Chatime, which bills itself as the world's largest teahouse franchise, has signed a 10-unit development agreement covering the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, the company announced May 18. The deal is anchored by a husband-and-wife ownership team and launches with a store already open at Medallion Center, 6464 E NW Hwy, Suite 316, Dallas — with a formal grand opening scheduled for May 30.
The 10-location commitment represents a meaningful bet on North Texas consumer appetite for modern bubble tea. No financial terms of the franchise agreement were disclosed, and Chatime did not specify a buildout timeline for the remaining nine units. At typical quick-service bubble-tea investment levels, multi-unit deals of this scale in major U.S. metros routinely carry total development costs in the range of several million dollars across the full portfolio.
The DFW push is part of a broader U.S. expansion effort by the Taiwan-founded chain, which operates thousands of locations across more than 60 markets globally. The U.S. market has historically lagged the brand's penetration in Asia and Australia, making franchise recruitment in high-growth Sun Belt metros a strategic priority. Dallas-Fort Worth, with a population exceeding 8 million and a large Asian-American consumer base, fits the demographic profile Chatime and rival bubble-tea operators — including Gong Cha and Tiger Sugar — have been targeting aggressively.
The bubble-tea segment continues to outpace the broader specialty-beverage category. Industry trackers have pegged the global boba market at roughly $3.0 billion and projected compound annual growth above 8.0% through the end of the decade, driven by younger consumers and the premiumisation of tea-based drinks. Franchised teahouse concepts have been among the primary beneficiaries, as covered in recent franchise-growth analysis on F&B Industry News.
Chatime did not provide same-store sales figures or U.S. unit economics in the announcement. Prospective franchisees and analysts tracking the non-alcoholic beverages space can find additional context on competitive positioning within the specialty-beverage sector coverage maintained by our editorial team. The brand's global footprint and franchise model have also been examined by Food & Beverage Magazine.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
