14 Stores in Half a Month! Lu Zhengyao's Lightning Launch of Cotti Coffee Challenges Luckin?!

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Cotti Coffee's Rapid Expansion

Recently, Tianyancha data shows that within half a month since October 17th, Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. has established 13 new branches with "Cotti Coffee" in their names, spanning nine regional central cities including Fuzhou, Wuhan, Shenyang, Chongqing, Xi'an, and Nanjing.

Among them, both Beijing Cotti and Tianjin Cotti have Qian Zhiya as their legal representative, executive director, and manager, and share the same sole shareholder - Cotti Coffee Limited. From this layout, it's not difficult to see Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.'s ambition to expand its business nationwide.

Company screenshot

Strategic Partnerships and Marketing

Previously, on October 22nd, Lu Zhengyao and Qian Zhiya jointly announced on their WeChat Moments that Cotti Coffee opened its first store in Fuzhou. The accompanying text passionately read: "The Coffee Dreamer team embarks on a new journey! The assembly call has sounded!" At the same time, they announced with photos that they had become the China regional sponsor of the Argentine national football team.

On November 1st, the blue-V verified Weibo account "COTTICOFFEE Cotti Coffee" posted its first message: "COTTI COFFEE Cotti Coffee officially becomes the China regional sponsor of the Argentine national football team." Cotti Coffee's high-profile brand promotion is very "Lu Zhengyao-esque" and mirrors the expansion model of Luckin Coffee back in the day.

The news of Lu Zhengyao partnering with his former colleagues to start another venture quickly spread in the coffee market. Just as ambitious as when he founded the "Shenzhou series" of companies, Cotti Coffee set a grand goal of 10,000 stores within 3 years right from the start. Cotti Coffee's marketing approach seems to be the familiar formula with the familiar flavor.

Brand Concept and Product Offerings

According to Cotti Coffee's official website, "The 'Cotti' brand name originates from the Italian specialty coffee accompaniment Biscotti, so Cotti Coffee was destined from the beginning to be not just 'another' coffee shop, but to represent a pan-coffee lifestyle..." Below this introduction, the website also lists the keywords: "coffee," "baking," "light meals," and "bar."

However, as of now, the all-day, multi-functional service content has not yet been fully realized. On the Cotti Coffee mini-program, food, snacks, and alcoholic beverages have not yet been launched, and the mini-program only allows ordering in major cities such as Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shenyang.

On the mini-program, many new products have been added. Currently, there are nearly 60 products available, including various categories such as coffee, oatmeal, tea drinks, iced brew smoothies, and sundae series. At the same time, they have also launched Luckin Coffee's current most popular items: raw coconut latte, raw coconut Dirty, and other internet-famous products.

Store Layout and Expansion Plans

In terms of store layout, Cotti Coffee plans to primarily promote two types of offline stores: one is the standard store, which can accommodate coffee, meals, and bar services, with an area between 80-200 square meters; the other is the mini store, supporting coffee supply and in-store pickup, with an area under 50 square meters.

Accounts claiming to be Cotti Coffee's local stores introduced on social media that Cotti Coffee stores in Xiamen, Chengdu, and Xi'an are about to open. They also posted that they plan to open 20 new stores from November to December 2022, and welcome recommendations for store locations (in four districts and nine counties), with those selected receiving 365 cups of coffee for a year.

It is understood that Cotti Coffee also wholly owns a company called "Riweijian Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.", established in August 2022, with a registered capital of 20 million US dollars, legal representative Ye Leilei, and business scope including technical services, technology development, technical consulting, Internet of Things technology services, information technology consulting services...

In today's environment where even sports brands are entering the coffee business, can Cotti Coffee use Luckin's "magic" to defeat Luckin? Let's wait and see!

Image source: Internet

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