On April 7, #库迪咖啡创始人被强制执行18 90 million yuan# was on the hot search on Weibo, detonating the attention of the catering circle and people from all walks of life, and putting the relationship between Cudi and Luckin on the hot spot again.
On April 7, when the first store of Cudi Coffee in the United States landed in Hawaii, the news that founder Lu Zhengyao and his partner Li Huan were forced to pay about 1.9 billion yuan also came at the same time.
Lu Zhengyao is the founder of UCAR and Luckin Coffee, and after leaving Luckin, he founded Cudi Coffee. It was this change in identity that made him saddled with this new lawsuit.
What impact will this enforcement have on Cudi Coffee's cash flow or expansion rate? In this regard, Cudi Coffee said in an interview on April 7, "There is no impact, and everything is normal at the moment." ”
01■
The net worth once reached 18 billion yuan
Now a large number of shares have been frozen and restricted
According to the China Enforcement Information Disclosure Network, Lu Zhengyao was executed for about 1.896 billion yuan, and the enforcement court was the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court, and the case was filed on April 3.
According to the company's investigation data, Lu Zhengyao has a lot of risk information under his name.
Among them, in addition to the huge amount of information that has been executed, there are also 9 pieces of information on consumption restrictions, and the unfulfilled amount of the final case exceeds 2.5 billion yuan, in addition to a large number of shares of UCAR that have been frozen.
As the founder of Cudi Coffee, Lu Zhengyao's huge debt has undoubtedly cast a shadow on the company's operations, and it will inevitably raise doubts about Cudi Coffee's cash flow situation.
According to public information, Lu Zhengyao, male, Han nationality, born in Pingnan County, Ningde City, Fujian Province in July 1969, is currently the chairman of UCAR, the chairman of the strategy committee of Cudi Coffee, and the former chairman of Luckin Coffee, graduated from the University of Science and Technology Beijing with a bachelor's degree in engineering and an EMBA from Peking University.
He has successively founded many well-known brands such as Car Rental, Luckin Coffee, and Cudi Coffee, and is a well-known billionaire.
In 2016, Lu Zhengyao debuted on the "Hurun Report" with a net worth of 7.5 billion yuan with Shenzhou Special Car, and after Luckin went public in 2019, his net worth directly doubled, ranking 195th in the "Hurun Report" with a net worth of 18 billion yuan.
02■
After being "out" from Luckin
He founded Cudi Coffee and ran blindfolded
Speaking of Lu Zhengyao, we have to mention Luckin Coffee. At the end of October 2017, he founded the Luckin Coffee experimental store and opened at Galaxy SOHO in Beijing.
Since then, Luckin Coffee has quickly conquered the city, and with high-profile publicity and promotion activities such as rapid store opening, substantial price subsidies, and celebrity endorsements, Luckin Coffee has begun to appear in the core areas of major cities.
As the first company in China to compete with Starbucks, Luckin Coffee has developed "rapidly", and by the end of 2019, the number of directly operated stores has reached 4,507, surpassing Starbucks and becoming the largest coffee chain brand in the Chinese market.
However, in April 2020, Luckin Coffee exposed itself to financial fraud. According to the announcement of Luckin Coffee at that time, it was found that there were problems such as fictitious transaction data inside, and the fictitious amount amounted to 2.2 billion yuan.
Then caused an uproar, and Lu Zhengyao had to resign as chairman. But as the founder, Lu Zhengyao still has a stake in Luckin Coffee.
On the evening of January 27, 2022, Luckin Coffee announced that it had received an equity acquisition offer from a consortium of buyers led by Centurium Capital, including private equity investment firm IDG Capital and Ares SSG, to purchase a total of 383425748 Class A ordinary shares of Luckin Coffee from specific sellers.
It is understood that the specific seller is controlled by Lu Zhengyao, Qian Zhiya, the former CEO of Luckin Coffee, and a subsidiary of his family. With the entry of IDG and Ares SSG, the equity of Lu Zhengyao and other original management has been completely liquidated.
Although he is frequently listed as the person subject to execution, Lu Zhengyao has not stopped "tossing".
First, he founded the catering brand "Qu Xiao Mian", focusing on eight series of various small noodles, freshly made marinated goods, desserts and drinks, and special cold dishes, and later changed its name to "Qu Bayu". Later, he took a fancy to the trend of prefabricated dishes and launched a new project called "Tip of the Tongue Workshop", which specializes in prefabricated ingredients and quick cooking, and was later renamed "Tip of the Tongue Hero".
But neither of these entrepreneurial projects continued the previous "myth" of Lu Zhengyao, until he made a comeback in 2022 and returned to the coffee track to found Cudi Coffee.
However, in view of Lu Zhengyao's capital operation turmoil in projects such as UCar and Luckin Coffee, Cudi Coffee's blindfolded run was once met with concerns from many internal affiliates and the outside world about its cash flow security.
Previously, it was learned from a catering industry insider close to a number of Cudi suppliers that Cudi Coffee's arrears to suppliers were more serious years ago, and the payment cycle was longer than normal.
On February 21, Cudi Coffee responded that the current cash flow is safe, "We have made a five-year planning and financial model to ensure the smooth construction of the supply chain system, the implementation of the human-machine collaboration strategy and the brand marketing activities." ”
At the same time, Cudi is still in the midst of a price war of "burning money" for the market. On February 26, Cudi Coffee officially announced that when the number of stores worldwide reached 7,000, it would launch a full-time unlimited and unlimited 9.9 yuan promotion for a period of 3 months.
It is understood that in order to support the event, Cudi is ready to scatter coins, and will provide different subsidies for affiliates according to the location of the store and rent, with a maximum subsidy of 14.5 yuan for a single cup, and the total subsidy amount of this event is expected to reach 200 million ~ 300 million yuan.
According to the research report of China Merchants Securities, in the "9.9 yuan" price war, due to factors such as the number of cups, the volume of procurement, the difference in self-built supply chain and the difference in operational efficiency, the cost of a single cup of Luckin is about 9.5 yuan, while the cost of a single cup of Cudi is about 10.2 yuan.
Higher costs compress the likelihood of profitability and can put pressure on cash flow. However, Li Yingbo, chief strategy officer of Cudi Coffee, said in late February that the company has no financing plans at present.
In the past, Lu Zhengyao used investors' money to open directly-operated stores, but Cudi's rapid expansion relied on the real money of associates.
It is reported that its cash flow mainly comes from the income from the sale of raw materials to the associated stores, the 0%-25% commission from the gross profit of the associate and the margin received in advance.
According to reports, on the cost side, the company is using automation technology to continuously optimize the cost of the supply chain, and the overall labor cost will be further optimized in the future.
In addition, the endorsement fees of the top stream, the construction of the supply chain and the advertising of the platform all require a large amount of capital investment.
At the same time, Cudi Coffee continues to expand and has exceeded 7,000 stores. On April 7, Cudi Coffee's first store in the United States opened in Hawaii, and Cudi has entered more than 10 countries and regions around the world.
In an internal letter released in October last year, Qian Zhiya, chairman and CEO of Cudi Coffee, put forward the strategic goal of reaching 20,000 stores worldwide by 2025.
Based on the current 7,000 stores, to achieve this goal, Cudi Coffee must maintain an average annual opening rate of 6,500 stores for two consecutive years.
But the reality of expanding too quickly has begun to emerge, and Cudi Coffee's future is destined to be full of challenges.
At a time when cash flow is under pressure, will the huge amount of money being executed by the founder have an impact on Cudi Coffee?
In the Weibo topic comment area, many netizens said, "What's the matter with me, does it affect me to drink 9.9 coffee?" "Just have 9.9 coffee, who does he implement?"
Obviously, Cudi's response is intended to emphasize that its day-to-day operations are independent of the founder's personal legal disputes, but is it really as the official claims that it has no impact?
Zhang Shule, an analyst in the Internet industry, believes that the founder's financial situation will not have an impact on Cudi's daily operations for the time being, but it will cause investors and the capital market to worry, "If it can't be cleared as soon as possible, it is very likely that it will turn from a snowball into an avalanche for Cudi, which is expanding momentum, has a fragile capital chain and is fighting fiercely with Luckin." ”
He analyzed that Lu Zhengyao's previous role in the financial fraud incident had a long-term negative impact, and after starting a business again, Cudi has been controversial. "The enforcement this time will make it worse again in terms of brand image and market expansion, but it will not affect the consumer experience for the time being, unless the impact is directly affected by the store. At the same time, once there is negative public opinion such as product quality reduction or store closure, it will further cause consumers and capital market associations."
Today's Comment: What do you think of the founder of Cudi Coffee being enforced?Did Luckin "stab" this knife in the back? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area!
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Source | National Business Daily
Produced by | Catering O2O
Catering O2O
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The domestic catering market is fiercely "involuted", and many catering companies are trying to explore overseas markets and seek a new growth curve.
-In March 2023, Heytea announced that it would open applications for overseas business partners, including those in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, accelerating the speed of going overseas.
-As of November 2023, the number of overseas stores has approached 4,000;
-In 2023, Yang Guofu Group has opened in more than 10 overseas countries and regions, and plans to quadruple the expansion of overseas stores by the end of the year.
-In March 2023, Luckin opened two stores in Singapore at the same time, and opened 30 stores by the end of the year.
In addition to Malatang, hot pot, tea, coffee and other categories with a high degree of standardization, more players in the track have also joined the "overseas army".
-In November 2023, Hunan cuisine brand Nongji opened 2 stores in Singapore;
-In January 2024, the high-end restaurant group with the most Michelin stars in China, Xin Rong Kee, will go abroad for the first time, and its Tokyo store will be opened for trial opening soon.
-In January 2024, Ziyan Food replied to investors on the interactive platform that the company will continue to enter the Australian and American markets, and the store in Melbourne, Australia is being renovated.
......
In 2024, China's catering "overseas fever" will continue. As an outpost of going overseas to Southeast Asia, catering O2O will host the 2024 China Wandian Chain Conference and Catering Overseas Summit Forum in Shenzhen on April 24. Catering companies that have gone overseas share their success and experience in entering the pit, and specially invite overseas service organizations to connect with resources, including catering heavyweights from Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, the United States, Australia and other catering venues!
Now to the intention to go to sea and go out and walk in the domestic and foreign catering enterprises and service agencies to send a sincere invitation, April 24 we will see you in Shenzhen!
Further reading:
- 10,000 store chains: how to better control and empower franchisees?
- China's catering has entered the era of 10,000 stores!Don't miss the 2024 China 10,000 Store Chain Conference!
- Catering enters the supply chain "fighting game"! Come to the China Food Ingredients E-commerce Festival to find the answer!
- Who is competing with the 10,000-store chain: which is more critical, profit model, expansion model, and management model?
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