Catering case study
Nine Days of Bubble Tea for CHERY’s Oxford Street Automotive Launch
At an automotive launch on Oxford Street, the drinks needed to work as hard as the rest of the experience. Pearl Lemon operated the live bubble-tea service across nine consecutive days, accommodating variable visitor demand, limited storage and a venue with strict loading rules.
Event at a glance
- Activation duration
- 9 days
- Drinks served on 9 May
- 345
- Original total drink plan
- 1,850
Who, where and when
CHERY, the car manufacturer, ran a public vehicle launch at Futures Stores on Oxford Street from Saturday 2 May to Sunday 10 May 2026: nine consecutive days. Visitors explored the cars, interactive attractions and campaign displays in a busy retail space. The production team wanted a hospitality touchpoint visitors could enjoy while moving through the activation, and booked Pearl Lemon Catering to run a freshly made bubble tea station.
What made this brief hard
Retail footfall does not follow a timetable. Walk-in visitors arrive in waves, weekends behave differently from weekdays, and no one books a slot. The site added its own limits: no supplier parking, so stock came in from a short loading stop; limited refrigeration, so ice and chilled ingredients needed planned top-ups; and a marble floor that had to be protected from spills and condensation. The drinks station also had to sit inside the brand environment without pulling attention from the vehicles.
Who did what
- CHERY and its production team: the launch itself, the venue, the branded service bar, menu graphics and the CHERY campaign stickers applied to the cups.
- Pearl Lemon Catering: the bubble tea menu, ingredients, equipment, trained staff, allergen information, daily load-in, restocking and close-down.
Menu and operating method
The menu was deliberately short: brown sugar milk tea and matcha milk tea alongside fruit-tea choices. That gave visitors real variety while keeping every drink quick to build, which matters when a queue can form in minutes. Each day followed the same routine of load-in, set-up, service, restock and close-down, planned with the producer. Clear cups made the finished drink part of the campaign, carrying the CHERY logo and the “Find your happy” message.
What the numbers show
The original plan allowed for 1,850 drinks over the full nine days. That was a planning allowance for the whole activation, not a count of drinks served, and no reconciled nine-day total has been published.
One day is measured. On Saturday 9 May, the eighth day of the activation, the team served 345 drinks against 250 planned for that day: 95 more than planned, or 38% above the allocation. Plans were adjusted as footfall changed, and the production contact responded positively to how a late schedule change was handled. The service ran on all nine scheduled days.
Planning a similar activation
- Plan stock by day, with a higher weekend allowance and an agreed way to top up if a day runs ahead.
- Confirm loading access, parking and the route from van to stand before menu details.
- Check refrigeration and ice capacity, and protect floors in premium venues.
- Agree who supplies branded cups, stickers and graphics, and when they arrive on site.
- Keep the menu short enough to serve quickly at peak times.
Planning a launch, pop-up or retail activation? send us your brief with your dates, venue and expected footfall, or book a call to talk it through.
Questions buyers ask
Can you run bubble tea for a multi-day retail launch?
Yes. We operated the live bubble tea service across nine consecutive days for CHERY's vehicle launch at Futures Stores on Oxford Street, 2 to 10 May 2026, with daily load-in, replenishment and close-down planned with the producer.
What happens if demand exceeds the plan?
We adjust the operation. On 9 May demand exceeded the day's initial allocation, and the team served 345 drinks against 250 planned for that day. The 1,850 figure was the original plan for the full activation, not a total served.
How do you work with no parking and limited storage?
With planned resupply. At CHERY there was no supplier parking, stock moved from a short loading stop, and refrigeration was limited, so ice and chilled ingredients were replenished on a schedule. The marble floor was also protected from spills and condensation.
Who controls branding on the cups and bar?
At CHERY the client production team controlled the branded service bar, menu graphics and the campaign stickers on the cups. Pearl Lemon supplied and operated the beverage service. We agree that split at the start of every activation.
