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Meet Eric Caraig, Matt Kwong and Benson Tran of Pop ‘N Tea Bar

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Caraig, Matt Kwong and Benson Tran.

Eric, Matt and Benson, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Pop ‘N Tea Bar was a concept curated in 2016.

Back in 2013, I moved to Arizona to pursue a career in the finance industry. Initially, I hoped to work for a year and move back to California with work experience. After surviving the summer heat and monsoon season for the first few years, I really loved Arizona and considered staying for a while. I met great people that showed me around. I explored the valley to find the best food and drinks that Arizona had to offer.

When it comes to boba, I am extremely particular and passionate as I had worked in the industry for 5+ years back in high school and college. My best friends and I worked together and I’ll never forget the people and the positive impact it had on my life. During those years, we were going to school, hanging out at different So Cal hot spots, and life was simple. We were too focused on driving fun cars and eating Korean BBQ on the weekends. We had great camaraderie, shared a lot of laughs, hung out all the time outside of work, and dreamed of owning our own store one day.

Fast forward to 2015, Benson came to visit from Boston, where he was living and working at the time. We met up and shared stories from our past. We worked together years before, and he told me his family recently moved their nail salon from California to Arizona. I was surprised to hear the news and revisited a dream we shared years ago of starting our own boba and dessert shop. We spent the next year texting back and forth and decided that this was our opportunity to pursue our dreams.

As our business started to come to life on paper, we contacted Eric. I have known Eric since we were four years old. We lived right down the street from each other growing up. We met in preschool and went to the same elementary, middle, and high school together. Our families are close and I consider him a brother. We parted ways for school in college, but both of our first jobs were at the same small business as were still in Southern California. Our friendship flourished and we always talked about how we wanted to start our own business one day. Crazy, right?!

After I moved to Arizona in 2013, Eric worked in a few different industries and crafted his media, marketing, and design skills. Eric has always had a penchant for design. He was working on a ton of design projects and we felt he would be the perfect fit for Pop ‘N Tea Bar. As I pitched the business concept to Eric, he was all-in right away. He didn’t have to think about it too long and he abruptly quit his job and moved to Arizona in 2016.

Leading up to our reunion, we had countless online meetings in different states. Thank goodness for technology, Facetime, and Google Hangouts! Once we were finally together in Arizona, the work really picked up and we were ready to bring our vision of Pop ‘N Tea Bar to life. We spent many long nights and countless hours trying to make everything just right. We secured our location in 2017 and worked with some of the finest designers and contractors in the valley to create a store that is truly one-of-a-kind. This led us to where we are today and a brand that is more than just a boba shop. We are innovators of delectable desserts and hope to set the standard on premium boba in Arizona. I hope you enjoy the unique drinks, atmosphere, music, and art when you visit our store. We are proud to be the Home of the Diamond Bars. – Matt

We’ve created unique treats that you can’t find anywhere else. First, we crafted a menu of drinks made with nitro brewed teas on tap and reimagined a childhood classic, the popsicle. It took over two years to perfect the shape using 3D printing technology. Our diamond bars are created using the best gelato and sorbetto in the US which helps the bars retain the perfect texture. All-natural ingredients, full flavors, and childhood classics. The hardest part is deciding which flavor you want to try!

We aim to incorporate art with our products and challenge the norm. Quality crafted drinks paired with refreshing Diamond Bars –– a variety of flavors each sculpted by hand into individual works of art. Food is viewed as art in many ways and we strive to push the envelope in creativity and artistic cultivation. The Diamond Bars are a fresh take on a timeless and satisfying treat that can only be enjoyed at Pop ‘N Tea Bar! – Eric

Our teas put a spin on anything you’ve had before. We proudly serve all-natural, organic, and responsibly sourced teas from across the world. We give these great tea bases a twist by infusing our drinks with local fruits and natural flavors. We incorporate flavor combinations that you won’t find anywhere else and craft our drinks to the highest standards. We are no ordinary boba shop and want to make sure you next visit with us is special. Not all boba is created equal. We use real, natural honey in our boba and don’t cut corners. No corn syrup substitutes here! We hope to make a lasting impact all across the valley and in the community we serve.

We opened our doors in January 2018 in the historic My Florist Plaza in Phoenix. Our unit hosted the last flower shop in the plaza prior to turning over to Pop ‘N Tea Bar. It means a lot to us to pay homage to this historical plaza and the significance of our unit. For this reason, we created our logo around this rich history. The flower logo consists of two parts: the rose and tea leaves. The rose represents our Diamond Bars and the leaves represent tea leaves. We hope to continue the legacy of this plaza and represent it well for many years to come. – Benson

Throughout our journey, we’ve learned quite a lot. Learning and getting involved with our community has built plenty of support along with working the store ourselves from time to time to get to know our customers and to build our “family” like relationship with our team. The game is constantly evolving and we learned you have to be able to understand the changes and continuously adapt to keep pushing the norm. Staying dedicated to the craft shows the passion in what we do at Pop ‘N Tea Bar. – Matt, Eric and Benson

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Every business has its ups and downs. We knew going into business that it was not going to be easy. We had great ideas, but those don’t always translate into things going as expected. We were new to everything and had to learn a lot of hard lessons every step of the way. We were all business majors in college. But as many business majors will tell you, school didn’t necessarily prepare us for the real world.

Tasks such as raising capital, figuring out operating expenses, initial startup cost, finding trust-worthy business partners, setting protocols and procedures for making decisions, and meeting deadlines were new. It was all a struggle and to be honest, we did not know what we were doing. Were we in over our heads? At times, we definitely questioned whether we were going to get Pop ‘N Tea off the ground. Yes, we all contributed to successful operations at small business in Southern California all those years ago. We all held important roles within the company, worked our way up, and as “kids” we thought we had it all figured out.

When we started off, things were a lot harder than we expected. We were in the desert trying to win over a new market that showed a lot of potential. At the same time, Arizona was a market that we jumped into with blind faith. It was a huge risk, and we hoped that people would grasp our concept and allow us share our dream one Diamond Bar at a time.

One of the first struggles we encountered was how to make Diamond Bars. Benson drew the first Diamond Bar on paper in 2016. We spent countless hours on AutoCAD and 3D printing samples of our popsicle. Let me tell you, the first few runs were not pretty. Two years later, and about a month before we were scheduled to open, we figured out a winning recipe and process. The popsicle probably went through 20+ different versions. We were relentless and pushed ourselves to perfect the details and get it right.

There were many times where we thought it was not going to work, but we made the impossible come to life and it encouraged us to keep on pushing. Food and 3D printing is still in its infancy, but we are proud to say we were one of the first in the US to bring something original and new to our customers.

When you are perceived as being young, people don’t always take you seriously. We worked with a few people that did not have our best interests in mind and quickly learned how to network, build, and maintain relationships with partners/vendors that you can trust. Our store builds out took a lot longer than expected. We had a lot of frustrations trying to stay on track and working around the parameters of a historic building.

Another issue we struggled with coming to market was sharing our story with the world. Many people did not know what Pop ‘N Tea Bar was all about. It took time to market, pass out fliers, visit community events, and share our treats with the world. Since we aren’t Arizona natives we had to learn a lot about our neighborhood, the culture and the lifestyle. When you walk into our store, you are immediately immersed into our culture from growing up in Southern California. Whether its the Soulection mix you hear, art that reminds us of home, or the vibe you get by the decor we hope you enjoy your experience. Our goal is to share a little slice of our background with each customer.

Struggles and mistakes lead to progress. We are constantly evolving and we are nowhere near done yet! We have a lot of confidence in our team, and we are able to make decisions and changes very quickly. We grew up in the age where technology really started to change lives. We incorporate these skills into our business and feel confident we can tackle any challenges head-on. As we grow our business, we hope to make Pop ‘N Tea Bar a household name one day. Every so often we raise the bar, and we expect to encounter a new issues along the way. Our mindset is that we’ve gone through it all before, so let’s do it even better next time. – Eric

Please tell us about your work. What should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our mission statement is to establish Pop ‘N Tea Bar an innovator of sweets and delectable desserts. We knew that we didn’t want to fit in as just another boba shop. We really pushed the envelope with both our drinks and desserts. Our teas are brewed fresh daily and kegged in house. We were one of the first in Arizona to serve teas on tap. The process of brewing teas the right way, kegging, and serving through a tap system required a lot of learning and figuring out how to build a tap system. We The teas are nitro kegged which gives them a crisp and fresh taste. The difference is in our flavor combinations and unique craft teas that we infuse with real fruits. Our honey boba is made with real honey. Our menu is fully customizable as our teas come from the tap unsweetened. A majority of our menu is also vegan-friendly and gluten-free. We take pride in our ingredients and share the best we have to offer.

We are most proud of our Diamond Bars which is how our customers know us best. Enjoy your Diamond Bar just the way you like it – eat it plain or dress it up in a deluxe! Add chocolate with a full or half dip, add toppings, or make it spicy with Tajin and Chamoy. The combinations are endless! Although we can’t share our process on how we make the bars, they are pleasing to the eye and taste even better. They are made out of gelato or sorbet. Vegan and gluten-free options are also available.

We are also known for our unique style and having the most “Instagramable store in the Valley.” You will likely see our plant wall in many places online with one of our favorite quotes from Ice Cube, “Today was a good day” which is on our wall in a pink neon sign. We brought in a few of our friends to help us design the store. In our hallway, we feature pictures of prominent locations in LA, shot by one of our best friends, Kyle Reyes, who is a video director at Hypebeast media. (@chez.reyes) We dedicated one of our walls to our family and friends that made this business venture possible. The wall features a quote by our good friend, Sam Danan, and her installation of @smbdy2me. Sam has worked to inspire many and has worked with the likes of LA native and rapper YG and companies such as Calpak. Everything we do has a purpose and meaning, and we hope to share our passion for art and fashion when you visit our store.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We define success in a few different ways. The first one is making sure Pop ‘N Tea Bar is profitable. We hope to stay in business for years to come and share our products with the world. Are we making an impact on the community? We participate in a lot of events throughout the year and also help with fundraisers. We hope to have a positive impact with the people that help us stay in business. One of the most important factors is making sure both our ownership team and staff are happy. We wouldn’t be able to succeed without such a great team! We know they are not going to be with us forever and hope they can take something positive away from their experience at Pop ‘N Tea Bar.

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