While Starbucks is probably the No.1 coffee brand in China, its position has constantly been challenged. Luckin Coffee, (briefly covered in a previous post) is cutting into the mass market with lower pricing.
Many people are eyeing on China’s growing coffee market, which will be huge and many are betting on the growth in average coffee consumption.
On the global capital market, Starbucks’ China push and Blue Bottle’s exciting/interesting movements (Jun 2015 $70 million series C; Sep 2017 acquired by Nestle, $425 million for ~68%) may as well push Chinese counter-parties to think about aggressive expansion or building boutique brands.
Listed here are 3 shops I visited recently. Will add more during the summer.
Costa, from UK
Costa is in direct competition with Starbucks, pricing its coffee at exactly the same level – grande latte @ ¥32.
% arabica, from Japan
Started in 2014 in Kyoto, Japan, % arabica is a young brand. It opened the first store in China in Shanghai in Feb 2018 in a trendy (网红) way. It already has opened 4 store in Shanghai alone, including a roastery at the Bund (7 in mainland China and 4 in Hong Kong as of May 2019).
% arabica is a premium brand with latte price starting @ ¥35 (but in short size), @ ¥45 for a tall size (or a little bigger than tall.. cant’ tell exactly), @ ¥40 for tall ice latte.
S.Engine, from Shanghai
A trendy (网红) brand, 鹰集 is a little pricer than Starbucks, with its flagship store opened in January 2017 at Xintiandi, Shanghai.
While its office website only lists 3 locations right now, its has 6 places listed on Meituan in Shanghai. Growing very fast.
Pricing is in line with (or a little lower than) boutique coffee shops. Americano @ ¥28 and latte @ ¥36 (¥38 for ice latte). There is only one size (tall); a fair amount of cups are served in reusable cups.