There is a new coffee shop fashion, majorly in Beijing, called Maan Coffee. Unlike big names that are frequently heard in China, such as Starbucks, Costa, or Pacific, they are western and historically associated with coffee, but Maan Coffee is an Asian coffee brand that owned by a Korean restaurant chain – Ai Jiang Shan. Ai Jiang Shan has three upscale restaurants in Beijing.
Maan Coffee was established in January 2011. The rationale behind is to build a place that is not rushing and fast. The founder is an experienced Korean restaurant owner, living in China for a few years, he realized that people need a nice place to talk and hang out. After visiting a U.B.C Coffee in Shanghai, Xin was inspired that coffee shops can be very functional, such as playing games, and started to look into a new style coffee shop.
The key words of Maan Coffee are natural and romantic. The Chinese name is "漫咖啡", which means romantic and is also identical pronunciation as "慢" (slow), and this has effectively expressed the idea of this coffee brand. The in-store environment design is like a spacious utopia, facilitated with cement walls, antique armchairs and desk lamp, as well as bookshelves. In order to demonstrate "nature", Maan Coffee even moved trees indoor. The service has been adjusted as well, after ordering, the customers do not have to stand at the end of the counter to wait for their drinks or food, Maan Coffee baristas will give each customer a lovely Teddy bear to play with while waiting for their order to be provided to table. In Maan Coffee, people can see a table as big as a single size bed, and this is substantially different from Starbucks. During weekend, it is common to see families gathering around big tables enjoying the food, drinks, and environment.
The menu has more than just coffee. Even though Maan Coffee is a coffee shop, the complete name is “Maan Coffee Ÿ Waffle & Toast”. The various exquisite food items give customers a wide selection and attract wider range of customers to find their appetites in Maan Coffee. The owner has very insightful understanding of Chinese customers. He knows that Chinese people like fresh food, thus he made the food preparation counter visible to most of the customers to show them the food here are not only delicious, but also very fresh.
Maan Coffee has opened 36 stores country-wide, and over 24 upcoming stores are under construction. China is a new coffee consumption market, but it’s already crowded. When big brands like Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Pacific Coffee are enjoying the profits, new entrants are finding different ways to share the cake. China’s close neighbor, South Korea, has a booming development of coffee business, and this has nurtured many successful Korean coffee brands at the same time. Even though Starbucks is the number one coffee shop in China, big Korean coffee brands like Caffe Bean, Angel-in-us, Hollys Coffee are already well known in China (thanks to the popularity of Korean drama). In China, coffee industry grows drastically, at the mean time, the competition is growing more fiercely than ever. Western coffee brands are facing strong Asian competitors now.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of StartJG Hong Kong.
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