S'pore bubble tea shop Amps Tea staff allegedly poached by Chagee HQ, promised better pay & hours

Over the past nine months, representatives — apparently from the headquarters of Chinese milk tea chain Chagee — have approached ground staff from Singapore brand Amps Tea.

They allegedly entered stores and tried to poach staff members, with the offer of better pay and hours, according to Amps Tea's managing director Sean Choong.

In photos and videos shared with Mothership, two men can be seen approaching staff over the counter and handing them what appears to be a recruitment card.

"Join the Tea-m," the card reads.

Repeated attempts

Choong told Mothership that attempts have been made at least once a month over the past nine months, and appear targeted mostly at Singaporeans and Permanent Residents.

He knows of staff members who have been successfully poached, but declined to specify how many.

"While we acknowledge that this kind of practices are prevalent....[but] doing it blatantly, right under our CCTV, and going to not one but multiple outlets....is truly a low in the industry," he added.

Two staff members from Amps Tea confirmed with Mothership that they had been approached by Chagee representatives.

One outlet manager, Ivy Niu, said that she saw the two men enter the store and speak to one of her new staff members in Chinese.

"I saw one of the guys pass something to my staff...it was a hiring card. I listened and they said that they're opening a new outlet, and want to look for new staff," Niu said.

"I told them that wow, you come to our outlet to look for staff for your new outlet?

They just smile at me...then after that, [before] leaving, they asked whether I wanted to join them too."

Niu also overheard the representatives telling her staff that Amps Tea's "HQ got problem".

This caused the staff to be concerned and worried, she said.

"They told her that their pay is higher than ours, and the working hours is shorter than ours. [So] her working performance is not like before already."

Mei Zhen, a barista at Amps Tea, also confirmed that the representatives had attempted to poach her on Nov. 13.

"They walked to the cashier and gave me a hiring card, and told me they were from BWCJ (霸王茶姬, Chagee's Chinese name)," she recalled.

"They were opening a new store and were looking for employees, and asked if I wanted to join them. The salary was S$2,000-3,000, and the working hours were very short."

The 30-year-old said that they also asked if she was a local or on a work pass. They added that they had the quota for her if it was the latter.

But she didn't respond to them. Instead, her manager came over to see what was going on and spoke to the representatives, she added.

Previous working relationship

According to Choong, the current Amps Tea stores were originally opened as stores under the Chagee franchise.

As the master franchise-partner, he brought the brand into Singapore in 2019, he explained.

But in 2023, he and the brand agreed to part ways. Choong subsequently started his own brand — Amps Tea — and converted all the existing Chagee stores to Amps Tea stores.

Chagee then decided to "come into the market themselves, and operate under China's HQ", Choong said.

But shortly after the separation, representatives from Chagee began attempting to poach his staff.

This, he believes, is because the staff originally worked under the Chagee set-up, "so they will naturally take less time to learn the ropes".

When asked if he has confronted them about the actions, Choong said he has not as he "takes this as an act of intimidation".

However, he is currently seeking legal advice pertaining to the agreement.

Choong said:

"I'm looking at justice as I think no foreign company should come into Singapore and bully the local business scene."

On how he plans to counter the poaching attempts and retain his staff, Choong said that every business environment is different.

He said Amps Tea will "continue to work on staff retention by providing a positive work environment with very clear career progression path".

He added:

"We, being the local set-up, are being bullied by the big boys in this relentless attack on our manpower...[this] adds weight to the known manpower crunch in Singapore."

Mothership has reached out to Chagee Singapore for comment.

Top image from Sean Choong