When the Circuit Breaker measures hit Singapore businesses back on 7 April 2020, many businesses had to lan lan suck thumb and just close temporarily, and God knows whether they’d ever be open again.
And on 21 April 2020, when it was announced that bubble tea shops would need to close on the next day with the enhanced Circuit Break measures, people flocked to bubble tea shops for one last cup.
Little did they know that unlike other businesses that just followed the rules to the T, bubble tea shops are like teenagers that refused to look at rules the same way old people do.
Instead, they find ways to continue feeding the population with their sugary drinks.
LiHo & Gong Cha Teamed Up With Shops to Continue Selling
You see, the rules are rather straight-forward: standalone outlets (excluding those in hawker centres, food courts and coffeeshops) that sell only beverages, packaged snacks, confectioneries or desserts will be required to close their outlets.
Bubble tea shops decided to think out of the box and therefore tag their products with other eateries that can remain open instead.
Gong Cha has enlisted the help of social enterprise café Professor Brawn Bistro to deliver their drinks together with food:
LiHO went one step further; other than partnering with F&B outlets that are already under the same parent company.
Here’s the list:
- Woo Ricebox from Orchard Xchange
- Paik’s Bibim from Bedok Mall, NTU, Tiong Bahru Plaza, VivoCity
- Tino’s Pizza from Tiong Bahru Plaza
- Gong Yuan Ma La Tang from Changi City Point, Funan, Heartland Mall, Orchard Xchange, Suntec City, Westgate
They recently also created a new platform, Boss Happy Delivery, which delivers items from a select list of companies under the LiHo’s parent company, Royal T Group.
Other than that, they even sell Bubble Tea Kits for you to cook at home.
So now we’re left with one more chain.
Reader Bao: Playmade?
No lah that chain now fighting a PR crisis. We’re talking about…
KOI Making a Comeback By Working With Meal-on-Demand Grain
If there’s one thing we learn from the closure of bubble tea shops, it’s this: they’re all same same but different.
I’m not talking about their taste but the way they operate.
KOI hinted a comeback two days after closing all outlets with this post:
Now, how can they come back when all their outlets are closed?
Well, with this:
Are they selling food in their outlets?
It’s unknown, but chances are they’re going to partner with a homegrown F&B company that provides both on-demand meals and meal plans to consumers. Just think of them as tingkat lah but much more atas; I mean, look at their menu:
I feel like ordering from them just by looking at that.
It’s unknown how the collaboration would be like, but if it’s anything like the other brands, they’re basically going to tap on their partner’s delivery platform to continue serving the sugary drinks to bubble tea addicts.
They’ll reveal the details in a few days, so stay tuned.
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Now while we marvel at how bubble tea shops are working around the rules to continue their services, one can help but wonder: is it the right thing to do?
Reader Bao: Of course it is.
Objective of Enhanced Circuit Breaker Measures
Live in Singapore long enough and you’d know that every single thing the authorities does have a valid reason.
The closure of bubble tea shops is not a direction by Health Promotion Board to fight diabetes, though I did hear some cheers from the folks there.
Instead, the goal is to reduce the commuting workforce from 20% to 15%. To achieve that, they’d have to weigh what is essential and what isn’t.
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Despite protests that bubble tea is essential, we all know it isn’t, so they’re closed.
Which would move the needle in the percentage of the workforce towards the 15%.
But when bubble tea brands work around the rules? The staff would still need to go to work in the partner F&B eatery’s outlets.
And that defeats the purpose of closing the shops.
Reader Bao: But they close many shops so it’ll still help as fewer people would be commuting and working mah
I know, but Mr Bao, but pray tell me: are you certain they’re helping to move the needle, or to move the bottom line?
Imagine all businesses that are required to close finding ways to keep their businesses open. We might as well remove the circuit breaker from the wall lah.
Nevertheless, I’ve nothing against them lah since I need my fix of bubble tea, too. Just a food for thought lah.
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You can watch this video to know more about bubble tea:
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