Justin Chan, the founder of Sequel Tea, created a system for his company’s boba drinks: every single component is measured down to the gram. When he sells drinks to customers, proportionality and consistent quality are his top priorities.
“Every single boba shop employee that has worked at Sequel has accounted for the meticulousness to the system,” Chan said. “That level of precision, even when people don’t follow, will still remain a level of standard.”
Chan attributes this attention to detail to his background in chemistry. He came to Cal Poly as a biological sciences major and graduated not only with a degree, but as the founder of Sequel Tea, a growing boba tea business serving the San Luis Obispo community. According to its website, Sequel Tea is California’s first cold brew boba tea concept.
Now, Sequel Tea is establishing its second storefront right on Cal Poly’s campus. Sequel Tea will replace the Starbucks at Campus Market in September, according to Kassidy Church, marketing communications manager for Cal Poly Partners. The storefront transition will begin after commencement.
Sequel Tea will be available on Grubhub, according to University Spokesperson Aaron Lambert. There will also be a new design for the store when it replaces Starbucks, Chan said.
Currently, Sequel Tea operates as a pop-up truck on Mott Lawn every Monday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to Cal Poly Dining. Once the campus storefront opens, those pop-ups will end, Chan said.
Sequel Tea’s other locations — including its storefront at the SLO Public Market and its weekly presence at the Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market — will continue to operate, he explained.
With the Campus Market closure, Cal Poly will be left with two Starbucks locations: one in the University Union and its mobile truck.
Sequel Tea currently has 25-30 employees, Chan said. New potential employees can apply through Campus Dining.
Scarlett Munoz, a Campus Market Starbucks employee and a political science sophomore, said she was informed about the change three months ago. Munoz is not entirely sure where she will go after this change and is sad to work with different staff.
“I feel like every time I work, that’s like a big topic of discussion or in the group chat [where] everyone’s always asking, ‘where are we going to work?’” Munoz said. “I feel like we keep having questions or discussion about it, but there’s not that solid of answers.”
Talks of Sequel Tea moving into Campus Market began over a year ago, Chan said. Lambert said Sequel Tea’s popularity with the Cal Poly community has grown exponentially.
“Campus Dining is always looking to partner with fun local businesses and are excited to bring Sequel on board in a larger capacity and offer students more variety and a great product,” Lambert said.
Sequel Tea employee and business administration sophomore Eshaan Suresh is looking forward to Sequel Tea’s move.
“I’m pretty excited for Sequel,” Suresh said. “I started working [at Sequel Tea] earlier this year, so getting to see how we’ve grown throughout this year has been exciting and fascinating to watch.”
Chan says that many of Sequel Tea’s recent new recipes, like their strawberry jasmine tea, have come from their team.
Environmental earth and soil sciences freshman Caroline Barnes said she appreciates the shorter lines at Campus Market and will miss the convenience of the Starbucks.
“If [Sequel Tea] could be open for longer, that could be nice too,” Barnes said. “It is a little sad that Starbucks is leaving, but I guess we still have another Starbucks.”
Mechanical engineering freshman Quincy Situ supports Sequel Tea moving to Campus Market.
“I feel good about it because it’s going to be closer to second-year housing,” Situ said. “Especially for me, I’m Asian, I miss home food, so I will look forward to it.”
Business administration freshman Kimberly Molina Méndez said she regularly visits Sequel Tea’s pop-ups and is happy about the news.
“A lot of people like it, so in general, I think it’s a good idea,” Molina Méndez said. “I usually go once a week at least.”
When Chan was a biology sophomore at Cal Poly in 2017, he started handing out free boba during finals weeks out of his dorm room. In his senior year, Chan received 150 orders in a pop-up shop, inspiring him to go further in his business.
“I think it has come full circle, that it started here on campus and now we have an opportunity for students to enjoy it on campus,” he said.
When asked about his journey and evolution of the store, Chan gave advice.
“You just kind of have to do it,” he said. “It started with small incremental yes’s.”
