My Experience with Tealive Cebu at the Ayala Central Bloc

I have tasted several foreign-owned tea shops. My first experience with tea shops was with Chatime (read here). Now, I heard of this new coffee shop (or tea shop, take your pick) called Tealive. At first, I thought it was Taiwanese but when I Googled it--it was Malaysian. It made sense that the company uses only Halal-approved ingredients since Malaysia has a huge Muslim population. The founder is Malaysian-Chinese businessman Bryan Loo of Loob Holdings. Loob here also means inside as the Tagalog language also derives from the Malay language. Tealive would later head to the Philippines. It would be like getting Filipinos closer to their Malaysian heritage after all.

The branches in Cebu include SM City, SM Seaside, and Ayala Central Bloc. The one I ate was at Ayala Central Bloc. Someone gave me a taste of their sandwich and their signature coffee. I was pretty much impressed that I decided to dine in there. I went to try their lychee tea and chees burger. For a note, their ham sandwich is chicken ham and not chicken plus ham since it's a Halal-approved establishment. I have tasted their chicken ham (and it tastes better than pork harm) and their hamburgers. I'm definitely looking forward to tasting more of their tea.

The Marketing Interactive shows the marketing done by Loo himself.

Tealive is expanding into Manila and has appointed Mike Dumaual to lead its operations as GM. The Southeast Asian tea chain said on LinkedIn that Dumaual will be leading the charge on business operations across the Philippines, including store expansion strategy and boosting the Tealive brand to be Philippines’ preferred lifestyle tea brand.
Meanwhile, Dumaual has over 22 years of experience with a focus on marketing and brand management, in the F&B and FMCG sectors with such as Mang Inasal, Jollibee, and Burger King. “I’m truly excited to lead Tealive’s grand entry into the Philippine market, knowing how milk tea-crazy this country is. The ambition is not just to make it a milk tea player but a major and respected F&B lifestyle brand that Filipinos will love," he said.
Bryan Loo (pictured), CEO of Loob Holding, told A+M that the Philippines is its first market entry together with its new private equity partner Creador. "Filipinos are, no doubt, huge lovers of milk tea products in Southeast Asia. Together with Creador's extensive local resources in the Philippines, we decided to enter this market to build the next well-loved homegrown milk tea brand. He said:
Our vision is to expand 30 outlets by the end of 2022 and double our store count every other year.

KL Foodie

An additional note is that the current CEO of Tealive is Malaysian actor Ahmad Fikry Ibrahim (left of Loo). Loo mentions the reason why Ibrahim has become part of the Malaysian Tealive family:

“Tealive is home-grown and a proudly Malaysian brand which has spread to nine countries across five continents, serving over five million customers each month,” he said.
“We welcome Fikry to helm the role of Tealive CEO for our coffee campaign. He has also grown from his early days of Lawak Solo to be a wholesome family-oriented and happy-go-lucky celebrity adored by millions of fans,” he added.
“Fikry’s enthusiasm for the Tealive brand is amazing. So, together, we will have much joy and fun serving more coffee throughout Malaysia,” he quipped.

I find this to be an interesting mix. Taiwanese milk tea found itself expanding in the Philippines. Taiwan's aboriginal tribes have very similar naming to the Philippines' aborigine tribes. In short, the links between Taiwan and the Philippines are closer than you think. I even wrote an article where I pointed to the similarities between Taiwanese natives and Filipino natives. I also wrote an article where I believe that many Asian indigenous groups are from Malaysia. A Malay CEO with brown skin would help Filipinos reconnect. Loo also saw the potential of the Philippines' milk tea population while retaining the use of halal-certified ingredients in Malaysia.

Now, the company is hitting large in Southeast Asia. Going to the Philippines has been a wise move since it's also part of the ASEAN country. I see that the Philippines can learn from Malaysia since both are related closely than one thinks.

#SahodItaasPresyoIbaba Economics' Understanding of How Gasoline Prices Work

International State College of the Philippines Today is Flor Contempacion Day , and rallies are expected. However, whether it's Flor's death anniversary or not, rallies are expected for the wrongest of reasons. I would like to address this photo from the International State College of the Philippines' Facebook page. The demands here are rather clunky and stupid. We have the following demands that would naturally clash with each other, such as: No to the oil deregulation law while demanding lower oil prices. This is simply ignoring the basic fundamentals of economics, namely the law of supply and demand . They say that oil companies are greedy for gain. These rallyists probably don't really understand the difference between revenues and profits . Let's understand the Oil Deregulation Law The Oil Deregulation Law, or the Republic Act No. 8479 , passed on February 10, 1998, under the late Fidel Valdez Ramos. Here's how the liberalization works: CHAPTER II LIBERAL...

"Will #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba Economics Lower Philippine Gas Prices?

Inquirer Gasoline prices have increased again, haven't they? A few days ago, I wrote why #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba's view of gas prices is questionable . Today, I feel like writing this after several complaints on Facebook. I would like to create a follow-up post. People are complaining too much without understanding the real reason why some countries have lower prices of gasoline. Real talk. We need to talk about economic policies, and of course, please do a study on supply-demand analysis on supply chain management . Let's examine the complaints made by Bulatlat Bulatlat Here's a chart from Bulatlat that compares the increase in prices of gasoline between the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia. It's always problematic when people ignore simple economics. It's funny, but Bulatlat mentions this on their website: Note also how expensive our diesel and gasoline products are compared to those of our ASEAN neighbors. The estimated common price today of diesel in...

Is Jollibee "Invading" South Korea Now as It's About to Acquire 70% of Shabu All Day?

I must confess that I find this new rather hilarious . It's because the word shabu is often associated with drugs. All the while, shabu shabu is a Korean delicacy! Well, I'm going to say that Jollibee Foods Corporation has now become a multinational buyer . Jollibee acquired 70% of Compost Coffee back in 2024 . This year, Jollibee as a multinational corporation is now acquiring Shabu All Day for PHP 5.1 billion pesos. Is Jollibee checkmating South Korea or is the Philippines conquering South Korea not just by OFWs but als through Jollibee? The answer is still no. From GMA News , we can read this article by Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas: Under the deal, Shabu All Day will be consolidated into Jollibee Foods Corp.’s (JFC) financial statements immediately upon completion of the acquisition for a total consideration equivalent to KRW127 billion. Completion of the transaction is subject to closing and financing conditions. The acquisition is expected to lead to a 2% jump in revenues, incre...

The Good Old Days when Gasoline was Cheaper Under the Late Noynoy Aquino

Millennials' Voice I would like to clarify first and foremost that this post isn't an attempt to say that the late Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III's legacy was all bad. Some good things happened. However, let me be clear that it's stupid to say, " We don't need economic cha-cha because of the late Noynoy. " However, let me clear that I decided to write this because of a Facebook post called Millennials' Voice , which wrote this: Did you know that during President Noynoy Aquino's time, the price of oil in the world market was high, between $100 and $110 per barrel. But even with those high prices, gasoline and diesel at local pumps in the country were still relatively affordable. Under President Duterte, world oil prices went up and down, from a low of $41 to a high of $101 per barrel. The big jump to $101 in 2022 happened because of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Now, under the current president, world oil prices have gone up again to around $...

Migrante International: Still Mourning for the Late Flor Contemplacion While Sticking to Third-World Development Economics

Unsurprisingly, The Flor Contemplacion Story was uploaded a month ago. I wrote that there's a possible political motive behind the film getting uploaded on YouTube . That's why I even wrote a review against the film after I rewatched it in HD . It's no surprise that Migrante International is inducing its own migraines. The evidence against Flor was already overwhelming, as presented by the Singaporean court . Do these people act as if there was no injustice in the Philippines? What about how the Vizconde Massacre was handled where, until now, the real perpetrators have not been found? Two years after Flor's execution, the Chiong Sisters case arrested the wrong people, and a doubtful Supreme Court of the Philippines' decision was released. Yes, a murder happened in all three cases. Singapore convicted the real killer of the slayings of Delia Maga and Nicholas Huang. Meanwhile, the Philippines had wrongly convicted Hubert Jeffry P. Webb (whose 15 years were wasted) ...

Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

Search This Blog