Business Profile: Taiwanese friends open second tea house downtown

Co-owners Shu-Ching “Jocelyn” Kuo and Shu-Ping “Hope” Liu.

There’s a new café downtown that offers Columbians an unusual drink option —with something to chew on.

Co-owners Shu-Ching “Jocelyn” Kuo and Shu-Ping “Hope” Liu opened their second Lollicup Tea Zone the first week of June at 23 S. Ninth St. They opened their first store at the Columbia Mall in December 2006.The Asian-inspired franchise started in California, bringing bubble tea and boba to the states. Boba, the pea or marble-sized dark-brown pearls, can go into anything, from the fruit-flavored slushies to the blended teas. Made from the cassava plant root, the sweet pearls add texture to drinks.
Jocelyn, originally from Taiwan, grew up with boba. Prepared daily in the kitchen of their store, the brew gets mixed reactions from customers: Some people really like it, while others can’t quite decide.

Lollicup specializes in bubble tea, which is often confused with boba. Bubble tea refers to the way the tea is prepared. A machine seals the cup, enabling the server to shake the tea, which makes it bubble and froth, and come alive, Jocelyn said. Customers who order a dollop of boba use an extra-wide straw to suck up the jewels resting in the bottom of the cup.

Jocelyn and Hope met years ago in Taiwan when they were both working for Church’s Chicken. When Hope left to attend William Woods University in Fulton, she encouraged Jocelyn to follow and enter the M.B.A. program.

After graduating, they returned to Taiwan. Jocelyn opened a daycare center and Hope managed sales for an international company. Four years later, they were ready for an adventure and returned to Missouri. After researching the industry, they chose Lollicup for its reputation and the ease of start-up, Jocelyn said, and because they didn’t have to deal overseas for the boba ingredients.

Coming back to this area meant they could reconnect with their Fulton host family, Herman and Jane Hall, and church friends.
The downtown location gives them a different market from the mall crowd, and Jocelyn is already discovering the orders are different. Boba milk tea is already a downtown favorite, and honey green tea is big at the mall, particularly with salespeople wanting to soothe their throats. By opening in June, they can ease into the routine and be ready for the fall when the students return en masse. Right now, the store is staffed with two workers, but Jocelyn said that number would increase when college is in session.

Competition with the nearby cafes doesn’t intimidate the partners because they offer a different kind of drink not real coffee, Jocelyn said.

Lollicup satisfies any kid’s sweet tooth.

“People who want coffee, they go there,” she said. “People who want (a tea) drink, come here.” In addition to creating an assortment of fruit-based beverages and snows, they serve an array of crepes. One crepe is the shrimp cilantro, a recipe from Hope’s mother in Taiwan, with an Asian sweet-and-sour sauce on the side.

The tapioca balls, known as Boba, give customers a chewy treat at the bottom of yummy slushes

Jocelyn said business in Missouri is not that much different from in Taiwan. The main difference is in the customers’ preferences. If she had a restaurant there, people would stick to traditional black and green tea, not the fruity varieties she serves in Columbia.

The staff of Lollicup, Samy Hentschke, Jocelyn Kuo, Herman Hall and Hope Liu, share laughs with customers during teh Twilight Festival. The bubble tea shop just opened a new location on 9th Street next to Sparky’s.

Lollicup recently opened its second location downtown. There is also a store in the Columbia Mall food court.