Creator Spotlight: Kristian Dela Cruz, Unbelibubble

Hometown: Hagerstown, MD

Tell me about your journey that brought you to Atlanta: My career is in graphic design which first took me to Washington, DC.  A few years down the road, I knew I wanted to grow in my career and also as a person, so I decided to move to Nashville where my then-job’s headquarters was. I only lived there a couple years and then moved to Atlanta. I always wanted to own a restaurant, so I started looking for bubble tea shops.

I do still work in design in addition to owning and operating Unbelibubble. I’m always pushing myself to see what I can do. Eventually, I’d like to expand to more locations and do Unbelibubble full time.

Your business ownership dream was always specific to bubble tea? Yes! When I was a kid in Maryland, a bubble tea shop opened at our local mall. My mom and I would go there almost every Saturday and it was always in my mind that I wanted to own my own bubble tea business one day.

Favorite Item on Your Menu: It really depends on the day. Unbelibubble fruit tea is a top choice for me. It is a fresh green tea that we make every day with passion fruit and fresh mango puree. If it’s a rainy day, I like the taro milk tea.

What’s something you’re passionate about outside of your business? Mentoring. When you’re a part of my team I want you to learn and grow as well. At the end of your time here, I want you to leave with more knowledge about business and customer service. I built a philosophy this year at Unbelibubble: “At Unbelibubble, we’re not selling drinks, we’re selling experiences”. I was inspired to own my own business one day just by drinking bubble tea at the mall. You never know if someone we serve will be inspired in this way, and that just coming to Unbelibubble will change their life path.