Why is this specialty coffee brand heading to Hong Kong?
Manner Coffee plans to open a store in Hong Kong under the name Maners Coffee at World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay, currently in the hoarding and renovation stage. The banner reads "Maners coffee originated from Manner" and uses a logo consistent with Manner's. If the opening proceeds, Manner would become the first mainland coffee chain brand to enter the Hong Kong market.
Manner, a directly operated specialty coffee brand founded in Shanghai in 2015, currently runs 538 stores across mainland China. The company has released no public information about the Hong Kong store, and media outlet Jiemian News said it received no response when contacting official channels. Why the brand name was adjusted to Maners for Hong Kong remains unclear.
Recent news indicates that Manner Coffee will open a store under the name Maners Coffee at World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, and the store is currently in the hoarding and renovation stage. The hoarding banner reads "Maners coffee originated from Manner," and the brand logo is consistent with Manner's, with the words "Hong Kong, we have arrived" written below. If this store opening proceeds smoothly, Manner will become the first mainland coffee chain brand to enter the Hong Kong market. As of now, Maners has not released any public information on the matter, and Jiemian News received no response when contacting its official channels. As a directly operated specialty coffee brand founded in Shanghai in 2015, Manner currently has 538 stores across the country. Whether it can replicate its mainland success in Hong Kong is worth watching.
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Recently, a user on social media posted photos of the hoarding at the Maners Coffee store in World Trade Centre, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, which prompted media reports that Manner Coffee is about to enter the Hong Kong market.
From the images taken by the user, the store is under renovation and construction, and the hoarding banner is printed with the English words "Maners coffee originated from Manner," meaning Maners Coffee originates from Manner. Although the brand name has been slightly adjusted, the logo design remains completely consistent with Manner's.
At the bottom of the hoarding, there is also the promotional slogan "Hong Kong, we have arrived," and the cup of coffee graphic on the banner is also the same visual element used in Manner's posters for its mainland China stores.
As for why Manner chose to enter Hong Kong as Maners Coffee rather than under its original name, the specific reason is currently unclear. As of press time, Maners has not publicly announced any information about opening stores in Hong Kong, and Jiemian News has not received a reply to its request for confirmation from the company. However, if this expansion is completed successfully, Manner will become the first mainland coffee brand to land in Hong Kong.
Manner Coffee was founded in 2015. It is a directly operated coffee chain brand under Shanghai Yinhe Industrial Co., Ltd., founded by the husband-and-wife team Han Yulong and Lu Jianxia, and is regarded as a typical representative of China's emerging coffee brands. The brand is positioned on a specialty coffee route, with an average spend of about 15 to 20 yuan, roughly half the price of Starbucks. Its stores are mostly located around office buildings, offering consumers coffee, tea drinks, juices, and desserts.
On the coffee product line, in addition to basic items on the standard menu such as espresso and Americano, as well as a variety of single items including latte, flat white, cappuccino, and pour-over coffee, Manner Coffee has also successively launched product series such as the Secret Menu, Uji Matcha series, selected pour-over coffee, and roasted coffee beans.
Manner also owns the MANNER LIFE series of branded products, covering peripheral goods such as pour-over kettles, coffee tumblers, portable coffee packets, specialty green beans, and oat milk, forming a relatively complete industrial chain layout. Environmental protection has always been one of the social responsibilities upheld by Manner. The brand has introduced a special promotional measure: customers who bring their own non-disposable cups to the store to buy coffee can enjoy a 5-yuan discount, thereby encouraging consumers to participate in environmental protection actions together.
Starting from a small window coffee shop of only 2 square meters on Nanyang Road in Shanghai, Manner Coffee has grown to its current scale, and it can be said to have witnessed the rapid growth of China's coffee culture. The brand has always entered the coffee market with a model of small spaces and light deployment. According to data provided by Zhaimen Catering, Manner Coffee currently has 538 stores across the country, covering cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou, Chongqing, and Hangzhou, with the highest store density in Shanghai.
In recent years, domestic coffee brands have shown an obvious momentum of rise, with a number of Chinese brands such as Manner, Seesaw, and Saturnbird emerging one after another, and competition within the industry has also become increasingly fierce. Against the backdrop of the continuously heating domestic coffee market, the specialty coffee brand Manner Coffee has long attracted capital attention and has successively received investment support from major institutions such as Capital Today, Temasek, Meituan Dragonball, and ByteDance.
This year, with the boost of capital, Manner pressed the button for accelerated expansion. In March, Manner Coffee posted an article on its official account titled "Ten cities nationwide, 200+ new stores opening together, free coffee for three days." In the first three days of the new stores' opening, consumers could receive a free cup of coffee by bringing their own coffee cup. This is actually a promotional method Manner has consistently used for store openings, but such a large-scale store opening lineup also attracted widespread attention across the entire coffee industry.
Looking at the current coffee market, if ranked by the number of brand stores, the top three are Starbucks, Luckin, and closely following them is Manner. However, Manner still needs to continue accelerating, because the gap between it and Starbucks and Luckin remains considerable. These two brands currently both have more than 6,000 stores.
From the British colonial period to later being influenced by the Japanese specialty coffee wave, Hong Kong has always been a city with a deep coffee culture. As Manner Coffee, which is racing quickly in the mainland China market, enters Hong Kong this time, facing a brand-new market environment and competitors, it may need to adjust its own business approach. Whether it can achieve market performance in Hong Kong comparable to that in the mainland still needs time to answer.
Image source: Internet
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
