For the past few years, milk tea –– also known as boba tea or bubble tea –– has become a worldwide craze. There are plenty of milk tea shops on the market. It’s amazing how all of them stay alive even with all the competition. The great thing about milk tea is that you can customize it and create hundreds of different flavors. It’s also not that hard to make. If you’re looking to start your own business, maybe you should hop on the milk tea craze too! Here’s how you can start:
Do some market research.
It’s important to market research before starting up any business. You can’t just start a business without doing some research first. Market research allows you to understand your target market. You get an in-depth idea of their various wants and needs and their consumer problems. Conducting market research also allows you to understand your competition. This will help you identify what you can do to set yourself apart from others.
When conducting your market research, you have to define your goals and objectives first. What do you want to know about your market? Something as simple as knowing how much your target market is willing to pay for your product, or what kind of design and packaging they would prefer? You could even ask what flavors they would like. You could also use this research to pinpoint your competition’s weaknesses. Conduct a survey and ask people what they think most milk tea shops lack and see if you can provide that service or product –– things like that.
Pick a niche
After you’ve done your market research, you should have enough data to determine your target market’s expectations and how you can set yourself apart from other businesses. Maybe you want your business to have a certain theme. Think of something that will make your business stand out. Maybe it’s the aesthetics, the number of flavors on your menu, the customization of the drinks, the size of your products, or the ambiance of your store.
Handle your finances
A key factor in starting your own business is having enough capital to do it in the first place. Capital is the amount of money that will help you start your business. This includes the budget for your store location, equipment, employees, and marketing. Do you have enough capital? If not, maybe you should look into what loans you can get for your business. Usually, when it comes to getting a loan, you would have to prepare a business plan to present to the lenders or investors. Having a good business plan and cash flow analysis will make lenders feel safer lending their money.
Look for a location
The next thing you need to do is find a store location. That is unless you decide to start your business from home. Starting a business at home is great for various reasons. First of all, you save money because you won’t have to spend leasing a commercial space. You also get a wider reach of customers when you sell online. It would also be much safer to sell from home while the pandemic is ongoing.
Fix all your permits and licenses
You must get your business registered. Starting a food and drink business also requires that you get a permit from the Health Department. These are the different permits and licenses you will need:
- Business license
- Personnel permits or licenses
- Tax registration
- Trade name registration
- Employer registration
- Business name and logo
Figure out the equipment and supplies you will need
For the equipment, the most common equipment and supplies used in a milk tea shop are:
- Tea Brewing Machine
- Stove or Table Burner
- Cooking Pot
- Blender
- Strainer
- Tapioca Container
- Measuring Scoop
- Cup Sealing Machine
- Shaking Cups
- Water Dispenser
- Refrigerator
- Cash Register
- Cups and Lids
- Dome Lids
- Oversized Straws
- Utensils
If you set up your business from home, you wouldn’t have to spend so much on the equipment because most of this can be found at home, such as the brewing machine, stove, cooking pots, strainers, containers, scoopers, dispensers, refrigerators, and other utensils. The only things you would actually have to spend on are the packaging equipment and supplies.
A great eco-friendly packaging design for milk tea entails using glass bottles instead of plastic cups. Instead of buying a cup sealing machine and using up so much plastic, you could opt to use glass bottles and a liquid filling machine instead. Investing in liquid filling equipment can allow you to fill the bottles faster and accurately; no struggle, no stress, and no waste of milk tea. What’s great is that people could reuse the bottles for personal use, instead of throwing them away.
Market your business
After you’ve set up all the legal stuff, the equipment, and supplies, you can now market your business. Using social media and digital marketing is the easiest, most cost-effective way to promote your business. If you’re clueless about how to do your own marketing, there are plenty of guides on the internet. You could even hire professional digital marketing services online.
Now that you’ve got an idea of starting your milk tea business, all you have to do is make it happen!
