Did Nayuki make bubble tea a millennial must-have? Chinese entrepreneur Peng Xin turned humble milk tea into a US$2 billion brand – but it was a blind date that got business off the ground
Freshly baked bread with a cup of tea might present a cosy image indeed, but Chinese entrepreneur Peng Xin’s tea appreciation vision was more ambitious than that.
Her high-end tea brand, Nayuki, offers a double whammy that most competitors in the saturated milk tea drink market don’t: comfortable spaces to relax in, and fresh ingredients. Perhaps this blend is why the brand has dominated China’s tea-drinking scene in just a few years, with over 350 physical stores across over 50 Chinese cities. Nayuki, which is estimated to be valued at 13 billion yuan (US$2 billion), has also expanded into the US, Japan and Singapore. Peng is now aiming to list on the Hong Kong stock market.
So just how did she grow her billion-dollar business?
Born in 1987, Peng graduated from Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, then worked at Kingdee International Software Group where she was appointed brand director. However, she decided to leave her job in late 2012.
“I used to be a white-collar worker,” she told KrAsia. “I wanted to run a shop that I myself would like, so I quit to start the business.”
But she soon ran into difficulties due to a lack of resources and experience.
Things began to look up when Peng met her current husband, Zhao Lin, through a blind date in 2013 – where Peng ended up discussing her business idea for two hours, Sina Finance reported. A businessman with around a decade of experience in the food industry, Zhao acknowledged that Peng was full of ideas, but initially thought that it might be difficult for her plan to succeed, according to the platform.
In the end, however, Peng and her entrepreneurial spirit were apparently both irresistible to Zhao, as the two got married within just three months of meeting and Zhao also became her business partner. They co-founded Nayuki – named for a handle Peng used online – a few years later.
Although milk tea shops might be considered low-end by many, Peng attempted to change this image by focusing on the design of the stores and the quality of their drinks and cups, KrAsia reported.
“Back then [when Nayuki was first founded], you might feel strange walking into a five-star hotel with a cup of milk tea,” she told the platform. “Hence, branding was a very important consideration.”
She focused on branding and product development while her husband was in charge of resources and operations.
They spent a while looking for the ideal first location, as many shopping centres were surprised by their demand for a minimum of 2,100 sq ft for a tea shop. Finally, Nayuki’s first physical store opened in Shenzhen’s Excellence Century Center, quickly followed by two more locations. The couple even used the mortgage of their house as leverage, according to reports.
Since its establishment, Nayuki has received a total of five rounds of funding. Earlier in 2021, it received an investment of US$100 million, valuing the company at a total of US$2 billion, according to Bloomberg.
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- Peng Xin had a high-end boba vision that appealed to the modern woman, quitting her office job to found the brand with husband Zhao Lin
- Now Nayuki has hundreds of stores across China, Japan, Singapore and the US, and is likely brewing up Hong Kong IPO next