What does Cotti Coffee mean for the coffee market?

Lu Zhengyao, the founder of Luckin Coffee, is preparing a new coffee brand called Cotti Coffee, with Wang Baiyin listed as legal representative and Lu Zhengyao described as the actual operator. Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. was established in May 2022 with registered capital of US$100 million, and the brand name comes from the Italian biscuit biscotti. The plan combines standard stores and mini stores, serving coffee, meals, snacks and alcoholic drinks all day.

The venture follows Shenzhou Car Rental and Luckin Coffee as Lu Zhengyao's listed projects, and after leaving Luckin in 2020 he moved into catering through Shejian Technology. Questions remain about whether Cotti Coffee could eventually list. Long before any of this, coffee itself traveled far from the regions where coffee beans originate, and today the bean is grown across a wide band of tropical countries that supply brands like this one.

Lu Zhengyao, the founder of Luckin Coffee, has made another move, planning to launch a new coffee brand called Cotti Coffee, drawing industry attention. Cotti Coffee has Wang Baiyin as its legal representative, but Lu Zhengyao is said to be the actual operator. The brand name originates from the Italian biscuit Biscotti, symbolizing the combination of coffee and leisure. Cotti Coffee plans to adopt two models: standard stores and mini stores, providing all-day dining services covering coffee, meals, snacks, and alcoholic drinks, intending to integrate the strengths of Luckin and Starbucks and open up a new track. Whether Lu Zhengyao's return this time will succeed is worth looking forward to.

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Recently, news has emerged that Lu Zhengyao, the founder of Luckin Coffee, is planning a new entrepreneurial project and preparing to launch a brand-new coffee brand — Cotti Coffee, and it is said that this is Lu Zhengyao's third venture.

On Lu Zhengyao's business path, Cotti Coffee this time is not his third venture. Before this, he also ventured into many fields with non-listed startups. Shenzhou Car Rental was Lu Zhengyao's first listed project, and Luckin Coffee was the second listed project.

After being forced out of Luckin Coffee in 2020, Lu Zhengyao began starting a business in the catering field, which he was unfamiliar with, and registered a company called Shejian Technology, but its development seems less than ideal, so the company has not yet shown plans for listing.

This new project, Cotti Coffee, is said to be his third venture, so could there be plans for a listing? This still requires waiting for subsequent developments.

According to Tianyancha, Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. was established in May 2022, with Wang Baiyin as the legal representative, registered capital of US$100 million, and business scope including catering services, food sales, food internet sales, etc. It is wholly owned by MAIN MARVEL LIMITED, but the brand's trademark was registered by Shejian Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

The relationship between the two can be traced back to the period when Lu Zhengyao led Borgward Automobile and the Shenzhou-affiliated companies, and they can be considered very close brothers without blood ties. In 2020, in the short-selling report disclosed by the US company Muddy Waters about Luckin's financial fraud, it also directly pointed to Lu Zhengyao transferring benefits to Wang Baiyin.

Although the legal representative of Cotti Coffee is Wang Baiyin, judging from the company that registered the trademark and the new project management team, the possibility that the operator of Cotti Coffee this time is Lu Zhengyao is not small.

It is reported that the management team of the Cotti Coffee project all comes from large new economy enterprises such as Luckin Coffee, Shenzhou Car Rental, and Shenzhou专车, most of which were founded under Lu Zhengyao's leadership.

Compared with founding Luckin Coffee, Cotti Coffee this time can be said to gather the essence of Lu Zhengyao's years in the catering industry. It combines the ideas used in founding Luckin + the market and consumer demands observed in the catering industry over the past two years + the future consumption trends of coffee consumers, creating a brand-new pan-coffee lifestyle.

The origin of the name Cotti Coffee this time also carries great meaning. The word Cotti comes from the Italian crisp biscuit Biscotti, which in Italian generally means biscuits. This biscuit is hard and crisp, so it is one of the indispensable accompanying products in cafes. A cup of coffee and a biscuit can while away an entire afternoon. Therefore, it also implies that a cafe is not only a place that sells coffee, but also a place where everyone can relax and enjoy themselves.

According to screenshots of the Cotti Coffee brand manual circulating online, Cotti Coffee will adopt two models: one is the standard store (80-200 square meters) and the other is the mini store (less than 50 square meters).

From the menu, it can be seen that Cotti Coffee focuses on all-day dining. In the morning, they provide customers with coffee + biscotti, at noon they provide meals, in the afternoon there are snacks, and in the evening there is alcohol.

Judging from the store structure and menu, Cotti Coffee plans to "take all" from both Luckin and Starbucks. It combines the advantages and disadvantages of Luckin, which is fast and cheap but has no seating, and Starbucks, which has seating but is slightly more expensive, and learns from each other's strengths to offset weaknesses. It also provides light meals, alcoholic drinks, and other services.

In the existing coffee industry track, it is roughly divided into independent small shops focusing on selling specialty coffee, small-store models selling fast-moving coffee, large-store models providing space, combinations with light meals and snacks, a focus on e-commerce sales, cross-industry collaborations, and so on. Players joining later will also only choose one of these tracks.

Although competition in the coffee industry is becoming increasingly fierce and the tracks are also congested, judging from the team of Cotti Coffee this time and the already decided business approach, Lu Zhengyao seems to be gathering the advantages of various existing tracks to build a new track.

Now that Lu Zhengyao has returned again, can Cotti Coffee secure a place? It is still quite worth looking forward to. For consumers, being able to provide all-round services + high cost-effectiveness is what is truly appealing!

Image source: Internet

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