Teaway

I am a HUGE fan of boba milk tea.  I love it more than coffee.  I am lucky that I live near Irving St (in the inner Sunset) because there are so many places to get a good cup of boba.

I think that Wonderful Foods should be considered the originator of this whole boba craze (at least in this area anyways). They were the first to be on Irving St. Their tea is good; they're great in my opinion.  It's full of tea flavor and they use crushed ice, which makes the drink nice and cold. They originally charged $2.50 each cup. There would be lines every time I go there. This is really the "IT" place.  After a while, I found out that if I don't get the boba (which I'm not crazy for anyways), they would only charge me $2.00.  I loved it!  It was the best thing ever!  However, this perk went away really fast.  The next time I went, regardless of boba or not, the charge was $2.50.  I didn't like that a bit.  Then soon after, they moved across the street and began to charge $2.75 per cup. The lady in there isn't all that nice either. Call it Feng shui, call it Fate, call it bad business sense, or call it fierce competition, but this store's popularity dwindled after they moved across the street.

Quickly came about and charged only 99 cents for a cup of milk tea. You can pay an additional 50 cents if you want to add boba.  Quickly's tea was never as good. It doesn't have the rich tea taste - in fact, it's more milky. I don't love it, but it's cheap.  For less than $1, I can satisfy my milk tea craves. So I went here instead. There's always a wait at Quickly too. And that's because there is usually only one person manning both the cash register and making the tea.  When a customer comes in and orders a smoothie or a few drinks, it'll take forever to have his/her order filled.  Oh yeah, there is usually also 1 guy in the back kitchen.  I think he's most likely the owner. Even though the lines are out the door, this man will never come out to help. He will be in the back of the store, chopping chicken.  Yes, I swear that is all he does - chop chicken.  He has no business acumen whatsoever. Customers, me included, have left that place because the lines were too long and have no patience to wait. 


So when Teaway first opened on Irving, I had my doubts. They would be the THIRD store on Irving selling boba milk tea.  The other two stores are just 1/2 block from each other.  There is NO room for Teaway to survive.  But I was totally wrong.  This place blossomed and has taken market share away from the other 2 stores.  At first, I didn't like their milk tea all that much.  Like Quickly's, their milk tea has more milk flavor than tea flavor. It's also very sweet. But what's different at this store is that they allow you to scoop in your own boba. Besides boba, they have different types of jelly. They charged only $1.99 per cup and implemented a customer loyalty program: Buy 8, get 1 free. $2 for a cup of milk tea is the "sweet spot" in terms of price point. Teaway is now the #1 store boba store on Irving.  There is always a line out the door, while the other 2 stores are quiet. I am a regular patron here now!

I guess the lesson to be learned here is that there is always room for improvement and creativity, despite how much competition there is!