What does the Coffee Post franchise statement actually say?

Coffee Post issued a formal statement on October 27 confirming it has never authorized any third party to recruit franchisees, after false publicity and franchise ads misused the China Post and Coffee Post names online. The company says it has started legal proceedings and demanded that infringing parties stop immediately.

Coffee Post is a brand created by China Post and Zhongyu Kaye, launched with its first post office coffee store in Xiamen, Fujian, on February 14. The statement also serves as a warning for anyone weighing a coffee store investment, since misleading franchise offers remain a risk in China's fast-growing coffee market.

Recently, Coffee Post issued a stern statement regarding fraudulent franchise recruitment activities on the market that misuse its brand name, explicitly stating that it has never authorized any third party to engage in franchise cooperation and has initiated legal proceedings to pursue accountability. This incident once again shines a spotlight on this coffee brand jointly created by China Post and Zhongyu Kaye, and also reflects the market chaos behind the ever-heating coffee track. This article will sort out the sequence of events, the brand's operational structure, and future layout challenges to help readers clarify the facts and avoid falling into the trap of imposters.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the personal WeChat of Front Street Coffee, WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

On October 27, Coffee Post issued a formal statement in response to recent commercial activities in which someone falsely used the name of China Post or Coffee Post to carry out false publicity and franchise recruitment. The statement pointed out that these acts of persistently misappropriating the brand name and graphic logo of "Coffee Post (Post Coffee) POST COFFEE" and spreading misleading franchise information on social platforms not only seriously deceived consumers, but also caused great damage to Coffee Post's commercial interests and brand reputation.

In the statement, Coffee Post demanded that the relevant parties involved immediately cease all infringing acts from the date of the announcement, and emphasized that the company has already initiated legal proceedings and will take a firm stance to stop and pursue accountability for such incidents. At the same time, Coffee Post particularly reiterated: "Coffee Post (Post Coffee) POST COFFEE" has never authorized any third party to carry out franchise recruitment activities.

Looking back to February 14 of this year, China Post launched the country's first post office coffee store in Xiamen, Fujian, and put it into trial operation. This move was regarded as a landmark action marking China Post's official entry into the coffee track. "As long as you are within China, there is no place postal delivery cannot reach"—this saying, widely circulated online, precisely summarizes China Post's unique advantages of dense outlets and extremely high national recognition.

As early as after the news of the first post office coffee store's launch came out, a large number of netizens flooded the comment section of China Post's official Weibo asking about franchising. At the same time, some people with ulterior motives began to appear as "Post Coffee" franchise promoters, taking the opportunity to defraud franchise fees. On February 18, China Post issued a reminder via Weibo: the first "Post Coffee" opened in Xiamen, there is no franchise center of any kind, and currently "Post Coffee" is only conducting trial operation at self-operated outlets, and has not opened any form of franchise cooperation. The public is asked to stay vigilant to avoid being deceived.

According to information from the Tianyancha platform, Post Coffee was jointly created by China Post and Shanghai Zhongyu Kaye Management Consulting Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Zhongyu Kaye"), with daily operations handled by Zhongyu Kaye. Public information shows that Zhongyu Kaye was established in September 2021, and its business scope covers food sales, catering management, wholesale of clothing and apparel, etc. It is an enterprise mainly engaged in the retail industry.

It should be pointed out that although Zhongyu Kaye undertakes the operational responsibilities of Post Coffee, there is no equity relationship whatsoever between the company and China Post.

According to media reports, Dong Kexin, co-founder and CMO of Post Coffee, revealed in an earlier exclusive interview that what Zhongyu Kaye established with China Post is a long-term strategic cooperative relationship, rather than a subordinate relationship. Dong Kexin also said: "Post Coffee will next densify its store layout in key cities, and at the same time, relying on China Post's outlet advantages, we will expand more deeply in lower-tier markets."

In early August 2022, Shanghai Zhongyu Kaye Management Consulting Co., Ltd. completed a change of its industrial and commercial name, with the new name being "Shanghai Zhongyu Kaye Coffee Co., Ltd." Subsequently, on September 19, the official account operated by the company was also officially renamed from "Post Coffee" to "Coffee Post POST COFFEE."

At present, competition in the coffee market is becoming increasingly fierce. If Post Coffee wants to achieve nationwide scale development, its ability to systematically manage the brand and stores will face severe tests. Post Coffee needs to continuously polish and strengthen its brand image and cultural connotations to create a better experience for consumers, while also constantly exploring and optimizing its product structure during expansion to lay the foundation for subsequent rapid rollout.

The chaos of "the real Li Kui encountering the fake Li Gui" in the market is already commonplace, and there are not a few cases of people collecting high franchise fees under the name of an official brand and then absconding with the money. For Post Coffee, continuously strengthening chainization and systematic management will be the key to increasing the intensity of its layout. Only by enhancing the brand's overall competitiveness and improving various safeguard measures can it achieve more ideal operating results.

Image source: Internet

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