Chatime revamps Philippine menu in face of ‘boba’ bubble burst

It wants to go beyond just bubble tea by relaunching its smoothie line.

Taiwanese brand Chatime, one of the world’s largest teahouse franchises, is revamping its bubble tea menu in the Philippines amidst an overly saturated market that threatens to hurt profits.

To stand out, the maker of the milk tea paired with chewy tapioca pearls is experimenting with beverages that didn’t initially sell big, and wants to become a broader beverage brand in a highly competitive market

“Today, everyone is selling milk tea,” Chris Cua, finance and marketing director at Chatime Philippines, told QSR Media. “And I don’t mean there are a lot of milk-tea brands, but a lot of competitors, and even fast-food places and coffee shops sell milk tea.” 

The global market for bubble tea — colloquially known in Taiwan as “boba” — was valued at $2.46b in 2023 and is projected to grow 7.74% annually from $2.63b in 2024 to $4.78b by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights.

The Asia-Pacific region had a market share of 43% in 2023.

Cua said Chatime wants to go beyond just bubble tea by relaunching their smoothie line of beverages, first released in 2011, when the Philippine franchise first started.

“We just sort of developed it as an add-on,” he said, noting that 13 years ago, it accounted for only 1% to 2% of their sales, forcing them to phase it out. “But in other countries like Malaysia, Canada, and Australia, it was doing well. So why not relaunch it here — not just the ordinary fruit smoothies but with our own twist?”

The Philippine tea shop market faces intense competition both from local and international brands, according to Astute Analytica. The Southeast Asian nation had 5,000 tea shops in the Philippines in 2023.

Aside from top rival Gong cha, other players are making their moves toward the international market like HeyTea and Tealive, especially in the Philippines, where the teashop market is expected to grow 8.4% annually to $615.76m by 2032 from $308.6m in 2023, it said.

Chatime has almost 200 branches In the Philippines, whilst Gong cha has about 170. Newcomers like Tealive, which has 75 outlets, plans to add 25 this year. Chatime also faces pressure from the likes of Cotti Coffee and ZUS Coffee, both of which are trying to capture the beverage market with products that go beyond coffee.

Chatime Philippines’ original smoothies were just your basic fruit smoothies. Now, it is adding more elements to it, launching the Yogurt Cream Smoothies line made from top flavours like avocado, peach mango, chocolate, and cookies and cream.

The new menu features yoghurt for a healthy twist, with vibrant swirls and marbling patterns. The yoghurt cream adds thickness, helping it stay firmer for longer. The new smoothies have “sinkers” called jelly cakes, which are a traditional Taiwanese dessert. 

Cua said they target a 5% sales mix for the new smoothie range and 10% once summer starts.

He said he is also aware of the rising popularity of low-cost coffee. “Before the pandemic, coffee was a decimal percent of sales. Now, it’s around  6% or 7%, including the new coffee products we launched. But we don’t want to shift too much to coffee because sometimes, these trends come and go.”

Cua sees an opportunity to reposition the brand to cater to the younger generation through social media like TikTok, where Chatime Philippines has had 6.5 million likes from more than 162,000 followers.

He said their loyal customers are millennials who are getting older. “So the question is how do we capture the younger generation? Right now, maybe it's coffee or maybe it’s through marketing like social media.”