He left his seven-figure banking career to sell bubble tea–today, his company brings in over $500 million a year

When Martin Berry quit his lucrative banking job in late 2013 to go all-in on selling bubble tea, his boss thought he was "insane."

At the time, Berry was in his 30s and had spent much of his career working in senior executive roles, managing multi-trillion dollar balance sheets, he said. However, he found that over time, the big paychecks no longer fulfilled him.

"I realized after working hard for quite a long period of time that I didn't really like the corporate system. I didn't like its lack of entrepreneurialism," Berry told CNBC Make It. "It was all about risk management, not risk taking."

Today, he is the founder and chairman of Gong cha Global, an international bubble tea franchise. The company originates from a small tea shop in Taiwan opened in 1996 by a man named Zhen-hua Wu.

Before Berry joined, Gong cha was only in four countries across Asia. Under his leadership, it transformed from a regional brand into a global one, with over 2,000 Gong cha locations across 30 countries.

Berry grew up in the countryside of Melbourne, Australia. Since childhood, he's had the entrepreneurial bug, he said.

"We didn't necessarily have a lot of money ... I started to become quite entrepreneurial from a very young age, trying to start businesses and different types of things," said Berry.

From working on farms and feeding cows to selling Christmas trees, he would find different ways to make money as a kid. "I was just born with this innate desire for making money," he said. "I think I was very driven by money and what it could do for you, and the empowerment that it [could] bring."

Berry only became more enterprising with age. At age 19, while most of his peers were focused on school and their social lives, he managed to land his first full-time corporate job.

"I actually snuck into a university presentation, which was meant to be for graduates ... I was listening to all these companies pitch as to why these graduates should join them," said Berry. After the event, he went to the HR representative for IT company Hewlett-Packard (HP) and offered to work for free.

That conversation helped Berry land his first summer internship with the company, ultimately turning into a full-time job, which he balanced on top of his university studies.

"I just managed to make it work by studying [at] night and weekends to complete the degree, and by the time I graduated, I already had sort of three years' worth of corporate experience," said Berry.

By the time Berry was in his 30s, he was working in high-ranking roles in offices around the world including Australia, London, Singapore and South Korea. After about two decades working in the corporate world, he knew it was time for something else.

One day in early 2011, Berry chanced upon what would become his next chapter. He was getting a haircut at a mall in Singapore when he noticed a long line forming outside a shop nearby.

Curious, he joined the queue. It turned out to be a Gong cha store — which was gaining popularity in Asia.

Berry noticed a few green flags: drinks were quick to make, stores were small and leanly staffed, and the product's simple ingredients suggested strong margins.

"I knew nothing about boba or bubble tea, but from a financial engineering standpoint ... [I thought] this product must be incredibly profitable," he said.

Berry thought it looked like all the right ingredients for a business, so he started to do some due diligence. He bought ten of their best-selling drinks that day, taste tested them, then spent the next few weeks visiting different stores to observe foot traffic. He decided he wanted in.

After several unsuccessful attempts to reach Gong cha's headquarters, he decided to fly to Taiwan and turn up at their door. Luckily the original founder was there. The two penned a deal and Berry became a master franchiser of the bubble tea company.

Berry said he spent about $2.5 million in life savings to bring the company into its fifth market, South Korea, and went on to lead the brand's international expansion.

In 2024, the company brought in over $500 million in systemwide sales, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

"When you're struggling ... to start a business, you think you have to invent the next light bulb or the next wheel ... but it's so far from the truth," said Berry. "It's really about looking for something that [has] a lot of potential, whether you can either do it better than somebody [else], or you can put a different spin on it."

"It's just by opening up your mind and opening up your eyes to what's out there in the world," he said.

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