Taiwan's Chatime expands in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Taiwanese bubble tea brand Chatime expands its Philippine operation with the opening of its first store in Cebu providing the market with alternative day and night hangout option.

Teabros Corporation, the master franchisee of Chatime in the Philippines, has partnered with Cebu-based investors to open the first Chatime outlet at eBlock 2 Asiatown IT Park.

Teabros is a sister company of The French Baker Group which was founded by Mr. Johnlu Koa in 1989.

In an interview with Johnlu Koa, director and chief executive officer (CEO) of French Baker, he said that like the success of coffee shops in the Philippines, tea houses are not just merely riding on fads and trends, it will stay, considering that gourmet tea drinks are winning the patronage of young people specifically those aged 13, 18 and 19.

Teabros brought Chatime to the Philippines in April 2011 opening the first store in Pasig. Since then the company has opened 30 outlets, including the one in IT Park.

The group targets to open another 20 outlets all over the country through franchise offering which is pegged between P4million to P6 million depending on the shop’s size and location.

“People are always on the look out for alternative places to hang out. Young people like to connect, to chill out, to comfort themselves. Chatime will serve as a ‘half-way house’ for them,” Koa said.

Aside from its health benefits, Koa believes that tea drinking nowadays is more than just a fad. Besides, tea has been around for more than five thousand years, “it is only today that people appreciate more the goodness of tea.”

Chatime was started in Taiwan in 2005 with an aim to modernize the traditional tea culture by producing tea drinks with consistent quality and flavors through high-tech machine. The company is the only publicly listed beverage provider in the Taiwan stock exchange.

As of September 2012, Chatime has over 600 branches in Taiwan, Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, UAE, Canada, India, UK, Korea, USA, Australia and Philippines. (FREEMAN)