3 / 10
Business View Australia
The franchise, which originated
in Taiwan in 2005, first opened its
Australian doors in 2009. Since then,
its business has been expanded to 66
stores, 16 of which are corporate with
the rest being owned by franchisees.
Each location, or T-Brewery as the
company likes to call them, delivers
freshly brewed iced and hot teas in
an assortment of flavors. The fresh
ingredients are prepared in state-of-
the-art tea brewing machines which
have allowed the franchise to produce
an incredibly varied menu of teas that
can please every palate.
A fresh focus
Though Cha Time originally became
famous for its innovative bubble tea
recipes, the brand is now attempting
to redefine the brand’s image into the
“home of freshly brewed iced tea”.
Globally, shareholders were interested
in the idea of giving the brand more of
a Western appeal without betraying
its roots or delving too far away from
the original goals. By focusing on the
freshness of the ingredients, such
as the tea which is brewed at least
every four hours, the Cha Time team
believes that the brand will appeal to
a wider Western audience.
Carlos Antonius, General Manager,
and Ben Hemphill, National Franchise
Manager, explained more about this
process: “The key part of the brief is
that the shareholders globally were
looking at how Cha Time, which trades
in the bubble tea category, could
step out of that space and develop a
brand that had more Western appeal
[…] So we embarked on this brand
review nine months ago and we have
now gone to market with this new
positioning for the Cha Time brand”
For anyone following Australian drink
trends, this should not be surprising at
all. Research has shown that iced tea
consumption is on the rise. Combined