IN the time of a community quarantine, what could be in your delivery orders? Groceries, vegetables? medicines? Charisse Sy and Hans Guirgen are pretty sure milk tea is also on that list.
The owners of the Bubble Black Milk Tea, Sy and Guirgen, are confident people are still willing to spend for milk teas even when their budget is challenged due to the health crisis.
"Buyag karong quarantine na time which started mid-March to the whole month of April kusog kaayo among sales (We are in demand even during community quarantine which started mid-March to the whole month of April)," Sy said.
Being a new player in the stiff milk tea competition, they prided themselves for gaining and keeping a significant share of the milk tea market.
Davao City was already saturated with milk tea shops when the couple established Bubble Black Milk Tea. In fact, they admitted they are avid fans of the beverage. But they opened their own milk tea shop to satisfy their taste rather than joining the bandwagon.
"Mahilig kasi talaga kami mag milk tea dalawa. Like for months din kami sige lang milk tea. Medyo daghan-daghan na sad mi napang-try na brands and feeling namo, naay uban na lami ang ilang certain flavor lang (Both of us love milk tea. After months of trying other milk tea brands, we found that some ," Sy shared.
"So, naisip namo, tanan gusto namo sa isa ka milk tea among buhaton. Kasi at some point kulangan pa kasi mi (We want to make the taste that we like because we did not experience it from others)," she added.
The couple later developed their own mixture after joining a milk tea making workshop which was brought from Manila to Davao City. Their backgrounds in the fields of business, design, and marketing and their love for the product soon put their business on the milk tea map.
They rolled out the usual flavors with black sugar as its twist. Inspired with popular international brands, they choose an animal to represent their brand.
"We want something of the same caliber. We choose bears which are strong spirit animals. They can also be both cute and strong," Sy said.
Their carrier products are milk, milk tea, and chocolate labeled as Polar Bear, Grizzly Bear, and Black Bear, respectively. Their other classic flavors include Wintermelon, Okinawa, Chocolate, Matcha, Taro, Coffee, Mocha, Salted Caramel, Red Velvet, and Strawberry.
Since then, their demand grew to 950 to 1100 cups from just 80 per day and it went on despite customers being forced to stay in their homes.
"Mahappy mi na ani, but makuratan pud mi na ani diay kadaghan ang ganahan ug milk tea jud. To think sa Foodpanda, naa cguro 20 to 30 plus na nagabaligya milk tea dira but the demand is really there (We were glad but also surprised that there are really a lot of milk tea lovers. There were already about 20 to 30 milk tea merchants in foodpanda but people still order from us)," Sy said.
Guirgen attributed the growth of its customer base to their assurance of the quality of product and customer service.
He said it is important to assign people who will cater to orders, questions, and concerns on their online platforms to ensure an immediate response. He said also they take the risk and cost of replacing wrongly prepared products even in deliveries.
"What we are striving to do to make us different [from other milk tea shops] is our customer service. Ang pinaka goal jud unta namo is pina Starbucks na level of service which sa karon wala pa namo totally naabot but hinay-hinay namo gina-improve (We want to employ the level of customer service similar to Starbucks. We are not there yet but we are gradually improving it)," he said.
Just like the majority of businesses, the current community quarantine measures posed challenges in getting their supplies, and in addressing their logistics issues. But Sy and Guirgen are optimistic that their solid customers are just there, ready to strike as soon as the community quarantine is lifted.
"Surprisingly, naapil sa 'essentials' ang milk tea (Milk teas have become an essential)," Sy said. "Naa jud budget ang tao for milk tea (People set aside budget for milk tea)," Guirgen agreed.