Hey Tea

Hey Tea (Chinese: 喜茶; pinyin: Xǐ Chá; Jyutping: hei2 caa4 "Happy Tea") is a Chinese tea drink chain founded in 2012 and headquartered in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.[1] Started off as a small store called "royal tea(皇茶)” in Jiangmen city, Guangdong Province, the brand quickly expanded into other cities in Guangdong and China. Due to a trademark issue, the original name "Royal Tea" was dropped and "Hey Tea(喜茶)" was adopted. By the end of Aug, 2019, Hey Tea operates 265 stores in 37 Chinese cities and 3 stores in Singapore.[2]

Hey Tea
Private
IndustryTea shops
Founded2012 in Jiangmen
Headquarters
Nanshan District, Shenzhen
,
China
ParentShenzhen Meixixi Catering Management
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese深圳美西西餐饮管理有限公司
Traditional Chinese深圳美西西餐飲管理有限公司
Literal meaningShenzhen Meixixi (Beautiful West West) Food and Beverage Management Co., Ltd.
Websitewww.heytea.com
Store
Products Image

Hey Tea is commonly regarded as a "Wanghong" brand in China because its popularity on social media. The brand is famous for its modern interior design, photogenic packaging and innovative drinks. As of 2018 millennials are its main customer demographic.[3] As of that year most locations are in shopping malls catering to wealthy customers.[4] Its signature items are various cheese tea and fruit tea.[5]

History

It opened in 2012 as Royal Tea (皇茶; Huáng Chá; wong4 caa4) in Jiangmen, but changed its name as it did not establish a trademark.[6] It adopted its current name in 2016.[5]

In 2015, Hey Tea entered the market of Guangzhou and Shenzhen which are two first-tier cities in China.[7]

In 2016, after obtaining the investment of 100 million yuan from IDG Capital and Angel investor, Hey Tea entered the market of Guangxi.[8]

In 2017, Hey Tea entered Shanghai. The first store which was opened at Raffles City created buzz on social networking because of long lines. In the same year, its bakery brand "Hey Tea Mix" opened the first store in Guangzhou.[7]

Its first location in Hong Kong was scheduled to open circa 2018, in Sha Tin.[9]

In 2018, The first Hong Kong store was opened at New Town Plaza. Subsequently, Hey Tea opened stores at Hong Kong Times Square, Hysan Place, Yuan Long Yoho Mall, and Citywalk.

In addition, Hey Tea has branches in most first and second-tier cities of China, as well as in Singapore.[7]

Brand Honors
  • "Chinese food health seven star award".[10]
  • 2018 China's new consumer industry unicorn list.[11]
  • Top 50 major consumer innovation enterprises in China in 2019.[12]
  • 2019 IDC China Digital Transformation Awards.[13]

Brand Concept

Hey Tea adheres to the principle of providing customers with high-quality products and services, insists on its unique style to integrate tea-drinking into a brand new lifestyle. In terms of store design, Hey Tea combines styles of "zen", "minimalism" and "aesthetics" to enrich customers' senses in different aspects, so as to improve their overall experience and make them more enjoy the process of drinking tea. Besides, product packaging is also a unique choice of "cool" and "simple" style which can perfectly fit the brand concept. [14]

Business Model

Only direct-sale stores, franchised stores are not allowed. [14]

Brand Vision

On the product end, Hey Tea has new products every month, once created a monthly industry record of 10 new products; On the marketing end, the brand adheres to the positioning of "Chinese style tea" and creates "national tide" of tea by means of crossover and joint branding; On the operational end, Hey Tea not only launches localized products based on the cultural characteristics of different regions but also continuously improves the overall experience of customers with the help of new retail means. All these efforts are aimed at promoting the new tea trend in China and eventually creating a global brand and symbol.[15]

Stores

Types of Stores[16]
  • Standard Stores
  • Hey Tea Lab: a Lab-style concept store. The first store was opened at Shenzhen Central town Square in October 2016.
  • Hey Tea Black: a black and gold themed store. The first store was opened at Shenzhen Mixc in January 2017.
  • Hey Tea Mix: a store that mainly sells freshly baked bread. The first store was opened in March 2017 in Guangzhou.
  • Hey Tea Pink: a pink themed store that targets at young women. The first store was opened at Shenzhen Mixc in September 2017.
  • Hey Tea DP: a store that originates from HEYTEA Daydreamer Project. The store had a cross-border cooperation with independent designers. The first store was opened at Shenzhen Uniwalk in October 2017.
  • Hey Tea Go: a small size store that customers can order online through Hey Tea Go App.

Locations[14]

Until 2019:

Classic Products
  • Original Cheese Tea Series
  • Fresh Fruit Tea Series
  • Light Cheezo Tea Series
  • Season Limited Tea Series[14][17]

Cross-border Cooperation
  • In December 2017, Hey Tea had a cross-border cooperation with a Hong Kong fashion brand, B.DUCK. Hey Tea designed a pop-up shop with B.DUCK as the element at Sanlitun.[18]
  • In May 2018, Hey Tea had a cross-border cooperation with L'Oréal. Hey Tea launched co-branded lipsticks.[19]
  • In October 2018, Hey Tea had a cross-border cooperation with a Chinese skincare brand, Pechoin. Hey Tea held a theme activity in Shanghai.[20]
  • In December 2018, Hey Tea and Tyakasha, a Chinese fashion brand, cooperated in the joint activity of "invite TA to drink Hey Tea" and launched the cup set with Christmas blessing bag, which contains a joint scarf, bag, sock, calendar, and drink coupon. [21]
  • In January 2019, Hey Tea had a cross-border cooperation with a Chinese clothing brand, PEACEBIRD. They launched co-branded hoodies.[22]
  • In the same year, Hey Tea cooperated with Hsu Fu Chi, jointly launched "Shakima Bread" and reinterpreted the classic taste. [23]
  • In the summer of 2019, Hey Tea pushed out Ovaltine BoBo Ice Series with Ovaltine. Ovaltine's new "cool crisp sauce" was introduced in the drink with a dense and delicate chocolate sauce. [24]
  • During the Chinese Double Seventh Festival in 2019, Hey Tea cooperated with 7 Up, launched the new product "seven crispy barrel of salty lemon." This product contains sour and salty elements of salted lemon combined with orange peel and lemon flavor 7 Up. [23]
  • A few months later, Hey Tea cooperated with Dong Laishun, a Chinese time-honored brand, launched a new product "Zhizhi Bobo Rolling Donkey", combines the taste of the cheese of tea with Dong Laishun's traditional Beijing snacks. [25]
  • In the same month, Hey Tea had a cross-border cooperation with AAPE, a HongKong clothing brand, launched limited co-branded drink "camouflage bobo ice" and opened a limited theme store "HEYTEAAPE STORE" in Shanghai. On the other hand, AAPE has launched HEYTEAAPE limited set which includes a co-branded canvas bag, a co-branded T-shirt and a co-branded apron.[26]
  • Inspired by green environmental protection, Hey Tea had a cross-border cooperation with Kiehl's and launched a brand new green avocado series with peripheral products included green inspired avocado enamel cup and coaster, joint mini canvas bag and Kiehl's avocado moisturizing mask.[27]

Controversies

Food Safety Issues

In 2019, 10 brands of pearl milk tea, including Hey Tea, were found to contain caffeine at an average level of 258 mg/kg. Each cup of Hey Tea's milk tea product contains as much caffeine as 3.5 cans of red bull.[28]

In the same year, a pregnant woman in Suzhou attracted public and media attention when she drank a fly from a drink at the Hey Tea store in Yuanrong, Suzhou . After failing to negotiate with Hey Tea, she appealed to the media and reported to the regulatory authorities. On May 31, the store was closed down by local regulatory authorities because of the internal environmental issue. However, another Suzhou Hey Tea store was closed for the same reason on the same day as the closure of the Yuanrong store. [29]

In addition, tableware hygiene in Hey Tea store has also been exposed unqualified. Recently, in one of the Hey Tea stores in Xiamen, the supervision personnel found that there was too much water on the kitchen's floor, fruits and other materials did not meet the storage requirements. Also, the inspection showed that the containers containing the fruits had a serious ATP index exceeding the prescribed standard.[29]

Violent Dispute

A netizen revealed that Hey Tea staff in Jinan beat a takeaway rider, and posted a live video online, triggered hot discussion on the internet. From the video, the staff of Hey Tea had a physical conflict with the rider and some people even picked up chairs and other equipment during the conflict. Later, the explanation said that at around 13:00 on September 14, the dispute between Hey Tea staff and a takeaway rider was due to a misunderstanding when taking the products.[30]

Similar Brands
  • The Alley
  • Nayuki Cheese Tea Bakery
  • Coco
  • TBaar

References
  1. "喜茶HEYTEA--唯一官网". www.heytea.com. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  2. "喜茶首次推出"取茶柜"，这次真不用排队了_36氪". 36kr.com. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  3. Li, Tao (2018-08-28). "How Chinese tea-drink brand Heytea saves millions in marketing costs thanks to its millennial customers". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  4. "HEYTEA wants to make tea-drinking cool again in China". The Economist. 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  5. Fullerton, Jamie (2017-10-18). "People in Beijing Are Lining Up for Hours to Try 'Cheese Tea'". Vice Magazine. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  6. "About Us." Hey Tea. Retrieved on 8 February 2019. Chinese version.
  7. "History of Hey Tea".
  8. "喜茶们的关键时刻|界面新闻". www.jiemian.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  9. "Bubble tea craze is a super sweet market for inventive Hong Kong entrepreneurs. But could this bubble burst?". South China Morning Post. 2018-09-09. Retrieved 2019-02-08. Li confirmed that Heytea will open its first Hong Kong store in Sha Tin as soon as the end of this year.
  10. "第八届"中国食品健康七星奖"在京揭晓|中国食品|食品安全_新浪公益_新浪网". gongyi.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  11. "谁才是破局者？2018新消费产业独角兽榜单公布_推荐_i黑马". www.iheima.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  12. "重磅 | 创业邦2019中国大消费创新企业50强发布——未来十年，中国大消费产业的世界级公司将在这里诞生 - 工具模板 - 创业邦". www.cyzone.cn. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  13. "IDC names seven organizations including P&G China, HEYTEA and Bayer as Top Winners of 2019 IDC China Digital Transformation Awards". IDC: The premier global market intelligence company. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  14. "Hey Tea Official Website".
  15. www.bjnews.com.cn. "喜茶：将新中式茶饮带给全世界". www.bjnews.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  16. "扒一扒武汉喜茶LAB店的大家族，换个角度看喜茶为什么这么火_黑金店". www.sohu.com. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  17. "喜茶HEYTEA经典原创茶系列你喝过几款 - 餐饮杰". www.cy8.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  18. "喜茶联手香港时尚潮牌B DUCK小黄鸭跨界营销，推出联名会员卡、礼品卡". 金融界. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  19. "cross-cooperation with L'Oréal".
  20. "喜茶X百雀羚致敬经典 快闪巴士成线下活动代名词_城市频道_环球网". city.huanqiu.com. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  21. "喜茶首次跨界时尚服饰品牌这个圣诞穿的美美的". baijiahao.baidu.com. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  22. "喜茶联名太平鸟推出联名卫衣款 喜茶跨界联名卫衣_丽人服装网". www.ef43.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  23. "喜茶跨界简直无法无天了：臭豆腐蛋糕、火锅包、糯米鸡包…_腾讯新闻". new.qq.com. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  24. www.hejiameng.com https://www.hejiameng.com/c/2019-10-15/c2751528.html. Retrieved 2019-12-05. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. "东来顺携手喜茶玩跨界 打造新派京味儿--北京频道-中国食品安全网". www.cfsn.cn. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  26. "玩味十足的跨界联名！喜茶 与 AAPE 合作_腾讯新闻". new.qq.com. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  27. "喜茶x科颜氏推出牛油果系列，光看颜值就爱了！". baijiahao.baidu.com. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  28. "喜茶等10款珍珠奶茶检出咖啡因". baijiahao.baidu.com. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  29. ""喜茶"火爆背后隐忧不少-新闻频道-和讯网". news.hexun.com. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  30. "济南喜茶员工殴打外卖小哥，官方回应：涉事员工全辞退_科教社会_山东新闻_新闻_齐鲁网". news.iqilu.com. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
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