Loob Holding opens first Tealive outlet in Australia

Loob Holding's Tealive has opened its first Australian outlet in Melbourne's Southern Cross Railway Station. This comes months after it picked Melbourne-based independent agency The Sphere Agency as its global strategic partner.Loob Holding's CEO Bryan Loo said then that Australia is an "ideal territory" to test a brand's potential global appeal, since it is a diverse Western country located in the Asia Pacific region. He added that the company sees Australia as the gateway to the West, making it one of the main reasons why it decided to introduce the Tealive brand. Tealive has also expanded into  Vietnam, India and China.The company aims to expand into six more countries next year and have 1,000 stores in the region by 2020, mainly through its direct and franchise model, Loo told A+M in a previous interview. He added that the biggest challenge for the brand today, is understanding each market through the form of research and market observations, as well as the competitive environment. Moving forward, Loo said the company plans to build upon its loyalty card programme – UNITEA – by integrating it globally, allowing consumers to enjoy the benefits at its stores worldwide.Meanwhile, Tealive also launched the Buaharaja series featuring durian and cempedak milkshakes. Made from real fruits, approximately 100,000 cups will only be available for a limited time only at selected outlets.The company's spokesperson told A+M that the new series was inspired by the fact that the durian and cempedak were significant to Malaysians' sense of identity. "Learning from how durians today are enjoyed in different ways other than the fruit itself, we saw another opportunity to offer the cempedak milkshake," the spokesperson said.This comes after Tealive saw success with its durian smoothie in 2017. The spokesperson said that it "only feels right" to serve local favourites that are close to the hearts of its customers as it is a Malaysian brand after all.To raise awareness about the new drinks, Tealive is conducting an online contest from 1 August onwards, requesting Malaysians to share stories of how they reaped their #fruitsoflabour. The most inspiring story will win one Musang King durian tree, with a portion of the sales of its harvested fruits being entitled to the winner after five years.A+M has reached out to Loob Holding for comment about the store in Australia.Loob Holding's application for a stay of the Court of Appeal order dated 27th June 2018 was recently granted by the Federal Court, allowing all Tealive stores to remain in business as usual. Prior to the ruling, Loob Holding also shut down rumours that Tealive is closing its outlets effective immediately.(Read also: Court grants Chatime’s injunction against Tealive from running similar business)