862 days after leaving Luckin, Lu Zhengyao 'pretends' to return to the coffee world

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After leaving Luckin for 862 days, Lu Zhengyao returned to the entrepreneurial track with a "coffee flavor".

A few days ago, Lu Zhengyao’s new project, Kudi Coffee, opened its first store in Fuzhou, a second-tier city. In the current promotion stage, the entire drink is 9.9 yuan per cup, which is still the familiar “Luckin-style” market opening strategy.

Some relevant reports also point to the core of the event, "can we reproduce Ruixing", "can we subvert the coffee industry again", etc., but only need to carefully study the brand manual of Cudi Coffee, as well as sponsor teams and set up guest areas Waiting for the action, it can be seen that Lu Zhengyao is aiming at the increasingly popular store model of "day coffee night wine" .

The brand manual of Cudi Coffee has specified that it provides coffee, meals, snacks, alcohol, etc. in the morning, in the middle and in the evening, focusing on the concept of full-time dining. In addition, brand propositions such as "day coffee and night wine, the cup never leaves the hand" can also be seen.

At what stage has "day coffee and night wine" developed in China? Why was this pattern born?

At present, from coffee to wine and from wine to coffee are two different camps of "day coffee night wine" in China. Cudi coffee and Tim Hortons (founded in 1964), which also recently entered the game, belong to the former; while brands like Jumping Sea and LIEBEN are mainly based on bistro temperament, while taking into account coffee, belong to the latter. In addition, there are symbiotic joint ventures, such as "NOWWA coffee x THE BREWER addiction", there are two bosses in a store, baristas and bartenders come to work at different times.

The general manager of Hainan Awakening Moment, who entered the industry with hanging ear coffee and coffee beans and plans to deploy innovative experience stores next year, told "New Marketing": "Stores with a single operation format are the mainstream of the coffee industry, but there is a common problem. During the off-season, the business model of day coffee and night wine takes advantage of the night time to improve the operating efficiency of the store.”

From the appearance, Lu Zhengyao chose a beautiful new story sample. "Day coffee night wine" can ease the anxiety of single-format operation, and the consumption scene has also been extended. In addition, wine, coffee, and snacks have obvious sales linkages, especially the first two. With the increasing overlap of customer attributes, the possibility of mutual conversion and drainage is also high.

But there are more potential problems. The collision between the two operating modes of coffee and wine, the trial and error costs of new stores, and the breakpoints in the supply chain are all areas that need to be considered.

After experiencing financial fraud, Ruixing infighting and other incidents that have caused heated discussions on the Internet, Lu Zhengyao has been burdened with a certain amount of "criticism", but from a purely commercial perspective, he is still a keen eye and a certain creative idea. entrepreneur. The game of day, coffee and night wine is still in the exploratory period in China, and the top brand is still absent. Can Lu Zhengyao's entry into the game bring some changes? If he wants to become a head brand, what areas do he need to take supplementary lessons in?

"Luckin" is just a springboard

Whether it is market play or self-empowerment of project value, Kudi Coffee is currently re-enacting "Luckin".

In terms of attracting passengers and developing the market necessary, Cudi Coffee is currently 9.9 yuan per cup, and at the same time, it is crazy to send coupons, which reproduces the "low-price strategy" that Ruixing relies on to become famous. The applet is also launched simultaneously, becoming the hub and storage pool for online and offline traffic, which is exactly the same as Ruixing's signature gameplay.

In the project introduction, the word "Luckin" can be seen everywhere. For example, "the founder of Luckin" and "the original core team of Luckin Coffee", this is undoubtedly a soft empowerment of project value for Kudi Coffee, which emphasizes the franchise route.

But the connection with Ruixing may gradually fade after the market development period. In other words, there are many places where it is not like Ruixing.

For example, ulterior motives for the future to do "day coffee night wine", leaving enough room for brand awareness tossing and turning.

Cudi Coffee does not invite coffee masters like Andre Latuvada to stand for itself as Ruixing did when he first debuted. Because of this approach, it is easy to be labeled as a "coffee master" stereotyped, not suitable for multi-format and multi-scenario stores, and it is easy to cause consumer perception collision.

It puts the work of "quality telling" into a coffee bean story. Its emphasis is on the gold-winning coffee beans, the origin of the coffee, and a figurative description of the tasting experience. This approach of diluting the characters and focusing on the product will have more room for extension. For example, when the drink is on the shelf, a new story can be added directly under the coffee bean story.

At the same time, on the background page of the applet, you can see the news that Cudi Coffee has become the sponsor of the Argentine national football team. This can be regarded as a "clear card" action, hoping that the Qatar World Cup, which is more than 20 days away from the kickoff, will bring strong empowerment to the brand of Kudi Coffee, including the construction of the atmosphere of the tavern mode, and the support of the team. their perception.

In addition, in the next 20 days, or during the official World Cup competition, the Kudi Coffee “Night Wine” mode is expected to be launched at an accelerated pace, and branches will be stationed in more cities. After all, the World Cup is a hot event for universal coverage.

In addition, the location of the first store often also represents the focus of the market strategy. The first store of Kudi Coffee was opened in an office building, that is, IFC Fuzhou International Financial Center, which is completely different from many brands that also do "day coffee and night wine".

For example, in July this year, Shicui Coffee's first "day coffee night wine" store was launched. The site was Nostalgia Square, Zhibao Street, Guangzhou, next to the Cantonese Opera Museum, and after walking for a while, it was Yucui Lake and Wuxiu Lake. It has the temperament of a business district and a leisure park. Jumping into the sea from wine to coffee, and opening stores have always focused on business districts or bar streets.

This contrasting approach may serve two purposes. First, the office scene is more compatible with coffee, and the first store of Kudi Coffee is a mini-type (the guest area is very small), so Lu Zhengyao wants to gain popularity here, accumulate brand recognition, and then open the branch into the business district or bar Street, this is actually the same kind of strategy as the aforementioned "Luckin gameplay".

The second possibility is that Lu Zhengyao wants Kudi Coffee to become "day coffee and night wine in office buildings", and to segment the blank area in this market in advance to occupy a position. The consumption potential of coffee in the office scene has been verified by Ruixing; in terms of drinks, in the survey report “Youth Meet Friends with Drinks, Taverns Hundreds of Cities and Thousands of Stores” released by China Merchants Securities in September last year, for “newly hired employees” and The questionnaires of the two groups of "white-collar workers who have worked for several years" show that 48% of new employees and 52% of senior white-collar workers have experience in bar consumption.

Cudi Coffee is implanted in the pub format in the office building, which can meet the alcohol consumption needs of the office building population with a shorter consumption link and a more advanced brand exposure. This kind of "a cup anytime, anywhere" experience is likely to hit the white-collar crowd who are more pressed for time. However, in this way, some generalized consumers may also be sacrificed. In terms of entertainment content, lighting effects, etc., it is necessary to plan accordingly, otherwise it will be difficult to adapt to the overall commercial temperament of the office building.

In addition to the location selection not following the mainstream, Kudi Coffee has not been launched in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In inertial cognition, the “new category tolerance” of first-tier cities is better and more suitable for the development of “day coffee and night wine”, which is almost the consensus of industry players. For example, Tim Hortons, which entered the game on September 30, has its first store in Shanghai; on October 13, M Stand released an official announcement that it has opened five "day coffee night wine" in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Ningbo. store.

It can be seen that the recent entry of new and old brands into the "day coffee night wine" generally focuses on first-tier cities. In contrast, Lu Zhengyao, who has repeatedly fought in first-tier cities with brands such as Shenzhou Car Rental, Shenzhou UCAR, and Ruixing Coffee, chose to sink the market this time?

This may have the same "small abacus" as Vincup, the day, coffee and night wine brand founded in Xi'an in 2021. Zhao Kexin, founder of Vincup, once said: The lifestyle of day, coffee and night wine is very common in foreign countries, especially in European and American countries. Moreover, there is no strict age division, and it is suitable for all ages.

Therefore, Lu Zhengyao may be targeting consumers of all ages. In his opinion, the fast-paced people in first-tier cities have a "demand" attitude towards day coffee and night wine, with the meaning of self-rewarding and stress relief; while in Fuzhou and other cities with a medium pace of life, many people will Evening drinks are considered everyday. Lu Zhengyao may want to reinterpret day, coffee and night wine in front of this "everyday".

Looking at it this way, Lu Zhengyao's various "abnormal" moves seem logical.

In terms of the fact of outflow, he applied the "Luckin Halo" and "Luckin Method", and wanted to create considerable sales data for a certain amount of consumers in the market during the market development period, and then expand the business format, attract investment and join, etc. Pave the way; on the hidden level of fact, he did not squeeze into the first-tier cities in the early stage of his business, but chose to sink the market and cast a bigger net.

However, from the perspective of long-term survival, Lu Zhengyao still needs to remove several key "stumbling blocks".

When putting aside the positive imagination

If only making coffee, Lu Zhengyao's team naturally has a unique supply chain advantage, but when it extends to snacks, drinks and other categories in the future, there is likely to be a "fault" in this regard.

In fact, the failure of the supply chain has always permeated his entrepreneurial experience after leaving Ruixing.

Fun Little Noodles and Tongue Bite Hero, one is a chain noodle restaurant, and the other is a C-end-oriented "Quick Cooking" chain brand. As two catering projects, both are quite different from Lu Zhengyao's previous entrepreneurial experience.

Today, the number of Quxiaodian stores has dropped sharply, and there are only 8 in stock; the news of "franchise losses" has also been reported by the heroes. If you look for attribution at the supply chain end, it may be that Lu Zhengyao's team does not have enough relevant capabilities to accumulate. According to news reports, Qu Xiao Nian and Tongue Hero both rely on external procurement, and do not have their own production end, and even the design of dishes needs to rely on external sources.

This will undoubtedly reduce the sensitivity of product innovation, product supply, etc., and then lose certain advantages in market competition. Even if there is no competition, the weakness in the supply side and product design will create pressure and spread to more places. Such as profit margins, raw material storage costs, and supply timeliness.

Therefore, based on the above, Lu Zhengyao's team genes need to continue to be compatible with industrial chains such as catering, beverages, etc. Kudi Coffee still needs to do a lot of things at the level of cultivating "internal strength", and this can not be successfully completed by capital alone. .

Another "stumbling block" will be the cost of opening a store, or joining costs.

According to the brand manual of Cudi Coffee, there are currently two different store types, the standard store is 80 to 200 square meters, and the mini store is about 50 square meters. Obviously, in order to carry "day coffee and night wine", the guest area takes up a lot of space, and the Kudi store is much larger than Ruixing. At the same time, "day coffee night wine" needs more rich decoration, such as lighting. These all constitute greater trial and error costs.

In this way, can a new store achieve positive profits in an ideal time? The weight of this issue will become greater, and it is something that requires Lu Zhengyao to be extra patient and analyze it to the franchisees. This tests the maturity of the entire market and the influence of the brand itself, which is difficult to achieve overnight. At the same time, the current cold winter of the physical industry has not completely subsided, and it will be more likely to cause anxiety when opening a large-scale store.

Finally, the superposition of the two formats of coffee and wine may also cause "incompatibility" problems, which will also be a problem that players of "day coffee and night wine" need to pay attention to.

At the level of data research, the size of China's coffee market reached 381.7 billion yuan last year, and the number of consumers exceeded 300 million; in 2022, China's night economy is also expected to reach 36 trillion yuan. However, among these figures, there are old chain coffee brands such as Shangdao Coffee and Pacific Coffee, and Helens, which recorded a revenue of 1.836 billion yuan last year, but cannot find the established "day coffee night wine" brand.

Is adding coffee and wine as simple as you think?

The general manager of Hainan Awakening Moment told "New Marketing" : "It is difficult to do day coffee and night wine. Coffee and wine are completely different in terms of deeper category attributes and user needs, which especially tests the skill of operators. Many entrepreneurs can only focus on doing one thing well. If you want to enter the game, the key is whether to organically integrate the two to create a new competitiveness system, jump out of the thinking of a single format, and reuse Look at the business as a whole.”

"In more detail, we need teams with different capabilities to correspond to different business types. At the same time, we also need a coordinating team to complete the construction and operation work. Finally, we must take into account the attitude of consumer terminals, and consumers only look at the results. If the product experience is high enough, they will pay for it repeatedly, not just based on new concepts. In the early days of Rikayejiu, there will be some people who come to explore the store, but whether it can survive for a long time depends on the product and service level.”

However, this track is still under development after all, the concentration is very low, there is no leading brand, and the entrants are still exploring. In addition, the attitude of consumers to review the day, coffee and night wine is not very strict at present, and most of them are still in the early adopter period. Therefore, Lu Zhengyao's Kudi coffee still has enough time to make up for the "loopholes".