For bubble-tea lovers, you probably already know about the Taiwanese bubble-tea brand that has been making waves in the Klang Valley: Xing Fu Tang. With Malaysians and their love affair with bubble tea, it’s hard to deny the appeal that many people see in a creamy, rich cup of sweet, brown sugar infused milk tea.
Source: DanielFoodDiary
But as it turns out, not everyone considers themselves a fan of the brand, as this incident reported by China Press comes to show.
In a seemingly unprovoked attack, two Xing Fu Tang outlets were vandalised with red paint during separate occurrences on the 17th and the 26th of October. The motive behind these attacks remains unknown, but some have speculated that it was linked to disputes between the Malaysian operator and the parent company in Taiwan.
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
This dispute was posted on Xing Fu Tang Malaysia’s Facebook page recently, which details how the Taiwanese headquarters of the famous bubble-tea company allegedly tried to convince their Malaysian franchise holder to purchase new manufacturing machines at a high cost. The post also claims that the parent company had increased the cost of raw materials and logistics.
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
It is also alleged that the Taiwanese parent company of Xing Fu Tang plans to open its own outlets in Malaysia, and are threatening to end the franchise contract currently being held by Malaysian operators.
But of course, none of these allegations can be confirmed at this moment in time. Photos uploaded to Xing Fu Tang Malaysia’s Facebook page shows that the two outlets had their storefronts marked by splotches of paint.
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
The suspects went as far as to target the signboards of the outlets specifically, tossing up paint at them. An unfortunate bystander’s car that was parked outside one of the outlets was also splattered with paint.
Operators of these outlets have submitted CCTV footage of the incident to the police for further investigation.
We hope that the authorities will be able to get to the bottom of this dispute and stop further vandalism cases from happening.
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