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Bubbly grand opening

UT alumni open new BubbleTea on campus

Courtesy of UT News

UT alumni and BubbleTea co-founders Prakash Karamchandani and Hochan Jang pose for a picture outside of their new location.

Lauren Gilbert, Copy Editor

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Devoted drinkers of bubble tea and new patrons alike will be able to purchase this trendy drink in a new location on the University of Toledo campus.
UT graduates and co-founders of the fast-casual restaurant Balance Pan-Asian Grille, Hochan Jang and Prakash Karamchandani, held the grand opening of their first standalone beverage location Saturday, Jan. 16, at Gateway on Secor and Dorr.
“We’ve always wanted to open a new location at the University of Toledo,” Jang said. “My business partner and I are both alumni, and we’ve always wanted to do something for the university. We came across this opportunity and it was just the right timing at the right place and we’re very excited to try something new.”
Balance Pan-Asian Grille specializes in food, but also sells bubble tea. Jang said the BubbleTea they opened up at UT is “kind of like a sister company to Balance.”
“We’re very excited to try this out and see what happens,” Jang said. “As far as goals and vision, we’re just trying to do something a little different and try this concept of standalone beverages. This area is still fairly new to bubble tea so we kind of want to make the drink itself more popular around this area as well. As far as what we expect, we don’t really know.”
Jang said they are excited to experiment with different flavors and combinations for the tea.
“It’ll be a good test lab for us to see what flavors and combinations work at BubbleTea and we will be expanding that throughout our Balance locations as well,” Jang said.
Nour Barudi, a third-year majoring in political science and a self-proclaimed bubble tea connoisseur, is happy about the convenience of the new location.
“I am really excited, especially because I am a college student,” Barudi said. “The locations are a little bit farther from campus … it’s convenient that they opened one here. And I love the people who work at Balance. They’re so friendly.”
Meghan Leonard, employee at Balance Pan-Asian Grille and a third-year psychology major, shared some of the company’s values and goals for Balance as well as the new BubbleTea.
“We at Balance really like tight-knit communities; we’re very customer-based; we love our customers; we love our clientele,” Leonard said. “We are there for the people … On UT’s campus it’s
obviously going to be a lot of college students and teenagers who are really involved in the bubble tea. So right on campus is a good location so then that way we can give every college student a chance to just go in for bubble tea so that way they don’t have to wait in a longer line.”
Leonard said she really enjoys being an employee at Balance and says it’s like being a part of a family.
“The owners, PK [Karamchandani] and CJ [Jang], they are very friendly; they try and meet every one of their worker’s needs,” Leonard said. “The co-workers and managers are really friendly … We call each other family because everyone’s there for each other. Everyone likes each other and supports each other every step of the way. And though it’s [Balance] a fast-casual place, we make it more personal for every one of our customers. We like to make sure that we see all of their needs and meet everything that they want.”
BubbleTea is already making their new home a personal place. During the opening, customers and BubbleTea workers alike decorated the walls of BubbleTea with paint bubbles. The collage created as a result is “all customer based,” Leonard said.
“We’re just very excited that we got to be part of this project and able to work closer with the University of Toledo so we definitely want to give them a shoutout and to thank our team members,” Jang said. “We’re very excited to get something new started and to see what happens.”

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