Popular Bubble Tea Franchise 'Chatime' Hosts Grand Opening In Peterborough's North End

Peterborough’s newest entrepreneur Kanza Ghzanfar started her week-long grand opening of the popular bubble tea franchise Chatime in the north end of town on Friday.

Kanza Ghzanfar (left) with her brother Zaeem Ghzanfar (right) during Chatime’s first day of business. Their father owns the neighbouring Osmow’s Shawarma and is operated by Zaeem. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The grand opening runs until Nov. 23. The storefront is located on 1447 Water St. Unit 6 next to the Osmow’s Shawarma. Ghzanfar’s family owns the latter and had worked there for an extended period of time since opening in 2018. The young entrepreneur wanted to take a risk and bring her love of bubble tea to Peterborough.

“Personally, I'm just the biggest fan of Chatime myself and five years ago I was craving bubble tea,” she said. “I put 'bubble tea' in Google Maps and the closest it was taking me to was Oshawa.”

Bubble Tea is a popular Taiwanese drink commonly consists of green or black flavoured tea typically with chewy tapioca balls (that act as the ‘bubbles’) and can include milk. Other popular toppings include popping boba (encased spheres of syrup or juice), jelly or fruit.

Customers can adjust sugar and ice levels to their bubble tea as the beverage boasts to be a healthier alternative to other sweet drinks.

Chatime is an chain with over 3,000 locations worldwide according to their website. It is widely popular in the Durham and Greater Toronto Area region.

Ghzanfar is from Toronto and attended University of Toronto (St. George Campus), earning a double major bachelor’s degree in criminology and politics. She earned her Masters at Wilfrid Laurier University, studying national security. She turned down a Ph.D offer and wanted to stick to her roots. She was immersed in a business with her family for several years and wanted to continue that.

“Back then, I didn't know I was going to get involved in the business world but I knew that if I was going to do something at any point, it would have to be bubble tea related,” explained Ghzanfar.

The week-long grand opening has a photo booth with bubble tea props. There are also two daily promotions during that week including a buy on get on free promotion on select drinks (Pearl Milk Tea, QQ Mango, Peach Green Tea) from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Customers can spin a wheel to possibly win free drinks, toppings and other prizes from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The store is fully-employed by Trent University students and accepts Trent flex cards as payment. Ghzanfar had many food and drink options in close proximity to her post-secondary institutions but believes Trent students do not have the same luxury.

“I feel like with Trent, there are wasn't that many options for students that were available so close to campus so that was primarily why I wanted to target that kind of community,” she explained. “At the end of the day, I still wanted to get involved with the locals are aware of our presence, what the product is and what we bring to the table.”

Chatime is open seven days a week and are open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Delivery orders can be made through DoorDash, Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes.

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