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Tag: heytea

  • Heytea Unveils First Experimental ‘Lab’ Store in Canada at Toronto Eaton Centre

    Heytea Unveils First Experimental ‘Lab’ Store in Canada at Toronto Eaton Centre

    Heytea, a renowned Chinese tea chain, has recently expanded its global presence by launching its pioneering ‘Lab’ store in Canada, situated in the bustling downtown Toronto Eaton Centre. This addition to the Toronto cityscape represents a significant milestone in the expansion of the bubble tea market segment.

    Encompassing an area of 1800 square feet, the ‘Lab’ store, strategically located on the mall’s main level, is a deviation from Heytea’s conventional store design. The ‘Lab’ concept focuses on offering a range of limited-edition and innovative products instead of a standard fixed menu.

    This unique Toronto location features an exclusive selection of eight beverages, only available at this site. Many of these drinks are centred around a ‘Rock Oolong’ tea base, which Heytea leverages to enhance the appeal of its premium-priced and specialty products.

    Furthermore, the ‘Lab’ store’s menu also showcases collaborative creations developed with esteemed Toronto chef, Susur Lee. These innovative offerings incorporate high-end ingredients, including caviar, into select beverages and desserts.

    Heytea launched its initial foray into Canada in 2023 when it opened its first store in Vancouver. Since then, the company has continued to grow its Canadian presence, now boasting six stores across Vancouver and Toronto. The opening of the Toronto Eaton Centre location further solidifies its foothold in the country.

    Established in 2012, Heytea has established a significant global presence, operating approximately 4000 stores in over 330 cities worldwide. This includes more than 100 locations spread across Hong Kong, Macau, and various international markets, with over 45 stores in North America alone.

    Questions & Answers

    What is unique about Heytea’s ‘Lab’ store in Toronto Eaton Centre?
    The ‘Lab’ store deviates from Heytea’s typical store format, focusing on offering customers limited-edition and innovative products rather than a standard fixed menu.

    What specific beverages are available only at the Toronto ‘Lab’ location?
    The Toronto ‘Lab’ store offers an exclusive selection of eight drinks, many of which are centred around a ‘Rock Oolong’ tea base.

    What collaborative creations are included in the menu of Heytea’s ‘Lab’ store?
    The ‘Lab’ store’s menu features collaborative creations developed with renowned Toronto chef, Susur Lee. These unique offerings incorporate high-end ingredients like caviar into select beverages and desserts.

  • Chinese tea chain Heytea expands into the US

    Chinese tea chain Heytea expands into the US

    Chinese tea company Heytea has launched its first store in the US – in the heart of Broadway, New York, – as it continues its rapid international expansion, including into Malaysia, Australia, Canada, and London.

    The brand marked its US debut with a Times Square billboard and chose a location just a 10-minute walk from major New York landmarks.

    Heytea described its US entry as a success after selling 2500 cups at Broadway on opening day.

    “As the initial entry point for Heytea into the US market, New York City holds extraordinary significance for the growth of our brand,” said Yujia Gu, VP of strategy at Heytea.

    “By providing high-quality products and services, we aspire to deliver a joyful brand experience to consumers in NYC and beyond, contributing to the ongoing development of the US tea industry,” he said.

    By expressing their experiences on ‘Teaholics shared photos of the store on social media channels including TikTok and Instagram.

    Gu said the brand plans to keep expanding the tea market in the US.

    Established in 2012 and based in Jiangbianli, Guangdong, Heytea has 3000 stores worldwide.

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  • Chinese bubble tea chain Heytea arrives in Malaysia

    Chinese bubble tea chain Heytea arrives in Malaysia

    Chinese tea brand Heytea has opened its first store at Kuala Lumpur’s newly-opened shopping destination, The Exchange TRX, as part of Heytea’s ambition to have a larger footprint in the country.

    The new store takes over an 80sqm space of the shopping mall’s Level C.

    The Malaysia launch, which the company described as its “important business destination in Southeast Asia,” follows Heytea’s entry into the UK on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue earlier this year. Malaysia also marks Heytea’s second Southeast Asian market after Singapore, where it entered in 2018.

    The company is also plotting its US debut, with the first store scheduled to open in Manhattan this month.

    Heytea is among the major retailers making market debuts at The Exchange TRX, including Japan’s Seibu department store, Gentle Monster, Shake Shack, and Drunk Elephant.

    Founded in 2012, the Shenzhen-headquartered tea chain is known for modern interior design and “new-generation Chinese tea drinks.”

  • Heytea opens first store outside Asia in London

    Heytea opens first store outside Asia in London

    Chinese tea brand Heytea has launched its first store outside of Asia in London’s Chinatown, accelerating its international expansion.

    The London Heytea store is located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the neighbourhood of Soho, close to Leicester Square, the Prime Minister’s Office, and Buckingham Palace.

    The expansion follows the brand’s success when launching its first overseas store in Singapore in 2018.

    Heytea reportedly announced the opening of applications for overseas business partnerships earlier this year, including plans to open in countries including the UK, the US and Canada.

    Established in 2012 and headquartered in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Heytea is one of the most popular tea brands in China due to its modern interior design, photogenic packaging and innovative drinks.

    Heytea currently operates more than 1000 stores in China and four locations in Singapore. The brand launched its convenience-store-like concept in Singapore in 2021, as part of its strategy to attract more young customers, especially Gen Z.

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  • Heytea unveils convenience-store-like concept in Singapore

    Heytea unveils convenience-store-like concept in Singapore

    Chinese milk-tea brand Heytea has launched a retail concept resembling a convenience store in Singapore.

    The store, which is also the brand’s first outlet in the city’s south, is located at VivoCity and features bright orange and grey striped frontage, illustrating “the fun and quirky store concept”.

    The store also has large glass windows so customers can see how staff are making their orders. Besides teas, Heytea VivoCity also offers pastries, croissants and muffins.

    An “Order On The Go” service is available for customers to avoid queues.

    Founded in 2012 in China, Heytea operates more than 260 outlets in China and four outlets in Singapore. Three other outlets are located at Ion Orchard and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.

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  • Chinese tea chain Heytea leaving Hong Kong

    Chinese tea chain Heytea leaving Hong Kong

    Chinese tea chain Heytea has closed three-quarters of its Hong Kong network, leaving just two stores operating, at Causeway Bay’s Times Square and Sha Tin’s New Town Plaza.

    Three of Heytea’s outlets in Tsim Tsa Tsui – at The Sun Arcade and New World Development’s two K11 malls – have been boarded up. A K11 representative shared with Apple Daily that Heytea had rescinded its tenancy at the end of April. The tea chain had entered K11 Art Mall and K11 Musea in March and September last year, respectively. The K11 Musea flagship dubbed the ‘Heytea Lab’ spanned 4000sqft, offering patrons views overlooking Victoria Harbor and featuring the brand’s first tea-cocktail bar. It lasted less than one year.

    Heytea entered Hong Kong in late 2018, with customers queueing for up to four hours at the opening of the inaugural store at New Town Plaza. However, since the protests from June last year, many pro-democratic locals had boycotted the once-hyped tea brand due to its mainland Chinese origins.

    With Hong Kong now divided along political lines, locals initiated their own ‘Hong Kong 5.1 Golden Week’ protest action over the recent long weekend, a reference to the “Five Demands, Not One Less” slogan at the core of last year’s protests. The protest actively supported ‘yellow economy’ businesses that openly support Hong Kong protestors.

    More than 300 Heytea stores continue to operate in Mainland China and the brand made its first international foray into Singapore in 2018. The company sourced its initial funding from He Boquan, an angel investor from IDG Capital, and has just completed another round of financing led by Hillhouse Capital and Coatue Management, valuing the business at RMB16 billion (US$2.3 billion) post-investment.

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  • Tea chain Heytea opening outlets in Singapore

    Tea chain Heytea opening outlets in Singapore

    Chinese tea chain Heytea will open a new store at Westgate, Singapore on Saturday.

    The minimalist store design is inspired by the traditional Chinese handscroll and attempts a “Zen” vibe intended to provide customers with an immersive store experience to enhance inspiration and creativity.

    The Westgate store introduces two newly launched items in its Oreo Series, including the Orea Boboshake and the Oreo Sundae.

    The tea chain Heytea operates 268 stores in more than 35 cities in China and abroad. Its first overseas store launched in Singapore last year, since which time it has opened three more locations.

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  • Heytea opens store in Hong Kong

    Heytea opens store in Hong Kong

    On December, 24 Sha Tin New Town Plaza, in Hong Kong, welcomed Heytea. A huge crowd queuing up for more than 3 hours just to get a cup of Cheese Tea from the Chinese tea-drink brand Heytea was the protagonit that day. Due to the buy-one-get-one free promotion during the Christmas holidays, people started lining up as early as 6:00 am.

    Heytea officially announced that it had opened its first Hong Kong store only on january, 3. They chose to expand into Hong Kong’s market due to the city’s international status as well as its vibrant food and beverage scene. It helps to promote Heytea as a popular and innovative tea-drink brand among global consumers, especially younger generations.

    The store not only offers its signature cheese tea, but also a great variety of fruit tea and ice cream. The tea is imported from all over the world which aims to renew the traditional tea culture.

    Also, it introduces an exclusive product combined with Hong Kong local food culture, namely, the Eggette Roll Sundae, adding new vitality into the brand, according to its founder Nie Yunchen.

    He said “geographically, Hong Kong is adjacent to Guangdong Province and Shenzhen. Hong Kong people already know our brand and often buy our tea when they visit Shenzhen or other cities in Guangdong. In order to thank our supporters and cope with an increasing demand of our tea, we think it is the right time to extend our reach to the city.”

    Zhenglei, Development Director of Heytea, confirmed that Heytea opened its second Hong Kong store in Causeway Bay on 12 January 2019. “We are quite confident that our tea products will be very welcomed by our customers in Hong Kong.”

    In order to avoid a huge crowd like the last opening, Heytea planned to replace the traditional order and payment method by ordering through their mobile app.

    The second shop of Heytea located in Causeway is named as “Heyteago”, their customer can order online in anytime, anywhere for a cup of tea-to-go. Therefore, cheese-tea lovers can save their time and no need to queue up for 3 hours outside Heytea again.

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  • Heytea Singapore now opens in Ion Orchard

    Heytea Singapore now opens in Ion Orchard

    Chinese tea franchise Heytea is launching its first overseas store in Singapore. The six-year-old chain is one of China’s most popular in its category, with each outlet selling 2000-3000 cups per day. It claims to be the franchise responsible for inventing cheese tea, serving drinks with New Zealand cheese.

    The Heytea Singapore store will feature a uniform minimalist white interior design with wooden accents, with some outlets featuring themed retail spaces.

    The new Singapore location is launching at Ion Orchard.

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