Aroostook town will soon have a drive-thru boba tea business

HODGDON, Maine — When Randi Farrar closed her downtown Houlton tea and herb store earlier this yr, a number of prospects talked about they missed getting her contemporary brews.

So she acquired her kitchen licensed, her properly water examined, purchased a 40-slot cup holder, a bigger automobile and began delivering her specialty boba iced teas to Houlton companies and some residential prospects.

“It simply went loopy,” Farrar stated. And whereas she shouldn’t be certain how phrase unfold, she’s now delivering 100 or extra iced teas in someday.

The demand has been so nice Farrar determined to open a drive-thru enterprise in close by Hodgdon to serve teas and occasional.  

Boba, or bubble tea, is a Taiwanese recipe that blends tea with milk, fruit and fruit juices and tapioca pearls. However Farrar makes use of popping pearls as a substitute of tapioca in her boba teas as a result of prospects love these, she stated.

“They’re juice balls, and if you suck them up via the straw, they explode in your mouth,” she stated.

Farrar is now placing the ultimate items collectively for Randi’s Nook Perk on Nook Highway in Hodgdon. The identify is a twist on Central Perk, a well-known fictional hangout from the sitcom “Pals,” she stated.

The drive-thru can be open in fall, winter and spring. Along with her boba and chaga teas, Farrar will provide espresso, cappuccinos and fast meals gadgets like muffins and scorching egg sandwiches.

There will even be seating inside for about 20, she stated, including that she is ready for the ultimate occupancy quantity from the hearth marshal.  

On Wednesday, Farrar described what the drive-thru will seem like when accomplished as she walked alongside what would be the tear-drop drive-thru path.

The constructing is an Amish-built construction that she and her husband, Tom Farrar, have painted in a vibrant close to cobalt blue with white trim.

There are items of white picket fence able to go alongside the drive, and she or he’s nonetheless engaged on how she’s going to show the menu board exterior to face up to Maine winters.

Birch Bark Brews, chaga tea blends that Farrar co-owns with Alyssa Hutchinson, can be accessible at Nook Perk in addition to a few of her different natural gadgets from her Lotus and Leaf enterprise.  

Randi’s Nook Perk is anticipated to be open by Thanksgiving, and will probably be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday via Friday.

Farrar put the thought of the drive-thru on Fb to see if it individuals.

“I acquired an enormous response,” she stated, including that individuals don’t prefer to get out of their vehicles within the winter.