Luckin Tea, which launched in April 2019. The company plans to expand the range to over 30 tea based beverages. Image © Luckin Coffee

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The rapidly growing Chinese coffee chain, Luckin Coffee, has announced the launch of independent sister store brand, Luckin Tea, in a bid to capitalise on the freshly-brewed tea market. The news follows the successful roll-out of the company’s own Luckin Tea brand in April 2019.
 
The company stated the new stores would take more of a lifestyle-centric focus, targeting leisure locations such as shopping malls and initially rolling out in 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th tier cities. The original Luckin Coffee concept will continue to expand its presence in 1^st and 2^nd tier cities, targeting office locations to attract white-collar customers.
 
In a statement, COO Jian Liu said the Luckin Coffee and Tea stores would complement one another, with each selling an assortment of freshly brewed teas and coffees respectively.
 
Luckin also announced it would pilot a new ‘retail partnership model’ to support the tea-focused franchise expansion, allowing partners to ‘control their service quality effectively and mitigate investment risk while increasing profitability at their stores.’
 
“The launch of both our independent Luckin Tea brand and  Retail Partnership  model will significantly bolster our current operational capabilities. Through these initiatives, we will cover more cities while substantially improve the number of transacting customers, purchase frequency, and operational efficiency,” added Mr Liu.
 

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