bubble tea or coffee ??

mary30

Hi guys , I am planing to open a bubble tea shop with Spanish and Portuguese pastries ,fresh baked in the shop.

I think it can be a good idea, I have been a bit confused in opening a take away coffee and pastries shop, but in my point of view I think the bubble tea is a better option than the coffee drinks.

Please would you let me know what you think about it ?
Thank you.

Graham

Tea and coffee already have a very established market, when customers walk into a tea/coffee shop they pretty much know what to expect.

One of the biggest problems you're going to have with Bubble Tea is most people haven't a clue what it is. You're essentially trying to build your local market for Bubble Tea on your own.

mary30

Hi Graham , yes you are correct about I'll have to built my own local market for this .

I think with some advertisement and some promotions to call in costumers and let them know what kind of products I have to offer ,hard work and good service to my future customers .

Thank you for your reply

percy212

I love bubble tea. Great idea. Open a chain! Best of luck.

mary30

Hi percy212

Thank you for your reply , yes not bad idea , yes with time I would open a few more shops ! Of corse as Graham said coffee and tea
"already have a very established market".

Let's hope more people like you tell me the same , other wise ........

mary30

Bubble Tea
is the name given to the wide variety of refreshing flavoured fruit teas and milk teas served ice cold or piping hot with chewy natural tapioca balls that you suck up through a big fat straw!

mary30

What coffee brand would you guys prefer ?
Thanks

Bandara

This years noodle bar/ milkshake bar / olde sweet shop / smoothie bar etc

Fad

bizzyb

mary30 wrote: »

Bubble Tea
is the name given to the wide variety of refreshing flavoured fruit teas and milk teas served ice cold or piping hot with chewy natural tapioca balls that you suck up through a big fat straw!

When are you open,i want one!!

Sulla Felix

Bandara wrote: »

This years noodle bar/ milkshake bar / olde sweet shop / smoothie bar etc

Fad

But there are still noodle bars, milkshakes, olde sweet shops in operation years after they were a fad. So yea, there's a glut and the excess closes up but some of them last.

Graham

Have you looked into any of the Bubble tea franchises?
Have you looked at the history of the existing Bubble tea operations here and abroad but particularly here?
Have they all had success, if not why not?

IRLConor

mary30 wrote: »

What coffee brand would you guys prefer ?
Thanks

If you're planning on doing coffee then I suggest you talk to someone like Colin Harmon (3fe), Karl Purdy (Coffee Angel) or Buzz Fendall (Bald Barista) or any of the other people doing good coffee in Ireland. (See the Coffee & Tea Forum for other recommendations.)

There are lots of places doing bad-to-mediocre coffee but the number of places doing good coffee has been expanding rapidly in the last 5 years or so. I don't know where you plan to open, but if you have excellent coffee available nearby it might be more difficult to attract business to your shop.

When you open, let us know so that I can sample a pastel de nata or two!

Bandara

Sulla Felix wrote: »

But there are still noodle bars, milkshakes, olde sweet shops in operation years after they were a fad. So yea, there's a glut and the excess closes up but some of them last.

Correct. But I'd estimate (purely a guesswork estimate) that for every one left open ten others have gone bust.

mary30

bizzyb wrote: »

When are you open,i want one!!

I will let you know soon . Thanks:)

mary30

IRLConor wrote: »

If you're planning on doing coffee then I suggest you talk to someone like Colin Harmon (3fe), Karl Purdy (Coffee Angel) or Buzz Fendall (Bald Barista) or any of the other people doing good coffee in Ireland. (See the Coffee & Tea Forum for other recommendations.)

There are lots of places doing bad-to-mediocre coffee but the number of places doing good coffee has been expanding rapidly in the last 5 years or so. I don't know where you plan to open, but if you have excellent coffee available nearby it might be more difficult to attract business to your shop.

When you open, let us know so that I can sample a pastel de nata or two!

Hi IRLConor
Thank you for your ideas and help , by the way I will let you know when I'll open the shop and I promise you that I only not give you one sample of pastel de nata ,but I will give you 2 BIG pastel de nata on the house !!!

mary30

Graham wrote: »

Have you looked into any of the Bubble tea franchises?
Have you looked at the history of the existing Bubble tea operations here and abroad but particularly here?
Have they all had success, if not why not?

Hi Graham , The bubble tea business in the Continent is Big business as well in the UK, Here at home as far as I have been studding the case still on it's early days !!
But good point !

Graham

There's definitely at least one Irish operation that has 2 or 3 outlets in Dublin, if I remember correctly that got quite reasonable press coverage when they opened. I'd recommend researching them.

sawdoubters

I can tell you now irish will not like boba tea

as for coffee should do ok,depends on foot traffic


most people don't seem to know this. 波霸 "boba" is Taiwanese slang for big boobs. It refers to the big black balls. Go ahead. Do a search in Google images. I dare you. "Pearl" (Chinese is 珍珠 zhenzhu) is actually the smaller black balls. It's more common to have these two options in Taiwan. Here in the states, they're basically synonymous for the bigger balls. And the "bubble" in bubble tea refers to the bubble that forms at the top of the cup after the tea is shaken up.

mary30

Hi Graham , thanks for the tips i know about hem , yes they've 3 shops in Dublin .
But.... I am trying to do a bit different having the South European pastries and the design a bit different and the most important the price (products).

what do you think about Bewley's Coffee ? - if I may ask you !

mary30

Hi sawdoubters

Thanks for the reply , I think in general we Irish like to try new products ,but .... we never know ..

Graham

mary30 wrote: »

what do you think about Bewley's Coffee ? - if I may ask you !

Personally, I would go out of my way to avoid it.

mary30

.

mary30

Bubble teas are taking over Munich ! soon in ireland heeheheheheh

mary30

Will Tapioca Pearl Tea Conquer Starbucks? OR COFFEE STILL THE N.1 ??

mary30

Have you guys tried Portuguese pastries besides the (pastel de nata) the famous Portuguese egg custard.??

We love it when we go on holidays I have always to try something new , the taste is yummy it's different than what we have here our Danish pastries.

makeandcreate

Hi - for me there's a bit of "when in Rome" to this whole idea.
By that I mean, when I go visit my brother in Brighton I always try the vegetarian, organic cafe cos it's funky, quirky and the food is great. Same with the pop up paleo place. And in Wales it's ye olde tea shop with giant baps.
But if you opened one on my route home every day ,I don't think I'd go in more than once in a blue moon.
Guess it depends on your location & local demographic.
As for Bewleys coffee products, I don't think you can get more middle of the road - I think your business model would a coffee blend with more clout. (I'd be looking at branding something as your own blend).

makeandcreate

mary30 wrote: »

Have you guys tried Portuguese pastries besides the (pastel de nata) the famous Portuguese egg custard.??

We love it when we go on holidays I have always to try something new , the taste is yummy it's different than what we have here our Danish pastries.

Everything tastes better when it's sun drenched (except for bacon and cabbage).

di11on

My two cent on this is... your pastries sound nice. I'm a coffee drinker and don't drink juices, teas, milks shakes etc.. when I'm out and about.

However, your pastries sound interesting... if you offered coffee, you might get me in your door... but with no coffee, I'm walking straight by, no matter how good the pastries are.

I suspect there are many like me out there. If you have coffee, even as a side offering, I think you'll still catch some business if your pastries are interesting.

mary30

Hi makeandcreate

Thank you for the comment !

mary30

di11on wrote: »

My two cent on this is... your pastries sound nice. I'm a coffee drinker and don't drink juices, teas, milks shakes etc.. when I'm out and about.

However, your pastries sound interesting... if you offered coffee, you might get me in your door... but with no coffee, I'm walking straight by, no matter how good the pastries are.

I suspect there are many like me out there. If you have coffee, even as a side offering, I think you'll still catch some business if your pastries are interesting.

Hi di11on

Thank you ,
I am going to try to post some photos of the pastries so you and the rest of the guys taking part in helping me how to discuss this business can have a look .

mary30

mary30 wrote: »

Hi di11on

Thank you ,
I am going to try to post some photos of the pastries so you and the rest of the guys taking part in helping me how to discuss this business can have a look .

photos ....