"use the Internet to play" to make boutique coffee GREYBOX goal is the first in the world?

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GREYBOX to be the first boutique coffee in the world will open 30-50 stores in China.

GREYBOX, who makes boutique coffee on the Internet, says he is now the number one boutique coffee in China, and he wants to be the first boutique coffee in the world within 5-10 years.

You may have seen this cafe in shopping malls in Shanghai, Beijing or Chengdu and Shenzhen: grey logo, with predominantly gray, white and log colors. The GREYBOX cafe now has 16 stores in seven first-and second-tier cities across the country, all located in high-end shopping malls or office buildings such as Kerry Center and IFC.

Last December, GREYBOX received 100m yuan from Junzi Capital, which used to invest mainly in technology and real estate.

GREYBOX and roseonly, an Internet high-end flower gift brand with a "give one person in a lifetime" gimmick, both belong to Nuo oath Group and are founded by Pu Yi.

Like roseonly, GREYBOX also uses star marketing: Zhou Dongyu and Ouyang Nana have posted photos of drinking coffee. It also continues to use the tonality of roseonly, which claims to make coffee into a high-end product: they use beans with SCA (boutique Coffee Association) 80 points or more, including a latte with imported milk by air from Australia. GREYBOX costs more than three times more than regular coffee and costs 30 per cent more.

GREYBOX price list photo shoot / Dong Zhifei

Pu Yi, who is known as a deep coffee lover, understands coffee and the market as "for me, there are only two kinds of coffee: good or bad. There are only two kinds of people who like coffee and don't like it. "

When talking about the difference with Luckin Coffee and Starbucks, Pu Yi said: "they are positioned as red rice or honorable users, and then Starbucks is positioned as Xiaomi Huawei, we are Apple, this is the positioning of the three worlds."

Pu Yi is reluctant to compare GREYBOX with brands such as Seesaw or quality restaurant coffee, which also call themselves boutique coffee. He believes that these coffee shops are regional, while GREYBOX is the national boutique coffee. He says GREYBOX uses better raw materials than these competing brands.

"generally speaking, after GREYBOX entered the industry, the whole of China's boutique coffee flew over last year. For example, the level of boutique coffee in China may be similar to or lower than that in the United States, but it surpassed South Korea and Japan last year because everyone used better milk and better beans. It's all gone up. "

But he is happy to compare GREYBOX to US boutique coffee brand Blue Bottle, which was recently held by Nestl é at a valuation of $700m. Pu Yi said: "at present, the number and financing scale of our store are the second in the world except Blue Bottle and the first in Asia. So far, no one has made boutiques as fast as ours, which is not easy, and many of our stores are beginning to make a profit. All the physical stores we have opened in May have already made positive EBITA (profit before tax, interest and amortization)! "

But there is a boutique coffee in the United States called intellectual (Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea) has opened 17 stores. In the domestic market, Seesaw now has 16 stores after investing 45 million yuan in Hony Capital last year.

Pu Yi feels that GREYBOX, as the second brand of the group, is developing smoothly without any difficulties. He believes that this is because the development of roseonly has paved the way for GREYBOX, and he does not have to talk about moving in from house to house. In the interview, he mentioned roseonly's "resources" many times: "it (roseonly) now has about 40-50, covering the best shopping malls in China, providing us with channels and management experience." In addition, off-site management of stores, personnel recruitment training have been experienced. Pu Yi says he only cares about products now.

Speaking of future plans, GREYBOX is expected to open 30 Murray 50 stores across the country, basically still in the existing 7-8 cities, there will not be much regional expansion. Efforts will be made mainly in Shanghai and Beijing this year. In the near future, GREYBOX will expand into overseas markets, and its first stop may be Hong Kong.

Although the battle situation of domestic cafes is not clear, Pu Yi is quite confident in the international market: "I think the first batch of instant coffee comes from Europe, (this is) the origin of culture; the second wave of commercial coffee like KFC McDonald's. Including Starbucks or coffee from North America is no problem, their economy is relatively strong, and their culture is also being exported. The third wave of boutique coffee must come from Asia, because richer Asia has a higher demand for life. "

(source: curiosity Daily Dong Zhifei)

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