Blue bottle coffee acquired by Nestl é will open its first store in South Korea next year. The next stop is China?

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

Shortly after Blue bottle CEO said "considering opening stores in Korea and China", there was news that the boutique coffee brand would open a store in South Korea in March next year. So, is this "coffee industry Apple" coming to China soon?

Snack generation noted that recently, foreign media quoted industry sources as saying that South Korea's first blue bottle coffee shop will open in March next year. The store is likely to be located in Sanqingdong, one of the most popular tourist attractions north of Seoul, where there are traditional Korean houses, art galleries, shops and restaurants, known as Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, South Korea.

Former executive director of Nestl é serves as head of Blue bottle Korea.

In September, Nestl é, the world's largest food and beverage company, became the largest shareholder in blue bottle coffee (Blue Bottle Coffee) for no more than $500m (RMB 3.27 billion), with a 68 per cent stake. Blue bottle coffee in just over 50 stores is valued at as much as $700m (4.58 billion yuan).

Blue bottle coffee shop

The blockbuster deal has attracted the attention of coffee practitioners and enthusiasts around the world-a niche boutique coffee chain known as the "Apple of the coffee industry" and a company with the largest instant coffee brand in the world.

Earlier this month, South Korean media reported that Blue bottle Coffee set up a subsidiary in South Korea, Blue Bottle Korea, and appointed Hong Jung-pyo, a former executive director of Nestl é South Korea, as general manager shortly after it was acquired by Nestl é. After Nestl é's business in Korea was split into Nestl é Korea and Rakuten Nestl é, a joint venture between Rakuten Group and Nestle, Hong served as the sales director of Nestl é Korea and is known for its outstanding sales and marketing capabilities.

The LOGO of a blue bottle of coffee is the simple outline of a blue bottle.

Foreign media reported that although Nestl é South Korea kept silent on the location and specific opening date of the store, a number of South Korean employees of Nestl é are expected to move to work in the Blue bottle Coffee store. According to sources, the coffee shop is also recruiting more staff.

The next step is to open a store in China?

This boutique coffee brand, which is regarded by the industry as the "Starbucks Challenger", may come to China soon.

Snack Dai noticed that Brian Bryan Meehan, chief executive of Blue bottle Coffee, announced the opening of a store in South Korea for the first time when he visited South Korea last month. At the time, Meehan said he was carefully considering opening stores here and other Asian regions, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Bryan Meehan, CEO of Blue bottle Coffee

"We are making contact here." "I really want to come to South Korea, and I have taken into account the support that the Korean market has given to Blue bottle," he said at the World Coffee leaders Forum in Seoul last month. " Meehan also stressed that the company's headquarters will directly manage Blue bottle's stores in South Korea, just as in other countries.

Blue bottle Coffee is located in a store in Tokyo.

Blue bottle, known as "the apple of the coffee industry", is regarded as one of the representatives of the high-end coffee market. In the world of independent cafes, this boutique coffee, founded in the early 2000s, has won "fan worship". It provides coffee enthusiasts with freshly roasted coffee beans, and coffee beans come from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ethiopia and other parts of the world.

Snack Dai reported in September that Blue bottle Coffee, headquartered in Oakland, California, opened more than 40 stores in only four metropolises in the United States, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, and only about six overseas in Tokyo-founder James Freeman is interested in Japan.

James Freeman, founder of Blue bottle Coffee, who loves Japanese culture.

South Korean media said that many coffee lovers in South Korea have to go to Japan to drink blue bottles of coffee, so they hope that the company will open a shop here as soon as possible. Now it seems that they will get what they want next year.

The "third Coffee Wave" contest

In the Chinese market, it has just opened the world's largest Starbucks store.

On December 6, Starbucks Zhenxuan Shanghai Bakery officially opened to the public. The store, located in the business circle of Nanjing West Road, the busiest in Shanghai, is Starbucks' second successful roaster in the world three years after its completion in Seattle, with an area of an astonishing 2700 square meters. it is by far the largest store in the world.

Starbucks selected Shanghai Bakery, which is by far its largest store in the world.

Howard Schultz, executive chairman of Starbucks board, said at a media event the day before the opening that he hoped to give Chinese consumers a "coffee fantasy park experience", like a magic carpet trip. Judging from the grand queues at the beginning of the opening, the high-end retail strategy of the world's largest coffee chain focusing on fantasy experience has clearly made many Chinese consumers willing to pay the bill.

Starbucks Shanghai Bakery has also made a lot of efforts in coffee drinks. For example, during a visit the day before opening, the snack generation learned that it offers customers selected coffee beans from more than 30 countries around the world, as well as seven different coffee brewing methods-MODBAR precision self-controlled brewing, elegant hand brewing, legal pressure, siphon, cold extraction, concentrated and unique CLOVER brewing (vacuum filter brewing).

Starbucks Shanghai Roasters offers consumers seven different ways of making coffee.

In addition to coffee, the store also has a tea bar, a variety of hot and cold drinks, gas-induced tea, and a "steampunk brewing system that combines a sense of technology and drama." At the same time, more than 10 wines are offered for the first time, including carefully selected niche wines and craft beer extracted from Starbucks coffee beans.

By comparison, Blue bottle Coffee is probably not very popular and has a large number of fans in China.

The diversity of the origin of coffee beans is one of the characteristics of Blue bottle, but Starbucks' bakery is probably no less than that-snack Dai learned during a visit to the store that on the wall with many cards spelled "SHANGHAI", each card represents a Starbucks selection coffee, with a total of 1580 cards.

Each card represents a Starbucks selection coffee.

However, as an independent boutique coffee brand in the forerunner of the "third Coffee Wave", the quality of blue bottle coffee that attracts hardcore coffee lovers is still worth looking forward to. Matthew Barry, a beverage analyst at Euromonitor International, had previously thought that Starbucks' dominance of coffee would change with Nestle's blessing.