By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A fast-growing franchise that’s been called “the Starbucks of bubble tea” is preparing to open its first Rockford shop.
Kung Fu Tea plans to open at 6915 E. State St. in roughly a month and a half, according to Melanie Nguyen, who is part of the local family operating the franchise here. The shop is near Primetime Audio Video near the corner of State Street and Perryville Road.
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Nguyen, a Guilford High School graduate, said her family started out as fans of Kung Fu Tea, often visiting it in Viet Town in Chicago. Now they want to bring the franchise’s classic teas, milk teas, smoothies, fruit teas, coffee drinks, punches and other specialty drinks here.
“We just want to share the taste with everyone else here, because we know they’re going to love it,” she said.
The local franchise is owned by Nguyen’s father, Thanh Nguyen, and his younger brother, also named Thanh Nguyen, who both came here from Vietnam.
The tech-forward franchise has its own app to order for pickup or delivery, and all its drinks are made-to-order and customizable. Toppings range from bubbles and milk cap to different types of beans and jellies.
The company, which was likened to Starbucks in a 2017 article by The Washington Post, was named among Entrepreneur Magazine’s fastest-growing companies of 2023. It was founded in April 2010 by four Taiwanese entrepreneurs in Queens, New York, and now has more than 370 locations across the country.
Find | Kung Fu Tea
Where: 6915 E. State St., Rockford
On Social: Kung Fu Tea Rockford on Facebook
Online: kungfutea.com
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas