What Is on the China Railway Coffee Restaurant Menu?

China Railway opened a cultural and creative themed restaurant at the Zhengyangmen branch of the China Railway Museum, serving light meals plus drinks under the brand Bandao Tea. The menu covers freshly made tea, juice and coffee, including cappuccino and mango pomelo sago, priced from 12 to 32 yuan. The debut followed China Post's move into coffee.

The name Bandao refers to operating a railway switch, and the space uses miniature tracks and steam train models with seating styled like a green-skinned train carriage. Customers have said the drinks taste too sweet and lack customization, and the remote location and awkward name have kept foot traffic limited, echoing earlier criticism of high-speed rail milk tea.

After China Post opened a café, state-owned enterprises crossing into the food and beverage industry drew attention. China Railway has also joined this trend, launching a railway cultural and creative themed restaurant at the Zhengyangmen branch of the China Railway Museum, covering healthy light meals and beverages. The beverage brand is named "Bandao Tea," featuring railway-themed decor and freshly made tea, juice, and coffee, priced at 12 to 32 yuan. However, consumers have reported that the drinks are too sweet and lack personalized customization, and the store's location is relatively remote with an awkward name, resulting in limited foot traffic. Previously, high-speed rail milk tea was criticized on social media hot searches due to price and taste issues, and high-speed rail coffee was also launched in the same month. Unlike China Post's step-by-step approach to milk tea and coffee, China Railway is pursuing multiple tracks simultaneously this time—its ambitions are big, but the challenges are considerable.

Since China Post officially announced its entry into the coffee sector, public interest in state-owned enterprises and time-honored brands venturing into the food and beverage industry has continued to heat up. Now, China Railway has also taken a step into selling milk tea.

China Railway's official Weibo posted information on April 1 that its railway cultural and creative themed restaurant has opened at the Zhengyangmen branch of the China Railway Museum, serving healthy light meals; the same building also has an area selling railway-themed milk tea, smoothies, and coffee.

To fully reflect China Railway's cultural symbols, the beverage brand was named "Bandao Tea." "Bandao" refers to the action of operating railway switches to change a train's route, also known as throwing a switch.

According to a Beijing Business Today reporter's on-site visit to the "Bandao Tea" store, the brand mainly offers freshly made tea, juice, and coffee, covering categories such as caramel chestnut thick milk tea, cappuccino, and mango pomelo sago, with prices ranging from 12 to 32 yuan. The store's decor incorporates a large number of railway elements, with miniature tracks and steam train models suspended from the ceiling, while the seating and windows are arranged to mimic the interior layout of a green-skinned train.

Judging from the store menu circulating online, most single cups at Bandao Tea are priced in the 22 to 32 yuan range, a pricing level relatively close to Heyttea's strategy before its price cuts.

Currently, the new-style tea beverage industry is highly competitive, and consumers can enjoy more personalized customization services. For example, there are abundant options for drink sweetness, ice level, cup size, and milk tea toppings.

However, on the Dianping platform, some consumers have commented that Bandao Tea's drinks are too sweet and suggested adding sweetness adjustment options. This shows that Bandao Tea has not yet achieved personalized customization in its production process, and taste options are relatively limited.

Although there are not many flavor options, customers who have consumed at Bandao Tea commented on Dianping that its production process is open to the public and the ingredients used are all genuine.

Currently, searching for "Bandao Tea" on Dianping yields only one physical store, located inside the China Railway Museum.

In the past year, China Railway has been continuously active in the beverage sector. In November 2021, it launched high-speed rail milk tea, but due to issues such as high pricing and poor taste, it was criticized on social media hot searches just two days after launch, and the topic "High-speed rail milk tea criticized as inferior to 1-yuan Xiangpiaopiao" even topped Weibo's hot search list on November 16. At the end of the same month, China Railway also launched high-speed rail coffee.

Now, China Railway has cultivated its own branded beverage stores "off the train." Unlike other "national team" and "time-honored brand" crossovers that first focused on a single track—for example, China Post first entered the milk tea sector with "Youyang Tea," focusing on new-style tea drinks, and then favored the coffee track, opening "Post Office Coffee" in Xiamen, Fujian.

China Railway's move "off the train" into food and beverage, simultaneously entering multiple markets such as light meals, tea drinks, and coffee, shows its considerable ambition. But even so, "Bandao Tea" is located in a relatively remote area, and its name is rather awkward; many people are not familiar with this technical term, and coupled with high pricing, the number of customers actually visiting the store is not large, and related shares online are also few. Therefore, how far China Railway's crossover can go this time remains to be seen.

Image source: Dianping, internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.