Starbucks Zhenxuan Coffee Bakery specializes in alcohol and light food in order to compete in the Chinese market through baking.

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Starbucks, a well-known coffee brand, is popular all over the world, but it is facing strong competition from local brands such as "Little Blue Cup" Luckin Coffee in the Chinese market. Starbucks announced on February 15 that Starbucks Zhenxuan Shanghai Bakery, China's first high-end store, will launch a full-day dining experience, offering brunch, cocktails and aperitivo culture, demonstrating its diversified ambition to seize the market.

Wang Jingying, chief executive of Starbucks China, said in a statement on the same day that the new dining experience offers different flavors of Zhenxuan coffee from around the world, with food provided by Italian baking brand Princi, serving brunch, cocktails and Italian aperitif, Reuters reported.

Starbucks' first high-end route strategy, Starbucks selection and Baking (Starbucks Reserve Roastery), is an exhibition store in Seattle. Thanks to the growing coffee culture, China has become Starbucks' second largest market, but with independent coffee shops springing up and new brands such as Luckin Coffee offering low prices and substantial discounts, Starbucks' sales growth in China has slowed down. That's why it launched the Shanghai Bakery.

Luckin Coffee has been saying that he wants to surpass Starbucks, saying that he plans to open 2500 new stores this year. Starbucks is also committed to boosting sales, with sales in China exceeding Wall Street expectations in the fourth quarter, with analysts pointing out that the delivery service launched in partnership with Alibaba has helped a lot.

Then, on Feb. 16, Starbucks China's first new selection store featuring baked food, Starbucks Zhenxuan Coffee Roaster (Starbucks Reserve Princi Bakery Cafe), opened in the North Block of Henglong, Hong Kong and Huihui in Shanghai's Xujiahui business district. This is the first Starbucks to sell special drinks separately besides the Starbucks selection Shanghai Bakery.

And, as the name "Bakery" suggests, in this Starbucks, the main products are cocktails, brunch and baked goods, and coffee has become a supporting role. This is new business type's first attempt at Starbucks in 2019: coffee will no longer be the only staple product. New breakfast, lunch, dinner, baked goods and drinks will be added to allow customers to drink coffee in the store. During dinner time, you can enjoy a variety of fresh Italian food, pre-meal and post-meal wine, as well as snacks in the rest of your leisure time. The integration of coffee and new products will create Starbucks' full-time business strategy to meet the needs of customers in different periods and bring a full range of experience and services.

According to Starbucks, the baked food in the store comes from Italian high-end baking brand TM (PrinciTM), which is made in the store and baked on the spot every day. The food includes more than 100 kinds of food, such as Parma ham cheese, original Brio, original Focashire, grilled vegetable cheese pizza, Tira Misu and so on, covering different periods of breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. In addition, alcoholic drinks that have previously appeared at Starbucks' flagship Beijing Square store are also in the form of a special school bar, offering Italian pre-dinner and after-dinner drinks.

In Starbucks fiscal year 2019 Q1 financial results show that from the 2018Q1-2019Q1 fiscal year Starbucks quarterly revenue growth trend as a whole, but the growth rate is gradually slowing. In addition, in the face of the urgent expansion of local competitors, Starbucks urgently needs to find renewed growth momentum to boost investor confidence.

Starbucks, which had previously refused to let food grab the limelight of coffee, suddenly tried to increase the proportion of meals. Some analysts believe that in the past two years, with the rapid development of China's coffee market and the surge of brands, coupled with the slow growth of Starbucks' performance in China, and the voice of bad Starbucks one after another, Starbucks' move has a great meaning of "turning defense into attack." to show that there are still a lot of possibilities in China.

Photo source: Starbucks website, Internet

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