Bubble Tea Bliss: Reddit's Delightful Drop-off Catering
In September 2023, Pearl Lemon Catering was tasked with creating a diverse menu of bubble tea flavours that catered to various tastes. The selection was designed to appeal to all participants, from traditional favourites like taro and matcha to exotic choices such as passion fruit and mango. Each bubble tea was prepared using high-quality ingredients, ensuring a rich and satisfying experience characterized by creamy textures and the chewy tapioca pearls that are the hallmarks of this popular beverage.
Understanding the importance of efficient and seamless service, especially in a corporate environment, Pearl Lemon Catering coordinated meticulously with City Pantry. This collaboration was essential for ensuring that the bubble tea setup was timely and visually appealing, encouraging interaction and enjoyment among Reddit’s team members.
The Bubble Tea Drop-off was about providing refreshments and creating an interactive experience that mirrored Reddit’s culture of innovation and community engagement. By integrating this playful and flavorful break into their event, Pearl Lemon Catering aimed to leave a lasting impression, enhancing Reddit’s corporate gathering’s overall atmosphere and success.
The Scope of Work
The initial scope of the agreed-upon work included the following components:
- Help curate a boba menu for their office event
- Premake some of the drinks
- Make some drinks on-site
- Hang around for a bit to chat with the Reddit team and explain the flavours and history
Costing the Ingredients
Bubble Tea, being a staple on our menu, is typically straightforward to budget for, thanks to the solid groundwork laid by Axel and Lydia during the initial menu creation and selection phase. Their foresight in establishing a comprehensive menu years ago has significantly streamlined the costing process for events.
When preparing a quote for the Reddit event, Lydia efficiently calculated the costs by inputting the necessary data into a Google sheet, which is set up to generate the total expenses semi-automatically. This system speeds up the preparation of accurate estimates and ensures consistency and reliability in our pricing structure. This systematic approach allows us to quickly provide detailed cost breakdowns to our clients, ensuring transparency and aiding in swift decision-making for event planning.
Leading Up to the Event
The team worked closely together throughout the event preparation.
Lydia kept in contact with Ronan through Whatsapp, while the core team kept in touch on whatsapp.
Lydia was responsible for sending the menu and confirming final counts as they needed 40 total bubble teas.
Ronan ended up choosing:
- 8 x Cookies and Cream Milk
- 8 x Matcha Milk
- 8 x Classic Milk
- 8 x Passion fruit
- 8 x Strawberry
Setting Up At the Venue
Although the team arrived later than scheduled, they sprang into action immediately upon arrival at the Reddit event.
Quickly unloading and setting up the bubble tea serving station, they efficiently managed to keep pace with the eager guests, who were ready to indulge in their chosen drinks. As the attendees selected their beverages, our team members took the opportunity to engage with them, sharing insights into the preparation process of bubble tea, the traditional and novel flavours available, the intriguing addition of popping pearls, and the rich history behind boba tea.
This educational interaction added an enriching layer to the experience, making the wait worthwhile. Despite the initial delay, the feedback from the Reddit team was overwhelmingly positive—they thoroughly enjoyed both the drinks and the informative interaction. This successful recovery highlighted our team’s ability to maintain high spirits and deliver exceptional service under pressure, ensuring the event’s overall success.
Hurdles and Obstacles
The biggest challenge was transportation issues on the day of the event. This led to the need for an alternative vehicle, repacking it, and then going to the event. This led to the team being late, which we never want.
Prior to the event, the team was worried that stock would not arrive in time, but we were able to fulfil all flavour requests and make all drinks as needed.
The Outcome
This was a great opportunity to provide bubble tea for a major brand.
Although arriving late, the client expressed great satisfaction with our flavour options, the amiable and knowledgeable staff, and our work approach. Naturally, their initial dissatisfaction stemmed from the delay, but we successfully mended the relationship. We anticipate future invitations to events, particularly since they discovered our diverse offerings beyond bubble tea.
Reddit mentioned on a call after the event that we were presented as a company that only provides bubble tea, so to find out, we did more. They were (what seemed like) excited that they may have found a food vendor that could take care of more than just boba.
