Li Ning Officially Enters the Coffee Business! Ning Coffee Opens 7,000 Stores at Once?!

From Sportswear to Coffee: Li-Ning Enters the Beverage Market

Following China Post, Goubuli, Tongrentang, and PetroChina — brands that seemingly have nothing to do with coffee — another unexpected name has joined the industry! Li-Ning Sports (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recently applied to register the "NING COFFEE" trademark, and the news went viral. Li-Ning then confirmed the move openly: it will offer coffee service in its stores to make shopping more comfortable and enjoyable.

That's right — coffee areas inside Li-Ning's own stores. Per Li-Ning's 2021 report, the company had 7,137 stores nationwide by the end of 2021. If the coffee service rolls out across them, NING COFFEE would instantly have 7,000+ locations — potentially overtaking Luckin Coffee as the country's largest coffee brand by store count if expansion moves fast.

Impossible? Never say never. The pandemic years brought a wave of brands crossing over into coffee, and for those with large physical footprints, the barrier is low: just add a coffee corner to stores you already operate.

Strategic Advantages

Compared with renting dedicated café space, running NING COFFEE inside existing Li-Ning stores has clear benefits. With proper training, regular staff can serve coffee — no specialized baristas needed — cutting labor and rent costs dramatically versus most coffee brands, which allows lower prices. And the novelty of an unrelated brand entering coffee sparks consumer curiosity all by itself.

Li-Ning's Long History with Coffee

Even before the trademark filing, Li-Ning had been laying groundwork. As early as 2013, Li-Ning was "selling coffee" — not as a drink, but as sportswear made from coffee grounds. Using special processes, the company ground and calcined coffee grounds into fibers woven into new materials: clothing that was eco-friendly, antibacterial, odor-resistant, and insulating. In August 2020, Li-Ning partnered with AHS Recycle's LOVERE & COSTA to launch limited-edition eco T-shirts, also made from coffee grounds.

Last November, at a Li-Ning brand event, customers received free freshly ground coffee in Li-Ning-branded cups with any purchase. This February, a newly opened Guangdong store got a coffee cart branded "Li-Ning LOGO X CAFE," complete with a logo-covered coffee machine, camping chairs, and camping storage boxes as tables — free freshly ground coffee for any customer who bought something, served with an outdoor-camping vibe.

After two months of warm-up, Li-Ning officially registered the "NING COFFEE" logo on April 15th this year. Still awaiting substantive examination, the company eagerly opened its first location anyway.

On April 30th, the first NING COFFEE opened inside a Li-Ning flagship store in Xiamen, Fujian, with the news announced on the company's official Weibo. Netizens rallied behind the "national trend" brand — some said that as long as the taste wasn't bad and prices were reasonable, they'd support it long-term.

Challenges and Opportunities

Like China Post's postal cafés before it, NING COFFEE faces skepticism — largely because the brand isn't a coffee specialist. Next to established domestic coffee brands, it looks unremarkable, and winning consumer acceptance will take time.

But if NING COFFEE does achieve full coverage, its influence shouldn't be underestimated. Li-Ning stores span the country, from major cities to small counties — a footprint advantage no existing domestic coffee brand can match. It may feel distant now, but in this era, you never know who your next competitor will be.

Strategic Positioning

Li-Ning doesn't need to make great coffee — just coffee that satisfies average tastes at acceptable prices. Coffee is a side business; the real goal is using it to draw young people's attention to the sports brand while leveraging the vast store network for diversified operations. From apparel to coffee, Li-Ning wants to turn a sports brand into a lifestyle brand.

The Takeaway

For cross-industry brands, coffee is a harmless side bet: success opens new territory, failure costs little. Li-Ning itself says the coffee service is about optimizing in-store comfort and experience — proof it isn't truly targeting the coffee industry.

Rather than worrying whether cross-industry brands will take a slice of the coffee pie, it's worth watching how the market's current players survive this brand competition. That's the question that deserves everyone's attention.

Image sources: Xiaohongshu, Weibo, Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

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If NING COFFEE's arrival inspires you to brew at home instead, the FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a reliable daily driver — cream, peanut, and cocoa, balanced and forgiving, whether you use a pour-over, a moka pot, or an espresso machine.