KNOWING what one wants when doing business coupled with passion and opportunity would surely be a hit!
For budding young artist entrepreneur Sharee Mae “Chingkee” Uy Te, the meteoric rise of her milk tea shop is a proof.
Doing business was what she told her Mom when the latter asked her of the gift she wanted after graduation.
“When my Mom asked me what I wanted for a gift after graduation, I told her I want to start a business. I didn’t ask for a car or gadgets which have been the usual fare, and my mom was glad to hear about it, but what business would that be?” recalled the light-hearted Chingkee in a conversation with Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro last week of August.
She only waited for her father’s word and when he threw his support – that was her sign.
Chingkee owns “Chingkeetea,” the city’s famous milk tea drink which taste has become Kagay-anons favorite particularly the teens and the yuppies. Not only that, its place has become oasis for those who would want a break from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Autonomy
For someone who is laidback and carefree, Chingkee thought doing business would be just her fit.
After her falling out with Accountancy at Dela Salle University, she took up Marketing Management which she completed in 2011.
“I could never imagine myself become an employee. And when my parents gave their full support for me to start a business, I started to think of putting up something which my art could be a great of part. I thought of a café, but they have mushroomed in the city already.”
Chingkee is never a coffee drinker. She enjoys more her fix of tea in her college days.
“I don’t drink coffee and milk tea drink has been mushrooming in Manila, so I decided to go with milk tea which at that time wasn’t served in Cagayan de Oro.”
She wanted to be the first to bring milk tea in the city. But, by the time she was almost there, two milk tea shops opened. She was a bit discouraged, but it didn’t get in the way.
For months, she researched everything about milk tea until she found a supplier from Taiwan and as she learned more about milk tea going to Taiwan for a one-week course became a must especially that she has the desire to bring an authentic Taiwan milk tea in the city. Albeit pricey, she attended it.
She wanted her milk tea business to start in December 2011, but Sendong struck. Thus, she moved the opening considering the expanse of its devastation.
Not only that, the initial capital she calculated had already doubled by the time Chingkeetea neared its opening in March 2012.
It wasn’t quite a good start and things were getting difficult, however, she was unyielding.
“When we first started, I was nervous of the possible outcome. As the renovation of the house we rented began, people noticed and got curious with what was brewing up with this small place painted with white enclosed by fences. It was like a playhouse.”
Brewing like forever
On March 1, 2012, Chingkeetea opened. Her dainty milk tea shop spread by word of mouth through social media after her patrons posted their experiences at Chingkeetea on their sites and in the following months until today, its kitchen has been brewing like forever.
“I am so amazed it has clicked. I just can’t believe it.”
Staying at Chingkeetea isn’t only taste bud satisfying and thirst quenching, it helps ease tension-filled days as one hangs around and sees creativity in the work of art plastered inside the shop.
That homey ambience provides relief from any negative vibes one may be experiencing as he or she enters this little cottage filled only with radiating positivity.
Her patrons can also share their thoughts through doodling and scribbling notes pasted on the tables or in its walls.
As you get inside this dainty tea house, one could sense the presence of its owner and the passion she has been putting into it through her creative art.
The place is filled with stuff owned by the family especially collections of Chingkee’s mom, Chingkees’s drawings, sketches and paintings, and some that were bought in specialty shops.
“My aunt is my creative mentor. We renovate together and I have also improved my skills as we change the interior of the shop periodically.”
Transformation
When asked of transformation as a person as she attends to her business, Chingkee said she finds herself accountable on the lives of her staff and her patrons.
“I have to make sure that my staff are getting the best experience at work and be proud of what they do. With regard to my customers, giving them satisfaction in every drink they take and somehow touching their lives by bringing out that creativity and business potentials that they can see whenever inside the shop.”
With Chingkeetea’s success, milk teas have become ubiquitous in the city creating their own strategies to woo customers. And best, most of them are local tea shops except for a few which are franchised.
She used to be so reactive, but now she’s been more proactive and as another milk tea shop opens that fear of getting edged around has long been gone.
“I would remember getting hysterical when one time I ran out of stocks. I learned a lot from it. And I was also edgy whenever a milk tea shop opened. Now, everything is working as it should be and there is nothing to worry as I keep on improving and modifying to bring joys to our customers.”
Experiences from brewing the tea to experimenting with her milk tea flavors have been very rewarding, as she and her staff have truly employed teamwork.
“We mix and match what we have, and usually we hit it right.”
They have created myriad of milk tea flavors including hot teas. Wintermelon is the best seller, but all the other flavors are just equally great. But, Chingkee’s favorite among her milk teas would be the original or classic milk tea. However, she loves hot teas the most.
Coolest spot in Mindanao
With Chingkee’s hard work came the bonus. Last month, she won Globe’s most voted #WonderfulMindaNOW spot or the coolest spot in Mindanao. #WonderfulMindaNOW is a campaign to highlight tourist spots, cultural heritage, food, products and even people in Mindanao, Globe’s #WonderfulMindaNOW is the telephone company’s latest social media campaign to vote for Mindanao’s coolest spots.
At Chingkeetea, there is no wifi. She believes that Chingkeetea is a place where people should talk and not just keeping tabs on the statuses of their social media pages.
If you have come to the city and missed Chingkeetea, then you haven’t truly come here.
And by the way, another Chingkeetea is going to open soon, but it will have a different character though.
Her passion and the opportunity to start milk tea perhaps happened at the right time and with her relentless creativity she has charted her path to business like a pro.
It won’t be a surprise if she’d become the authority of milk tea in the city soon as she aspires for it.
(CHINGKEETEA has been chosen as SUN.STAR'S BEST OF CDEO 2014 under the food and drinks category. Its meteoric success as a small, medium enterprise, for bringing the best tasting milk tea in the city, and for gathering people around its place getting that homey comfort and relaxing ambience have been the bases of the paper for it to be its BEST OF CDEO 2014.)