Introduction:In just half a month, Cotti Coffee has established 13 new branches in nine major cities across China. Including its headquarters in Tianjin, this equates to 14 new branches launched within 15 days, showcasing strong expansion momentum. Starting with its first store in Fuzhou, the brand made a high-profile sponsorship of the Argentina national football team and proclaimed an ambitious goal of opening 10,000 stores within three years. Whether the team led by Lu Zhengyao can replicate the success path of Luckin Coffee is worth a deeper analysis.
According to data from Tianyancha, starting from October 17, Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. has successively invested in setting up 13 branches within just half a month. All of these branches are named “Cotti Coffee” and cover nine key regional cities including Fuzhou, Wuhan, Shenyang, Chongqing, Xi’an, and Nanjing. Including Tianjin, where the headquarters is located, this actually amounts to 14 new branches established within half a month.
Among these newly established companies, the heads of Cotti Coffee in both Beijing and Tianjin are Qian Zhiya. She also serves as the legal representative, executive director, and general manager, and both companies share the same sole shareholder — Cotti Coffee Limited. This indicates that Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. is actively expanding its national footprint.
As early as October 22, Lu Zhengyao and Qian Zhiya jointly announced via their social media that Cotti Coffee’s first store had officially opened in Fuzhou. The post at the time read: “The dream team sets off again on a new journey — the call to arms has sounded!” It also boldly declared that the brand had become the official Chinese sponsor of the Argentina national football team, demonstrating strong brand marketing ambition.
Then, on November 1, the blue V-certified Weibo account “COTTICOFFEE Cotti Coffee” also released its first public message, officially confirming its status as the Chinese sponsorship partner of the Argentina national football team. This move not only brought high visibility to the brand but also continued the aggressive promotional tactics Lu Zhengyao commonly employed during his tenure with Luckin Coffee.
According to the Cotti Coffee official website, the brand name “Cotti” is inspired by the traditional Italian biscuit Biscotti, which is typically served with coffee. Thus, from the very beginning, Cotti Coffee was not solely positioned as a simple coffee shop, but rather aimed to create a lifestyle centered around coffee, encompassing diverse scenarios such as “coffee,” “bakery,” “casual dining,” and “bar.”
However, as of now, the so-called all-day, multi-functional services remain in the planning stage. The mini-program has not yet launched food, snacks, or alcoholic beverage options, and the number of stores that allow online ordering is limited to a few cities such as Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shenyang. Nevertheless, the mini-program has already listed nearly 60 beverages, including a variety of choices such as coffee, oat milk, tea, cold brew slushies, and sundaes. Among them are also popular best-selling items from Luckin Coffee, such as the Coconut Latte and Coconut Dirty, which inevitably raises the question of whether there has been some reference in product strategy as well.
In terms of store planning, Cotti Coffee currently focuses on two types of outlets: one is the standard store, covering an area of about 80 to 200 square meters, designed to accommodate coffee beverages, light meals, and bar functions, suitable for creating diverse consumption scenarios; the other is the mini store, with an area of less than 50 square meters, mainly offering takeout and pickup coffee services, positioned to be more streamlined and convenient. According to community accounts of local stores, new outlets in cities such as Xiamen, Chengdu, and Xi’an are about to open, with plans to launch 20 new stores between November and December 2022, along with a promotion offering 365 cups of coffee as an incentive for recommending store locations (in four districts and nine counties).
In addition, Cotti Coffee also wholly owns “Riweijian Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.,” which was established in August 2022 with a registered capital of 20 million US dollars. The legal representative is Ye Leilei, and its business scope includes technical services, technology development, technical consulting, IoT technology services, and information technology consulting, potentially providing support for the brand’s future smart stores or supply chain management.
At a time when various industries are entering the coffee market, whether Cotti Coffee can replicate the success of Luckin Coffee — or even surpass its rivals — by leveraging familiar expansion models and product strategies will be a focal point of ongoing market attention.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
