The very South Korean ‘black sugar bubble milk tea’ legend now goes global

▲ Woonam F&C / CEO Eunhee Nam

Woonam F&C is most famous for its premium tea house brand ‘Heukhwadang’. The company created a sensation in South Korea with the then unfamiliar black sugar drink (black sugar bubble milk tea) which made a nationwide hit. It is developed by Eunhee Nam, CEO of Woonam F&C, and her Taiwanese husband Wu Pin Jui. This new drink awakened many café owners big or small in South Korea to hurry to introduce the similar drinks line after line.

Within a year of launching the brand, the company had opened 89 stores nationwide and listed its name in the Trend 2019 with a pride. Today, we can see black sugar drinks in almost all cafes in South Korea. 

Following the huge success of ‘black sugar bubble milk tea’, Woonam F&C introduced ‘gonyak bubble tea’ which boasts excellent chewiness yet one should not worry about calories. Coming with these trendy drinks are variety of premium deserts. The company joined hands with Mengxiang 82 to introduce handmade Nuga Cracker and Sulcubing. 

It is notable that CEO Nam is using Korean alphabets ‘흑화당 (Heukhwadang in English)’ even in overseas as well as interior and exterior and cups and plates to give uniqueness. Finding it new and attractive, customers alone or group gather together in front of the café with Korean alphabets as background to take photos. 

Heukhwadang also wowed Japanese when they saw people queued for 2 hours to have a taste even after 2 hours of opening the flagship café in Shin-Okubo. Shin-Okubo station is famous for Korea Town where Korean lover young Japanese gather together. Currently, Woonam F&C is running 4 branches in Japan. Taking the momentum, the company is pushing forward global expansion of branch alongside taking part to spread K-Food to the world.  

In recognition of its achievement and contribution to the industry, Woonam F&C received a ministerial prize from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy at the Innovation Winner 2019 hosted by the Herald Group and managed by monthly <PowerKorea>. 

In 2019, the company made a donation to World Vision for children in need and is hiring employees regardless their academic background in an effort to create fair job opportunities in South Korea.