Asian American boba brand finds opportunity after Simu Liu sparks cultural appropriation debate

Olivia Chen and Pauline Ang, friends and business partners of boba milk tea brand Twrl, have tried three times to compete on “Shark Tank,” ABC’s reality show in which up-and-coming entrepreneurs try to convince big names.

Now, in a plot twist they couldn’t have imagined, the women from the San Francisco Bay Area have the chance to pitch a pretty well-known investor: actor Simu Liu. The irony is that it came about after they posted a video on TikTok in support of Liu calling out the white owners of a boba drink brand for cultural appropriation on “Dragons’ Den,” the Canadian version of “Shark Tank ‘. heading to Liu and the “Shang-Chi” star invited Twrl to send his team a “pitch deck.”

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t real,” said Chen, who posted the day after watching the “Dragons’ Den” clips. “I decided I wanted to make a video because I wanted people to know that there are other alternatives like us.”

This backlash in the “Dragons’ Den” episode struck a chord in the ongoing debate about how someone who sells something specific to a culture that isn’t their own walks the line between appropriation and appreciation. There is no company manual on how exactly to do this. It also highlighted how allowing someone who has no personal connection to a product that is inextricably linked to a culture to make a profit can increase inequality with companies from marginalized or overlooked groups. Twrl’s founders say they hope the initiative they’ve taken will move these conversations forward and educate some people along the way.

Liu, who is a guest venture capitalist on this season of “Dragons’ Den,” declined to do business with the Quebec-based founders of Bobba, which sells bottled boba drinks, including alcoholic options and packs of popping versions of the chewy pearls . made from tapioca starch. The company appeared to suggest in the episode that their drink was better than traditional bubble tea and the founders have since apologized.

“I would give a company a boost if it benefits from something so dear to my cultural heritage,” Liu said during the Oct. 10 episode. He also pointed out that there was nothing on the packaging that acknowledged Boba’s cultural roots in Taiwan.

Boba’s origin story goes back centuries and can be traced beyond Taiwan, according to Julily Phun, an assistant professor of Asian American Studies at Cal State LA, who has curated an exhibit on the drink’s history and impact. The root vegetable cassava, which is used to make tapioca starch, the main ingredient in boba, originated in South America. Colonization led to cassava being exported to African countries, Pacific Islands and parts of Asia.

Later, Taiwan would claim to be the birthplace of the boba drink concept, a sweet mixture of aromatic tea, milk and boba balls. A cup of boba is distinguished by the larger straw required for slurping. The first U.S. boba drink stores opened in the 1990s, but there are conflicting reports about whether the San Francisco Bay Area or Southern California was the starting point, Phun said. The sweet drink is also called bubble tea or pearl tea.

Today, boba shops are ubiquitous. Major conglomerates like Starbucks and Jamba Juice have experimented with boba for a limited time. Even then, boba was such a small part of the menu that it was not seen as a threat to Asian American boba businesses.

“It shows the folly of these big companies who think they can attract us by one thing,” Phun said. “It’s not just about authenticity. What I have noticed is that the younger generation puts their money where their values ​​lie.”

Megan Ruan provides programming for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists as co-general partner of Gold House Ventures – a fund for startups led by Asian and Pacific Islander founders. Gold House has a coalition of a dozen funds that are looking for venture capitalists from underrepresented backgrounds “so that you increase the chances of an underrepresented founder sitting across from someone who could share his or her background or experience when he or she is pitched. .”

Chen, a Taiwanese American, was particularly bothered by the fact that it seemed like Bobba’s founders only liked the drink because they looked at data showing its rising popularity.

“He joined the business because he saw a market opportunity, which I agree with. … But it didn’t come from the thought, ‘I really like boba tea,'” she said. “I wish there would be an appreciation, a story or an acknowledgment.”

Ruan advised that it is always best for entrepreneurs to be direct and authentic.

“The most powerful marketing for consumer products comes from personal stories, and the most compelling marketing is usually very personal,” says Ruan. “So it helps if the founder or creator of the product has real personal experience and can speak from that.”

Nearly four years since Chen and Ang, a Chinese-American, first conceived Twrl during the pandemic, they continue to work with family-run tea farms in Japan and China. Their boba toppings are produced in Taiwan, which is stated on the packaging. They even collaborate with artists from the Asian diaspora to design their cans. Today, Twrl drinks, with flavors like ube (the purple yam often associated with Philippine cuisine) and hojicha (Japanese roasted green tea), are available in Sprouts supermarkets nationwide, Whole Foods stores in 10 states and on Amazon.

An investment would go a long way in accelerating their desire to boost distribution, and therefore their sales.

Meanwhile, the episode “Dragons’ Den” led to significant fallout. Bobba’s founders apologized last week. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Monday. Panelist Manjit Minhas withdrew her $1 million investment. Liu posted a plea for people to stop harassing and bullying the owners.

Chen agrees that this kind of behavior and negativity is not worth it.

“Positive outcomes can come from this,” Chen said. “These topics are discussed, but how do we actually get a movement of change? The energy that everyone is focusing on, I would like to actualize that energy and say, “Could other founders like me have an opportunity at the table?”