Tucked in a corner of Eddy Street, Krak Boba shop held its grand opening two weeks ago with the Chamber of Commerce. They made 1,000 drinks in just that one day. Lines were reported to go all the way down to East Angela Blvd. and even on the day after opening, about 980 drinks were made.
Hong Tran and Hannah Tran are the co-owners of the new Krak Boba shop. A father-daughter team, they have been working together for two years in their nail salon business before deciding to fulfill Hannah’s dream of opening a business geared toward an audience closer to her age.
“During one of our previous visits to California, our sister-in-law said, ‘you guys should check this place out,’” Hong Tran said. “We loved it so much, and we wanted to bring something like that back here.”
In comparison with other boba franchises, they both appreciated the overall message of Krak Boba, which is named after the Polish folktale, “King Krakus and the Dragon.” The story follows a village’s brave attempt to work together with King Krakus to beat a fiery dragon. When discussing his business in terms of this story Hong Tran emphasized the importance of creativity.
“The message I feel behind that story is releasing your true potential by going above and beyond,” Hong Tran said. “I told my employees that we're going to try to embody the ideal of the story … that ideal of becoming a better person [and] expressing your true potential.”
In addition to innovation and teamwork, Hong Tran and Hannah Tran discussed how their relationship as father and daughter has strengthened as a result of their increased collaboration. Known jokingly as Hong’s “favorite (and only) daughter,” Hannah discussed her strengthened relationship with her father.
“I sat right next to him [in the nail salon] every single day for two years,” Hannah Tran said. “Just having a little project for ourselves has made our relationship grow a lot stronger. We have a lot of inside jokes nobody else in our family would get.”
Aside from the strong connections within the work environment, the two also discussed the process behind making each drink. The Taro Twist, one of the customer favorites, requires two hours to properly grind the fresh taro. Hong stated that all their boba is freshly made three to four times a day and their King Brulee drink consists of homemade creme brulee.
With the temperature dropping rapidly in South Bend, Hong Tran and Hannah Tran discussed possibly introducing more hot drinks as well.
When asked whether there is a secret menu, Hong and Hannah stated that the secret menu is a closely guarded secret kept within the staff. Since their shop is part of the Krak Boba franchise, they emphasized the importance of sticking to the traditional drinks when serving customers. However, this is not to say that there are no other interesting combos behind closed doors.
“We have a drink called the Butterfly Passion Fruit,” Hannah Tran said. “Every day, when I come in, I make a passion fruit soda with mango juice. That's my secret menu item.”
With new ideas already happening behind closed doors, Hong Tran and Hannah Tran also discussed perhaps starting more small businesses in the future.
“I really want to bring a Paris Baguette near here,” Hannah Tran said. “I feel like [people would] go there [and] grab a bite. Or even just little pastries to celebrate.”
