Gong cha Signs 50-Unit Texas Franchise Deal With Brett And Wendi Walker's BACC

Gong cha has signed a 50-unit exclusive area development agreement in Texas with Houston-based Bakers Acres & Cattle Company, giving the bubble tea brand one of the clearest multi-unit franchise growth stories of the week. The agreement covers Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas over the next seven years and was announced on July 27. For a brand already operating nearly 2,200 locations across 33 international markets, the Texas deal is not just another market entry. It is the largest direct franchising agreement in Gong cha's history and a test of whether premium bubble tea can scale with the same kind of disciplined operator base that has driven growth in mature quick-service categories.

The operator side is the reason this belongs in the founder and local-owner conversation. Bakers Acres & Cattle Company is described as a Houston-based, multi-generational family business led by Brett and Wendi Walker alongside the next generation of family operators. The group entered franchising in 2015 with Nothing Bundt Cakes and has built a bakery operation across Greater Houston while expanding toward a 12-bakery platform. Gong cha's release says the group brings experience across finance, real estate, technology and business development. That matters because a 50-unit agreement in Texas will not succeed on brand awareness alone; it requires site discipline, store-opening cadence, hiring systems and capital planning across multiple major metros.

Gong cha Americas president Geoff Henry framed the deal around experienced operators looking for concepts with operational simplicity, strong consumer demand and scalable unit economics. That is the pitch many beverage brands are making in 2026, but Gong cha has a clearer global proof point than most. The company says it has more than 240 stores across 23 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and is targeting more than 500 stores in the Americas by 2028. It also says it recently acquired master franchise rights to 170 U.S. locations across 13 states, including Texas, which gives the company more control over how the market develops.

For franchise buyers, the Texas agreement shows how beverage franchising is becoming more institutional. Bubble tea is still a category with strong youth appeal and social-media visibility, but large-scale development now depends on operators who can run it as a professional multi-unit platform. Gong cha is also leaning on its modernized Gong cha 2.0 model, which includes digital ordering, automation and optimized store design intended to improve throughput and franchisee performance. Those details are more important than a single store opening because they signal how the brand wants to reduce complexity as it adds units.

The risk is execution density. Texas can absorb a large number of stores, but Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas have different real estate costs, customer patterns and labor markets. A seven-year development horizon gives the Walkers room to sequence growth, but it also raises expectations for consistent customer experience across a wide geography. If BACC can translate its family-owned bakery operating discipline into a fast-growing beverage category, Gong cha's Texas deal could become a model for how global specialty drink brands recruit serious regional developers in the United States.