Feng Cha started with boba tea, but the menu has grown to include broad platforms of beverages. | Photo courtesy of Feng Cha.
The U.S. is being inundated with Asian boba (or bubble) tea brands, from Mixue and Chagee to Gong Cha and Sharetea. Meanwhile, U.S.-born beverage concepts are racing to claim their territory.
Johnny Gao and his wife Yan Chen are among them.
The two are co-founders and co-CEOs of the boba tea concept Feng Cha, based in Prosper, Texas.
They came to the U.S. from China to attend college at the State University of New York in Buffalo, where they ended up spending a lot of time hanging out at a local boba tea shop there.
Buffalo was a town without much Asian food, said Gao. But this boba shop was welcoming and social. It was a place you could relax.
When they graduated and ended up moving to the Dallas area to be near family, the couple—who later married—decided they wanted to try to build a concept with the same welcoming, community feel.
So, in 2017, Feng Cha was born in Richardson, Texas.
By then, the boba tea trend was well established across Asia, though it’s widely said to have originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. In the U.S. brands like Gong Cha, had come to the U.S., and now has about 240 units here (and 2,200 worldwide). Kung Fu Tea, born in Queens, N.Y., also boasts more than 350 domestic units, and Sharetea (from Taiwan) has nearly 200.
Feng Cha is designed for roughly 1,000- to 1,500-square feet. | Photo courtesy of Feng Cha.
The Chinese phrase “feng cha” in English literally means serving tea with respect, Gao said. Other chains named Feng Cha exist in Asia, but Gao said his company has trademarked the term (and “Feng Cha Teahouse”) in the U.S.
Their goal was to build a brand with the more elevated ingredients, seen across Asia. But Gao is quick to point out they don’t focus on tea, though that’s certainly on the menu.
“We found that when people came in, they say, ‘I want boba tea,’ and we would say, ‘What kind do you want?’ And they would say, ‘Boba tea,’” said Gao. “The beverages they liked with boba in it, that’s boba tea, for them.”
So Gao quickly diversified the menu.
Now Feng Cha is really a much broader beverage concept, with dirty sodas, matchas, coffees, fruit drinks, blended offerings, milk teas (with boba) and the original tea, including the option topped with cheese milk foam.
Later, Feng Cha added Milk Foam Cakes, which are little individual sponge cakes with various milk-foam toppings in flavors like Strawberry, matcha and tiramisu. (“They’re very Instagrammable,” said Gao, though they account for less than 10% of sales and are not sold at all units.)
@fengcha.grapevine Easy recipe for the cake – get the directions to 919 E northwest hwy, suite 300, Grapevine, TX, 76051 – drive to the place – ask your barista for strawberry princess at feng cha grapevine 😍😍😍 Enjoy!! 😉 #BobaLovers#strawberry#cake#milkfoam#princess#fengcha#grapevinetexas#dfw♬ original sound – Le ADévi
Gao said he and his wife didn’t have franchising in mind when they launched the brand. But customers kept asking about it. So they decided to take that route.
Now Feng Cha has 87 units, and the chain is almost entirely franchised, mostly in Texas. The couple even sold their original Richardson location to a franchisee, but one unit remains company-owned. That’s a lab location where they test new offerings.
Initially, most of the franchisee agreements were single-unit deals, but now Feng Cha is attracting multi-unit operators, said Gao. The chain, for example, recently announced a five-unit development agreement that will bring the brand to Waco, Texas (and two in Dallas) with a Denny’s franchisee.
Gao said they don’t disclose sales information, though they will soon in their franchise disclosure documents.
They have slowed development to focus on building a solid foundation for growth, he said, though the chain expects to hit 100 units before the end of the year. There have been closures, like a unit in Las Vegas, for example.
Gao is keenly aware of the competition coming, with well-financed (and massive) brands like Mixue and Chagee setting ambitious growth goals.
But he argues that U.S.-born brands like Feng Cha understand American consumers better.
He also argues that Feng Cha’s menu is more diversified, and the brand really focuses on building community, working with local hospitals and schools, for example, to be the local hangout.
“We’re not trying to be like these national brands that want to go into fancy plazas and malls,” he said.
Gao adds that Feng Cha is the leading brand in Texas, where the brand has built a supply chain that could serve neighboring states. “Not like these international brands with warehouses overseas,” he said.
Some in the industry may see boba tea as a fad, but Gao is positioning the brand to evolve with changing consumer tastes. Established franchise operators seem to be recognizing that the younger generation loves their beverages, with or without boba, and that daily indulgence is here to stay—even when budgets get tight.
“Even in a bad economy, because they can’t get out to have a high expense, they still want to treat themselves,” he said. “They can enjoy moments together for $10 to $15.”
