Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, The Since opening its first outlet at Scotts Shopping Centre in 1996, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf chain has grown into a multi- million dollar business with more than 40 outlets in Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. It is controlled by Sunvic, a company owned by Victor Sassoon, a Singapore- born businessman.

A chance meeting in 1995 between Sassoon and singer Paula Abdul in a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet in Los Angeles led to Sunvic obtaining the Singapore franchise from its founder, Herbert Hyman, who had started the business in California in 1963. The group is the oldest and largest privately- owned chain of speciality coffee and tea stores in the United States.