What does Cotti Coffee's rapid coffee store expansion mean for the market?

Cotti Coffee, founded by Luckin Coffee veterans Lu Zhengyao and Qian Zhiya, established 13 branches in about half a month across nine core cities including Fuzhou, Wuhan, Shenyang, Chongqing, Xi'an, and Nanjing. The brand opened its first coffee store in Fuzhou, became the China regional sponsor of the Argentine national football team, and set a three-year goal of 10,000 stores.

Its mini-program lists nearly 60 products across coffee, tea drinks, and cold brew, with some items echoing Luckin's hit drinks. Stores come in standard and mini formats, and the standard model is designed to accommodate meal and bar scenarios, though meals and alcohol are not yet available. Whether Cotti can use Luckin's playbook to challenge Luckin remains an open question.

In just half a month, Cotti Coffee opened 13 new branches in 9 central cities across the country, demonstrating the rapid momentum of Lu Zhengyao's team returning to the coffee track. Starting with its first store in Fuzhou, the brand has loudly sponsored the Argentine national football team and set a three-year goal of 10,000 stores. Currently, the mini-program has nearly 60 products online, covering categories such as coffee, tea drinks, and cold brew, among which there are traces of Luckin's hit products. The store model is divided into two types: standard stores and mini stores, with the former compatible with meal and bar scenarios. However, all-day, multi-functional services have not yet been fully implemented, and meals and alcohol are still not available. Whether Cotti can use Luckin's "magic" to defeat Luckin is worth continuous attention.

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According to public information from Tianyancha, starting from October 17, in just half a month, Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. successively invested in and established 13 branches named after "Cotti Coffee", covering 9 regional core cities including Fuzhou, Wuhan, Shenyang, Chongqing, Xi'an, and Nanjing.

Among them, the legal representative, executive director, and manager of the Cotti companies in both Beijing and Tianjin are all served by Qian Zhiya, and they share the same sole shareholder—Cotti Coffee Limited. From this structural layout, it is not difficult to judge that Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. intends to spread its business footprint nationwide.

Partial screenshot of the company

As early as October 22, Lu Zhengyao and Qian Zhiya jointly announced through Moments that the first Cotti Coffee store had officially landed in Fuzhou. The caption was highly emotional, writing: "The Coffee Dreamer team sets out again! The assembly call has sounded!" At the same time, an image was attached, announcing that the brand had become the China regional sponsor of the Argentine national football team.

On November 1, the blue-V verified Weibo account "COTTICOFFEE Cotti Coffee" posted its first content: COTTI COFFEE has officially become the China regional sponsor of the Argentine national football team. This high-profile brand-building approach carries a distinct Lu Zhengyao style and is also very similar to Luckin Coffee's early expansion path.

The news that Lu Zhengyao and his old team were once again joining hands to start a business quickly spread in the coffee circle. The team continued the ambition from the days of building the "Shenzhou system," and from the very beginning, Cotti Coffee proposed the grand goal of opening 10,000 stores in three years. Its marketing playbook still feels like the same familiar formula and taste.

According to the explanation on Cotti Coffee's official website, the name "Cotti" comes from the traditional Italian coffee accompaniment Biscotti. Therefore, from its birth, Cotti Coffee did not intend to be just "another" coffee shop, but to represent a pan-coffee lifestyle. Below this passage, the official website also lists several core keywords: "coffee," "baking," "light meals," and "bar."

However, for now, the all-day, multi-functional service format has not truly been implemented. Cotti Coffee's mini-program has not yet listed meals, snacks, or alcoholic products, and mini-program ordering is only available at stores in a few cities such as Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shenyang.

Within the mini-program, quite a few newly listed products can be seen. At present, there are nearly 60 individual items, covering multiple series such as coffee, oat, tea drinks, cold brew smoothies, and sundaes. At the same time, it has also launched Luckin's currently hottest items: coconut latte, coconut Dirty, and other internet-famous products.

In terms of store format, Cotti Coffee plans to focus on two offline store types: one is the standard store, which can accommodate coffee, meals, and bar functions, with an area between 80 and 200 square meters; the other is the mini store, focusing on coffee supply and in-store pickup, with an area kept within 50 square meters.

A local Cotti Coffee store account revealed on social media that stores in Xiamen, Chengdu, and Xi'an are about to open. The account also stated that it plans to open 20 new stores between November and December 2022 and welcomes everyone to recommend store locations (four districts and nine counties). Once selected and finalized, 365 cups of coffee a year will be given away.

It is understood that Cotti Coffee also wholly controls an enterprise named "Riweijian Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd." The company was established in August 2022, with a registered capital of 20 million US dollars, and its legal representative is Ye Leilei. Its business scope covers technical services, technical development, technical consulting, IoT technical services, and information technology consulting services, among others.

At a time when even sports brands are跨界 making coffee, whether Cotti Coffee can use Luckin's "magic" to defeat Luckin is worth waiting to see.

Image source: Internet

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