The pace of Blue bottle Coffee entering China is speeding up. Chinese stores of Blue bottle Coffee are not far away!

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Recently, there are online media rumors that the "Apple of the coffee industry" blue bottle coffee (Blue Bottle Coffee), which was acquired by Nestl é last year, is about to enter China, and "as soon as this year."

In the face of the booming Chinese coffee chain market, snack Dai has previously introduced that GE Wen, senior vice president of Nestl é Greater China coffee business, quipped earlier, "if I were an executive of Blue bottle, I think I would definitely enter the Chinese market."

Blue bottle coffee shop

Snack Dai today found that Blue bottle Coffee registered its trademark as early as 2013, and the latest trademark application was in September 2017, when Nestl é announced the purchase of Blue bottle Coffee.

There are signs that the pace of blue bottle coffee entering China is accelerating.

Trademark registration

Blue bottle Coffee was recognized by Chinese consumers when Nestl é bought it for no more than $500m last year, but the brand is well known in the United States. It is positioned as a boutique coffee chain and was founded in 2002. The founder James Freeman insists that "selling coffee can only be coffee beans within 48 hours of baking, it can only be the best quality and most fascinating coffee beans."

Although they have not yet come to China, the lovely thing is that Chinese fans with blue bottles of coffee can't wait to create a topic called "Blue Bottle Coffee entry China reminder" on social networks as early as October 2016. Although it has only posted three articles, it has attracted more than 7000 followers.

Even, someone in China has specially translated a book to introduce the "craftsmanship" of this coffee chain, which is not found in China at all. It can be seen that this archrival of Starbucks is full of topic.

The blue bottle coffee, which started in Auckland in the United States, has quietly taken a fancy to the Chinese market as early as five years ago. When the snack agent inquired about trademark registration today, he found that Blue bottle Coffee had applied for various trademarks at different times from 2013 to 2017, with a total of 26 trademarks, some of which were "awaiting substantive review" and some had been registered.

Two trademarks, roasted coffee beans and cafe service / coffee shop, were registered as early as July 27, 2013, and the patent term is June 25, 2023. In other words, the earliest registered trademark is only five years from the expiration date of the patent right.

When snack Dai looked closely at the 26 trademarks, he found that they revealed the categories of blue bottle coffee ready to enter China, including DANDY ESPRESSO, PERFECTLY GROUND, HAYES VALLEY ESPRESSO, DECAF NOIR, 17 FT CEILING, BELLA DONOVAN, GIANT STEPS and THREE AFRICAS.

At the same time, Blue bottle Coffee also applied to register for online retail store service, vending machine rental, etc., so it can be seen that Blue bottle Coffee entering China is not only to open a coffee shop, but also ready for online retail and automatic sale.

The third wave of coffee

It is understood that the biggest magic of the "blue bottle", which is regarded by the world's largest food and beverage company, is that it is likely to stand out in the third wave of coffee.

There have been three waves of coffee from the past to the present. First, instant coffee, ready to drink, has created giants such as Nestl é; second, commercial coffee has created giants such as Starbucks; third, it focuses on high-quality coffee beans and patient hand-brewing coffee, and now is the most popular time for this third wave.

James Freeman, the founder of Blue bottle Coffee, also found that most coffee chains put mixed coffee beans into machines to cook coffee, making coffee a fast-food culture. So he decided to brew a selection of unique coffee beans in hand-brewing mode. The store is equipped with Italian style, hand-brewing, siphon and ice droplets, and the complicated procedures make the blue bottle coffee not only taste better, but also warm the hearts of the people. Blue bottle coffee has become synonymous with exquisite coffee.

The design style of the Blue bottle Coffee Store is also quite simple. James Freeman will personally plan and design each store, whether using the factory, the seaside warehouse or the space of the old theatre, which can be integrated with the architecture and local culture, showing the unique style of Blue bottle. Take the Palo Alto branch in California as an example, it is located in the 50-year-old theater and community exchange center. There are spacious spaces and seats inside and outside the coffee shop for people to read or discuss freely.

Accelerate expansion

According to the Blue bottle Coffee website, Blue bottle Coffee currently has 55 stores in the United States and Japan, three of which are open, compared with 29 at the end of 2016.

Blue bottle coffee opened from the United States to Japan, that is, it is enthusiastically sought after by Japanese consumers. Blue bottle coffee has also successfully opened eight stores, including seven in Tokyo, the latest one in Kyoto, located in the Nanchen Temple area, opened in the Edo era of the century-old town house, is currently the largest store in Japan.

The design of the shop is carried out by Jo Nagasaka, the royal designer of Blue bottle Coffee, which integrates the elements of Kyoto style into the personality of Blue bottle Coffee. On the basis of better preserving the original characteristics of Machiya, new floor-to-ceiling windows are added to maximize the use of natural light.

In addition to in-store coffee, Blue bottle Coffee also offers New Orleans-style iced coffee, cold-brewed coffee and coffee beans sold at retail and online.

In fact, in view of the rapid development of blue bottle coffee, Starbucks has also stepped up efforts to create a high-end boutique cafe "Zhenxuan" Starbucks Reserve. "Starbucks has dominated the coffee industry for a long time, and that will change." Barry, CEO of Blue bottle Coffee, said earlier.

As for the Internet rumor that Blue bottle Coffee is about to enter China, when snack Dai inquired with relevant people in Nestl é China today, he said he had not heard the news.

However, when he bought Blue bottle Coffee last year, Gwen said that since the management team of Blue bottle Coffee has not changed since the acquisition, it will be up to the Blue bottle Coffee team to decide whether it will enter the Chinese market in the future.

And it's worth noting that Blue bottle Coffee's CEO Bryan Meehan has his own plans. At a forum in South Korea in November, he said he planned to open a store in South Korea soon, followed by Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

"We are building relationships here." He said, take the Korean market as an example, first do a good market research, and then find a Korean general manager. He also stressed that headquarters would be directly managed rather than franchised. He stressed that Nestl é allows Blue bottle Coffee to operate independently, and he does not report to any Nestle employees.

Although it is not known when Blue bottle Coffee will enter Chinese mainland, the latest publicly reported news is that Blue bottle Coffee will open its first experience store at Breeze Nanshan, a complex in Xinyi District in Chinese Taipei.