‘Not goodbye but see you soon’: Gong Cha to relaunch in Singapore in 2026, says global CEO
[SINGAPORE] Bubble tea brand Gong Cha will be relaunching in Singapore in 2026 with new franchisees, its global chief executive said on Thursday (Oct 2), following news that it has shuttered all its stores islandwide.
In a statement in the evening of Oct 2, Gong Cha Global said it has “temporarily shut” its outlets in Singapore. This comes after Gong Cha Singapore took down its local social media accounts and website.
Gong Cha Global said that it has decided not to renew its current agreement with its incumbent master franchisee, but will relaunch in Singapore in partnership with new local franchisees.
Checks by The Straits Times showed that Gong Cha’s local Instagram and Facebook pages were unavailable. Gong Cha’s official Singapore website also appears to be offline.
On the GrabFood and foodpanda food delivery platforms, the status of Gong Cha’s various shops were indicated as being closed or unavailable.
Gong Cha first entered the Singapore market in 2009 with former franchisee RTG Holdings. The company then converted its 84 Gong Cha outlets to LiHO, a new home-grown bubble tea label in June 2017.
Before the conversion, Gong Cha outlets here were raking in about S$30 million in annual revenue, making Singapore one of the top three contributors to the brand’s overall turnover at the time. In 2016, its overall turnover was reportedly more than US$70 million.
On its future relaunch, Gong Cha’s statement read: “Building on its successful roll-out in South Korea and Japan, this will see the introduction of Gong Cha 2.0, alongside ambitious plans to scale to a market-leading position,” the statement reads.
CEO Paul Reynish added: “Singapore is a really important market for us, and we’re really excited about relaunching in 2026.” THE STRAITS TIMES
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