Asian-American boba tea brand Twrl to pitch to Simu Liu after controversy on Dragons’ Den

Olivia Chen and Pauline Ang, friends and business partners in boba milk tea brand Twrl, have tried three times to get on Shark Tank, a US reality show where up-and-coming entrepreneurs try to woo big-name backers. Now, in a plot twist they could not have imagined, the San Francisco-based women have a chance to pitch a pretty well-known investor – Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu. The irony is that it came about after they posted a video on TikTok in support of Liu calling out the white owners of a boba drink brand for cultural appropriation on Dragons’ Den, the Canadian version of Shark Tank. Somehow, it found its way to Liu and the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star invited Twrl to send his team a “pitch deck”. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @twrlmilktea “I actually wasn’t sure it wasn’t real, to be honest,” said Chen, who posted the day after seeing Dragons’ Den clips. “I decided I wanted to make a video because I wanted to let people know there are other alternatives out there like ourselves.” This Dragons’ Den episode backlash struck a nerve in the ongoing debate on how someone who sells something specific to a culture that is not their own walks the line between appropriation and appreciation. There is no business manual on exactly how to do it. It also highlighted how when someone who does not have personal ties to a product inextricably linked to a culture profits, it can exacerbate disparities with businesses from marginalised or overlooked groups. The Twrl founders say they hope the initiative they took moves those conversations forward and educates some people along the way. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @twrlmilktea Liu, who is a guest venture capitalist on this season of Dragons’ Den, declined to get into business with the Quebec-based founders of Bobba, which peddles bottled boba drinks, including alcoholic options and packets of popping versions of the chewy pearls made of tapioca starch. The company seemed to imply on the episode that its drinks were better than traditional bubble tea and its founders have since apologised. “I would be uplifting a business that is profiting off of something that feels so dear to my cultural heritage,” Liu said during the October 10 episode. He also pointed out there was nothing on the packaging that acknowledged boba’s cultural roots in Taiwan. Boba’s origin story actually goes back centuries and can be traced outside Taiwan, according to Juily Phun, an assistant professor in Asian-American studies at Cal State Los Angeles university in the US state of California, who curated an exhibit on the beverage’s history and impact. The root vegetable cassava, which is used to make tapioca starch, the main ingredient in boba, started in South America. Colonisation led to cassava being exported to African nations, the Pacific Islands and parts of Asia. “He went into the business because he saw a market opportunity, which I agree with … but it didn’t come from a place of, ‘I really love boba tea’ Olivia Chen, Twrl co-founder, on Bobba, the brand Simu Liu called out Later, Taiwan would claim to be the birthplace of the boba drink concept, a sweet concoction of aromatic tea, milk and boba balls. A cup of boba is distinguished by the chunkier straw necessary for slurping. The first US boba drink shops opened in the 1990s but there is conflicting reports on whether the San Francisco Bay Area or Southern California was the starting point, Phun said. The sweet drink is also referred to as bubble tea or pearl tea. Today, boba shops are ubiquitous. Big companies like Starbucks have experimented with boba for limited stints. Even then, boba was such a small part of the menu that it was not seen as a threat to Asian-American boba businesses. “It shows the folly of these big corporate things that think they can attract us by one thing,” Phun said. “It’s not just about authenticity. What I’ve noticed is the younger generation is they put their money where their values are.” Megan Ruan handles entrepreneur and venture capitalist programming as co-general partner of Gold House Ventures – a fund for start-ups led by founders of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michelle | Boba Blogger (@thebobatomytea) Gold House has a coalition of a dozen funds that seeks venture capitalists of under-represented backgrounds “so that you’re increasing the chance that an under-represented founder is going to be sitting across from someone who might share their background or experience when they’re being pitched”. Chen, who is Taiwanese-American, was particularly bothered that it seemed like the founders of Bobba were only into the drink because they looked at data that showed its rising popularity. “He went into the business because he saw a market opportunity, which I agree with … but it didn’t come from a place of, ‘I really love boba tea,’” she said. “I wish there would be an appreciation or a story or an acknowledgement.” Ruan advised it is always best for entrepreneurs to be direct and authentic. “The most powerful marketing for consumer products comes from personal stories and the most compelling marketing is usually very personal,” Ruan said. “So, it helps when the founder or the creator of the product has genuine personal experience and can speak from that.” Nearly four years after Chen and Ang, who is Chinese-American, first conceived Twrl during the pandemic, they continue to work with family-run tea farms in Japan and China. Twrl’s boba toppings are produced in Taiwan, which the packaging notes. The duo even collaborate with artists from the Asian diaspora to design their cans. Today, Twrl drinks, which include flavours like ube (the purple yam commonly associated with Filipino cuisine) and hojicha (Japanese roasted green tea), are in supermarkets across America and online on Amazon. An investment would go a long way to boost distribution and sales. Meanwhile, the Dragons’ Den episode has led to some significant fallout. The Bobba founders apologised recently. Panellist Manjit Minhas withdrew her million-dollar investment. Liu posted a plea for people to cease harassing and bullying the owners. Chen agrees that kind of conduct and negativity is not worthwhile. “There are positive outcomes that can come out of this,” Chen said. “These topics come up, but how do we actually have a movement of change? The energy that everyone is focusing on, I would like to recentre that energy and say, ‘Could other founders like myself have an opportunity at the table?’”

Asian-American boba tea brand Twrl to pitch to Simu Liu after controversy on Dragons’ Den

The co-founders of Twrl are invited to pitch to Simu Liu after supporting Marvel star for calling out cultural appropriation on Dragons’ Den