LiHO owner inspects Suntec outlets, chides staff over bitter green tea and hygiene: 'I saw things I didn't like'
Rodney Tang, the owner of bubble tea chain LiHO Tea, recently took to social media to share footage of him inspecting two outlets at Suntec City.
54-year-old Mr Tang is the man behind LiHO, established in 2017 after taking over 84 Gong Cha outlets. He also owns Gong Yuan Ma La Tang under the Royal T Group.
During his visit, Mr Tang inspected the outlets — located at Basement 1 and Level 3 — and gave feedback on how staff can improve store operations.
The post on Jan 27 captioned, "I inspected the stores today, and I saw things I didn't like," has garnered more than 245,800 views, 5,781 reactions, and 105 comments.
At the Level 3 outlet, Mr Tang criticised the clutter after noticing cardboard boxes left around the customer seating area, but praised the brown sugar pearls for having a "good bite".
His attention then turned to two strips of medication on the counter. When a staff member admitted that they belonged to her, he instructed her to put them away.
"People will think we put pain relief medication into our drinks," he exclaimed.
Mr Tang also stressed the importance of proper temperature control when brewing green tea, explaining that poor control could result in an overly bitter taste. After tasting the staff's brew, he commented that it was done well.
His criticism became harsher during his inspection of the Basement 1 outlet. Citing a prior complaint about indifferent staff, he appeared unsurprised to find the cashier counter unattended.
After ordering a cup of cold green tea, he wiped the counter using his hand and discovered a layer of dust, immediately instructing the staff to clean it.
He then asked the barista to taste the green tea themselves. When she described it as "a bit bitter", Mr Tang interrupted and corrected her, calling it "extremely bitter". He then instructed her to prepare a new batch before selling it to customers.
Despite the criticism about the tea, Mr Tang praised the freshly prepared pearls, scoring them 95 out of 100.
"We reject every excuse. We stay committed to doing the right thing," Mr Tang wrote in the post's caption, while hinting at a second part to the new series.
Owner hopes videos will lead to positive management
Speaking to Stomp, Mr Tang said it was a "tough" decision to share his observations on social media. Nonetheless, he hopes the videos will encourage the company's management team to be "more motivated to micromanage the outlets in a positive way".
Mr Tang added that he conducts regular checks on LiHO outlets, visiting six to eight outlets over two days each week.
On Jan 29, he visited the LiHO outlet at Funan after receiving netizens' feedback about product consistency.
He personally tested the products, noted the issue, and said he will be working with his R&D team to make improvements accordingly.
Netizens give feedback on other LiHO outlets
Many netizens left comments sharing their thoughts on LiHO outlets across Singapore, offering feedback on various aspects of the stores.
"The staff at NEX and Waterway Point is quite rude," one user pointed out.
"It sounds like employees are unhappy, resulting in poor service and poor quality of drinks." another netizen said. "Maybe it's a management problem too," they suggested.
"The older staff quickly point to the younger staff, like quickly shift blame," one netizen observed, referring to what happened when Mr Tang questioned staff members about the overly bitter green tea.
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