SINGAPORE: Several of the Singapore stores of bubble tea brand Gong Cha have been closed, sparking questions about the future of the business here.
Its social media pages were unavailable, and none of the three outlets that CNA visited on Thursday afternoon (Oct 2) were open.
This included the outlet at Compass One in Sengkang.
A staff member at an adjacent shop said that the outlet was also closed yesterday, but was operating the day before that. She added that she thought it was closed for renovation.
The outlet at Changi General Hospital’s integrated building was also closed.
At the Nex mall outlet, a sign at the cashier read: “Closed for maintenance today.” An employee from a nearby shop said it was last open on Tuesday.
The Singapore website for Gong Cha was offline. Its drinks were not available for order on food delivery platform Grab.
Founded in 2006 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Gong Cha expanded into Singapore in 2009. It briefly exited the Singapore market in June 2017, with its outlets here replaced by homegrown bubble tea brand LiHo.
It returned to the Singapore market a few months later under a different franchisee in December 2017.
According to its website, Gong Cha has 29 outlets in Singapore.
When CNA called a Gong Cha number listed online, an employee said it would be rebranded. Its marketing team, however, declined to confirm any details.
A man at the Gong Cha office also declined to comment, citing confidentiality reasons.
He told CNA that a spokesperson will issue an official statement, but did not specify when or how, only to “wait” for it.
