Alex Ahn is a Palgong Tea Canada store manager at Chefs Hall. He single-handedly has been managing the store since the opening of the store in August 2022. He is a skilful operator, organized, and knowledgeable with a kind-hearted personality evident in his exceptional customer service. Before moving to Canada in 2013, Alex served in the Korean military for 10 years. He briefly managed another popular Korean franchise before Palgong Tea.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Palgong Tea is a Korean bubble tea and dessert store with multiple locations across Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.
Specifically, we sell:
– Bubble Tea: Our specialty bubble tea range includes original tea, classic milk tea, fruit-flavoured teas with tapioca pearls, jellies and cream cheese foams, and customizable sweetness and ice levels to suit individual preferences.
– Coffee Delights: We offer espresso-based drinks like lattes, cappuccinos, and iced coffee variations. For those seeking unique flavours, explore our seasonal or specialty coffee blends.
– Dessert Selection: We offer a delightful range of 9 macaron flavours (blueberry cheesecake, Earl Grey, strawberry crunch, Oreo, matcha KitKat, milk chocolate, injeolmi, tiramisu, and double raspberry), and 6 different flavoured cream puffs (tiramisu, nutella, oreo, caramel, blackcurrant and mango)
What made you want to do this work?
I have a long-standing career as a manager at Chung Chun hot dog, along with excellent customer service skills. I wanted to delve more into the same industry and expand my skill set and I believe taking a part of Palgong Tea Chefs Hall as a store manager offered me the right opportunity that I had been looking for which offered me to express myself through my work.
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
Only bubble tea shop in the Chefs Hall food court.
Our bubble tea is a blend of our Korean and Canadian flavours, which is not inherently present in the market and differentiates us from our competitors.
Who are your clientele/demographics?
One of our primary target customer groups is those office people working in the nearby buildings which usually visit us during lunchtime from Monday to Friday.
Another big main source for our customers is the students who usually hang out with their friends on weekends.
In general, our target customers are aged from 15 to 40 with low-to-middle income.
How does your business make money? How does it work?
Palgong Tea has a product-based brick-and-mortar business model. We make money by selling drinks and desserts to customers in-store and online through delivery partners. Another source of income is through our catering service where we offer drinks for events on special requests.
Where in the city can we find your profession?
We have quite a prominent presence in downtown Toronto with my store inside Chefs Hall food court, and stores at the Distillery District market, Yonge-Bloor intersection, and The Annex, alongside a few more locations in the uptown Toronto and Greater Toronto Area.
What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.
What makes Palgong Tea different from other bubble tea stores?
We have an extensive catalogue of drinks ranging from Original Tea, Milk Tea, Fruit Tea, Smoothies, Ades, Coffee, Soy and Oat Milk Series, Def-T in Collaboration with Deaf Culture Centre, and seasonal drink launches 2-3 times a year. Additionally, we also have a frozen dessert line in partnership with different vendors and we offer Korean-style macarons, cream puffs, cheesecake, and cake boxes.
I believe that the myriad of options available at Palgong Tea makes us different from our competitors.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
Best part: The ability to work in a fast-paced work environment helps me stay stimulated while performing a job which brings a sense of fulfillment to my work.
Worst part: I believe the worst part of being in the food-service industry is the irregularity of sales as they are largely dependent on external factors such as weather, location, time of the year etc., which makes budgeting a little hard as a business owner.
What is your favourite joke about your own profession?
인생이 레몬을 주면 레몬녹차를 만들어 보세요.
Translation: “When life gives you lemons, make lemon green tea.” It’s just my own twist on the classic quote since lemon green is one of our menu items.
Where can we follow you?
You can find us on Facebook and Instagram at @palgongtea_chefshall & @palgongtea.canada. Also on the Chefs Hall website.
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?
Eatertainment, a full-service company offering event management & event catering in Toronto.
