I was out for lunch at a mall with the Singapore Nuffies last year in Singapore. Right after lunch a group of them insisted to go buy Pearl Milk Tea. It wasn’t just something they felt like doing all of a sudden but it was apparently a regular thing for them… have lunch, then have a pearl milk tea. I couldn’t figure out this sudden craze for pearl milk tea. I mean it’s been around for more than 10 years as far as I remember and why the sudden craze now?
Well this year, that craze hit Malaysia. It started with Chatime. The story goes that this guy’s father asked him what he wanted to do. So he said “Give me a million bucks and I’ll grow it for you”.
The father did… and so he went for a holiday in Taiwan and visited this franchise exhibition. That was the first time he heard about Cha Time and he decided to bring the franchise to Malaysia. He came back and started 2 shops and within a month the franchise in Malaysia has grown to over 25 shops. Some of the shops are owned by him and some, by other franchisees.
My friend Richie is one of the other franchisees that just started his first store in Publika Solaris. So I decided to pay a visit to his store yesterday.
I had trouble finding Publika at first.. heck I had no idea what it was but when I finally got there I was shocked. Publika is this huge and really nice mall that exists 5 mins away from Solaris Mont Kiara.
If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard of it, it’s probably because eventhough it started a year ago, it hasn’t really picked up yet until recently.
So to support my dear friend Richie I decided to buy 33 cups of Cha Time Pearl Milk Tea for the Nuffies. It took them some 20 minutes or so to make that many cups.
And when I finally brought it back to the office. Madness ensued!
It’s like I was bringing food aid to a poverty-stricken country. All the Nuffies went crazy and rushed around to get themselves a cup.
That’s the kind of effect Cha Time still has on people. So if you’re a Chatime addict… go support Richie at his store in Publika ok? It’s worth visiting the mall too. Not all the shops have opened yet but in due time I’m sure it’ll be an awesome mall!
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space