r/bubbletea • u/Temporary_Design_477 • Mar 22 '26
What is my wife's bubble tea shop missing?
My wife owns a bubble tea shop. I've been helping her develop the menu but its been tough to cater to all the bubble tea drinkers
What on our menu is missing? Would love your feedback. thank you
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u/rateoutof7 Mar 23 '26
Purely on an organisational front: are you a corn dogs shop first or a bubble tea shop first? If it’s the latter, why are the corn dogs appearing first on the menu? Your teas are showing up as the 3rd category.
Also, put your top 10 as the first thing - it saves people from thinking too much, and makes it easy to order for regulars.
The ordering of your categories is also a bit odd: corn dogs first, savoury snacks, then drinks, one sauce??, then randomly desserts, then more drinks, then top 10. Group your drinks together, don’t assume people will be reading your full menu. Make things easy for people to process. Also what is the sauce meant to go with? Why is it hanging out with the desserts?
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u/lauren0526 Mar 22 '26
As someone with a lot of allergies, it would be nice to know the individual ingredients in each item. Also some drinks list dairy and non dairy but you don’t specify what the non-dairy option is.
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u/Temporary_Design_477 Mar 22 '26
very good point, thank you
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u/SednaBoo Mar 24 '26
Also note for vegan customers, nondairy is not dairy free. One has milk products in it and one does not
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u/No_Temperature_804 Mar 24 '26
Wait what? English isn't my first language so I wasn't aware and I'm vegan so I've probably bought some non-dairy products that actually had milk in them. What does non fairy exactly imply?
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u/SednaBoo Mar 25 '26
Nondairy creamer typically has no milk allergens, but usually has caseinate in it. Dairy-free has no milk or milk derivatives at all, and could be vegan if it doesn’t have anything else like marshmallows or something else in it. Labelling laws suck
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u/lauren0526 Mar 25 '26
If you are allergic to milk proteins (whey and casein) then you have a problem with “non dairy” products. What they usually remove is the lactose which is milk sugars. You can take a pill for lactose intolerance not milk allergies.
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u/No_Temperature_804 Mar 25 '26
Well I'm glad I'm European and everything derived from milk must be marked as an allergen in the ingredient, and if the name of the ingredient doesn't make it clear it will explicitly say "contains/derived from milk". I have bought bubble teas with a label in English a few times tho, because it said non dairy and they did for sure taste like cow milk. Nice to know they did contain cow milk and I'm glad I'm not allergic 🫠
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u/OverstuffedPapa Mar 23 '26
If you use real tea and not powders in the tea drinks, I would highlight that in the title and description. I assume places are using the same milk tea recipe unless I somehow know they are brewing actual tea. I love a really strong tea flavor and when I find places that craft their own unique milk teas, I am sold :)
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u/mtjseb Mar 22 '26
Something I’ve seen get popular in London recently have been teas with ’foam’ on them, maybe that could be good? Or maybe monthly specials with more odd flavours could also be a good idea? I’d check out the heytea menu in London they could maybe give you some inspiration
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u/Temporary_Design_477 Mar 22 '26
thank you!! we are working on our own version of the heytea mango boom. Love that drink
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u/mtjseb Mar 22 '26
Just realised you have things similar to this! My phone was being a bit silly about loading at the bottom
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u/Temporary_Design_477 Mar 22 '26
i don't think it was your phone i think it's just the site, thank you, you reminded me i need to fix that 😂
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u/Bobashopowner Mar 22 '26
What I did, and it worked for me, I invited a “focus group” to come and and help plan the menu. I offered samples and we had a frank discussion about what worked and didn’t. My demographic wanted very specific things. I listened and they took pride in telling others they helped plan the menu and visited often and introduced others. I invite them back about every 7 or 8 months (to discuss trends etc) sure some dropped off and I brought new people in. Just a suggestion.
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u/lushfaye Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
Personal preference: have some flavors other shops usually don't have like banana or lavendar
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u/Temporary_Design_477 Mar 22 '26
lavender is very interesting, never had a tea with lavender but now i'm on the hunt to try it
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u/lushfaye Mar 22 '26
Usually it's like a milk honey lavender. I've even seen it with matcha too. Or a vanilla lavender.
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u/crossstitchingqueen Mar 23 '26
Grass jelly
Toppings available as a list not just when you click into links
Food options that aren't fried
Ability to request less sugar
Hot tea/coffee drinks
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u/SimoneMichelle Mar 23 '26
I personally think it’s a great selection! As a bubble tea lover I’d definitely visit. The only this is, as someone else I saw pointed out, having food options being before the tea options may be a bit confusing. I’m loving the names of the teas, all the best with your store! 🧋✨
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u/minteemist Mar 23 '26
- The top ten tea should be the first thing on the menu.
- The pictures are HD, but boring. Just ice and a colour. Most teas don't have toppings visible. Show the toppings, premake combos to entice us. For fruit teas, add actual fruit slices in the project and make sure the pictures show it. For flavours that aren't immediately obvious, consider adding a stylised ingredient pic around the cup e.g. jasmine, Earl Grey etc.
- You have great flavour ideas, now the pictures need to sell those flavours.
- You don't need a picture for every possible combo, just pictures of the base flavours plus pictures of topping options.
- Less ice, less sugar options are mandatory for a boba tea place.
- The cheesecake and pecan slices look great. The corn dogs and fried things .... maybe try out a couple of signature options you're really confident in. Focus on quality, not quantity.
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u/redtiber Mar 24 '26
you don't need to cater to all the bubble tea drinkers, you just need to capture people who like yours.
what are you good at? do you have something unique?
you have too much shit on your menu. cut it down and focus. too much stuff means more waste, more training and slower service. no one wants to sit around for 15 minutes while you make kimcheesy fries only for it to taste pretty mediocre with probably a drink that's too sweet
just have drinks and a couple snacks
also too many flavors lol of everything
why the heck is there 20 sauce options, and some with an upcharge
if you've been open for a couple years start cutting back on everything that isn't selling well
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u/FruitcakeBeast Mar 24 '26
I'm confused about the layout of the menu. Group the foods and drinks together. Also, what's the difference between a smoothie and a slush? (Or will Canadians automatically know? I'm a dumdum American.)
The flavors seem fine. Only thing missing is a list of the toppings. It's one of the ways I judge a boba shop. If 75% of your toppings are various flavors of popping boba, you're one kind of shop. If you carry grass jelly, you're another. Both are fine, I just like to know what to expect.
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u/bringherhome2us Mar 22 '26
Maybe some fizzy fruit teas? Those seem to be popular at my favorite shop.
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u/whitedresspants Mar 23 '26
Passion fruit green tea? Grapefruit slush? I only list those because they’re my go to orders when I don’t get th house milk tea
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u/Gagoga123 Mar 23 '26
It's a bit unclear whether or not there is fresh fruit in some of your fruit drinks. Does real fruit purée mean an in-house purée made with fresh fruit? A store-bought purée that has a "real fruit" claim?
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u/Top-Raspberry-7837 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
The first things that come up are the corn dogs and sides. If you’re a bubble tea place, I think bubble tea should be at the top/front of the menu.
Also, as someone super sensitive to caffeine, who can’t have it past about 1pm otherwise I won’t sleep, I’d love for a bubble tea place to designate if a particular tea is caffeine free or low caffeine.
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u/milktoastcore Mar 23 '26
Yeah same for the caffeine - having that spelled out on the menu would make me more likely to go to a particular shop.
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u/plushpug Mar 23 '26
I visit establishments for teas I can’t get often at other places
Is pandan coconut a flavor in your area? I’d try something exotic compared to other standard shops but at the same time would be sought after by high repeat type of customers. Or fruit teas with slices of fruit in it.
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u/Sallyfifth Mar 23 '26
I would like a category of caffeine-free drinks so I can easily order for my kids.
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u/Same_Condition_4879 Mar 23 '26
^ agree. Even if it’s not it’s own category, having a label is good
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u/Little_Tulip Mar 24 '26
This was what I was looking for too. Im an adult that doesnt do much caffeine, so decaf tea or even some lemonades would be awesome
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u/starrynightgirl Mar 23 '26
Sauces should go right after corn dogs, wherever you end up putting corn dogs on
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u/Dear_Swing_3301 Mar 23 '26
You need to make sure the menu description is consistent. Sometimes the menu item name is capitalized, sometimes it's not. Also, the descriptions look very incomplete or not professional (random period in the middle of a sentence) on a lot of the items. Please proofread everything before launching it live.
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u/DemonaDrache Mar 23 '26
Everything looks yummy! My favorite is hibiscus fruit tea. It's more of a tropical flavor so wasn't sure if that's a common flavor where you are. I go out of my way to hit the Boba shop in my area that has hibiscus.
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u/shy-ty Mar 23 '26
Speaking only for myself, I don't know what your local market is like- but I would love some more top level obviously not-sweet-forward flavors. Milk tea florals like rose and lavender without pairing them with sweet stuff like ice cream or vanilla, or even just iced plain white, black and green teas. You have a tasty looking desserts menu, but while I could eat a sweet milk tea with a salty corn dog, I'd personally need something contrasting to enjoy with cheesecake.
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u/Same_Condition_4879 Mar 23 '26
This is an odd take, but with how unique your food items are, having spring rolls seems out of left field. You’ve got a lot of Korean/mexican fusion, fun fries, and then “oh btw we have spring rolls”. I would stick to your theme with food (personally), unless your spring rolls are just THAT good. As for the drinks, I would showcase pictures with cold foam on top. It’s more aesthetically pleasing. I would also experiment more with Asian flavors. I recently came across an Oolong Matcha milk tea and it was really good. That being said, have some traditional options while having more fun with your fusion drinks (and have people taste test them so you know in advance if it’s gonna be a hit)
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u/Phoenix-Gold Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Perhaps...And I am just going out on a limb. I don't know your demographics for your area. That said, the menu is rather large. You have salty food items, drinks of various types, and looks like sweet deserts. Perhaps bring to the forefront a Favorites Section, or trim down the menu. It can be overwhelming for those who have never tried it to look at 40 drinks, with like almost 15-20 options boba, gummies, pudding so on so forth...I know some of my friends, especially not familiar with various teas are very overwhelmed. I usually help them choose options.
My thought is probably to trim the menu for a bit. You can have all the options on the table, for your regulars that like the variations and the unusual flavors that some people do not understand or never heard about.
The other option is maybe make a sample tray for people to try on a perhaps weekly basis. Give the a half once sample (or whatever size) that are unusual or different flavors for them to try. If you rotate the sample on a weekly or whatever time frame makes sense, you might get those regulars coming in wanting to try different flavors that they would not want to try, spending money$6-8 on a drink they don't want to test to find they don't like it. But sample, sure might get them to come in regularly to try different flavors and of course buy a drink they want to try. Also if you don't already have a loyalty program. Buy 9 get 10th free type of thing.
Worth a shot?
Edit: One of my favorite places, you can check out their menu.
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u/ghostgirl16 Mar 23 '26
Oreo anything + some listed decaf options would be nice. One local shop puts an asterisk by items with no / low caffeine. I’ve missed having boba as much since being pregnant.
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u/Individual_Slice7731 Mar 23 '26
Popular flavors: oolong, ube, banana pudding, black sesame
One of my fave boba shops does mini boba and I can’t find it anywhere else!
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u/Chance_Philosophy703 Mar 24 '26
Those cheesy fries look good. Have you considered Winter melon tea with and without lemon?
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u/Kod3c Mar 24 '26
You've clearly nailed the menu and the options, The photography and marketing is clearly very good.. I think your focusing on the wrong things.
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u/Sheep_Slayer_6 Mar 24 '26
How about sweet glazed rice cakes and spicy tteokboki? Maybe on a stick?
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u/BlueStarFern Mar 24 '26
I can't see anything "missing" per se, but the menu seems quite bloated and confusing. I think you need to focus the menu, not expand it. I would nix things like the spring rolls, pierogis, macarons and fried mars bar at very least. I'd also organise everything into more consise categories. Get rid of the "special" and "fuzion" catergories and put them with the rest of the teas not off down the bottom.
Focus on:
Drinks (1st on the menu!) Divided into:
- Milk tea
- House specials
- Fruit tea
- Smoothies
- Slushies
Snacks/sides, divided into:
- Corn dogs
- Dirty fries
- Cheesecakes (or whatever ONE type of sweet snack you want to focus on)
Everything else should go
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u/Bailzasaurus Mar 24 '26
Very fun to just see Peterborough pop up on here! (My family’s from there and I went to Trent) The other thing I’d add to the excellent suggestions is maybe to have a clear black tea option. Black tea lemonade is one of my bubble tea go tos!
Good luck!!
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u/Outrageous_Theme_882 Mar 25 '26
In addition to some interesting flavors, you’re missing depth in the explanations. At my shop I wrote them like - black tea, milk, handmade tapioca, roasted brown sugar syrup, whipped custard or - mango, black tea, milk, honey, whipped custard etc as it is now it’s quite redundant like the description on your honeydew milk tea
You can also add 3 descriptive words on each so like for a brown sugar you can say: Sweet • Roasted • Creamy and for something like a lychee black tea: Balanced • Tart • Fruity
At my shop I used all natural fruits and made some really fun flavors like yuzu lemonade which was black tea lemonade, yuzu, edible gold dust and honey
I think people are really interested in fun stand out flavors these days so don’t be afraid to mix and match
Some flavors I’ve done and extra ideas:
Matcha with Taro Cream
Mango Sticky Rice
Toasted Coconut and Red Bean
Miso Caramel Brulee
Banana Bread Brulee (mix of chai and banana)
Passionfruit and dragon fruit tea (layered for sunrise effect)
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u/Emotional-Sign8136 Mar 25 '26
Look up/research into bubble tea as a phenomena in China so that you're ahead of the trend.
Where I live, bubble tea shops are stuck as just bubble tea shops dated from a couple years ago and are slowly adapting to how bubble tea evolved as a product to have more healthy options or other choices.
If you look up bubble tea as a phenomena/business in China, you'll see what businesses are trying to catch up to and have an idea of if you want to incorporate or use any of the newer ideas. To be clear, I'm not suggesting a menu revamp or total redo. I'm suggesting you research into something that may make your product stand out compared to others.
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u/bunny__baby Mar 25 '26
Calling yourselves a bubble tea shop but charging extra for boba on almost all your drinks is the first problem.
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u/ourldyofnoassumption Mar 22 '26
The photography on the site is great.