Introduction:In recent years, it has become a trend for celebrities to venture into the coffee market. From JJ Lin to Wang Hedi and Jay Chou, many have leveraged their fame to boost their coffee businesses. Bai Jingting’s fashion brand GOODBAI recently opened a new coffee shop, which saw fans lining up in huge numbers on its opening day, with some even waiting three hours just for a cup of coffee. Beyond the fan-following effect, how are these celebrity coffee shops actually run? What market strategies and challenges lie beneath the enthusiasm of fans? This article takes an in-depth look.
Nowadays, many young people are passionate about running coffee shops, and this trend has gradually spread to the entertainment industry. Renowned singer JJ Lin opened his own brand “Little Miracle Coffee” domestically early on, successfully attracting a large number of fans. Influenced by him, more and more artists have begun to create their own coffee brands, blending personal charm with coffee culture and opening up new market territories.
Recently, actor Bai Jingting’s fashion brand GOODBAI officially stepped into the food and beverage sector by launching its first coffee shop. Surprisingly, even before the official opening, the store was already swarmed with a long queue of people, becoming a major hotspot on Shanghai’s Yanqing Road. Observations on-site showed that the vast majority of customers were loyal fans of Bai Jingting, with some even willing to wait up to three hours just to try a cup of coffee.
This level of excitement is not without precedent. Earlier, when actor Wang Hedi’s fashion brand coffee shop D.DESIRABLE opened, despite heavy rain that day, a large number of fans waited in the rain with umbrellas for nearly three hours just to catch a glimpse of the brand’s store and enjoy a cup of coffee. Similarly, netizens also revealed that famous singer Jay Chou is preparing to open his own coffee shop in Beijing, with some passersby even spotting him personally inspecting the site. Although it hasn’t opened to the public yet, it has already generated high expectations among local fans, and it is expected to draw large crowds once it does.
GOODBAI was originally a fashion brand led by Bai Jingting, focusing on various trendy items and branded merchandise. The newly launched coffee shop not only offers food and drinks but also serves as a physical retail space where customers can shop for trendy apparel and limited-edition merchandise. Even though it opened on a weekday, a large number of fans still made special trips to visit.
According to fans on-site, the store implemented crowd control and customer experience measures, allowing entry in groups of ten and limiting each group’s stay to within twenty minutes. The brand emphasized that this approach aims to enhance each customer’s shopping experience, but it also resulted in significantly longer actual waiting times. Many fans reported that the wait to enter was at least one hour, with some even taking three hours to get in, reflecting both the high popularity driven by the star effect and the challenges it brings.
For many fans, visiting a coffee shop run by their idol is often less about the coffee itself and more about the emotional connection to the idol. From queuing, purchasing co-branded merchandise, to taking photos and sharing them online, a nearly standardized “check-in process” has emerged, showcasing fans’ strong support for their idols’ brands. As for the flavor profile or value-for-money of the coffee, most fans admit it’s not their primary concern. Instead, it’s the personal experience and emotional investment that truly motivates them to spend time and money.
In fact, it’s not new for celebrities to cross over into the food and beverage industry—there are precedents ranging from hotpot restaurants to bars. Nowadays, with specialty coffee growing increasingly popular among younger consumers, these public figures with massive fan bases are capitalizing on market potential and using their fame to enter the highly competitive coffee market, naturally drawing widespread attention and enthusiastic responses.
However, beyond relying on star power to attract customers, the key long-term challenge for celebrity coffee shops lies in balancing product quality, service processes, and customer experience. For fans, emotional support is certainly important, but demonstrating expertise in coffee flavor, bean selection, and brewing techniques will help the brand establish a more solid market position—not just as a fleeting check-in hotspot.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
