Author: He Danlin (original).
As a strong player in the two major tracks of coffee and snacks, TIMS Tianhao Coffee and BESTORE unexpectedly "came together".
Today, Tim Hortons, a world-renowned coffee chain, and Popeyes, a fried chicken brand ("Tims China"), announced a strategic partnership with BESTORE, a high-quality snack brand. For this reason, the two parties described this relationship as a "godsend" under their respective brand names.
According to the cooperation agreement,The two parties will explore the opening of small Tims Express (Lingfeng stores) in some BESTORE storesto further expand the customer base and create more diversified consumption scenarios. Xiaoshidai learned,This morning, the first store jointly built by TIMS Tianhao Coffee and BESTORE officially opened in Wuhan.
We started to discuss cooperation in August this year. Today, Tims Tianhao China replied to Xiaoshidai that it saidThe Tims Express store jointly opened by the two parties is a franchise nature, and BESTORE is its franchise KA (Key Account) partner.
The first fusion store opened in Wuhan today.
Below, Xiaoshidai will take you to pay attention to more details of this cooperation.
Coffee + snacks
Through the "shop-in-shop" model of TIMS Tianhao Coffee in BESTORE, the two sides have created a new species of "coffee chain + snack chain".
As a leading brand of casual snacks in China, BESTORE's offline stores are no longer traditional snack stores, but a comprehensive new retail platform integrating service, delivery and experience. As of the end of September this year,BESTORE has a total of 3,344 stores nationwideThe store network covers 181 cities in 23 provinces and cities across the country.
At present, Tims China operates Tims Coffee and Popeyes Restaurant, of which the coffee business accounts for the vast majority. According to the financial report, as of the end of September 2023,The number of TIMS Tianhao Coffee stores nationwide has reached 763, covering 56 cities, with a total of 16.87 million registered members.
We are very pleased to have become a strategic partner with TIMS Tianhao China. TIMS China's professional international operation experience and rich localized innovation ideas will be a useful reference and supplement for us. Zhang Guoqiang, Vice President of BESTORE, said today that he believes that the cooperation between the two sides can continue to promote the diversification of consumption scenarios and the enhancement of commercial value.
Lu Yongchen, CEO of Tims Tianhao China, said that BESTORE is an advocate and leader of high-quality products in China, and Tims Tianhao Coffee is a firm executor of the "Coffee +" growth strategy. "I believe that this exploration of 'coffee + snacks' not only allows consumers to 'eat and drink well', but also brings them the ultimate consumption convenience and rich consumption experience. β
Xiaoshidai learned,After opening the first store in Wuhan today, the two sides are planning for more fusion stores. "This year, it is expected to open three stores in Wuhan first. βBESTORE and TIMS Tianhao China said.
Today, the two sides said in a notice that this cooperation will not only help TIMS Tianhao Coffee quickly exert its brand potential, expand more offline stores, and reach more consumer groups, but also help both parties create a Matthew effectAchieve brand resonance through the new consumption scenario of "coffee + snacks" and provide consumers with better services.
Franchise model
At present, for Tims Tianhao Coffee, the franchise model is one of the key strategies to accelerate its store expansion in the Chinese market.
Xiaoshidai learned that since entering the Chinese market in 2019, TIMS Tianhao Coffee has been mainly directly operated stores, and also has some franchise stores, and has continuously expanded diversified franchise models. At present, the company has a total of three models: "City Franchise", "KA Franchise" and "Partner Program".
The city franchise enables TIMS Tianhao Coffee to accelerate the expansion of the sinking market. "The model of cooperation with excellent local franchisees (i.e. city joining) allows us to occupy a strategic location and reduce the company's operating costs. In July this year, Tims Tianhao Coffee opened its 700th store in Yinchuan through the city franchise, Zeng said.
This time, BESTORE has become the latest KA "ally" of TIMS Tianhao Coffee.
According to data disclosed in early August of this year,Among the new stores opened by TIMS Tianhao Coffee this year, 70% of them have been opened in cooperation with high-quality KA franchise partners, and the stores have opened convenience stores, real estate agency stores and home appliance stores, all of which are "shop-in-shop" models. "The franchise strategy enables us to cooperate with large chain enterprises, settle in hot spots, and promote efficient growth. Tims Tianhao China said.
In addition to the newly joined BESTORE, TIMS Tianhao Coffee's KA franchise partners also include Sinopec Yijie, 21st Century Real Estate, Haier Three-winged Bird, Lingca, etc. As of the beginning of August this year, there have been 46 Sinopec Yijie x Tims Express fusion stores, 12 C21 x Tims Express fusion stores, and 3 Three-winged Bird x Tims Express fusion stores across the country.
It's not hard to spot,The "shop-in-shop" opened by BESTORE and other KA franchisees are all Tims Express stores. Xiaoshidai once introduced that the store types of Tims Tianhao Coffee in the Chinese market include *** Jinfeng store), standard store (red maple store), Tims Go (Jiefeng store) and Tims Express (Lingfeng store);Among them, the latter two are small store models.
Tims Express occupies an area of about 20 square meters and has:The store is flexible, the cost is low, the opening speed is faster, and the ping efficiency is highadvantages. TIMS Tianhao China told Xiaoshidai today that this type of store type helps it to increase store density and provide convenience for consumers, and the Express store type is particularly flexible and efficient in high-traffic places with limited space.
In addition, in September this year, TIMS Tianhao Coffee recently announced the opening of monomer franchise and officially launched".Partner ProgramβγThe first batch of franchise areas are in Beijing and Shanghai, and the franchise store type is another small store model, namely Tims Go (Jiefeng store).
BESTORE's coffee strategy
For BESTORE, this is the latest attempt by the casual snack chain to increase its coffee business.
Xiaoshidai noticed that in the first half of this year, BESTORE set foot in the coffee business for the first time, and launched the "BESTORE Coffee" brand in stores to sell freshly ground coffee. Consumers only need to add 6 yuan to any consumption in the store to redeem any cup of coffee, including raw coconut latte, nut latte, American, etc.
At the moment, the value of this coffee business seems to be more about acquiring new customers and attracting consumption. Today, at the BESTORE store in the podium of a community in Guangzhou, a clerk told Xiaoshidai that as far as he knows, some newly opened stores with large areas will have "shop-in-shop" stores that sell freshly ground coffee from BESTORE.
In our shop, there are 10 or 20 orders a day. The above-mentioned clerk said. During the 10-minute stay at the above-mentioned store, Xiaoshidai did not see any customers buying coffee.
A BESTORE in Guangzhou operates its own "good coffee" coffee business.
According to the menu, the store** has 6 drinks, including 5 types of coffee, which can be made as both cold and hot drinks, and the prices are 10 yuan, 15 yuan and 17 yuan. However, individual drinks seem to have ** chain problems, and the clerk said that the nut latte "has been out of stock for a while, and the store is not selling it now".
At present, BESTORE's'Good Coffee' is to provide our customers with a solution to eat and drink, and the cooperation with Tims Tianhao Coffee is a new exploration and strong alliance in the integration of stores + formatsto provide our consumers with more diverse choices. BESTORE replied to the snack generation today.
The company said that whether it is "Liangca" or a strong alliance with TIMS, BESTORE's involvement in the coffee business is to create a better consumer experience atmosphere for consumers in stores and provide consumers with better "value-added services".
At present, BESTORE has nearly 300 stores selling freshly ground coffee, and the number of coffee cups in the stores is stable, with the goal of increasing repurchase and improving reputation, and improving the quality of coffee products. BESTORE told Xiaoshidai today that after cooperating with TIMS Tianhao Coffee, it will use its expertise in the coffee business to explore the in-store coffee scene that is more in line with consumer trends.
It is worth noting that there is not only one snack chain store that is interested in coffee, for example, Laiyifen has launched "Laica" in its stores, which also sells freshly ground coffee. Laiyifen said earlier this year that when the store is open, the cost is fixed, and coffee can increase revenue, increase customer flow, increase the entry rate of afternoon tea crowds, and then drive the associated consumption of other products.
Opportunities and challenges
The reason behind the cross-border cooperation between Tims Tianhao Coffee and BESTORE should be that both brands want toBring new consumer experience to the original consumer group, and coffee and snacks are currently in the high-growth track. A senior restaurant industry person analyzed to Xiaoshidai today.
He said that the traditional model of coffee is to match pastries, bread, etc., in the context of the current fierce competition in the coffee track, TIMS Tianhao Coffee may hope to find another way to bring new experience to consumers through the new combination of "coffee + snacks".
In the opinion of the above-mentioned people, the cooperation between Tims Tianhao Coffee and BESTORE has a certain reasonableness.
On the one hand, as an international coffee chain brand that is rapidly expanding in the Chinese market, Tims Tianhao Coffee is "more likely to negotiate a partnership than Starbucks, and at the same time, it is more familiar to consumers in China than Peet's Coffee". On the other hand, he believes that for Tims Tianhao Coffee, the number of stores and brand awareness of BESTORE are its favorite advantages.
However, for the cooperation between Tims Tianhao Coffee and BESTORE to open a "shop-in-shop", the catering industry believes that it also faces some challenges.
For example, McCoffee exists in McDonald's stores in the form of a 'shop-in-shop', and this model is feasible in large part because they all belong to the same manager, and resources such as employees can be shared. He said, whileWhen tims and BESTORE, two brands with different managers, are "in the same room", the daily operation of the store may encounter challenges in terms of people, goods and logistics, such as manpower arrangement, how the store's resources are coordinated, and who will lead the solution to the problem.
He also pointed out that for both parties, it is also necessary to evaluate this new business model, such as whether the cooperative stores are more advantageous in terms of turnover and profits, and whether the topics brought about by the cross-border cooperation are helpful to both brands, and whether they will help the two brands to attract new customer groups.
Therefore, the above-mentioned person believes that the cooperation between Tims Tianhao Coffee and BESTORE still needs some time to test from the innovative exploration of the concept and the specific implementation to the actual operation of the "shop-in-shop", and he expects that this new store type may not be quickly rolled out at least in the short term.