Bringing popular cultural foods and beverages to market in a place as culturally diverse as Canada is an enriching journey for entrepreneurs and consumers. We continue to hone in on bubble tea with another innovator and industry leader that has brought a drink that a majority of our readers are bound to have tried. Drawing on his experience of introducing Chatime to Canada 13 years ago and overseeing its growth ever since, Kenton knows firsthand that the bubble tea market is highly competitive, with new brands constantly emerging. Staying authentic, high-quality, and offering customizable options are key.

In light of what happened with the Dragons’ Den incident of cultural appropriation of boba, we wanted to shine the spotlight on one of the original bubble tea franchises from Taiwan that opened in Toronto and Canada in the mid-1980s, and one that many readers here might remember as the place they gathered with high school friends, had their first date, hosted a business meeting or simply the place that finally served a drink with Asian fruit flavours that were familiar.

Ahead of the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, an incident erupted on hit television show, Dragons' Den, known for featuring prominent business people who are presented business pitches by entrepreneurs from all over the country. This is the first season that Marvel star Simu Liu stepped up to be a guest Dragon on the show alongside new Dragon Brian Scudamore, founder of 1-800-Got Junk?, joining the experienced tycoons from the den, Arlene Dickinson, Wes Hall, Manjit Minhas and Michele Romanow.