ForumsStarting a Business

I gather from the question that you're on the East Coast, and see little or no competition in your region at present. If that's correct, I think this might be a great business to try. Franchises exist for this business, but they are selling sloooowly -- which could mean it's not that great an idea, or it could mean you'd be on the ground floor of a huge opportunity. Either way, I think that limiting your financial outlay to start with would be a good idea.

To do that, you could choose a location where trendy people pass by (university, downtown office area, upscale shopping mall, etc.) and perhaps start with a kiosk-based operation and rely on pass-by traffic rather than advertising. Your investment would be relatively small -- your cart, supplies, and the appropriate vendor license/permits. As you gained customers, you might be able to co-locate with a symbiotic or complimentary enterprise in the same area (the way coffee bars have co-located in bookshops). There's an Oriental furniture shop near me that has a traditional Japanese tea house in the showroom.

Your first wave of customers would probably include groups of people, only one of whom has heard of bubble or pearl teas, and he or she would have convinced the others to stop by your stand and try it. Since it is a bit of an acquired taste, you'd probably want to budget and plan for some giveaways and trial size servings early on. Success at this early stage would depend a lot on being personable and truly enjoying the process of helping individual customers learn about your product. I don't think you could just hire a kid who worked at "Dippin' Dots" last week and have this make it.

I hope this response was helpful. Best wishes!