Starting with a humble beverage shop, a Taiwanese-American boba tea entrepreneur has transformed his business into a multimillion-dollar packaging giant that is publicly listed on the NASDAQ.
On Wednesday last week, Alan Yu (俞宗明) shared his success story when hosting a delegation of members from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles (TECO LA), the Taiwanese- American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (TACCLA) and media representatives.
The meeting was held at Yu’s 4,645m2 facility in Chino, California, which serves as the principal executive and administrative headquarters for his companies Karat Packaging Inc and Lollicup USA Inc, as well as a manufacturing plant for select products.
Photo: CNA
Karat is a publicly listed company valued at approximately US$368 million.
However, Yu came from humble beginnings. His first foray into the food and beverage industry began in 2000, when he opened his first boba tea shop in San Gabriel, California, with his partner, Marvin Cheng (鄭光宏).
Soon, Lollicup USA Inc was founded, focusing initially on the establishment, franchising and licensing of boba tea stores throughout the US.
Yu said that he was the person who coined “boba tea,” the English term used to describe the internationally popular Taiwanese beverage.
Yu said that instead of using “pearls,” the term commonly used in Taiwan to describe the beverage’s tapioca balls, he settled on “boba,” an older Mandarin slang used to describe the voluptuous figure of a woman, to associate the snack with the supersizing of day-to-day items commonly practiced in the US.
The operation quickly went from a single venue to more than 60 stores in 2006.
To guarantee quality control at all of their stores, the company in 2004 expanded its focus to include the distribution of supplies for the entire boba tea industry in the US.
In 2014, the firm began distributing and manufacturing products under a new brand, Karat, because of growing demand for their packaging products in the country’s food service industry.
Karat was eventually incorporated in September 2018 as the holding company for Lollicup.
Asked about the key to his success, Yu said that it is always important to keep risk diversification in mind while growing a company.
Dedication, adaptability and perseverance in problem-solving also helped the company grow, he said.
Echoing Yu’s statement, Lollicup and Karat’s chief operation officer, Joanne Wang (王姿容), used examples of how the company has spread its focus over the past 20 years, all the while coming face-to-face with unforeseen obstacles such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are a lot of people out there in the business of boba tea products, but we have been able to achieve what others could not, such as decreasing packaging volume to lower logistics expenses, and selecting the right kind of plastic to minimize breakage during transport,” Wang said.
Liu Lun-cheng (劉倫正), who heads TECO LA’s Economic Division, told the meeting that Yu’s ability to transform a small beverage shop into a NASDAQ-listed company fully encompassed and represented the hardworking spirit of Taiwanese.
TACCLA president Lisa Liu (劉雅薇) said that it was an impressive feat for a Taiwanese-American company to penetrate the mainstream US market, gaining clients from popular food chains such as TGI Fridays.
Today, Lollicup reaches across six US states, with distribution centers, supply stores, manufacturing plants and warehouses in Hawaii, Washington, California, Texas, South Carolina and New Jersey.
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