In recent years, bubble tea has become incredibly popular throughout the United States. While it used to be a lot harder to find a shop that sells boba tea, today you might find a bubble tea vendor at a street fair, cafe, or even at the mall. If you want to take advantage of this trend, now is a great time to get into the bubble tea business.
To start a bubble tea business, you will need certain supplies. In addition to the basics for the drink itself, you will need disposable products for packaging. This usually means clear plastic cups, sealing film, and straws. Spending a little bit extra to brand these items can give your business a huge boost.
At Disposable Design, we work with small to medium-sized businesses to get them the custom-branded disposable products that they need at fair prices. We offer a full line of high-quality custom products, including custom paper bags, custom napkins, custom plastic cups, and custom plastic cup sealing film. Reach out today to talk to a member of our branding team about our bubble tea products.
Why Is Bubble Tea So Popular?
Bubble tea – or boba tea – was invented in the 1980s in Taiwan. While there is some dispute over which famed Taiwanese tea shop originated the drink, what we do know is that someone decided to combine a popular dessert topping – tapioca pearls (boba) – with a popular drink – milk tea. The rest, as they say, is history.
For decades, bubble tea was largely found in Asia. Today, it can be found across the United States at malls, cafes, restaurants, and food trucks. Boba tea has moved far beyond milk tea and tapioca pearls. Today, you can find many different combinations of bubbles – like popping juice bubbles – and beverages. Many bubble tea shops also offer add-ins, like jellies or fruit.
Boba tea has become incredibly popular in the U.S. There are a few reasons why it has become such a big seller. First, boba tea is delicious and infinitely customizable. You can choose the type of beverage, plus a bubble and add-ins. It is also a refreshing drink on a hot day.
Second, for many Americans, it’s something new and unique. It’s a drink option that goes beyond standard sodas and lemonades.
Third, boba tea is fun and beautiful. Depending on the type of tea, you might see swirls of brown sugar syrup in a milky tea and dark tapioca pearls – or brightly-colored juice bubbles that stand out against a layered juice. It’s fun to drink, beautiful to look at, and something interesting.
There are several different types of boba tea, including classic milk tea, made with tea, some type of dairy, sugar, and tapioca pearls. A milk tea can be customized by adding a different dairy – such as condensed milk for a Thai-style tea. Another popular option is a fruit-based tea made with fruit juice and bubbles of juice that pop in your mouth.
Because boba tea is trendy, it makes sense to add it to your menu – or open up a bubble tea business. Below, we outline what you will need to package and sell boba tea.
Everything You Need to Sell Boba Tea
If you want to sell boba tea at your cafe, restaurant, or food truck, then you will need three basic products for packaging: a cup, some type of lid, and extra wide straws (for sucking up the boba). There are some variations on each of these products – plus extras that you may choose to add to your bubble tea packaging system.
Cups
If you plan to serve bubble tea, then you won’t just need any cups – they should be clear vessels. Part of the fun of boba tea is how it looks, with the orbs swirling in the beverage of choice. “Bobaristas” often make fun, brightly colored concoctions to show off in clear cups.
Clear cups have another advantage for bubble tea business owners: when their drinks look great, customers are more likely to take pictures and post them on social media. They will also carry them around – as boba tea is often sold to-go – so that others can see the cups. For this reason, it is a good idea to buy branded clear plastic cups for your drinks.
Clear plastic cups are a necessity for any boba tea business. Adding your business name and logo to the cups is a simple and cost-effective way to enhance your marketing efforts.
Plastic Cup Pricing
Pricing for custom plastic bubble tea cups can range from $0.20 to $0.70 per cup on average. Disposable Design offers cups for as low as $0.09. Most manufacturers have a minimum order requirement. We keep our minimums low to meet the needs of small to medium-sized businesses with a 10,000-cup minimum.
Lids
No matter what kind of drink you’re selling, you will probably need lids for the cups. When it comes to boba tea, you have a few options.
You can go with a classic flat lid that snaps onto the cup – like the kind that can be found at fast food restaurants or anywhere that serves fountain drinks. However, given that bubble tea is served with an oversized straw, you will need to make sure that the straw opening is wide enough for the straw.
Alternatively, you may choose a dome lid for your boba tea – like what many establishments use for milkshakes. Dome lids could work if you want to top your beverages off with something like whipped cream, but in most cases, that extra space on the top will be wasted.
The most popular choice for bubble tea is clear plastic film. Using a boba cup sealing machine, you can seal this film onto the cup, creating an airtight seal. This is particularly helpful when it comes to serving high volumes of bubble tea, as you don’t have to worry about getting the lid on right or the drink spilling. The airtight seal also keeps drinks fresh for customers to enjoy when they’re ready to do so.
Another benefit of the sealing film is that you don’t have to worry about the proper opening for a straw. When they are ready to drink, customers will pierce the film with their boba straw (which is usually pointed at one end for this purpose). This option also allows customers to grab a boba and carry it with them until they are ready to drink – they could even throw it in their bag.
Lid Pricing
Pricing for lids can vary depending on the type of lid you decide to use. If you opt for custom sealing film, you can expect to pay around $0.1 per seal. Of course, you can save significantly with Disposable Design! Our sealing film pricing starts at $0.04 per seal.
Straws
A conventional straw is fairly narrow. It doesn’t have to be wide, since it is used to suck up liquids. With boba, however, the little pearls or bubbles are the point of the drink – and are usually much wider than a typical straw. If you are going to run a boba business, then you will need specialty bubble tea straws.
If you have ever had a milkshake with add-ins, then you are familiar with the frustration of a piece of cookie or candy getting stuck in your straw. Boba tea straws eliminate that problem because they are more than wide enough to allow customers to suck up the little bubbles without a problem. They are often brightly colored to complement the drink. If you are using sealing film for your bubble tea, pick straws with a point at one end so that customers can use it to pop a hole in the film.
Bubble Tea Straw Pricing
Bubble tea straws are unfortunately something we don’t offer, so you will need to find a separate provider for straws. You can expect to pay somewhere between $0.03 and $0.09 per straw.
Drink Carrier Bags or Trays
While it isn’t strictly necessary, having something to carry drinks in – such as a cardboard tray or a bag – can be helpful for patrons who order a lot of drinks at once. If you use sealing film, a bag could be a great choice, since you don’t have to worry about the drinks spilling. If you don’t use sealing film, you’ll need drink carrier bags with pouches designed to keep drinks from moving in transit. Otherwise, you may choose to use a tray to keep the drinks upright.
Bag Pricing
If you decide to buy drink carrier bags, you can expect to pay around $0.2 – $0.3 per bag. Alternatively, if you’re open to using traditional paper takeout bags, you can get custom paper bags with cutout handles from us starting at $0.19 per bag.
Sell Boba Tea with Custom Packaging from Disposable Design
No matter what type of packaging you decide to use for your boba tea, adding your brand is an easy way to boost your sales. It is particularly important for a product like bubble tea, which is very “Instagrammable” and popular among young people. Getting branded plastic cups and sealing film from Disposable Design is a great way to enhance your marketing efforts for pennies on the dollar.
Based in Michigan, our company sells a full range of custom disposable products, including everything that you need to package bubble tea – including custom plastic cups and custom cup sealing film. We sell all of our promotional products in smaller quantities and at good prices so that independently owned and operated businesses can afford to buy them.
To learn more about our bubble tea cups and sealing film, or to speak to a member of our branding team, fill out our online contact form or hit the live chat button at the bottom of the screen.
