The coffee industry is undergoing a self transformation of its supply chain. Starting from the groundbreaking in December 2022, the Luckin Coffee (Jiangsu) baking base took 16 months and was officially completed and put into operation on April 20, 2024.
As the largest coffee roasting base in the industry that has been put into operation in China, Luckin Coffee (Jiangsu) roasting base has attracted much attention. This new roasting plant, with a total investment of 120 million US dollars and an annual production capacity of 30000 tons, is not only an important measure to improve the efficiency of Luckin Coffee's supply chain, but also an important part of accelerating the construction of Kunshan's billion dollar coffee industry chain.
The baking base has been officially completed and put into operation
Ruixing Coffee (Jiangsu) Baking Base is Ruixing's second automated baking base, following the Fujian Baking Base, which integrates functions such as raw bean storage, distribution, baking, packaging, and sales. With intelligent advantages, it deeply integrates the vertical coffee supply chain, empowers industry quality upgrading with new quality productivity, helps Ruixing improve its supply chain network, enhances supply chain operation efficiency, and further enhances the ability to control the quality of coffee beans throughout the entire process.
Entering this newly put into operation roasting base, you can see a constant temperature and humidity storage warehouse for coffee beans. The entire production process uses cutting-edge intelligent equipment worldwide, achieving efficient and automated production from bean processing, coffee bean baking, packaging to warehousing and logistics. This has pushed the intelligent production and high-quality control of the domestic coffee industry to a new level of development.
The establishment of Ruixing Coffee (Jiangsu) roasting base in Kunshan is a plan that is both tailored to local conditions and forward-looking. In recent years, with the rapid development of Kunshan's import and export trade, and the deepening of cultural exchanges at home and abroad, coffee has gradually become a standard in urban life. Meanwhile, the coffee consumption habits in the Yangtze River Delta region have also had a significant impact on the coffee culture in Kunshan. Nowadays, there are over 500 coffee shops in Kunshan, which have integrated into the streets, alleys, and community commerce. A cup of coffee every day is becoming a social and lifestyle habit for Kunshan citizens. Setting up the baking base within the Kunshan Comprehensive Bonded Zone coincides with the widespread coffee consumption and culture in Kunshan.
On the other hand, Kunshan is the largest coffee roasting industry cluster in China, with an annual roasting volume of 60% of the country's coffee beans. The "full industry chain" and "internationalization" are becoming the two major characteristics of Kunshan's coffee industry. The completion and operation of Luckin Coffee (Jiangsu) roasting base has accelerated the construction and intelligent development of Kunshan's billion dollar coffee industry chain, promoting the effective improvement of China's coffee industry chain level and supply chain efficiency.
Guo Jinyi, Chairman and CEO of Luckin Coffee, stated that the roasting base of Luckin Coffee (Jiangsu) is a milestone in the construction of Luckin Coffee's high-quality supply chain. By integrating environmentally friendly, intelligent production, and quality control throughout various operations and production processes, and fully integrating the vertical coffee supply chain, it will provide stronger quality support for over 16000 stores of Luckin Coffee nationwide.
Integrating new productive forces into production
By building a supply chain, enterprises can take the lead in their own hands, promote the rapid implementation of product research and development, and achieve a significant increase in production capacity. For Luckin Coffee, building a supply chain is an active exploration in the new competitive environment.
As the largest coffee chain brand in the Chinese market, Luckin Coffee has been deeply involved in the rapid growth of the Chinese coffee industry. In 2021, Luckin Coffee opened its first fully automated and intelligent baking base in Fujian. Relying on the current two major coffee roasting bases in Jiangsu and Fujian, Luckin Coffee will form a self processing roasting supply network with an annual production capacity of over 45000 tons. It will respond more quickly and accurately to changes in consumer demand, cooperate with intelligent warehousing and logistics systems, and deliver fresher and higher quality coffee to stores across the country, continuously and stably providing consumers with high-quality products.
Nowadays, Luckin Coffee has established a series of supply chain guarantees from fresh fruit processing, coffee bean roasting, production, and other aspects. The launch of the "Global Bean Search Program" and the completion of the first fresh coffee fruit processing plant in Baoshan, Yunnan have further improved the brand's unique flavor and stable quality coffee bean supply system for Luckin Coffee.
With the completion of this intelligent, automated, green and sustainable coffee roasting base in Jiangsu, Luckin Coffee further realizes the deep integration of a high-quality vertical supply chain from fresh fruits to coffee, and strives to apply "high-tech, efficient, and high-quality" as the core concept to the entire production process of the base, greatly improving the efficiency of supply chain operation and responding to the development call of new quality productivity.
Boosting the coffee industry to take a big step forward
The domestic coffee industry used to be dominated by foreign brands, and whether it was instant coffee or freshly ground coffee, the Chinese coffee market lacked a brand with local characteristics. Luckin Coffee has risen to become the first Chinese coffee industry enterprise to break through ten thousand stores in recent years, and has also explored a unique development path for Chinese coffee enterprises.
From the perspective of the coffee supply chain, roasting is an important link in stimulating the flavor of coffee beans and a key link in laying out a vertical supply chain. Building a self built baking factory can further strengthen quality control, optimize baking plans more meticulously based on the preferences of Chinese consumers, quickly respond to changes in market demand, and provide strong quality support for the accelerated development of the industry. The direct implementation of the coffee roasting industry by companies represented by Luckin Coffee will further promote the development of the middle reaches of China's coffee industry and become a sign of the industry's maturity.
The supply chain has become a difficult problem that consumer goods enterprises must overcome. Building a self built supply chain requires significant investment and effort in core technology, team building, resource integration, and production management, with a longer return period. However, for brands with scale, this can bring more control and benefits. Only when the supply chain is perfectly integrated with the brand can product stability be guaranteed. As competition in the coffee market intensifies, supply chain advantages are the key to widening the market gap.
Luckin Coffee (Jiangsu) Baking Base has officially started production, providing strong impetus for the decoding of new quality and productivity in the local coffee industry in China, accelerating the process of quality upgrading, and providing a new practical sample for Chinese coffee brands to go global. With the rapid growth of the Chinese coffee market, Luckin Coffee is making every effort to build a more professional coffee brand. While consolidating its own supply chain foundation, it is also leading Chinese coffee to the world.