50 Lan

50 Lan (traditional Chinese: 50嵐; simplified Chinese: 50岚) is a Taiwanese bubble tea chain. In 1994, Ma Shao-wei, the founder, and his sister Ma Ya-fang, started a juice and tea street stall next to their mother's fried chicken stall in Tainan, a city in southern Taiwan. They switched to focusing on selling only tea and as business improved, upgraded from a street stall to a terrace. The first 50 Lan store opened in 1997 and a second opened the next year. Over ten branches opened in Tainan after friends and relatives wanted to become franchisees. The company's headquarters is in Tainan and there are four regional divisions that function separately. Guo Zong-feng, Ma's army friend, started a company in 2000 to manage branches in Kaohsiung and Pingtung. Ma Ya-fen, Ma's sister, formed a management company in 2002 to oversee branches in Central District, Changhua, Chiayi County, and Yunlin County. In 2003, Ma's university classmate began managing branches in the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, while Ma's sister Ma Ya-fang started overseeing branches in the Taoyuan–Hsinchu area. There were 612 50 Lan stores in Taiwan by 2024. To expand the chain outside of Taiwan, Ma Ya-fen in 2006 created the sister brand KOI Thé which operates in a number of Southeast Asia countries and Fiftylan, which operates in the United States. Guo Zong-feng separately expanded the chain to the United States through Wushiland Boba in 2016. To expand to mainland China, Lou Gengshen, who managed 50 Lan's Taipei branches, founded 1 Diandian (Chinese: 1點點) in 2010.