Look like a god, not like Korean coffee or repeat the same mistake of table coffee.

On the streets of Beijing and Shanghai, there are some Korean cafes with large floor-to-ceiling windows, pastoral and forest decoration, multi-woody and retro objects, coffee mainly selling fancy sweet drinks, and Korean cafes with dessert foods such as waffle. In the last two or three years, Korean coffee has been distributed in the Chinese market and has shown a trend of rapid development.

   "with its focus on coffee quality, personalized decoration, richer products, and unique development model, Korean coffee has been very popular in China in the past two years, especially among some young women." Wang Zhendong, president of the coffee industry association of the Shanghai Food Association, who has done in-depth research on Korean coffee, told China Business Daily.

  , however, what worries Wang Zhendong is that the development of this Korean coffee in China depends more on some fashion trends, including the "fan economy" driven by film and television culture, and the more difficult ways to control and expand, more like the upgraded version of once popular desktop coffee such as Shangdao Coffee in the mainland, which is likely to become dull with the passing of the trend because it does not absorb the essence of Korean coffee.

break in in full fury

   at present, the more common Korean coffee brands in the Chinese market are Coffee with you (caffebene), diffuse Coffee, Zoo Coffee (ZooCoffee), Holly Coffee, Road Coffee and so on. Among them, coffee accompanies you on the largest scale.

   Coffee Co., Ltd. is the largest coffee chain in South Korea. Although it has not been established for a long time, it has more than 900 stores in South Korea since its establishment in 2008. Coffee accompanies you in addition to coffee, but also manages a variety of high-end tea, lattes, fruit juices, waffles, bread and other goods, there are more than 1200 chain stores in the world, distributed in South Korea, the United States, the Philippines, Cambodia and other countries. In March 2012, caffebene entered the Chinese market and quickly blossomed in first-and second-tier cities.

   Zoo Coffee was founded in South Korea in 2009 and has more than 100 stores in just two years as of 2011, making it one of the hottest chain cafes in South Korea. The founder of Man Coffee is a Korean who started a business in Beijing, named Xin Zixiang. The headquarters of Man Coffee is in Beijing. The first store, Beijing Lido, opened in January 2011. By the end of 2013, more than 60 stores have been opened in more than two years. Hollis Coffee, founded in 1998, is the first branded coffee chain in Korea and now has the same number of stores as Starbucks in South Korea. At present, it is one of the four major coffee brands in South Korea, with branches in China, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries. In March 2013, the first Hollis Coffee store in China opened in Chegong Temple, Shenzhen.

   can see that the development of Korean coffee in China has several common characteristics. Compared with Starbucks and other European and American coffee with a history of decades, Korean coffee brands are very young and have been in China for a short time, but they are expanding very fast, like a wave of Korean waves.

   in fact, their development is also very similar to Korean pop culture. Korean coffee brands are mainly for young women in their twenties and thirties. As a social place for girlfriends to talk and young people to date, the price of each cup of coffee is about 30 yuan, which is moderate in the industry.

At the same time, Korean Coffee has also brought the star strategy that has been successful in Korea to China. Jin Shanqi, president of coffee company, once said that coffee company will be endorsed by idols and stars, and there has never been a coffee shop before. In fact, making use of the influence of the Korean entertainment industry in China is one of the keys to the success of Korean coffee. For example, coffee accompanies you with a huge portrait of Zhang Genshuo at your door, and a large number of popular South Korean TV dramas are implanted with brands, prompting a large number of South Korean TV fans to come to coffee to accompany you in order to feel the atmosphere and atmosphere of South Korean TV dramas.

   in addition to the Korean film and television entertainment culture trend, Korean coffee also has the following characteristics. In the decoration, Korean coffee is more personalized, likes to use the log color that young Asian women like, and the decoration style is partial to the garden style. Due to the mature development of Korean coffee, Korean coffee will also pay more attention to the quality of coffee and the role of baristas. It is also richer in the variety of goods and caters to the needs of young women. If coffee accompanies you to find that women are not so receptive to caffeine products, they have created a special latte series.

   repeats the same mistake of tabletop coffee?

With the popularity of Korean coffee,    's "bellwether" coffee accompanies you to expand at a high speed in China. It opened a total of 132 stores in China last year, increasing the number of coffee outlets in China from 13 in 2012 to 145 in just one year.

   Coffee told China Business Daily that it now has more than 400 stores in China and is expected to reach 750,800 by the end of the year. By 2015, Coffee will accompany you to achieve the goal of opening 1000 stores in China.

   Kim Shanqi said that in the Chinese market, their goal is to challenge Starbucks as they did in South Korea. In Korea, the number of coffee stores with you has exceeded that of Starbucks.

Although    Korean coffee expands rapidly, there are many hidden worries behind it. More importantly, Korean coffee entering China has not passed down the essence of Korean coffee.

   Wang Zhendong told reporters that South Korean coffee is very mature, the pursuit of coffee quality is also very high. After a long visit to local cafes in South Korea, Wang Zhendong found that due to the combination of European and American coffee technology and Japan's persistent pursuit of quality, the quality of Korean coffee is better and unique. After entering China, some brands are also trying to maintain this characteristic of Korean coffee as much as possible, such as using semi-automatic coffee machines, or even trying to roast coffee beans on the spot, so that coffee beans will be more fresh. However, with the expansion of stores, these features gradually disappear, and some Korean coffee brands are no longer willing to take the time and effort to train baristas, instead using fully automatic coffee machines. coffee beans are also shipped to China after unified baking in South Korea or cooked beans from local Chinese suppliers. This is not bad, but it will discard the core characteristics of Korean coffee and start a development model similar to that of Starbucks, resulting in homogeneous competition. Korean coffee can challenge Starbucks locally because of the core of Korean coffee. If the development model is similar to Starbucks, it is difficult to compete with Starbucks.

   is not only that, but there are also big problems with the expansion model of Korean coffee in China. At present, Korean coffee is mainly joined, and food and beverage alliance has high requirements for brand risk control.

   in fact, in Wang Zhendong's view, many Korean coffee managers are not professional in management or coffee, so the level of management and control is not high. In addition, franchisees have to bear high rental costs, and decoration and operating costs are also on the high side. It can be said that at present, it is mainly brands that make money by charging franchise fees, and it is very difficult for franchisees to make money.

   takes coffee with you as an example, and the person in charge of coffee with you told reporters that the expansion model of coffee with you is the mode of franchise entrusted to start a business. Industry insiders pointed out that this model is simply to join, coffee accompany you not only charge higher than the market average franchise fees, but also monopolized franchise store decoration, food supply, and these fees are also higher than the market average. In addition, in the management of joining stores, especially the standardized process management, the management level of coffee with you is relatively low.

   according to other media reports, the monthly rent of the only direct store in Wuhan Garden Road with you for coffee is as high as 70,000 yuan, the daily operating cost is 6000 yuan, and the daily turnover is only about 4000 yuan in the later period, except at the initial stage of opening. The franchisees and companies who join the stores distribute the income according to 49% and 51% of the investment. The initial investment of the Optical Valley World City branch is 1.2 million yuan, but when the daily turnover is the lowest, it is only 200 yuan.

   Wang Zhendong said that Korean coffee is still in its early stages of development in China, and it has made great efforts to develop brands with the help of domestic consumer trends, which is very similar to the desktop coffee shops of more than a decade ago, such as Shangdao Coffee. Ten years ago, when Taiwan's culture was more popular, desktop coffee quickly became popular by finding some good places to open flagship stores and then attracting investment in second-and third-tier cities.

   and today's Korean coffee expansion model is the same as table coffee, more like an upgraded version of table coffee. With the entry of Starbucks and other European and American coffee, table coffee began to look less fashionable, even a little old-fashioned in the eyes of some people, and a large number of young consumers turned to Starbucks and other European and American cafes.

Over time, will    's Korean coffee, which relies on joining and based on pop culture, gradually fall silent like popular movies and TV works?