00:00In the last part of the first decade of the year 2000, milktea was the first to be tasted in the country.
00:13Because it was new to the taste, it was selected and sold a lot.
00:17After almost two decades, many people still can't get over milktea.
00:23In Balen Aurora, aside from surfing,
00:28what's the thing that cools you down during those times?
00:33Milktea!
00:35We discovered the place of the former OOW, Jen, who has been serving Taiwanese milktea for more than a decade.
00:42Jen also shares that she didn't just get back her milktea.
00:47To be honest, when I was abroad for 9 years, I didn't have a place to stay.
00:52We didn't have a house back then.
00:53But when I got a bubble tea house, during peak season, we can reach 5 digits per day.
00:59As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
01:03That's why Jen did her studies back then to become more powerful.
01:17She started with 10 flavors of milktea.
01:20Now, they have more than 40 drinks.
01:24From milktea,
01:27fruit teas,
01:29smoothie,
01:32and coffee.
01:37Taiwan, where Jen did her OOW, is also known as the bubble tea capital of the world.
01:43Every April 30, they hold a National Bubble Tea Day.
01:49When I went to Taiwan,
01:50it was like,
01:53wherever you look,
01:54left, right,
01:55in front of you, behind you,
01:57there are a lot of stalls,
01:59a lot of people selling milktea.
02:05But wait, there's more!
02:08Even the street foods that you can find in Taiwan,
02:10they also have it here.
02:12One of their bestsellers is Stinky Tofu.
02:15It's called Stinky Tofu because it's soaked in fermented brine,
02:19which has a strong smell.
02:22Here at Jen's tea house,
02:24they fry the tofu,
02:27add barbecue sauce,
02:29and serve it with kimchi.
02:34We can't find another store that is this delicious.
02:37You can say that it's made with love because it's really delicious.
02:42You can buy their drinks from Php60 to Php130,
02:46depending on the flavor and size.
02:48While the snacks are sold from Php85 to Php180,
02:54which is good for sharing.
02:55There's a blend that has a secret that's really different.
02:58It's delicious.
02:59The price is worth it.
03:02Before opening the tea shop,
03:03Jen worked in Taiwan as a caregiver.
03:06It's really hard to be away from your family.
03:08Because at first, when you get there, you don't have a family.
03:11You don't know the people there.
03:13You're not from there.
03:14You don't understand the language.
03:16So I forced myself to be patient to save money.
03:18So that when the time comes,
03:20when I have my own family,
03:23I can also start something.
03:25While in Taiwan,
03:26one of the things that makes her smile
03:28is bubble tea, or what we know as milk tea.
03:31My employer always made me go home.
03:34At first, I didn't like the taste because it's bitter.
03:38Until I got used to it,
03:40I thought that maybe it will be popular here in the Philippines.
03:43In 2012, Jen went home to the Philippines.
03:46I feel like it's really hard to be away from my husband and my children.
03:51So when I came here in 2012,
03:53I practiced making snacks.
03:55Until 2013, that's when I started January 9.
03:59Her business name is
04:01Pinaniniwalaang Swerte sa Taiwan.
04:03My employer always brought me to fortune tellers.
04:06All the tea houses in Taiwan,
04:08all I saw were numbers.
04:10I asked the fortune teller,
04:11why are they all numbers?
04:12Because numbers are luck.
04:14The 16th is my husband's anniversary.
04:17Then the 97th,
04:19September 7th,
04:20is my eldest son's birthday.
04:22Sometimes, she was told that she was lucky in water.
04:25So she decided to try her luck
04:27and spent 30,000 pesos
04:30to start a tea house.
04:32That's where I bought my stuff in Taiwan.
04:34That's all I could afford back then.
04:36My place was really small.
04:38At first, it was hard for Jen to sell her product.
04:41Milk tea was not yet popular in their province.
04:44The fortune tellers didn't know much about milk tea.
04:48So when they tasted it,
04:50I was the only one who tasted it.
04:52It was bitter.
04:53The taste of the tea was different.
04:54So what I did was,
04:55I adjusted.
04:57I studied what was the right taste
05:00for the kids.
05:02Because I market my products to students.
05:05At first, she got the taste
05:07that would make her customers crave for it.
05:10At that time, we had a lot of customers.
05:12We sold 5 to 6 digits per day.
05:19What I did was,
05:20I opened a company on branch
05:23that I didn't have a system yet.
05:25Jen's expansion in the business
05:27became the reason for her loss.
05:30I opened a company
05:31that I didn't study the locations.
05:33When the pandemic happened,
05:35that's when I realized
05:36that what I did was wrong.
05:38When the pandemic happened,
05:40our sales dropped.
05:42All the stores that I opened
05:45were closed.
05:47There was no study.
05:48So that became a lesson for me.
05:51What she learned was,
05:52it's important to choose a location for the business.
05:56A good location is close to the school.
05:58So what I did was,
05:59I started again.
06:01I got up again.
06:02Gradually, Jen got up
06:04and studied how to run the business.
06:08I joined different seminars.
06:10I asked mentors.
06:12What I'm studying now
06:14is in our franchising business.
06:17Because we started franchising.
06:19And we're constantly developing a system.
06:22We teach our staff customer service.
06:25Financial management.
06:27That's the most important thing.
06:29That's where I lost my way.
06:33Now, they have 6 branches in Aurora
06:36and one in Manila.
06:37During peak season,
06:38we reach 5 digits per day.
06:40To be honest,
06:41when I was abroad for 9 years,
06:44I didn't have a place to stay.
06:45We didn't have a house yet.
06:47But when I got a bubble tea house,
06:49that's where I built my house.
06:51We also got a car.
06:53I made my family's life easier.
06:56Especially my children.
06:59I know how to run a business.
07:01But if you don't hold on to money,
07:03you'll lose everything.
07:04That happened to me.
07:06When that happened to me,
07:08I tried to get up again.
07:10I tried to fight the challenges
07:12that came to me
07:14because I didn't know anything back then.
07:16When I learned that,
07:18I studied it
07:20and I won't repeat it.
07:25Hey!
07:29Hey!
07:33Hey!
07:55Hey!
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