GouBuLi enters the coffee market. Gloria Jean's Coffees opens its first branch in Beijing.

Gloria Jean's Coffees (Colorado Coffee) opened its first branch in Beijing on October 25, 2015. the "owner" of Australia's first coffee brand in China is the well-known time-honored catering enterprise GouBuLi. At this time, many people must be amazed: "GouBuLi is going to make coffee?"

Since the beginning of last year, under the influence of the wave of Chinese Internet companies letting a hundred flowers blossom, it seems that any cross-border behavior of Chinese Internet companies can be understood with Internet thinking. All kinds of industries have realized the transformation, expansion or direction adjustment of enterprises through the "cross-border" which is a very leaping way. As we all know, GouBuLi once ran into operational problems in early 2005, but today, 10 years later, GouBuLi has acquired the Chinese business of the world's fourth largest coffee brand. So how did GouBuLi transform from a troubled time-honored catering company and successfully expand into the coffee industry?

Reform to get rid of the predicament of management, innovate and forge a strong brand

When it comes to steamed buns, the first thing that comes to mind in China must be the word "Tianjin GouBuLi". As the first bag in China, Tianjin Gouli's unique thin skin, stuffing feet, 18 pleats and fresh flavor in the mouth for a long time became people's first impression of it. But for Tianjin GouBuLi, a Chinese time-honored brand with a history of more than 150 years, it has also experienced a difficult period of development. In 2005, due to the outdated management model, single mode of operation and lack of funds, the development and expansion of GouBuLi brand became more and more difficult.

In order to improve the competitiveness of time-honored brands and optimize the structure of state-owned assets, under the auspices of Tianjin Municipal Government, GouBuLi was transferred to Tianjin Tongrentang, which was successfully reformed by public auction, so that GouBuLi, a long-established brand, has changed from a single state-owned capital structure to a limited liability company with mixed ownership structure. Since then, Gouli has set foot on the upstream fast lane of international brand development.

After the restructuring of the enterprise, Goubuli Group focuses on improving the quality of dishes, service and dining environment, and improving the quality of time-honored restaurants by improving operation and management. At the same time, GouBuLi entered the field of frozen food and fast food by adjusting the direction of business development. Tianjin GouBuLi invested nearly 30 million yuan and customized the automatic production line of GouBuLi steamed buns, which made the traditional GouBuLi steamed buns take off rapidly with advanced technology and realized the perfect combination of traditional technology and industrial production.

Gou ignores the "new" again and aims at the coffee market.

Since 2014, China's catering industry is no longer singing all the way, and its shortcomings in system, regulations, government management and many other aspects have begun to ferment. On the one hand, the development of the catering industry is still affected by the sluggish economic situation at home and abroad, and it is difficult to reverse the situation of high growth and shrinking profit margins in the short term. But on the other hand, it is faced with many opportunities, such as accelerated investment, exuberant consumer demand, improved market standardization and so on. In such a pattern of both challenges and opportunities, GouBuLi sees the growth space of the future market in the coffee market.

According to the data, the annual growth rate of China's coffee consumption market is about 15%, which is much higher than the annual growth rate of 2% of the international market. The coffee represents the young consumer group, officially our country is optimistic about the prospect of the coffee market, GouBuLi Group is determined to enter this field.

When it comes to the positioning of the Gaolaya coffee brand, Zhang Yansen, chairman of Tianjin Tongrentang Co., Ltd. And Tianjin GouBuLi Group Co., Ltd., said, "because we take a high-quality route, the positioning is basically in first-and second-tier cities." different from the assembly line operation of some coffee brands, we pursue personalized high quality. " Colorado Coffee will be customized "your favorite coffee taste" for customers according to their different needs and preferences.

The integration of Chinese and Western cultures is also a major feature of Gaoleya Coffee. In Zhang Yansen's view, they should imperceptibly integrate Chinese culture into coffee culture. For example, the coffee shop, as the third space, to provide consumers with places for consumption, it is necessary to integrate into Chinese culture and build it into a more warm and distinctive coffee shop with Chinese elements.

Of course, the coffee strategy is only part of Zhang Yansen's diversification. In 2014, GouBuLi opened four new stores against the backdrop of slowing overall growth in the catering industry. In 2015, GouBuLi also expanded the Singapore market, bringing this traditional Chinese cuisine to the world.

"with the continuous improvement of China's international status, more and more enterprises like GouBuLi will go out to invest and bring in cooperation. It is very important for GouBuLi to sell good steamed buns, and it is even more important to be able to keep pace with the times and become stronger and stronger for a long time. " Zhang Yansen said.