Starbucks' opening of more selected stores is not as simple as letting people take pictures.

For professional baristas, please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

Barista Michael, dressed in a black apron marked "advanced", is busy standing behind the open bar of the ITC store. He also wears four yellow and two silver medals on his chest, corresponding to several coffee brewing skills, including siphon, hand brewing, black hawk, latte art, etc. Three popular coffee beans of the season are on display at the bar: Rwanda's Musasha has a Wumei flavor, Kenya's Kangunu has a sour taste, and Ecuador's Picincha has a nutmeg and floral flavor.

Everything means a greater variety of options, provided that you are a true coffee lover or are willing to pay more for fresh taste. While living in the international trade circle with high white-collar workers and good spending power, Michael has more opportunities to come into contact with such customers.

Choosing the beans and the way they are cooked, Michael will further ask and confirm your preferences (such as "sour or mellow") to adjust the water temperature and flow rate-two key factors that affect the taste of the coffee during brewing.

Starbucks is "upgrading". In December, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced his resignation, causing a share price shock-investors' anxiety about Starbucks' slowing growth seems to have doubled again. The good news, however, is that the soul who created the Starbucks legend did not really retire, but set out to promote Starbucks's high-end business as chairman of the board.

Today, the business is accelerating its landing in China. It includes not only a black gold shop with a five-star R logo, but also a huge project with a total floor area of 2700 square meters-the first overseas "Roastery & Tasting Room" will be unveiled in Shanghai at the end of the year.

Since the opening of seven stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in October 2014, the number of Reserve stores in China has exceeded 90. This past June, two Starbucks Zhenxuan stores in Hangzhou National University and Harbin Huili Square opened one after another: the National University store was renovated from the first Starbucks store in Hangzhou, which opened in 2001, with the design concept of a big ship sailing on the Qiantang River; Huili Plaza store is the first Starbucks store introduced in Harbin, incorporating the local elements of ice sculpture and primeval forest.

Hangzhou National University is also a Zhenxuan coffee shop.

Maybe you've stumbled into some Starbucks stores, but you haven't noticed what's special about it. After all, Starbucks has always adhered to the seemingly maverick idea that brands are built on the store experience itself, not on advertising.

In 2014, Starbucks purchased about 400 million pounds of coffee worldwide. Among the thousands of kinds of coffee, there are occasional special varieties. "it could be a small specialty of a small piece of land, an award-winning coffee from a famous farm, or a variety that combines favorable factors such as weather, soil and timing. It is these coffee beans that Starbucks has brought. " Starbucks China told 36 krypton.

Starbucks has long played a role in promoting and inheriting coffee culture in China, and now it plans to go further. Unlike the traditional bar in regular stores, Zhenxuan Cafe usually has an exclusive development bar where customers can sit on the bench and wait like tasting Japanese food. In addition to holding timers and following the standard process of brewing coffee, Michael's job includes communicating with customers about utensils, cooking methods and background information on the beans of the season.

"sometimes when a regular guest comes, you can say hello and know what he wants to drink." Michael said. Some experienced coffee lovers even bring their own baked beans to share with baristas.

It seems that Zhenxuan Coffee can help Starbucks strike a new balance between its highly standardized products and the "consumer experience" it advocates. Zhenxuan coffee shops, which are generally larger and have more seats, are also encouraging people to sit down and taste a cup of coffee.

This is somewhat reminiscent of Starbucks' early days, when Schultz created a "third space" as a driving force for brand development-unlike homes and companies, the third space is a buffer zone in life, and the coffee shop is one of the most typical third spaces.

Guomao Zhenxuan store

A background that cannot be ignored in Starbucks' upgrade is the urgent need to create profit growth through new business after two consecutive quarters of same-store sales that failed to meet Wall Street expectations.

Starbucks has been ploughing the Chinese market for 18 years and is becoming its most important growth engine. Starbucks 2017Q2 reported 36% profit growth in China / Asia Pacific, far outpacing the Americas and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) markets. Schultz also said: "in the future, Starbucks China is likely to overtake the United States to become Starbucks' largest market in the world."

From CNBC

From Starbucks earnings report

There are many signs that Starbucks is adding to the Chinese market. One of the important missions of Wang Jingying, who was promoted to CEO of Chinese mainland China last year, is to increase the number of Starbucks stores operated by Starbucks to 5000 by 2021. Such a large number of stores means that the strategy of sinking to second-and third-tier cities will continue. In parallel with it is the promotion of high-end business.

Predictably, the expansion rate of Zhenxuan coffee store will not be higher than that of regular stores. Overseas, for example, New York and London, the boutique coffee market is already very crowded, what Starbucks needs to do is to speed up the pace. But right now in China, people's understanding of boutique coffee is much shallower. "whether there is a relatively mature coffee consumption culture and demand will be one of the important considerations for Starbucks." Starbucks China said to 36 krypton.

If you regard regular stores as 1.0 and Zhenxuan coffee stores as version 2.0, emphasize the "full sensory experience" and restore the entire production chain from a raw bean to a cup of coffee in front of you is version 3.0. Following the opening of the first one in the birthplace of Seattle in December 2014, bakeries in Shanghai, Tokyo, Milan and Chicago will open within three years.

Zhenxuan Coffee Roaster in Seattle

According to Schultz, sales at the Seattle bakery have increased 24% year-on-year in the past two years, four times that of the average Starbucks store. He describes the brand-new store as "a magic carpet of coffee, drama and romance" and plans to develop an independent brand that he calls "the future of the company".

An unavoidable reality is that this brand, which used to symbolize the high-end business style, is facing the crisis of aging. According to data from Talkingdata, Starbucks' loyal fans in China are mainly concentrated in third-tier cities and below, accounting for 42.4 percent, while people in first-and second-tier cities account for only 28 percent and 29.5 percent. Emerging boutique coffee brands and new tea drinks are waiting for an opportunity to grab Starbucks' crowd, and their goal is to become "the next Starbucks".

The magic of choosing stores and bakeries may really make Starbucks age a little slower.