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

Cotti Coffee's Rapid Expansion

Recent data from Tianyancha 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 is not difficult to see Cotti Coffee (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.'s ambition to expand nationwide.

Company screenshot

Strategic Partnerships and Marketing

Earlier, on October 22nd, Lu Zhengyao and Qian Zhiya jointly announced on WeChat Moments that Cotti Coffee had opened its first store in Fuzhou. The accompanying text read enthusiastically: "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-verified Weibo account "COTTICOFFEE" posted its first message: "COTTI COFFEE officially becomes the China regional sponsor of the Argentine national football team." Cotti Coffee's high-profile brand promotion is very much in the Lu Zhengyao style, mirroring the expansion model of Luckin Coffee in its early days.

The news of Lu Zhengyao partnering with former colleagues to start another venture quickly spread through the coffee market. As ambitious as when he founded the "Shenzhou" series of companies, Cotti Coffee set a grand goal of 10,000 stores within 3 years from the very start. Its marketing approach is 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 lists the keywords "coffee," "baking," "light meals," and "bar."

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

On the mini-program, many new products have been added. There are currently nearly 60 products across categories including coffee, oatmeal, tea drinks, iced brew smoothies, and sundae series. At the same time, they have launched versions of Luckin Coffee's 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 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 were about to open. They also posted that they planned to open 20 new stores from November to December 2022 and welcomed recommendations for store locations across 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, it has a registered capital of 20 million US dollars, legal representative Ye Leilei, and a business scope including technical services, technology development, technical consulting, Internet of Things technology services, and 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

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Behind every expansion plan is a simple question for the drinker: what goes in the cup? National chains move fast, but the beans still decide the flavor, and FrontStreet Coffee's specialty range covers the origins that matter most. Ethiopia, coffee's birthplace, is represented by the natural Huakui from Sidamo — berry, floral, jackfruit, melon, and honey in a ripe, tropical profile — and by the washed Guodingding Cooperative, a Yirgacheffe lot with jasmine florals, lemon acidity, and berry notes.

If your taste runs to a fuller, low-acid cup, Indonesia is the place to look. The Lintong Mandheling is wet-hulled for a dense, mellow body with herbal and spice aromas, ideal for drinkers who dislike acidity, while the PWN Golden Mandheling undergoes three rounds of manual selection plus one machine pass, lowering the defect rate to a minimum for a cleaner, smoother cup with clearer woody and caramel notes.

For a softer everyday option, Colombia's Huila region grows at elevations above 1500 meters amid surrounding mountains, producing coffees that lean toward gentle florals and soft fruit acidity; FrontStreet Coffee recommends the Colombia Papayo and the Colombia Big Navel from there. And for anyone who wants to see why Gesha became famous, the Panama Boquete Gesha is an entry-level washed lot that delivers the variety's tangerine-honey charm, oolong-tea body, and delicate fruit acidity at an accessible price.