Molly Tea came to America to sell jasmine milk tea.
It's now spending a remarkable amount of time discussing who owns the Instagram account.
Welcome to international expansion.
The Shenzhen-based chain signed a licensing deal in December 2023 with New York operator MHL, authorizing up to five American stores. Three joint-venture locations opened in Flushing, Brooklyn and Chinatown.
Then came the fourth.
In April 2026, the local operator opened another location near Columbia University, despite headquarters withholding final approval, according to a federal judge's account of the evidence.
When operating principal Xiaozhe Liu was asked in court whether he'd received permission, his response was memorable:
“I don't think I need the permission.”
One imagines that wasn't the answer headquarters had in mind.
By May, Molly Tea had terminated the licensing agreement and filed suit. The parties were fighting over trademarks, operations, financial reporting and control of the American business.
The marketing assets were part of the dispute, too.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction restricting the former licensees' use of Molly Tea's trademarks. The order also required the transfer of specified branded digital accounts and channels.
For a company trying to build a recognizable American brand, that's an extraordinary place to find itself.
But this isn't simply a story about a difficult franchisee.
The American partners dispute the company's account of the contractual conflict, including the circumstances of its termination. The litigation is ongoing. The judge has refused additional preliminary relief while leaving earlier trademark restrictions in place.
The strategic problem is bigger than either party.
Asian brands often need American partners for capital, real estate, operations and local knowledge. But the people who build the stores may also build the customer relationships, digital audiences and local business infrastructure.
And those assets become especially valuable when the relationship falls apart.
Molly Tea has discovered that building an American business and controlling one are two very different competitions.