| Tealive | |
| Founder: | Bryan Loo[1] |
| Location City: | Kuala Lumpur |
| Location Country: | Malaysia |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Industry: | Beverage |
| Genre: | Bubble tea |
| Services: | Tea |
| Owner: | Loob Holding Sdn.Bhd. |
Tealive is a Malaysian tea beverage chain established in 2017. It is owned by Loob Holding Sdn. Bhd.[2] It was founded as a demerger of the then-existing Malaysian franchise network of Taiwanese company Chatime after long-standing disagreements between both Loob and Chatime over brand royalties and supply chain management.[3] [4] It has since spread as the largest lifestyle tea brand in Southeast Asia with branches in Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. As of 2023, Tealive has over 800 branches throughout Malaysia.[5] Among the items sold at Tealive are pearl milk tea and various flavored teas.
Tealive was introduced on February 17, 2017, by Bryan Loo, who was the Loob's Chief Executive Officer by introducing Tealive as his brand to take tea to a higher level. Chief Executive Officer, Bryan Loo launched the brand at the Pavilion KL store near the exact spotwhere he introduced the brewed tea before opening 165 branches by the end of 2016. Tealive previously known as Chatime and Cha means tea in Chinese. So Chatime means tea time.However, in early 2017, La Kaffa International, the parent company of Chatime decided to terminate its deal with Loob Holdings, a Bryan Loo company. The agreement between LaKaffa and Loob, was terminated due to Taiwan's disagreement over the business direction of Chatime in Malaysia. Two months after losing his Chatime franchise, Loob Holding CEO Bryan Loo started his own brand, Tealive, which opened its first international outlet in Vietnam recently.[6]
The first Tealive branch in Malaysia was founded at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur on February 26, 2017. It was launched by Bryan Loo three months after the closure of 165 Chatime branches in 2016.[7] It also introduced four new menus: Signature Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea, Roasted Milk Tea with Handmade Pearls, Signature Passion Fruit Green Tea, and Grapefruit Chia Tea Booster.[8]
On September 25, 2022, Tealive opened its 800th branch in Batu Kawan, Penang, with plans to reach 1000 branches by 2024.[9] In early 2019, Tealive launched its first drive-thru branch in collaboration with Petronas in Subang Jaya, Selangor.
On June 27, 2018, the Court of Appeal ordered Tealive, owned by Loob Holdings Sdn Bhd, to close all its operations after being found guilty against Chatime, owned by La Kaffa International Co Ltd from Taiwan. This was because La Kaffa claimed that Tealive had violated the agreement as its franchise and had altered the drink ingredients without La Kaffa's approval as the parent franchise company.[10]