Gong Cha Shuts Down Operations in the Kingdom

Taiwanese franchise Gong Cha, which specialises in bubble tea, closed the doors of its five Phnom Penh branches yesterday, just three years after opening its first cafe in Cambodia. Brown Coffee, which owns the local franchising rights to the bubble tea shop, opened the first Gong Cha in 2013, and has now decided to shut operations related to the Taiwanese franchise to, according to Brown's creative director Ngy Lay, concentrate its efforts on the Brown cafes. "We want to concentrate on the main business," Mr. Lay said. Brown currently has 11 cafes in the capital. "The company as a whole is closed," Ith Sreng, of Brown's corporate office, said regarding Gong Cha. "In Cambodia, there will no longer be Gong Cha... unless other people contact Gong Cha's owner in Taiwan and import it in the future." Established in 2009, Brown is one of Phnom Penh's most succesful local food and drink chains, even as it faces mounting competition from the likes of Starbucks, who recently established a second cafe at popular Aeon Mall. For more on this story, please click here.