Bakery franchise BreadTalk Group has brought two Shenzhen-based specialty tea brands – Nayuki and TaiGai – into Singapore.

BreadTalk will operate and manage both brands in its joint venture with Shenzhen Pindao Food & Beverage Management. The agreement marks both tea brands’ first overseas stores, which will open this year. They enter a market in which tea drinks are an increasingly popular beverage product.

Both the Shenzhen-based tea brands have been successful in China. TaiGai operates 60 stores on the Chinese mainland, while Nayuki has 100 new stores planned in China by end of this year – it made national news when it opened three stores within 33 days, earning it the label “veloci-tea”.

Their signature offerings feature healthy tea options using mainly fresh fruits and premium-quality teas. While Nayuki is known for its “soft-euro bakes” cake products, TaiGai is best known for its signature fruit-blended milk cheese crowns, which it terms “fruity milky kisses”.

Michael Arnold – Inside Retail Asia