Food & Drink Cha Cha Matcha: Expanding On Both Coasts Gary Stern Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I cover the restaurant industry. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.
Got it! Nov 7, 2022, 08:56am EST | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin With the catchy name, Cha Cha Matcha, it opened in New York City, now has seven locations, with . . .
[+] three in the Los Angeles area, and has plans to expand. Pictured is its original site on Broome Street in NYC. Courtesy of Cha Cha Matcha For certain tea drinkers in the know, matcha, a finely ground tea made from green tea from East Asia, has become the drink of choice.
Two entrepreneurs, Matthew Morton and Conrad Sandelman, capitalized on this growing trend when they opened Cha Cha Matcha in 2016 on Broome Street in Nolita in New York City, just a year after the duo graduated from New York University. Morton had good connections and a strong restaurant pedigree since he is the son of Peter Morton, one of the co-founders of the Hard Rock Café, and the grandson of Arnie Morton, the founder of Morton’s Steakhouse. The duo raised $250,000, mostly from friends and family, to capitalize their first store.
It opened its second location in New York City in Nomad a year later in August 2017 again financed mostly by friends and family. The name was catchy, sounding as much like a Flamenco dance as a tea shop, with its tagline, “I love you so matcha. ” Two entrepreneurs are proving that a specialty shop in matcha can expand just like coffee specialty shops.
Currently it has seven locations: four in New York City and three in California with two in Los Angeles and one in Venice. Later this month, it’s opening a new location in the Flatiron district in New York City and then a store in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn in which it has a partnership with La Cabra, an East Village coffee/pastry shop, whose owner is from Copenhagen. That will bring it to ten locations by the end of 2022 with another two opening in first quarter 2023.
It’s looking for more locations in New York and Los Angeles and just signed a deal for a London outpost in 2023 and is pursuing its second outpost there. MORE FOR YOU The Inside Story Of Papa John’s Toxic Culture China’s Latin America Move Astros’ Framber Valdez Was The Difference In A Razor-Thin World Series All of these expansions will be company-owned; none is franchised. “Until we own the experience, which entails a long path of evolution, we want to own it,” notes Jay Gujjar, who was named CEO in December 2021.
He acknowledges that franchising in the future might be a consideration. The owners forged associations with various fashion icons such as Virgil Abloh and had models Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner photographed at the shop with their teas. Page Six in the gossipy New York Post called it “the must-have beverage of Victoria Secret models.
” The owners also were criticized in July of 2020 of engaging in unsavory employment practices based on reporting by Eater NY . They were accused by employees in dozens of Instagram notices of screening employees appearances during interviews, not paying employees for their final two weeks of employments, and posting photos that staffers felt were inappropriate. In a posting, the two owners acknowledged that “they had a lot to learn” and were donating $25,000 to local Black civil-rights organizations.
However, that contretemps didn’t lessen that buzz that led to a series A seeding of $7 million to fund its expansion. To shore up their leadership skills, the owners hired Gujjar as CEO, a former executive at Blue Bottle and Sweetgreen. Gujjar was brought in to lead its growth expansion and “take a small bi-coastal store to a nationally and internationally recognized brand,” he explains.
After what the founders learned from that negative publicity, Gujjar replied that “the company has never had an external CEO, so part of their evolution as leaders was hiring a new CEO. ” Gujjar points out that only “8% of people in the U. S.
have tried matcha yet it’s one of the fastest growing of the caffeine industry. ” Moreover, he adds that “In making matcha acceptable, we see a huge void. After Covid, our retail stores were doing well, so we saw an opportunity to add more store in New York and Los Angeles.
” Unlike most coffee shops which thrive in the morning, it’s become an afternoon ritual, where most of the clientele comes from noon to 6 p. m. “People are looking for an afternoon pick-me-up,” Gujjar explains.
He also says that matcha has healthier benefits than traditional caffeine. It releases its caffeine over five to seven hours so “you don’t feel a jolt. Hence, they feel better with no crashes.
” Currently matcha sales constitutes about 65% of its overall revenue. Besides offering matcha, it partners with local bakeries to sell avocado toast, cottage cheese whip, and smoothies. For the first time in its history, it will be adding coffee to its menu.
Why introduce coffee? Gujjar says it listened to its customers and “many people don’t solely drink matcha” so it will appeal to more customers who crave coffee in the morning. It will retrofit existing cafes with coffee equipment and add it to the new cafes, and will be serving an exclusive La Cabra blend from Brazil. So far it has yet to offer third-party delivery, but is slated to start a partnership with Doordash/Caviar in winter so guests can have matcha delivered to them.
Its buzz has led to a slew of publicity and Gujjar points out “it hasn’t spent a dollar on marketing since the brand launched in 2016. ” He attributed its ability to scale up, without doing marketing, to “word of mouth. When you walk into a Matcha, people bring their friends.
” Gujjar says the keys to its future success include finding talented people and staying true to its mission. “We want to be the biggest matcha seller in the world through consistency and delivering a great café experience,” he concludes. Gary Stern Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.
From: forbes
URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/garystern/2022/11/07/cha-cha-matcha-expanding-on-both-coasts/