What does the Cotti Coffee launch mean for street coffee?

Cotti Coffee, the new brand from Luckin Coffee founder Lu Zhengyao, opened its first store in Fuzhou IFC, registered in May 2022 with US$100 million in capital. The brand covers coffee, baked goods, light meals and alcoholic drinks across the day, and announced it has become the China sponsor of the Argentina national team.

The core team comes largely from Luckin and the Shenzhou system, and former Luckin CEO Qian Zhiya now serves as legal representative. The name Cotti refers to an Italian specialty biscuit often served with coffee, signaling an all-day dining approach rather than pure street coffee alone.

After leaving Luckin, Lu Zhengyao went through two not-so-successful food and beverage startups, Qu Xiaomian and Shejian Yingxiong, and ultimately returned to the coffee battlefield he knew best. The first store of the brand-new brand COTTI COFFEE has officially opened in Fuzhou IFC, focusing on all-day dining, covering coffee, baked goods, light meals, and alcoholic drinks. The core team mostly comes from Luckin and the Shenzhou system, and the legal representative has been changed to former Luckin CEO Qian Zhiya. On the occasion of the first store's opening, Cotti also announced that it has become the China sponsor of the Argentina national team. Whether this heavily anticipated coffee newcomer can become Lu Zhengyao's comeback work, and whether it can add another major player to China's coffee market, is worth continued attention.

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According to today's report by National Business Daily, Luckin Coffee founder Lu Zhengyao and former Luckin CEO Qian Zhiya simultaneously announced on WeChat Moments that the first national store of COTTI COFFEE has officially opened in Fuzhou IFC. The two captioned it: "The coffee dreamer team sets off on the journey again," and "The assembly call has sounded."

It is understood that Cotti Coffee is a brand-new entrepreneurial project launched by Lu Zhengyao, positioned as all-day dining, with product categories beyond coffee also covering baked goods, light meals, and alcoholic drinks. In the morning, it offers coffee and Italian biscuits and other accompaniments; at noon, it provides meals; in the afternoon, there are snacks; and in the evening, one can drink alcohol.

The operating entity of Cotti Coffee is Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., registered and established on May 19, 2022, headquartered in Tianjin, with a registered capital of US$100 million. Its core management team comes from large new economy enterprises such as Luckin Coffee, CAR Inc., and Shenzhou Zhuanche.

The brand name "Cotti Coffee" comes from a specialty biscuit from Italy, which is often served as an accompaniment to coffee. Cotti is regarded as an extension and expansion of the coffee concept, so COTTI COFFEE (Cotti Coffee) was never just a coffee shop from the beginning, but represents a new pan-coffee lifestyle.

On October 19, Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. completed a change of legal representative: Lu Zhengyao's Peking University classmate Wang Baiyin withdrew, and the successor is Lu Zhengyao's "prized disciple" and former Luckin CEO Qian Zhiya.

Lu Zhengyao is the founder and chairman of Shenzhou Ucar, and also the founder and former chairman of Luckin Coffee. After Luckin Coffee became embroiled in a scandal in 2020 over alleged financial fraud of 2.2 billion yuan, on June 27 of that year, Luckin Coffee said the board decided to ask Lu Zhengyao to resign as director and chairman.

In the early hours of July 3, 2020, the board meeting did not pass the proposal regarding the dismissal, and Lu Zhengyao continued to serve as a director and chairman of Luckin Coffee. It was not until July 14, 2020, that Luckin Coffee announced that Lu Zhengyao would no longer serve as chairman.

This is Lu Zhengyao's third startup after being passively forced out of Luckin. For the first two, he chose the restaurant sector with which he was not familiar, successively launching the noodle shop "Qu Xiaomian" and the prepared dishes project "Shejian Yingxiong." According to his plan, both projects were to become restaurant versions of "Luckin" in the future: starting with noodle shops and prepared dishes, then later bringing in more food and snack brands, and ultimately building an online app.

However, after the noodle shop "Qu Xiaomian" had been operating for only 3 months, its store-opening plan was massively suspended. The subsequent prepared dishes project Shejian Yingxiong reached 6,000 intended franchise store signings nationwide within 4 months, but its fate was quite similar to Qu Xiaomian. It was soon complained about by distributors that joining did not make money, and then news of store closures came one after another.

With both startups less than ideal, Lu Zhengyao decided to return to the coffee market, and thus Cotti Coffee was born. Luckin Coffee undoubtedly gave Lu Zhengyao his shining moment in the food and beverage track, so when his team re-entered the coffee track, it naturally attracted much attention—without any marketing, Cotti Coffee was already popular before opening.

Five months have passed since its establishment, and Cotti Coffee's first store has finally opened to customers. The significance of the first store is not only being the first location geographically, but also symbolizing a brand's pioneering nature. It is reported that alongside the first store's opening, Cotti Coffee also announced that it has officially become the China sponsor of the Argentina national football team for the Qatar World Cup, which begins on November 21, 2022.

Compared with Qu Xiaomian and Shejian Yingxiong, the outside world has shown greater interest in and expectation for Cotti Coffee. Can Cotti Coffee become Lu Zhengyao's comeback work, and can it add another major player to China's coffee ranks? Its future performance in the coffee track is worth anticipating.

Image source: Internet

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