Global Young Entrepreneur Star in Florida, Hao Jun Chang Realizes American Dream

Hao Jun Chang majored in Transportation Management in college and graduate school in Taiwan, later he furthered his studies in Civil Engineering at the Florida State University in the States, and after graduating, he successfully got a job at an engineering company. After working for a while in an American company, he found that the work culture in the States is different from that in Taiwan. In the US, companies are very clear on the division of labor, the staff are usually allowed to use their time freely once they've completed their designated tasks and responsibilities. So as a Taiwanese worker who was used to the Taiwanese culture of always completing tasks in advance, he could have just passed on time leisurely at an American company. However, Chang felt he needed to have plans and challenges for his life, he did not want to live his life leisurely, he wanted to do "something fun that gave a sense of achievement", and so after getting his green card, he decided to start up his own business. First, he became a licensed real estate agent, then he began doing research on the most suitable start up model for him at the time. He reached the conclusion that bubble tea stores would probably be the easiest to start with, so he persuaded his partner who used to work at TSMC to invest in his start up and officially opened his first bubble tea store, "Frosty Fox", in Gainesville, Florida, where he went to graduate school.
    
Starting with his first store, Chang and his partner brought out the engineer in them. They took pictures of the plaza where the store was expected to be opened, and calculated with software the age and gender groups of the people and vehicle flow, then controlled and managed the cost of goods and calculated supplies with precision to minimize attrition rate. They looked at numbers, and with a successful mathematic startup formula, they were able to achieve zero loss. The success of the first bubble tea store offset Chang's ambitions, and he began thinking of his next move.
    
When they began preparing for expansion, the COVID pandemic struck. Raw material shipments were delayed, and the pearl tapioca supply was short; Frosty Fox had always imported high quality ingredients from Taiwan to the US, they thus decided to suspend all operations for a month. At that time, they expected to suffer loss in six months and even began considering shutting down the business and seeking other opportunities, so Chang set up a YouTube channel, through which he shared his experience of starting up a company, his life, and selling real estate properties in the US. The channel received unexpected attention and popularity, attracting many Taiwanese people who were interested in investment immigration to the US. "Many Taiwanese people have an American dream," so Chang decided that aside from opening his own bubble tea store, he would also open up his business to investments and authorizations, and thus assist Taiwanese people who were interested in investing in the US market.
  
A store was successfully opened in Baldwin Park, Orlando by the end of 2021 , and another opened in Oviedo, Orlando in 2022, then another success in Miami. Chang was mainly responsible for marketing, accounting, and attracting investments, and his partner was responsible for R&D and employee management. They were hands on with the investment and authorizations, and guaranteed to teach their investors the whole success formula without reservation. The investors had Chang's team's help in reducing costs, and Chang's team was dedicated to ensuring stable supply of ingredients, a win-win situation was created for both Chang and investors.
    
To Chang, the bubble tea store was just a beginning. The team will focus more on international trade going forward, introduce more high quality Taiwanese goods and services to the US, and put more emphasis on developing new flavors to suit the local market and trendy youngsters. The short-term goal of Chang's team is to expand the number of its stores country-wide, they plan to expand stores to other states as well; the mid-term goal is to invest their profits into selling branded raw materials and through e-platforms; and the long-term plan is to develop a franchise system, promote their successful business model, and create more employment opportunities and international exchange.

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