The first | the new Chinese tea drink "Jasmine Milk White" received tens of millions of angel round financing, and Lele Tea investors bet

Text | Wang Manhua

Edit | Cao Weiyu

Source | East Forty Article Capital, a subsidiary of China Investment Network

Recently, the new Chinese tea direct chain brand "Jasmine Milk White" completed tens of millions of yuan of angel round financing, this round was led by angel investor Song Huanping, dolphin society founder Li Chengdong and Happy Tiger Fund followed.

It is reported that this round of financing will be mainly used for brand building, product research and development, store expansion, tea garden supply chain improvement, etc.

It is worth noting that this is another shot of Song Huanping in tea drinking after Lele Tea and Fang Ha, and he has also cast popular chain restaurant brands such as Hutou Bureau Chinese pastries and Chen Xiang Guilan beef noodles.

With the ammo leaning body, Jasmine Milk White will also speed up the pace of scale. It is reported that the current number of stores in Jasmine Milk White is 30+, and it is expected that the number will exceed 100 by the end of this year.

Created the "Jasmine Element" tea drink, and opened 30 stores a year to make a profit

The new tea brand that angel investors are so optimistic about, what is the origin of Jasmine Milk White?

The two founders of Jasmine Milk White, Su Chen and Zhang Bocheng, are serial entrepreneurs, of which Zhang Bocheng has more than ten years of experience in catering entrepreneurship, doing Chinese food, baking, and opening a beverage store. In 2020, the two jointly planned to start a business, planning to open a new tea brand.

However, at that time, China's new tea drinks have entered the stock market, all price ranges have run out of the head brand, coupled with the epidemic has accelerated the industry reshuffle, even the "tea giants" such as Xicha, Naixue, and Michelle Ice City are actively plotting changes, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of entrepreneurship. Therefore, the positioning of new brands is particularly important.

During the period, the two founders noticed the subdivision of "jasmine tea". In the view of the two, China's new tea industry as a large market of hundreds of billions, 85.3% of the market share belongs to non-high-end tea brands, but in the low-end price band market, most brands are still based on plant fat powder milk essence flavor products, but from the perspective of consumption trends, consumers pay more attention to tea than in the past

Natural flavor itself, rather than small ingredients, raw leaf tea compounding is becoming a new market trend.

On the other hand, jasmine tea is a broad track in the tea category, with wide recognition and love, while also having the attributes and aesthetic value of Chinese tea culture.

Sensing this change and opportunity, the two co-founded Jasmine Milk White and opened its first store in Shenzhen in February 2021, positioning itself as "Oriental Jasmine Tea Drink".

At present, the product line of jasmine milk white covers fresh milk tea, fresh fruit tea, pure tea, retail tea, etc., and the unit price of customers is about 15 to 25 yuan. It is reported that the total number of brand members has reached 300,000, and the brand repurchase rate is about 30%, reaching the level of repurchase in the mature period of the industry's top brand.

Supply chain is an indispensable topic for new tea brands today. In order to ensure the long-term stability of brand quality, Jasmine Milk White began to lay out in the supply chain when it was established only half a year ago, and currently has 800 acres of tea gardens in Guizhou for professional operation, and cooperates with domestic leading dairy to customize fresh milk, guided by user needs, to create a customized supply chain suitable for brand products.

In just one year, Jasmine Milk White has opened more than 30 direct-operated stores in Shenzhen shopping malls, and the standard stores are mainly based on small shop models of 40-60 square meters, all stores are in a profitable state, and the average monthly GMV of mature stores is 300,000.

Adhere to direct operation, the end of the year plans to open 100 stores

New tea has undoubtedly become one of the number one categories of domestic catering.

A set of data from the Meituan Research Institute shows that in 2019-2021, the compound annual growth rate of the milk tea category in takeaway orders is as high as 69.6%, second only to 76.1% of snail powder. In 2021, the order volume of this category surpassed the rice bowler and ranked first.

However, the rise of the industry has also appeared a serious homogenization of brand and product positioning, so in addition to adhering to product innovation, Jasmine Milk White has also continued to exert efforts in brand tone and space building ability.

In terms of brand design, Jasmine Milk White is cut into the super symbol of "Oriental One White", and the design style is mainly based on interpreting the elegant style of the East. In addition, Jasmine Milk White has also opened different store-type theme stores in core cities to create a "third space" to meet the social needs of consumers.

According to founder Zhang Bocheng, the current jasmine milk white stores mainly include four models:

First, the small shop model of 40-60 square meters, mainly opened in shopping malls, is the main model of the brand, accounting for about 80%-90% of the total number;

Second, the theme flagship store model of 100-200㎡ has its own IP, which is used to transmit brand culture and achieve marketing purposes through the form of IP cross-border joint branding. On April 22, Jasmine Milk White's first CityPark theme flagship store was launched in Shenzhen, along with the brand IP "Oriental Messenger Jasmine Xiaobai".

Third, "Jasmine Tea Shop", with an area of about 100 square meters, is positioned as a new retail experience space integrating ready-made tea drinks, pure tea retail and experience. It is reported that the first "Jasmine Tea Shop" will be officially unveiled in June this year.

Fourth, the smallest outdoor pop-up store, in early 2022, Jasmine Milk White opened the first themed pop-up store in Shenzhen Happy Harbor, focusing on "urban camping".

Although the store model is diverse, Zhang Bocheng said that Jasmine Milk White insists on finding a balance of 'fast and stable' in the profitability of a single store and the success rate of opening a store, and will not blindly aggressively expand.

According to reports, after the completion of this round of financing, Jasmine Milk White will reach the scale of 100 stores in 2022, and all of them are directly operated stores, focusing on covering the Guangdong market.

For this investment, Song Huanping, angel investor and partner of Happy Tiger Fund, said: Jasmine Milk White is a refreshing tea brand that conveys the traditional Chinese plain tea culture, which has achieved a good balance between tradition and innovation, and has been loved by many young users. At the same time, the original intention, patience and values of this team to start a business make me very respectful.