Is this a stupid idea?
If not, what would it take to actually make happen?
Red with the raspberry juice of our enemies :meow-cactus:
Well i guess that depends on how much raspberry flavor you want in it!
I don’t know if it’s a saturated market at the moment, but it is quite popular.
Been trying to think about this. It's popular right now, but does it have staying power? Idk
I’ve never been to one without Asian majority workers lol, so take that as you will.
Same
You will also need a lot of capital.
Def true but what little research I've done into it says that bubble tea shops actually take relatively little machinery and expensive stuff
Good point about the growing relevance of Asian culture so it's probably a safe bet.
Near a university is i think the prime location for a bubble tea shop. There's a medium sized uni near me and the nearest bubble tea is ~15 mins drive. I think that could be a great spot for it
I'd work for you... uh I mean with you I guess if it's a co-op.
In other words, it sounds rad as fuck.
How about Beau-tea-ful?
Yes all my suggestions will be dad level puns
That's fantastic! Too bad I live in America so a bunch of boomers would be real mad about it
Probably a fairly safe gamble if you get the location right and do some market research.
Also, get some buds and make it a co-op! Others mentioned that you'll need capital. That usually means that a bank actually owns your business until you pay off the business loan. But there are co-ops that offer more favorable lending terms and their explicit mission is to get other co-ops off the ground, so check them out!
Yeah that would be perfect! I'm definitely going to look into that
Plus you have to hire employees.
If it's a coop would they actually be employees though?
Most important probably is location. Bubble tea seems like something that needs an urban location with a lot of international people in the area to succeed. If you've got that you can make it work, depending on how much time you can put in and how much you're willing to exploit employees.
That's where the co-op part comes in I guess. I'm wondering tho if a retail-type worker's co-op could survive in a capitalist system that incentivizes and rewards the small business tyrant model.
Maybe it would be necessary to start a standard business, and later convert it into a worker's co-op, to avoid roadblocks.
I live close to a university without a bubble tea shop nearby. Not sure that's enough but i think it's at least a decent location.
Maybe it would be necessary to start a standard business, and later convert it into a worker’s co-op, to avoid roadblocks.
Yeah i think you might be right... Also not sure if I know the right people to start a coop with but if it's starts as an actual business i could hire the right people then turn it into a coop with them
Definitely sounds like you've got the location!
The reason I suggested starting as a regular business is because it will be infinitely easier to get whatever loans, or small business funding, or municipal help you need as a small business. It will be less easy to get them as an evil socialist worker's co-op. Other workers might start getting ideas ffs.
I don't know....maybe get a committed group together first, set up a worker's co-op (there has to be a best-practice model out there for a 3-6 person retail operation), then one person goes to the bank/municipality/suppliers as a small business tyrant and sets up the business, then when the business is thriving....boom we're a worker's co-op now bitch...thanks for the funding.
I mean, I'm assuming the reason there isn't many worker's co-ops in western countries is because the capitalist system makes it almost impossible.
Yeah i think you're right. There is sooooooo much funding or tax breaks and such for "small business owners". I really doubt they'd extend that to a co-op.
But yeah getting it going then switching to a co-op would totally work. Finding the people is tough tho
There is sooooooo much funding or tax breaks and such for “small business owners”.
Yep, machine goes brrr but most of it goes to the connected, preferred jetski dealers
Related, what if you could set up a co-op franchise model? Basically would need a group of workers to start, and the rest of the org could have some way of getting, training, financing, etc. Seems like it could be an easy way for people to get into co-ops.
Oooh yeah. A co-op franchise models seems like something that could be really cool
It’s a good idea because it’s simple and you can put a nice mark up on those to help keep the co-op Alive without it being outrageously expensive. Hot tip too, my experience with bubble tea shops it that it can be shockingly difficult to discern which options are vegan and which aren’t (combo of language barrier and lots of powdered milk) so if you make that demarcation obvious you’ll have a pretty faithful customer base of college vegans right there. Keep us updated on this!
Oh yeah! I'd love to do the opposite actually. Be totally vegan but use the ambiguity of bubble tea shops to hide that from the non vegans because they like to whine about it whenever anything is vegan.
But yeah i think that's a great point, i feel like the vegans are bubble tea drinks are similar people so being accommodating to them would be great for business!
That’s a smart approach and I completely agree. It is my understanding that one of the largest coffee places in India is co-op, might be a good place to start in terms of understanding the business model.
