Starting with a humble beverage shop, a Taiwanese-American boba tea (the same with the term “bubble tea”, i.e. milk tea with tapioca pearls) entrepreneur, Alan Yu managed to transform his business into a multimillion-dollar packaging giant that is publicly listed on Nasdaq.
Yu owns two companies: Karat Packaging, Inc. and Lollicup USA, Inc., both are manufacturing products for bubble teas and restaurant supplies. Karat is currently a publicly listed company valued at approximately US$368 million.
Yu began in 2000 with his first boba tea shop in San Gabriel, California. Soon, Lollicup USA Inc. was founded, focusing initially on the establishment, franchising and licensing of boba tea stores all across the U.S. Instead of using “pearls,” the term commonly used in Taiwan to describe the jewel-like tapioca balls, he decided on “boba,” an older Mandarin slang used to describe the voluptuous figure of a woman, to associate the snack with the supersizing of day-to-day items commonly practiced in the U.S.
The licensing business expanded so quickly that Yu switch his focus in 2004 to the distribution of supplies for the entire boba industry in the U.S. Later, in 2014, Yu’s company began distributing and manufacturing products under a new brand, Karat, as a result of a growing demand for their packaging products in the U.S. food service industry.
Today, Lollicup has a geographical reach across six U.S. states, consisting of distribution centers, supply stores, manufacturing plants and warehouses in Hawaii, Washington, California, Texas, South Carolina and New Jersey.(Photos from Lollicup’s websites)
台灣的珍珠奶茶到美國稱為boba tea，原因與20年前俞宗明在洛杉磯一間飲料小店有關。他的公司現是美國新崛起的食品包材供應商，去年股票上市，市場價值達3.68億美元。
俞宗明（Alan Yu）是樂立杯及Karat創辦人兼執行長。Karat公司近年迅速發展，製造和銷售一次使用的塑膠杯、紙杯、餐具、吸管、餐盒等產品。儘管身為大老闆，但他20年前還在洛杉磯華人區一間飲料店煮珍珠。
樂立杯（Lollicup USA）成立於2000年，最初業務是珍珠奶茶的連鎖加盟，創始店開在聖蓋博（San Gabriel）。俞宗明從一間飲料店開始，後來投入包裝材料的進口、製造，現在餐飲耗材賣到全美，合作客戶包括許多知名的連鎖餐廳。
「我們不是只做加州生意，全美50州都有我們的客人。」被問到20年來從一家飲料小店做到價值上億的公司，有何祕訣，俞宗明表示，分散風險是公司在成長過程中重要理念，過程中有挫折，堅持到底很重要，不停去嘗試、想辦法解決問題。
有關於樂立杯公司的更完整介紹，可以參考這則2017年的文章
