A packaged boba business based in Portland, Oregon, has sparked outrage on Instagram for its alleged whitewashing of tapioca pearls.
“Another CULTURE VULTURE,” one claimed. “You all live to take simple things and make them expensive and worse.”
What the company is saying: Better Boba acknowledges Taiwan as the home of boba. In response to an Instagram user who asked whether the brand is white-owned, it stated, “We are a woman and minority-owned company.”
In response to the backlash, Parth and Allison released the following statement to NextShark:
“We are listening to your comments about the branding and mission of Better Boba. Our messaging was never intended to insult a culture, origin, or identity.
Truly, we love boba. We always hoped to share the tradition and not suppress it. Some of our families are also Taiwanese Americans and it was important for us to create a brand that was culturally reflective of our entire team.
Our quest for a more natural boba started as parents and shop owners. Most packaged boba in North America does not mirror the natural, artisanal boba available in Taiwan. This started a journey across the globe to understand boba production. Our research found that as global demand increases, simple ingredients are being replaced with preservatives and additives, limiting our retail options.
There were also supply chain concerns. Fulfillment delays caused a national boba shortage, and establishing local production could alleviate distribution interruptions to boba shops across the country.
In the context of our name, ‘better’ references simple, healthier ingredients compared to the limited packaged boba available in North America. ‘Better’ identifies our efforts to create a more sustainable manufacturing and distribution process. ‘Better’ ultimately represents that boba makes so many things better!
‘Better’ does not identify our product as being better than the original. ‘Better’ is not to claim our…
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