Unprecedented weather? Not a big factor of bubble tea revenues

Bubble tea stores in Manhattan, including well-known brands Kung Fu Tea and Coco Fresh Tea & Juice, welcomed their customers on Monday morning after a short break during the snowstorm last weekend. Recent “weird warmth”, as put by some media, did not seem to have a huge influence on business performance of bubble tea shops, according to their employees.

Manhattan, one of the most densely populated and diverse areas in the world, has around 20 bubble tea shops, which sell tea-based drinks originated in Taiwan. Like most other restaurants and coffee shops, bubble tea shops closed last Saturday because of the blizzard. Despite a small loss in revenue, bubble tea shops didn’t see an obvious impact brought by unpredictable weather and unseasonably-warm temperatures.

“As long as the campus is open, students will come regardless of the weather, ” said Carina He, manager of Kung Fu Tea located at the corner of Washington Square Park.

He has been with Kung Fu Tea for three years, ever since the shop opened up on New York University’s Manhattan campus. The shop sells 500 to 600 cups of bubble tea every day, according to He. She doesn’t recall a bad performance due to rainy or snowy days.

“The revenue is always increasing since this shop opened,” He said. “Maybe it’s because more and more students come to NYU to study.”

Coco Fresh Tea & Juice, described as a “winter hand warmer” by CNN Travel, has a branch store on St. Mark’s Place where NYU students visit for fast food. According to its staff, the shop sells about 100 cups a day in winter and 200 in summer.

Coco’s employees didn’t notice “obvious fluctuations” during warm weather. “Our sales are not that high anyway,” said one of the staff. “Coco Tea is not close to teaching buildings,” he added.

On the opposite side of Coco is another Kung Fu Tea shop. Nicole Beliakov and three friends stepped in and sat down for warm drinks. Beliakov, who lives in Rego Park in Queens, is a senior high school student at St. George Academy located in the East Village. She buys oatmeal tea at Kung Fu Tea about once a week and would visit more frequently when the weather is cold.

According to a part-time employee at Kung Fu Tea, the store sells 200 to 300 cups a day. “We sell more in warmer days during winter but it’s not a huge difference,” said the student at the City University of New York.

Paulina Nowomiejski, a sophomore studying Anthropology at NYU, is a big fan of bubble tea. Her stepfather is from Taiwan and she just came back from a tour of Taiwan and Korea.

“I definitely drink more in summer,” said Nowomiejski. She drinks iced Wu Long tea in both summer and winter. Warmer temperatures, like people have experienced recently, would make her more inclined to visit bubble tea shops.

Most employees in bubble tea shops receive hourly-based salaries, which make them immune from performance of their shops. On Monday morning, most of them have spent about an hour cleaning up snow before they opened their shops at noon.