EPHRAIM—A new fran- chise opened its doors on Main St in Ephraim recently.
Chat Chat Boba, located at 9 N. Main, is owned by Pam and Jared Nicolson of Spring City, who lived in Mt. Pleasant before that.
Jared got the idea of getting a franchise when he got into running ultra-marathons and met Shane Harrison, who is now a good friend. Shane’s wife, Hannah, told the Nicolson’s about their “boba” business, and the Nicolsons got interested. Hannah has opened three boba stores in Utah.
Boba, originally from Taiwan, are the tiny, chewy black bubbles at the bottom of a drink, most commonly tea, thus the common name, “bubble tea.” It is made from tapioca, which is a gluten-free starch extracted from the root of a cassava plant. One of the best things about boba? You can add it to tons of different drinks.
“Boba is a uniquely flavored drink with the options of adding boba, with or without toppings,” Pam said. “Besides traditional boba, you can get four flavors of ‘popping boba’ in strawberry, mango, passion fruit or lychee flavors.”
In addition to the Nicolson new franchise endeavor, Pam teaches blind and visually impaired students and is also a volunteer EMT. Jared is also a volunteer EMT and firefighter for Spring City and runs his own excavating company. He is also the girls wrestling coach at North Sanpete High School. This is their first venture into franchising.
The Nicolsons have five children: Mattie, Max, Chance, Cache and Macie.
