Meet Mari Laqui | Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mari Laqui and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mari, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
One of the most important decisions I have made that contributed to my success is not being afraid of putting my creations out there. I always wanted to start my own bubble tea shop. I have worked in a few bubble tea shops before and learned many things about the industry from the owners. To begin this journey of starting my bubble tea shop, I participated in pop-ups. During my first few pop-ups, I was given the opportunity to share my own ideas and offer creations that were inspired by my experiences working as a barista, the cultural representation of my friends and family, and my personal tastes. I love experimenting with tea, different flavors, and ingredients to make unique drinks and desserts. At first, I was anxious and worried I wouldn’t do well with the public, considering some of my drinks and desserts are inspired by my Filipino-American background, but I was wrong. I was surrounded by numerous customers and vendors who supported me wholeheartedly.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Whenever I would go to either bars or coffee shops, I am always fascinated by how open and entertaining it was to see the bartenders and baristas making drinks on-site. I am able to have reassurance when my drink was prepared seconds after I had ordered it. Also, it was even more intriguing to know that the person making the drink was able to talk and engage in conversation with me. I felt that this flair and charisma were lacking in the bubble tea industry. Many bubble tea shops use similar, if not the same artificial ingredients, toppings, and syrups. In some places, you can’t even see what is going into your drink or who is making it. This is why I wanted to create drinks with real, homemade, and organic ingredients and have people watch their drinks being prepared right in front of them. I have done this so far in each pop-up where every drink was made on-site, never pre-made ahead of time.

Although I started this business back in 2021, there is still so much I have yet to learn. Currently, my brand is still in its developing stages and I have been super excited about changing the brand name in the near future to represent my cultural background and values as a whole. I think one of the biggest challenges and lessons I have learned is to be patient and allow myself to grow at my own pace. There was a time within the first 3 months of doing pop-ups when I felt as though I needed to rush my development process. I put myself against an unrealistic standard of commercial bubble tea shops and forgot that I just started. This started to affect my ability to reflect on myself and see how far I have grown since then. Over time, I am now able to have a healthy balance between my academics, part-time job, and small business.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If one of my friends were visiting, I would first take them to try Viet5 coffee with me in downtown Chicago. Then for lunch, I would love to take them to Summer House Santa Monica for great food. I would then take them shopping and visit Miniso in old Chinatown, ending the day with XPot my favorite hotpot place.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There is no doubt that I give a special shoutout to my parents and my closest friends. My parents have always supported my passion for starting my own business. They were there with me every step of the way from baking and selling from my home to setting up my own pop-up shop. I also want to shout out my friends for being with me in making tea and playing around with ingredients and flavors. I would always invite them over to try new drinks and pastries I come up with all the time.

Instagram: @hunimilktea