CNA Luxury · 17 Oct, 21:34 · Business briefing

From weekend markets to a matcha network: How Kevin Chee built Matchaya

Kevin Chee transformed a modest weekend market stall into Matchaya, a prominent matcha brand with an extensive retail network.

What it means for you ↓ Courses for this story

26%average salary uplift after a professional certificate

2.7xfaster promotion for certified professionals

71%of leaders prefer candidates who upskill continuously

20days to your first credential

The briefing

The story
in brief.

What happened, who it affects, and why it landed on our intelligence desk — in plain English, sixty seconds or less.

Kevin Chee transformed a modest weekend market stall into Matchaya, a prominent matcha brand with an extensive retail network. The story outlines his entrepreneurial journey, detailing how he scaled operations from a single point of sale to a multi-location business model. It highlights the strategic decisions regarding brand positioning, supply chain management, and customer experience that facilitated this growth. For professionals, the narrative serves as a case study in agile business expansion within the specialty food and beverage sector. It illustrates how niche market insights can be leveraged to build a scalable commercial entity, offering practical lessons in operational resilience and market penetration for those interested in retail entrepreneurship.

Employer demand for Business And Management skills — indexed growth since 2019
Indicative index of skill mentions in professional job postings for the field this story moves (2019 = 1)

Your move

What this means
for your career.

Every headline redistributes opportunity. Here is who this one rewards — and how to be on the right side of it.

This development signals that niche expertise and authentic brand storytelling are increasingly valuable in crowded retail markets. You should focus on developing skills in supply chain optimisation and customer experience design, as these differentiate successful brands. Professionals in food and beverage, retail management, or marketing must pay attention to how digital engagement complements physical presence. A smart move is to analyse Matchaya’s operational scaling strategies. Consider upskilling in strategic marketing to understand their brand positioning. Additionally, explore supply chain management to grasp the logistics behind consistent quality. By studying this case, you can learn to balance artisanal quality with commercial scalability. Apply these insights to your own projects, whether launching a new product or revitalising an existing brand, ensuring you prioritise both operational efficiency and distinct customer value.

For this story, the fields that convert it into pay are Business And Management, Strategic Marketing, Supply Chain and Small Business Marketing — exactly the programmes matched below. The chart shows the indicative salary uplift certified professionals report in each of those fields; every one of them is a click away, from £79, finishing in as few as 20 days.

Indicative salary uplift in the fields matched to this story
Indicative ranges from published continuing-education salary studies, by field — each field is a recommended course below

Matched to this story

Enrol in these
to benefit.

These programmes position you for exactly this shift — online, self-paced, and finishing with a verifiable certificate you can share the day you pass.