How Amacha Sold 150K Cups Using Niche Branding

Amacha didn’t win by making “another milk tea”. It won by making a category people already understood (liang cha / Chinese herbal tea) feel desirable again—then packaging it in a format people buy weekly.

In just 8 months, the Singapore brand grew to 3 outlets and sold 150,000+ cups. That’s not a lucky viral moment. That’s tight positioning, visual branding you can recognise in half a second, and a product designed for repeat purchases.

This post is part of the Singapore Startup Marketing series—where we break down how local startups market their products regionally and scale demand. Amacha is a strong case study for Singapore SMEs (especially F&B and wellness) because it shows how to blend heritage + modern consumer behaviour, then use digital channels to amplify it.

Why “TCM milk tea” works as a positioning strategy

Answer first: Amacha works because it isn’t selling TCM, and it isn’t selling bubble tea—it’s selling a modern wellness treat with cultural credibility.

A lot of SMEs get positioning backwards. They start with features (“we use premium herbs”), then hope customers care. Amacha starts with a tension customers already feel:

• People want to “be healthier” (especially after year-end indulgence and as January resets kick in).
• People still crave sweet, comforting drinks.
• “Herbal tea” has baggage: bitter, medicinal, something you drink only when you’re sick.

Amacha resolves the tension by translating liang cha into a format that feels normal: a menu of ~20 drinks, priced around S$5.90, with names, aesthetics, and flavour profiles aligned to modern milk-tea expectations.

The niche is the marketing

“TCM-inspired milk tea” is naturally shareable because it’s specific. If your product can be described without the word “and” (e.g., “herbal milk tea”), you’re already ahead.

Specific positioning gives SMEs three advantages:

1. Lower ad costs over time (because the click is driven by curiosity, not discounts).
2. Higher word-of-mouth density (people can summarise it in one line to friends).
3. Easier content creation (every ingredient, ritual, and origin story becomes content).

Amacha’s founder story—childhood memories of an Ah Ma brewing liang cha, plus the desire to make it enjoyable—creates emotional weight. That story is brand fuel. It’s also something competitors can’t copy without looking fake.

Brand design that sells before the first sip

Answer first: For fast-scaling F&B, brand visuals aren’t decoration—they’re a distribution channel.

Amacha’s outlet location at Chinatown (Pagoda Street) and its aesthetic references (classic red-and-gold porcelain motifs tied to longevity symbolism) do something very practical: they make the brand photographable and instantly recognisable.

In Singapore, where footfall areas are saturated and customers decide in seconds, you want a brand that:

• reads well on a phone camera
• looks good under mixed lighting (malls, street storefronts)
• has distinct colours and patterns that stand out on social feeds

Here’s a blunt truth I’ve found working with SMEs: if your cup, signage, and storefront don’t look like “content”, you’ll pay more to acquire every customer.

What SMEs can copy (without copying the aesthetic)

You don’t need porcelain motifs. You need brand assets that scale across TikTok, IG, Google reviews, and delivery apps.

Use this checklist:

• One hero visual element (pattern, mascot, icon, or colour system)
• One repeatable shot customers naturally take (e.g., drink on counter + logo + background)
• One story anchor staff can explain in 15 seconds

If customers can’t tell it’s your brand from a cropped cup photo, fix that before you spend more on ads.

The real growth engine: product + operations that earn repeats

Answer first: Social media gets you the first purchase. Operations determine whether you get the second, third, and tenth.

Amacha’s founder explicitly pointed out something many businesses don’t want to hear: marketing alone doesn’t sustain a brand. And their operating decisions back that up.

They brew herbal drinks in-house every morning, taking 4 to 6 hours depending on the beverage. That’s expensive and operationally demanding. But it creates a moat: taste consistency, ingredient quality, and a “real” process that customers trust.

For SMEs, this is the key: repeat purchases are the cheapest form of growth. You can’t out-market a product people don’t reorder.

Pricing strategy: “fair” beats “premium” when scaling

Amacha reportedly adjusted prices down by about 15% when the Tampines outlet opened, since ingredient costs could be spread across more outlets.

That’s smart for two reasons:

1. It builds trust (“they’re not just raising prices because they can”).
2. It widens the repeatable audience—working adults can become habitual buyers.

If you’re an SME scaling from 1 to 3 outlets, don’t default to “premium pricing” as your only identity. Consider tiered pricing like Amacha’s approach (lower price without toppings), so customers can choose frequency without feeling punished.

Digital marketing lessons Singapore SMEs can apply this quarter

Answer first: Amacha’s playbook is a mix of niche storytelling, physical-world discovery, and social amplification—then tight follow-through on Google and repeat channels.

The original story notes that social media helped Amacha gain traction. That’s the visible part. The less visible part (and where most SMEs lose) is turning attention into a system.

Here’s a practical, Singapore-SME-friendly framework you can implement in 30 days.

1) Build a “curiosity loop” content system

Curiosity is what gets the share: “TCM… but milk tea?”

You can create the same effect without being gimmicky:

• contrast: “heritage recipe, modern format”
• behind-the-scenes: “4-hour brew, here’s why”
• ingredient education: “what’s lily bulb used for in liang cha culture?”
• taste-first language: “jasmine green tea + red dates” (not “detox” buzzwords)

Rule: If your post only says “healthy” or “wellness”, it’s too vague to perform.

2) Use short-form video to prove “realness”

For wellness-leaning F&B, customers are skeptical. Short-form video reduces skepticism fast.

Content ideas that tend to work in Singapore:

• morning prep timelapse (start-to-finish brewing)
• staff taste tests (simple, not scripted)
• “what I order” from real customers
• Chinatown/Tampines/Capitol neighbourhood context (local relevance boosts saves)

3) Treat Google as your highest-intent channel

Most SMEs obsess over Instagram and forget the boring winner: Google Business Profile.

When you open an outlet, your growth often comes from:

• “milk tea near me”
• “herbal tea Singapore”
• “Chinatown drinks”
• mall searches (e.g., “Tampines drinks”)

Do the basics better than competitors:

• update photos weekly for the first 90 days of a new outlet
• reply to every review (especially 3-star reviews)
• add product photos with clear names (so Google can index them)
• post offers sparingly; post new items regularly

4) Capture first-party data early (before you need it)

When ad costs rise, owned audiences keep you profitable.

Simple ways for F&B SMEs:

• QR at cashier: “Get seasonal menu drops first” (WhatsApp broadcast or email)
• loyalty stamps that work on mobile (no app required at the start)
• delivery insert with a reorder incentive tied to your owned channel

If you want leads (not just likes), this is where lead generation actually happens.

Scaling from 1 to 3 outlets: what usually breaks (and how to prevent it)

Answer first: The first thing that breaks during rapid outlet expansion is consistency—taste, service, and brand experience.

Amacha’s founder called out consistency as his biggest concern, and that’s exactly right. When you scale, customers don’t grade you on effort. They grade you against the first outlet they loved.

A simple consistency plan for SME founders

If you’re expanding this year, implement these before your next launch:

1. One “source of truth” recipe system (measured inputs, brew times, holding times)
2. One training loop (new staff shadowing + weekly calibration tasting)
3. One feedback dashboard combining:
   • Google reviews
   • GrabFood/Foodpanda ratings
   • top 10 complaint themes

And here’s the stance I’ll take: if you can’t maintain consistency, don’t open the next outlet yet. Fix the machine first.

People also ask: does wellness marketing need medical claims?

Answer first: No—and in Singapore, you’re safer and more credible when you don’t sound like you’re prescribing.

Amacha’s menu includes drinks positioned around common concerns (e.g., cough relief) using traditional ingredient associations. The smarter marketing approach for SMEs is:

• talk about heritage use and traditional beliefs
• focus on flavour, comfort, routine, and enjoyment
• avoid promising medical outcomes

Customers want permission to buy a “healthier choice” without feeling sold to.

What Amacha’s story means for Singapore Startup Marketing in 2026

Singapore’s F&B scene is crowded, and 2026 isn’t going to get cheaper—rent, labour, and ingredients continue to pressure margins. The brands that grow are the ones that pick a tight niche, build a recognisable brand system, and engineer repeat purchases.

Amacha’s 150,000+ cups in 8 months is a reminder that heritage categories aren’t “old”. They’re under-marketed. When you modernise the format and communicate clearly, you can create demand that looks like a trend—but behaves like a habit.

If you’re running an SME in F&B, wellness, or retail, take one action this week: write your one-line niche statement (the thing customers will repeat). Then audit whether your storefront, cup, menu, and social content all reinforce that line.

What would happen to your growth if customers could explain your brand in one sentence—without using the word “nice”?