Rise of the BOBA EMPIRE
Since its inception in 2002, the Empire Eagle organization has been involved in the manufacture and supply of bubble tea materials, primarily exporting to the US and other South-east Asian markets. In 2015, Mindy joined the organization with the goal to extend their products and offerings to the rest of the world, so that others too could experience the captivating flavours of Taiwanese bubble tea. To begin with, she hired an official international trading team to start identifying and acquiring global suppliers for bubble tea.
Soon thereafter, in 2016, the husband-wife duo established their second tea processing factory, amping up operations, while keeping a tighter focus on quality control. Thanks to her outreach initiatives, Mindy soon started noticing a huge influx in enquiries from people interested in becoming a part of Eagle Empire. To address this, in 2017 Mindy established JD Hall, a 7-star training center to educate customers on how to start their own bubble tea businesses. Using her own experience as a global trader, at the center, Mindy trains others in areas such as industrial concepts, business plans, the most original Taiwanese Bubble Tea recipes and more.
In 2019, Mindy metamorphosed Empire Eagle, positioning it as a global bubble tea innovator and supplier, and BOBA EMPIRE was formed. From manufacturing and wholesale, to trading, branding, retail and more, BOBA EMPIRE has emerged as a platform that has been responsible for integrating and uplifting the entire global bubble tea supply chain.
Today, after more than 20 years in business, BOBA EMPIRE has spread its footprint to over 50 countries on 5 continents. The constant drive to innovate to advance her own brand, led to Mindy being awarded the prestigious Stevie Award for Innovative Products for the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and the Stevie Award for Women Entrepreneurs in Business for the years 2020 and 2021.
Innovating & Excelling
Since 2015, Mindy has been leading the transformation efforts of hers and her husband’s company, propelling it to unprecedented heights. What made her join the tea business in the first place? Funnily enough, it was her mother-in-law. Mindy, a former Taiwanese Army Captain and a dual-masters holder found herself wanting to further her professional development after her son was born in 2015.
A college instructor at the time, Mindy came to realise that James required a pair of qualified hands to bear some of the growing workload of his business. Mindy decided that this was exactly the challenge she was looking for. Always willing to be prepared, and determined to stay a cut above the rest in whatever she does, Mindy joined forces with her husband, and has never looked back since.
Even when the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world leaving organizations and individuals suffering in its aftermath, guess what Mindy did. She transformed yet again! Since her wholesale business was suffering, in 2020 Mindy launched her second brand – BOBA CHiC – a cross-border e-commerce business developed to form a direct channel between her organization and her customers.
She says, “I do believe that “difficulties mastered are opportunities won”, so I decided to do something VERY DIFFERENT in this industry. I realized that because of the lockdown, people could only stay at home, but I also believed that people still wanted to drink bubble tea, a sweet drink that could bring little happiness during hard and difficult times. Therefore, I decided to start my digital transformation plan to help my company and my customers get through the pandemic.”
Quickly developing her newest brand, Mindy made her range of Boba Iced Fruit Teas available on all major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba and Rakuten. By the end of 2020, Mindy launched her newest innovation – DIY Boba Tea. With this new and easily available product, people around the world now had the access to the Taiwanese special bubble tea, at the safety and comfort of their own homes. “I want to continue to bring our original Taiwanese taste to the whole world, no matter what happens,” smiles she. In 2021, BOBA CHiC won triple gold at the USA TITAN Business Award.