Such was the craze over frozen yogurt and milk tea in the Philippines that almost every mall has a kiosk or inline store selling the popular beverage.
Many businessmen invested in the trend while aware that this could be another passing fancy. But the concept held on, and so did Frotea, a portmanteau of frozen yogurt and milk tea which became a brand that braved the milk tea mania back in 2012.
Brand owner and president Ana Lustre-Malijan was just testing the waters, looking for a business she could call her own, when she decided to start a frozen yogurt and milk tea business.
“When I opened my first store, I just let it percolate just to test the market. In fact, it took me five years to really get serious about it. When we opened our second store, we joined a university fair. We were selling 400 cups for six days straight. That’s the time I realized there is an opportunity for this kind of business. After that, we had a lot of franchise inquiry,” she said.
Despite being a civil engineer by trade, Malijan knew a few hacks about owning a business. She was a franchisee before she became a startup entrepreneur. She still keeps the pizza franchise, a symbol of how she transitioned from being a franchisee to becoming a brand owner.
Malijan is aware that in a market as saturated by dozens of milk tea shops in proximity with each other, it is important to have a unique proposition.
“And we never really wanted to be just another milk tea brand. So we modified our branding strategy. We want to be known as a ‘milk tea dessert shop’. This will set us apart from other milk tea brands, fleeting as they are, and many have also succumbed to competition,” she said.
“Our hashtag #summerinacup has gained traction and became a word of mouth in schools and universities where we have created a cult following, if I may say so,” she added, noting that Frotea is almost 12 years as a well-loved brand in the provinces.
Eager to watch her business expand, she embraced franchising as a potential path forward, seeking guidance from Francorp Philippines.
Her multi-pronged approach to franchising expanded to 19 branches—seven are franchises and 12 are company owned stores and many are located in her hometown in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
From Koronadal City in South Cotabato to Batangas, Bataan and Laguna in Luzon, Frotea has penetrated geographically diverse locations.
Expansion to South Luzon is a goal that the company is working to get done in 2024. Frotea is now gearing to make inroads in Cavite.
Malijan attributed the success of her brand to its commitment to value and high-quality ingredients. She and her husband are constantly joining trade expos in Taiwan in search of new and innovative products. All their ingredients are sourced from Taiwan, including the machineries used for milk tea and other products.
Frotea understands the importance of affordability. Their prices start at P60, making their “summer in every cup” tagline all the more responsive.
While some fads and frenzies may stand the test of time, they also undergo reform, a survival instinct. Frotea is pivoting to embrace new innovations that will help the brand ride on a new wave of trending products. It has recently introduced milk tea dark chocolate-topped bingsu—a Korean shaved ice dessert and soft-served milk tea ice cream.
“Every innovation we are offering is always based on our main product which is milk tea. The milk tea culture has grown to be an enduring habit. It is so ingrained in Filipinos. It is now part of our culture and is here to stay,” Malijan said.
Malijan came from a family of hotelier and co-owns the family’s construction business. Her husband is a civil engineer, as so are her mother and father.
Family has always been part of her journey as an entrepreneur. Her biggest critic is her nine-year old daughter, the elder of two kids. Her 3-year-old son is the greatest fan of Frotea, she said.
As a startup, she noted the path to entrepreneurship is never going to be easy.
“There’s always going to be someone who’s better than you, a new idea better than yours. But if you stop thinking on improving your business, that’s the time that others will outsell you. There’s always gonna be a low season in your business, but strive to always improve, push yourself to do better. Failures will always be the greatest lesson that you will learn,”she said.