Young people fall for bubble tea. The Bobba company of Quebec, which would be the first to sell it in bottles at the grocery store, entered the French market through the front door at the same time as its success exploded on the Canadian market.
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“We have orders for a million dollars in France for the start of the year and from April, I anticipate sales of $500,000 to $600,000 per month there,” rejoices Sébastien Fiset. , who is also the founder of Cookie Bluff, a cookie dough to eat raw.
For its first full year in business, which will end in February, Bobba will have recorded sales of $2.4 million in Canada. Entering first at Sobeys, the bubble teas launched in spring 2021 were an immediate success. To ride the wave, Bobba then launched Ghost Tea, a second brand with different flavors, sold at Metro.
Sébastien Fiset’s idea came to him in the midst of a pandemic. On social networks, he noticed many young people consuming bubble tea.
“However, I never saw them at the grocery store or at the convenience store. I did some research and couldn’t find any in the world. So I had to do it! » recalls the entrepreneur.
Create a unique product
He reinvested all of Cookie Bluff’s profits back into the adventure, nearly $400,000. It took eight months of work to develop the product, in collaboration with a partner from Taiwan, from where the flavor pearls are imported. Until then, bubble tea was only offered in restaurants and counters, where it was prepared according to the customer’s taste. Originally from Asia, this product in its North American version is generally very sweet and contains artificial flavors that Sébastien Fiset wanted to avoid.
“We didn’t want a product that tasted chemical. When you bite into our melon bubbles, you feel like you’re eating a real melon. And we have flavors that don’t exist on the market,” says the young 32-year-old entrepreneur.
The trust built with retailers through Cookie Bluff has allowed Bobba to quickly make its way into grocery stores. IGA/Sobeys said yes even before the product was designed.
Bobba teas contain 12 to 15 grams of sugar per bottle. They are made with cold brew tea and fruit juice concentrates. It is a factory in Quebec that produces them by subcontracting. Pearls imported from Taiwan, according to Bobba’s specific criteria, are added by hand to each bottle. This is what limits the manufacturing speed at this stage.
Maximum production
For the past month, the factory has been operating at full capacity to build up reserves for the summer, the most favorable season for the consumption of bubble teas. New Canadian customers are added: distributors, restaurants, schools. Will it be necessary to reinvest to meet the growing demand?
“This year, we are going to do our utmost to deliver as much as possible. We will assess the investment potential according to the response in France. I don’t want to rush anything, it can be dangerous to go too fast”, reflects Sébastien Fiset.
His journey is full of surprises. Not knowing that he would achieve such success, the entrepreneur decided to market boxes of beads to ensure sufficient stock turnover. He thought he would sell six pallets last summer, but he sold 20 in a single month!
A graduate in industrial relations, he never imagined becoming an entrepreneur.
“When I went to school, nobody talked about entrepreneurship. And since it didn’t exist in my entourage, this reflection didn’t happen, but in the end, I fell into it with Cookie Bluff”, says the one who has just won an Innovation Award from the Conseil de la transformation alimentation du Québec, “Juices and drinks” category.
Bobba is Sébastien Fiset and his spouse, Jessica Frenette, from their home, telecommuting, who manage outsourced operations, a light business model that allows other businesses to grow.