All Tealive Outlets In Malaysia Ordered To Close With Immediate Effect?

Remember the drama between Chatime and Tealive last year? So much tea was spilled when Loob Holdings (Tealive) got their franchise agreement terminated by La Kaffa (Chatime), who found out that Loob has allegedly been using different raw materials that were not part of their original recipes.

A year went on, and somehow both brands stayed around although a lot of Malaysians thought that all Chatime outlets will be closed indefinitely and be rebranded to Tealive. You can read the full story here.

Well, it’s been awhile since we heard about their drama, and a recent shocking court order ignited Malaysian’s thirst to know more about their on-going spat.

Apparently the drama is still hot and brewing.

Well, to be honest, as long both of them don't close down we'll be fine.

On 27 June, an official court order issued by the Judge of the Court of Appeal have granted an injunction and allowed Chatime’s appeal against Tealive.

Tealive has been ordered to stop their business immediately as their business is identical to Chatime’s business practice, which is bubble tea.

From the court order we also learned that Loob has allegedly been running Tealive business using La Kaffa’s assets. Wow shocking, isn’t it?

Court of Appeal today allowed Chatime's appeal against Tealive.This means that Tealive has been injuncted from conducting business similar or identical to Chatime, including the bubble tea business. pic.twitter.com/2UxxMXqssn
— Lim Wei Jiet (@limweijiet) June 27, 2018

A few days ago, Loob issued an official statement to the press stating that “the Company has instructed its lawyers to file for leave to appeal to the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision given on 27th June 2018” and the application has been filed.

But now, there are rumours floating around that all 161 Tealive outlets nationwide have been ordered to close immediately. This will affect 800 staff members.

A detailed report about this new development was originally posted blog.burgielaw.com but that page has been taken down apparently.

However, in this report by Free Malaysia Today, Chatime has offered to help re-employ ex-staff members who may be affected by the upcoming closure of Tealive.

“Within the scope allowed by the relevant laws, we would welcome former Chatime franchisees and employees, who have been affected by the whole ordeal, to contact us should they require assistance from us,” Chatime Malaysia group managing director Aliza Ali said in a statement.

“Our decision to allow those affected outlets to return and re-operate under Chatime is made in regard to the overwhelming requests in light of the recent injunction granted by the court.”

So will all Tealive outlets become Chatime outlets soon?

She added that their doors are always open to the employees and outlet owners who have found themselves “in this precarious position.”

Tealive has yet to release an official statement to address the closure rumours but with statements issued from Chatime’s side, perhaps it’s all about timing.

Let’s wait and see how and when Tealive will come out with their next statement.