Penny Rehling

President and Co-Founder The Spice & Tea Exchange

Last Reviewed: September 28, 2026

Executive Summary

Penny Rehling is President and co-founder of The Spice & Tea Exchange, a franchise chain based in St. Augustine, Florida, that sells spices, hand-mixed seasoning blends, loose-leaf teas, flavored sugars and salts in shops styled as modern trading posts. She runs the business with co-founder and CEO Amy Freeman, and the company promotes itself as women-founded and women-led. It began as a single store in St. Augustine in 2008, during the Great Recession. By November 2025 it had nearly 100 locations across 38 states, and it has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list five years running. Rehling was previously the company’s Chief Operating Officer.

Career Highlights

• President and co-founder of The Spice & Tea Exchange, which grew to nearly 100 franchise locations in 38 states by late 2025.
• Former Chief Operating Officer, the title the company gave her in its May 2020 announcement of support for franchisees during the pandemic.
• In 2024 the company made its fifth consecutive Inc. 5000 list, at No. 4,420 nationally and No. 189 in the Southeast, on 77% growth from 2020 to 2022.

Professional Journey

The Spice & Tea Exchange opened in St. Augustine in 2008, at the start of the Great Recession. The idea was a neighbourhood trading post where customers could discover new flavours. The stores sell more than 140 spices, 85 hand-mixed blends and 40 loose-leaf teas. The company expanded through franchising and runs its distribution center from its St. Augustine headquarters.

Rehling and Amy Freeman are the partners behind that expansion. The company’s releases describe them as co-founders who “grew as leaders and businesswomen while founding the retail franchise during a turbulent time.” In May 2020, with more than 70 franchise stores and the pandemic closing shops across the country, the company named Rehling as Chief Operating Officer when it announced its support package for franchise owners. It explicitly compared the moment to the recession in which the brand had started.

By August 2024 she was President, the title under which she and Freeman were credited with the company’s fifth straight Inc. 5000 listing. Freeman guides the brand’s vision and long-term growth as CEO, and Rehling co-leads with her, with a shared focus on growth and strengthening the brand. In the company’s November 2025 holiday release she pointed to franchisees as the people who “bring the season to life” through local events that sustain sales through the year. By September 2026 the chain had 98 units. Freeman said then that it was debt-free and had no plans to sell to private equity.

Education

No education record was found in any company release or editorial source.