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Hefei traditional Cafe is in Survival predicament Foreign Cafe expands massively

Published: 2026-06-03 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/06/03, With the expansion of foreign cafes and the rise of new-style cafes, traditional cafes are in a predicament of survival; rising costs are a common problem. Traditional cafes, which once led the trend of Hefei cafes, are in an awkward position and are in a heroic twilight years; however, the new cafes that have been added in recent years have played a mash-up, with novel tricks, like rising stars in martial arts; and looking back, Starbucks and other foreign cafes have become heavily armed.

With the expansion of foreign cafes and the rise of new-style cafes, traditional cafes are in a predicament of survival; rising costs are a common problem. Traditional cafes, which once led the trend of Hefei cafes, are in an awkward position and are in a heroic twilight years; however, the new cafes that have been added in recent years have played mash-ups with novel tricks, like rising stars in martial arts; and looking back, Starbucks and other foreign cafes have become "heavily armed". A cup of coffee is also a lake. In this world, the common enemy of cafes is rising costs.

Large-scale expansion of foreign coffee shops

Shangdao Coffee Shop may be just a microcosm of traditional cafes. As they retreated step by step, other foreign coffee brands expanded aggressively to seize the market.

Now walking in the streets of Hefei, it is easy to see Starbucks, COSTA and other foreign coffee shops. In particular, large-scale commercial complexes have sprung up everywhere in the past two years, and almost every one is accompanied by these foreign brands.

The reporter checked Starbucks' website. At present, it has operated more than 1000 stores in mainland China, and China has become Starbucks'"second home market." Starbucks is calling for the realization of its vision of operating 1500 stores in mainland China by 2015.

Specific to Hefei, Starbucks stores have reached more than a dozen. COSTA, which later entered the Chinese market, has become the fastest-growing coffee chain in China, expanding rapidly at an average rate of two to three new stores a week. At present, the massive expansion has begun to shift to second-and third-tier cities, making the competition for survival more and more fierce.

New style cafes prefer to mix and match.

Go to these coffee shops, not just for coffee. This sentence may be the experience of most consumers in new-style coffee shops. Unlike foreign coffee chains, which are mostly set up in downtown areas, most of these local new-style cafes in Hefei "hide" in more secluded places such as office buildings, and they are run by literary owners. They put their own ideas and dreams into it, and find another way to attract consumers.

Today, "Paul's Pocket" has opened three stores in Hefei. The earliest "Little Pocket" is close to the community, positioning more cafes and providing guests with a reading place for mash-ups. And now the latest Paul's "Big Pocket" is not just a bookstore or coffee shop, each floor has bookcases, a comfortable reading environment, accompanied by music and coffee.

The coffee book language and nut coffee located in the north ring of Hefei are also the representatives of the New School Cafe. They win with their personalized coffee culture, offering a variety of exquisite foods, drinks and services in addition to selling healthy and delicious coffee, and even hold regular activities.

"now we only account for 1/3 of coffee in our shop, and the rest are" uncle-style drinks ", including yogurt, Yoledo, black tea, sour plum soup and so on. Many of our drinks are mainly healthy green, not only for children and the elderly, but also for pregnant women. " Coffee book language of "Uncle Coffee" said.

Traditional cafes are in urgent need of transformation.

In terms of creativity, traditional cafes are far inferior to the new-style cafes of petty-bourgeois literature and art; in terms of passenger flow and products, traditional cafes are not as advantageous as foreign-funded cafes. In order to have a place in coffee, traditional cafes need to be transformed. "the traditional cafe can't afford to close. It must be out of touch and distorted with the demand of the market." Uncle Coffee believes that the business model is the positioning of many traditional cafes, and membership cards and box consumption are their main sources of income, but now this model no longer works. "you can't be big and comprehensive. Simple meals are available in many places, so why go to a coffee shop? If you want to be small and good, light meals and light drinks are the trend. "

Industry insiders believe that today's coffee shops are more pure consumers, without business color, from box-style to open-ended, many people come to coffee shops simply to read books and drink coffee. The main consumer groups of coffee shops are post-80s and post-90s, and the future should be post-90s and post-00s. Traditional political and commercial coffee shops should be prepared for transformation as soon as possible.

How much does it cost to open a coffee shop?

Wang Qiang, owner of a coffee shop on Qianshan Road in Hefei, said that nowadays, the upfront investment cost of running a coffee shop is very high. "like ours, the shop is about 200 square meters, and the initial investment is at least 50,000 to 600,000."

He calculated an account for the reporter, now the cafe decoration is very exquisite, the early decoration investment of more than 200,000 is the normal level. For example, the average rent of his store is 100 yuan per square meter per month, and the monthly rent is 20000 yuan. Generally, the rent will be paid half a year in advance, that is, 120000 yuan.

Then the labor cost is also very high. At least seven or eight people in the store have to invest 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a month. "with miscellaneous expenses, it costs 70,000 to 80,000 yuan a month."

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