Bubble Tea, also known as “Boba” or “Pearl” Tea, was first sold on the streets of Southeast Asia in the 1980s. Today, it is beloved by millions around the world and has become a very popular business venture thanks to its unique taste and creative approach. In the US alone, millions of local bubble tea houses have become almost as popular as your neighborhood Starbucks. While bigger companies may appear to have the upper hand when it comes to building brand familiarity among consumers, small businesses have the opportunity to learn, make a few mistakes, and learn everyone’s name along the way. Read on for our five tips on how to make your Bubble Teahouse not only thrive but bubble with life!
Tapioca Tea Thunderstorms
Your product is top-notch, authentic, and has new flavors debuting all the time. Making your shop plum for a social media thunderstorm. With the bright colors of the tea and fun factor of boba pearls, you can easily create an online campaign that catches the eye of new and old customers alike. Consider using coordinating background colors that are muted but also match the product you are advertising the world. Research foods that typically accompany bubble teas – and don’t be afraid to consider non-bubble tea varieties to reach the audience that doesn’t care for tapioca-filled treats in their drink.
Tea That You Can’t Refuse
Once your online campaign is ready for lift-off, it’s time to turn your attention to physical items that can make your business stand out from the crowd. Think about it from their point of view: what would grab their attention?
A method of drawing in customers is offering them personal, thoughtful experience in your shop. Offering free wifi, customized cups with your business name on it, and signs with catchphrases underneath will stick with the walk-in business. Innovating new kinds of teas with unique steeping methods is an approach that catches the eye of many a tea lover – and even just the culinarily curious. In fact, Starbucks wasn’t the only one who thought of the different coffee steeping and serving methods. Nordstrom’s Ebar offers the same in addition to horticulture training on how coffee beans are grown, prepared, and served with different aerators that enhance coffee taste, fun facts that aren’t typically in the public’s knowledge. Doing research and offering a new way to do tea, not just Boba, can be educational and make your business an offer people can’t refuse.
Location, Location, Location
There are still plenty of Americans who are unfamiliar with bubble tea. Offering samples of tea and sharing the history of the drink will open the eyes of potential customers to the joys of bubble tea. Sharing your story with customers alongside your product will make you a mainstay in the community and a desirable destination when others come to visit.
To make your business a mainstay in your community, do things that make it an attraction worth seeking out. Regular events such as street fairs and markets teeming with your area’s fellow small businesses are the perfect venue to interact with the public. Cultural events such as a Taiwanese heritage festival where you can serve boba and other cultural favorites such as mooncakes are another great option, allowing you to connect with your audience and show more of what you offer alongside your passion and expertise in Taiwanese specialties.
Eventful Pop Culture
Face to face interaction is a convenient and surefire way to successfully showcase your products and services. With boba tea originating in what to Americans is the more exotic areas of Southeastern Asia, there are endless possibilities at hand for creating a unique design scheme. Then make those designs mobile. Many businesses are utilizing food trucks as a way to expand their reach. Taking your business on the road allows you to offer an exclusive variety of drinks and food that are both available in your storefront as well as specialty delectibles that you can only get from the truck. Take your immersion in the community a step further and consider offering a rewards-based program that gifts patrons with points for simple tasks, like spending more than $10 or posting a picture of their bubble tea to Instagram with a specialized hashtag. The interactive experience is a perfect opportunity to create brand loyalty and increase revenue with endless possibilities for making your tea a part of the cultural conversation. All it takes is a little bit of creativity.
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