The Distribution Play
Gong cha, the nearly 2,200-unit global bubble tea brand, has activated two new nontraditional points of distribution inside Ladle & Leaf locations at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley — its first licensed placements within a university healthcare system. The openings operate under Gong cha's Proud to Serve licensing model, which allows established foodservice operators to integrate the brand's freshly brewed teas into their existing venues without converting to a standalone storefront.
The arrangement gives Ladle & Leaf — a scratch-made soups, salads, and sandwiches concept — an incremental revenue stream tied to a globally recognized beverage brand. For Gong cha, it is a low-capital channel play: operators supply the venue traffic; Gong cha supplies the brand equity, product specs, and training. Minimal equipment requirements mean the model integrates into an operator's existing footprint with limited disruption to workflow or labor.
Nontraditional as a Growth Channel
The Proud to Serve program positions Gong cha alongside other beverage brands that have pursued licensed or white-label distribution in captive-audience settings — a channel that has gained traction across the fast-casual and specialty-beverage segments as unit economics in traditional real estate tighten. Universities, hospitals, airports, and corporate dining accounts offer consistent daypart volume and a recurring consumer base, reducing the customer-acquisition burden that standalone franchise units carry.
Michael Nedelkovich Jr., Vice President of U.S. Non-Traditional Franchise Development at Gong cha, called UCSF and UC Berkeley "high-traffic, community-driven environments where Gong cha can become part of consumers' daily routines," and described the Ladle & Leaf partnership as a blueprint for broader institutional expansion. The brand is actively pursuing similar placements in hospitals, airports, and restaurants. Steve Sarver, Chief Executive Officer of Ladle & Leaf, framed the addition as a premium complement to his concept's wholesome-food positioning.
U.S. Franchise Trajectory
Nontraditional development runs parallel to Gong cha's conventional franchise push. The brand currently operates more than 240 locations across 24 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and has set a target of surpassing 500 units in the Americas by 2028 — roughly doubling its current domestic footprint in under three years. To support that velocity, Gong cha has rolled out its Gong cha 2.0 platform, an operating-model refresh built around digital ordering, automation, and store-design optimization intended to lift throughput and improve franchisee-level performance.
The brand has ranked first in the Tea category on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 for five consecutive years and is actively recruiting multi-unit operators for existing and emerging markets. Proud to Serve agreements, which carry a lighter capital requirement than area development agreements for traditional units, offer an asset-light pathway to build brand awareness in institutional corridors before conventional franchise development follows — a sequencing strategy that aligns with how several beverage-forward franchise brands have approached campus and healthcare penetration.
For foodservice operators evaluating licensed brand partnerships as an incremental revenue lever, the Gong cha–Ladle & Leaf structure illustrates how a globally scaled beverage brand can slot into an independent operator's P&L with relatively contained execution risk — provided the host venue delivers the foot traffic the model depends on.
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.
