Curious about how to open over 14,000 coffee shops in three years? Li Yingbo, Chief Strategy Officer at Cotti Coffee, shares a few trade secrets with World Coffee Portal – and why Cotti’s stratospheric growth could only happen in China. Words by Tobias Pearce
China’s branded coffee shop market is full of mind-boggling statistics. In 2023, World Coffee Portal broke the story that China had overtaken the US by outlets after growing 58% in a year to reach 50,000 stores.
Two years later, China’s branded coffee shop market comprises more than 87,000 stores after adding nearly 21,000 net new sites in just 12 months – making it the fastest growing of all time. Even more astounding is that more Chinese consumers now drink hot coffee daily compared to hot tea (25% versus 22%), World Coffee Portal data shows.
Having only opened its first store in October 2022, Cotti Coffee (a play on Italian biscotti) is now the second-largest coffee chain in China by outlets, where it operates more than 14,300 locations.
Over a little more than three years, Cotti Coffee has opened an average of 13 new stores every single day. Nearly 4,500 were opened in 2025 alone, making Cotti Coffee a key catalyst for China’s whirlwind coffee ascent.
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