As the global bubble tea market grows, Asian tea maker Gong Cha has announced it is expanding in Mexico with plans to open 100 stores by 2024.
Mexico general manager Cristina Soto told the newspaper Milenio that this year the company will open six more stores selling the popular green tea and tapioca pearl drink, with 20 more coming in 2021.
“The pandemic did not affect us, in fact we had increased sales…” she said. Some of the new outlets will be owned by the company, others are franchises. “If we can open more, we will.”
Gong Cha, which means “tea for an emperor,” was born in the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung in 2006 and quickly began expanding its presence. Currently, it has 1,500 stores in countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, China, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Gong Cha opened its first Mexican store in Guadalajara in February 2019, marking the chain’s first entry into a Spanish-speaking country. Two more stores were added, a second in Guadalajara and a store in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City.
“It is a market that is growing, unlike coffee mainly because Generation Z is looking for different options. We want to enter Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta, and we are interested in opening talks to reach Puebla, Monterrey and Querétaro,” Soto said.
The global bubble tea market is valued at US $2.4 billion, but is estimated to reach $4.3 billion by 2027.
Source: Milenio (sp)
