As with the recent hot weather in Shanghai, the coffee industry is getting hot again. While Dine-in restaurants were resuming in an orderly manner in Shanghai coffee shops, upstream green bean importers and product producers were also rapidly moving, beginning to visit customers and test new products.
Hou Yongpu, the founder of Yongpu Coffee (known as "Uncle Tin", hereinafter referred to as "Tin Sheet"), has also recently worked more, in addition to participating in the company's new projects during the day, he also has to contact customers and investors at night to modify PPT. He half-jokingly told the first financial reporter that he would now feel guilty about playing games for a day.
For Shanghai coffee and green bean trading platform Yi Kaji, the green beans in the new season have been successfully cleared from Shanghai Port, and at present, the team needs to test new beans non-stop to promote a new round of sales with downstream roasting factories.
In April this year, the reporter learned from a number of coffee companies in Shanghai that due to the impact of the epidemic, both coffee import trade and factory production have stagnated. In recent years, the smooth development of the coffee track has tasted the taste of anxiety for the first time. Recently, the first financial reporter returned to these coffee practitioners and found that "busy" has become the theme word of their current state.
Late night work of the founders
"Last night I had dinner and chatted with customers until late at night, and when I got home, I immediately took a shower and then modified the PPT. Because I had to negotiate with a large food company the next morning, some of the PPT content needed to be temporarily adjusted, so I was busy until 1 a.m. On the afternoon of a recent weekday, the first financial reporter saw the tin sheet in the office of Yongpu Coffee in Shanghai's Changning District and talked about the recent situation, he told reporters.
Tin Pi is a post-80s born and raised in Jiangsu, even if there are many affairs, talking and doing things gives people a feeling of not being in a hurry. After graduating from the China Academy of Art majoring in design, he identified himself in the coffee industry and founded Yongpu Coffee in Shanghai in 2014, mainly producing portable coffee products (coffee liquid, ear-hanging coffee, etc.).
Probably because of his professional background in art, Tin's hands-on ability is good, and he has obtained the qualifications of coffee roaster and coffee quality appraiser. A few years after the establishment of Yongpu Coffee, he still made his own PPT for what he wanted to speak. According to Tin Sheet, in recent years, the company has achieved annual sales growth from tens of millions of yuan to hundreds of millions of yuan, and the current team has nearly 200 employees.
"During the lockdown period, in addition to cooking, I participated in conference calls." Tin Pi recalls that now he has more opportunities to meet and communicate with people inside and outside the company. For example, Yongpu's offline coffee shop, new products developed by the factory, important activity copywriting and other projects need him to check one by one and discuss with his colleagues in person.
One of Yongpu Coffee's offices is located near Yuyuan Road in Changning District, in a peaceful creative park. The reporter recently saw in the company's office that there are dozens of employees sitting in front of the workstation computer, quietly handling the work at hand, most of them are young faces after 90 and 95, and there are also employees sitting on the sofa, while facing the design drawings, while exchanging views.
During the lockdown period, the reaction speed of the company's employees far exceeded the expectations of the tin sheet. "Although the team is working from home, they are more responsive to their work than they were when they were at work, and everyone is very sensitive." Tin Pi sighed.
At the end of April this year, Tin Pi told the first financial reporter on the phone that Yongpu pressed the pause button in Shanghai's ear-hanging factory and cooperative warehouse, but sales in Shanghai did not stagnate. The company's team quickly put into the community group purchase, opened up the logistics link, and delivered the coffee liquid to the hands of the group in time. At the same time, the employees are also preparing for the 6.18 promotion online, and have developed many new products and peripherals.
"The sales of Group Buy in Shanghai exceeded our expectations, and recently we also found that the Yongpu Coffee 6.18 promotion has also added many new users in Shanghai." Tin said.
The "cupping" can't stop
"This bean actually has the flavor of lychee", "The bitter taste of this coffee bean spreads to the root of the tongue, and you should pay attention to adjustment when you bake it next time." Recently, Yi Kagji's work team returned to the office in Shanghai's Jing'an District to "cup test" (identify the quality of coffee beans) for arriving coffee beans, and concentrate on recording the flavor of the product, which has become an indispensable daily lesson for them.
In 2019, Lewis Harding, a Briton who loves coffee and has many years of experience in international trade, set up coffee exchange coffee exchange in Shanghai. On the platform, roasters can select and place orders from more than 11 regions, more than 80 estates and more than 100 types of coffee around the world.
With the arrival of green coffee beans in batches and the gradual recovery of delivery logistics across the country, the company's team has also entered a busy working state. Lewis Harding told reporters that the company's sales orders have increased significantly since June, and the operation is very busy.
Coffee consumption is inseparable from global trade, but also needs international team support behind it. Mauricio Pérez, Igagi's Latin American business development manager, is a handsome guy from Costa Rica. During the lockdown, Maurizio Perez told reporters that his work was stalled due to the inability to provide delivery and transportation services, as well as the obstruction of customs declarations and clearance operations for coffee imports.
Recently, the reporter met Maurizio Perez in Igagi's office, and he greeted the reporter warmly and then immersed himself in work. Zhang Xinxin, the director of quality control and sales of Yijiaji, is a straightforward Northeastern girl who has been flexibly coordinating domestic logistics and preparing for early marketing during her online office. When she returned to the office, she was even busier because the backlog of green coffee beans needed to be tested as soon as possible.
"Since May, the coffee green beans have gradually resumed customs clearance, we will select some of the green beans for roasting and testing, and quickly adjust according to the cup testing situation, so that downstream customers can receive the best state of the coffee bean samples." After the end of the engrossed cup test session, Zhang Xinxin finally made a little time to introduce to reporters.
The coffee market is caught in a scuffle?
In recent years, the domestic coffee track has grown against the trend and has attracted more and more attention from capital. According to incomplete statistics from Tianyan, as of now, a total of 180 coffee-related corporate financing incidents have occurred, and the amount of financing has exceeded 42 billion yuan. Since January 2022, there have been 12 financing incidents, with a financing amount of more than 3 billion yuan.
Huawei, Li Ning and other enterprises outside the circle are also increasing the coffee industry. According to the Tianyancha App, on May 18, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. applied for the registration of the trademark "A Cup of Coffee Absorbs Cosmic Energy", which is internationally classified as a convenience food. On June 1, Li Ning Sports (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. applied for the registration of "NING COFFEE Ning Coffee", which is internationally classified as a convenience food.
The coffee market is a clash of old and new players, and a scuffle may begin. But as one of the players in the portable coffee market, Tiepi believes that he is still an entrepreneur. "A lot of people start a business either because of their profession or because they see growth dividends, but I'm purely because of my hobbies." Tin said.
"The online brands of Yongpu, Sando and Half, sumidagawa, and offline Manner (chain coffee shops) were basically established around 2015, and now they have a certain precipitation." Tin Pi sighed.
Even so, he believes that the domestic market is still in the stage of making the cake bigger. "There is no competition between Yongpu and other online brands, as well as coffee giants such as Nestlé. However, as the supply chain of each brand tends to be stable, the homogenization of products will become more and more serious, and at that time, personalized brands will become the key to competing for the market. Tin said.
According to the Tmall "618" coffee liquid hot list, as of the morning of June 16, the top three hot sales list in the past 7 days are Yongpu Coffee, Sumida Chuan, and seesaw, with a cumulative sales volume of 36,400 pieces of coffee liquid.
Lewis Harding has been engaged in the field of international trade for more than 15 years, in his view, in recent years, the Chinese consumer group drinking coffee has grown significantly, but the price fluctuations of upstream raw materials, the entire industrial chain is still in a sensitive stage, and the follow-up will gradually adapt. "For the entire coffee industry, specialty coffee can bring more value to the industrial chain, which is why our company focuses on specialty coffee." Lewis Harding said.