New bubble tea business opens in Falkirk shopping centre

Former First Bus employee Daniel Murphy had been dreaming of running his own takeaway business long before he packed in his job as a driver.

However, following a conversation with his 18-year-old daughter, Emma, he decided to put the brakes on a plan he had to start up a dessert parlour.

Instead, Daniel was convinced he should open a bubble tea business.

Popular with younger generations, bubble tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s and comprises hot and cold drinks made with sweetened milk, fruit or sugary flavourings and pearls of tapioca.

Daniel launched his Bubble Hub store in Callendar Square on Wednesday, September 15 to great interest – something that hasn’t surprised his teenage daughter.

He said: “It originated in Taiwan and then Japan and now it’s really big down south and in the States.

“There are shops in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling but there’s absolutely nothing here. I was originally going to open a dessert parlour – which we do anyway – but my daughter said, ‘We’re missing a trick if we don’t go into bubble tea because so many kids are travelling to Glasgow or Edinburgh for it’.

“There are lots of different flavours: you have a fruit ice bubble tea and you can add a brown or black tea base and different syrups. There’s strawberry, chocolate, caramel, mocha, coconut and plain milk.

“I’ve just finished up driving buses. It was mostly because of Covid – we were all sitting on furlough and it made people think ‘now is the time to do something I want to do’.

“I brought my daughter in as well. She was working in a dessert place in Falkirk. She’s only just left St Mungo’s High.

“Her original plan was to do air traffic control in the navy. She got all the grades she needed but when I said I was launching this, she was keen to come and do this.

“She’s put in her own money. It’s great having somebody to do the social media.

“We’ve had a good response from people online. The long-term goal is to have more than one shop.”

Bubble Hub is open 12-7pm, Tuesday-Sunday. Home deliveries are also available.

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