we are open at the shop.
We also just implemented our Tea & Herb Pre-Pay Sale, where you can get 15% off your order each month when you purchase bulk sizes in advance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ellensplantedtea.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellensplantedtea
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellensplantedtea