Chatime, a bubble milk tea brand owned by Taiwan-based La Kaffa International Co., has hired Ivan Dorschner, a Filipino-American actor in the Philippines, to endorse its beverages.
La Kaffa said the endorsement by Dorschner shows the brand's efforts to penetrate the Southeast Asian market with the goal of becoming the largest hand-made beverage brand in the world.
Citing a recent survey conducted by Allied Market Research, La Kaffa, shares of which are traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, said female consumers account for about 60 percent of the global handmade beverage market, so the company has high hopes that Dorschner's endorsement will spark more buying interest in Chatime's products.
According to La Kaffa, Dorschner, who is also a television host and model in the Philippines, lives in the Southeast Asian country, where Chatime has more than 100 outlets, and favors Taiwan's bubble milk tea.
La Kaffa said the actor has more than 2.9 million fans on his Facebook page and about 400,000 followers on his Instagram, which suggests that his endorsement is expected to prompt more consumers to follow him.
Chatime, founded in Taiwan in 2005, now has more than 2,500 outlets in 38 countries worldwide, including the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Henry Yao-hui Wang (王耀輝), chairman of La Kaffa, said the company is building Chatime's brand as an international one, so it is necessary for it to allocate more financial resources in marketing.
Wang said La Kaffa is determined to speed up its pace of establishing a larger share in the Asia-Pacific market, adding that Chatime is expected to celebrate the opening of its 300th outlet in Indonesia in November.
In early October, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council said bubble milk tea is expected to create about US$1 billion in business opportunities for Taiwanese suppliers and related vendors in 2019.
Source: Focus Taiwan
