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300 mob bubble tea shop
Ng Yang Han | The New Paper | Thu May 13 2010
Businesses making eco-friendly changes rewarded with mob.
http://www.soshiok.com/article/11658
Singapore, May 13, 2010 - IT WASN’T any grand opening.
And there weren’t any special promotions going on at Cool2Drink, a modest-looking bubble tea shop in Marine Parade.
Yet more than 300 Temasek Junior College (TJC) students swamped the outlet for their fix of bubble tea yesterday afternoon.
It was all part of Carrotmob, an international movement which rewards businesses that pledge to make environmentally friendly changes with large mobs of customers.
Chan Sau Yee, 18, a second-year student at TJC, spearheaded the initiative with a group of seven schoolmates as part of a service learning project under the college’s leadership programme.
This is how it works: A business such as Cool2Drink agrees to a deal with Carrotmob.
This deal usually includes making environmentally friendly changes such as reducing the use of plastic bags or using energy efficient refrigerators.
Carrotmob will then gather a large group of customers who will each buy a cup of bubble tea from the shop in what is known as “carrotmobbing”.
A portion of the profit secured from the influx of customers will then be channelled towards making these changes.
Everyone stands to gain in some way.
Shop owners earn extra income while “mobbers” can do their part to support a good cause, explained Sau Yee.
Most importantly, the environment benefits greatly from all the long-term changes made at the end of every mob.
How then did Sau Yee and her team manage to convince more than 300 of her schoolmates to take part in Carrotmob?
She said: “We experimented with many novel ideas to attract attention, including hanging carrot-shaped objects made from recycled materials all over campus and planting real carrots.
“Eventually our publicity efforts took off, the excitement grew and many students were keen to be part of the mob.”
Cool2Drink shop owner Madam Jasna Lee, 48, and her son Mr Jeremy Tan, 24, attended to the throngs of thirsty students under the sweltering heat from 2pm to 5pm yesterday.
Cups of bubble tea were sold to the students, who patronised the shop in batches of 50, at the usual prices of between $1 and $2.50.
The owner of the five-year-old shop explained that she had reduced the use of plastic by using plastic strips to carry cups of bubble tea, instead of the usual plastic bags.
More specific changes would be proposed by the TJC students after the event with the help and guidance of the Singapore Environment Council.
Sau Yee said she first read about Carrotmob in Time magazine.
50 mobs in 14 countries
According to the article “Shoppers, Unite!” published in May last year, the first Carrotmob was staged in San Francisco on March29, 2008. It has since progressed to more than 50 mobs in 14 countries.
Sau Yee and her team were intrigued by the concept and wanted to find out if it would work in Singapore.
“We started approaching companies in December and it took us around three months to narrow our search to Cool2Drink,” she said.
Sau Yee added that the shop owner had pledged $200 for energy-efficient changes, in addition to 40 cents per cup sold to every TJC student.
After factoring in a grant from the Young Changemakers, a National Youth Council programme, and profits from the sale of Carrotmob T-shirts to TJC students, about $3,800 was raised.
Part of the money will fund environmentally friendly changes at Cool2Drink while the rest will be used to fund other green initiatives.
Ng Yang Han | The New Paper | Thu May 13 2010
Businesses making eco-friendly changes rewarded with mob.
http://www.soshiok.com/article/11658
Singapore, May 13, 2010 - IT WASN’T any grand opening.
And there weren’t any special promotions going on at Cool2Drink, a modest-looking bubble tea shop in Marine Parade.
Yet more than 300 Temasek Junior College (TJC) students swamped the outlet for their fix of bubble tea yesterday afternoon.
It was all part of Carrotmob, an international movement which rewards businesses that pledge to make environmentally friendly changes with large mobs of customers.
Chan Sau Yee, 18, a second-year student at TJC, spearheaded the initiative with a group of seven schoolmates as part of a service learning project under the college’s leadership programme.
This is how it works: A business such as Cool2Drink agrees to a deal with Carrotmob.
This deal usually includes making environmentally friendly changes such as reducing the use of plastic bags or using energy efficient refrigerators.
Carrotmob will then gather a large group of customers who will each buy a cup of bubble tea from the shop in what is known as “carrotmobbing”.
A portion of the profit secured from the influx of customers will then be channelled towards making these changes.
Everyone stands to gain in some way.
Shop owners earn extra income while “mobbers” can do their part to support a good cause, explained Sau Yee.
Most importantly, the environment benefits greatly from all the long-term changes made at the end of every mob.
How then did Sau Yee and her team manage to convince more than 300 of her schoolmates to take part in Carrotmob?
She said: “We experimented with many novel ideas to attract attention, including hanging carrot-shaped objects made from recycled materials all over campus and planting real carrots.
“Eventually our publicity efforts took off, the excitement grew and many students were keen to be part of the mob.”
Cool2Drink shop owner Madam Jasna Lee, 48, and her son Mr Jeremy Tan, 24, attended to the throngs of thirsty students under the sweltering heat from 2pm to 5pm yesterday.
Cups of bubble tea were sold to the students, who patronised the shop in batches of 50, at the usual prices of between $1 and $2.50.
The owner of the five-year-old shop explained that she had reduced the use of plastic by using plastic strips to carry cups of bubble tea, instead of the usual plastic bags.
More specific changes would be proposed by the TJC students after the event with the help and guidance of the Singapore Environment Council.
Sau Yee said she first read about Carrotmob in Time magazine.
50 mobs in 14 countries
According to the article “Shoppers, Unite!” published in May last year, the first Carrotmob was staged in San Francisco on March29, 2008. It has since progressed to more than 50 mobs in 14 countries.
Sau Yee and her team were intrigued by the concept and wanted to find out if it would work in Singapore.
“We started approaching companies in December and it took us around three months to narrow our search to Cool2Drink,” she said.
Sau Yee added that the shop owner had pledged $200 for energy-efficient changes, in addition to 40 cents per cup sold to every TJC student.
After factoring in a grant from the Young Changemakers, a National Youth Council programme, and profits from the sale of Carrotmob T-shirts to TJC students, about $3,800 was raised.
Part of the money will fund environmentally friendly changes at Cool2Drink while the rest will be used to fund other green initiatives.
