Gong cha has inked its largest franchise deal to date — a 50-unit exclusive area development agreement covering four major Texas markets — with Houston-based multi-unit operator Bakers Acres & Cattle Company (BACC). The agreement signals a significant wave of commercial kitchen and beverage-station buildouts across Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas over the next seven years.
The deal follows Gong cha's acquisition of master franchise rights to 170 existing U.S. locations across 13 states and arrives as the brand pursues a target of more than 500 Americas locations by 2028. For equipment dealers and kitchen designers working in Texas's fast-casual and specialty-beverage segment, the pipeline represents a concentrated run of new-store builds, each requiring beverage automation, cold-drink prep infrastructure, refrigeration, and digital ordering integration.
The 2.0 Store Platform
Central to the expansion is Gong cha's internally branded "Gong cha 2.0" operating platform, which the company describes as designed for higher throughput, streamlined back-of-house operations, and improved franchisee unit economics. The model incorporates digital ordering, automation, and optimized store design — elements that directly govern equipment selection and kitchen layout for each new location. Consultants specifying beverage-forward QSR builds should note that Gong cha's flexible footprint model is a deliberate design constraint: the brand emphasizes an efficient labor model and scalable layout as core franchise selling points, which typically translates to compact, highly specified equipment packages rather than large production kitchens.
Geoff Henry, President of Gong cha Americas, framed the operator appeal around operational simplicity and low build cost. "From our flexible footprint and efficient labor model to the strength of our global brand recognition, we've built a platform designed to help operators grow strategically and sustainably across high-potential markets like Texas," he said.
BACC's Operating Track Record
Bakers Acres & Cattle Company brings a decade of scaled multi-unit franchise experience, having entered franchising in 2015 with Nothing Bundt Cakes and building toward a 12-bakery platform in Greater Houston. Led by Brett and Wendi Walker, BACC brings finance, real estate, and technology expertise to the Gong cha partnership — capabilities that will be critical in managing a seven-year, 50-unit construction and equipment procurement pipeline across four distinct metro markets.
"Gong cha brings all of that together in a category with tremendous long-term potential," said Brett Walker, pointing to the brand's systems and infrastructure as key factors in BACC's decision to expand into the beverage category.
For dealers and ice-and-beverage equipment suppliers active in Texas, the BACC deal is one of several active Gong cha development agreements in the state. Since launching direct U.S. franchising roughly 24 months ago, Gong cha has signed multi-unit growth deals in Texas, California, Massachusetts, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico. The brand currently operates more than 240 locations across 23 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, and has been ranked number one in the Tea category on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500® for five consecutive years.
Operators and kitchen design consultants tracking the specialty-beverage buildout wave should watch Gong cha's 2.0 store format closely: at 50 units over seven years in Texas alone, BACC's pipeline will generate a measurable volume of equipment procurement decisions across cold-beverage, refrigeration, and front-of-house automation categories.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
