The popular Taiwanese bubble tea chain had exited the scene in early June. Queues started forming, ahead of the opening of the new Gong Cha outlet at SingPost Centre in…

The popular Taiwanese bubble tea chain had exited the scene in early June.

Queues started forming, ahead of the opening of the new Gong Cha outlet at SingPost Centre in Paya Lebar.

The popular Taiwanese bubble tea chain had exited the scene in early June.

It has been brought back by a new franchisee, Gong Cha Singapore, helmed by Mr Kang Puay Seng, 57, former managing director and co-founder of soy milk food and beverage chain Mr Bean.

Gong Cha first entered the Singapore market in 2009 with former franchisee RTG Holdings. The company then converted its 84 Gong Cha outlets to LiHO, a new home-grown bubble tea label.

Last year, Gong Cha’s parent company, Royal Tea Taiwan, sold the business to Gong Cha Korea, which is owned by Japanese private equity firm Unison Capital. RTG’s managing director Rodney Tang decided to leave the Gong Cha franchise and launch LiHO when he learnt that Royal Tea Taiwan had been sold to Unison Capital without his knowledge.

Gong Cha Singapore will have three outlets by the end of this year.

Next year, it will open a cashless Gong Cha outlet at the National University of Singapore’s University Town.

Mr Kang plans to open 50 stores islandwide in the next five years.

He says: “I believe in quality over quantity. The number of stores reflects what you can do, your ability, but quality – that is a reflection of how well you can do it.”