toastea

Usually when someone quits, he/she is either heading back to school or found another job. Yet when Alice told us two years ago that she was leaving to follow a dream, she was moving to her hometown of Los Angeles to hopefully finally follow through with what she thought was an underserved market of a bubble tea shop in the downtown area.

Her concept was simple yet unique from the numerous franchises popping all over the world of bubble tea, which included toast with your tea. Other than honey and some minor items, everything else is made fresh in the store - no powder mixes. The boba comes from Taiwan, where it originated. With her two business partners and friends, they have experimented with different combination of flavors, both for the drinks and the toasts, including spicy churro toast which is chocolate flavor with a cayenne chili kick and Luna's Elixir which includes strawberries and marshmallows with jasmine tea.

It took her over a year to open though. It turns out that looking for the right space as well as having the looks of a young Asian woman were challenging combinations. Landlords did not give her the time of day although they commented that whoever she hired to do her business plan did a great job. Somehow, their preconceived notions of a young Asian woman did not include the skills to put together her own business plan. So not to be dissuaded, Alice decided to play their game rather than getting upset and bitter. She portrayed herself as a representative of a business owner who was looking for space.

In the end, they finally opened in March 2017 and by this month, they are projected to break even. We made sure we took a pit stop on our last night in Los Angeles tonight to visit her "baby". Despite the natural stresses that come with owning one's own business, I've never seen her happier. The excitement in her voice and body, showing us around and relaying her journey, was a great testament to the benefits of listening to one's inner voice and following one's dream(s).