Jilin Yanbian Prefecture Party Secretary Invites Internet Celebrity Coffee Enterprises for Discussion: Making the “King of County Coffee” Golden Signboard Shine Brighter
On December 2, Yanbian Prefecture in Jilin Province held a symposium for internet-famous coffee enterprises, attended by Hu Jiafu, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Prefectural Party Committee. Nineteen representatives from coffee, catering, and vocational training institutions were invited to participate.
On December 2, Yanbian Prefecture gathered select internet-famous coffee enterprise representatives to discuss ways to promote the upgrading of the coffee industry and accelerate the development of Yanbian’s cultural tourism market. WeChat public account “Yanbian Fabu” photo.
According to reports in the “Yanbian Daily,” Hu Jiafu, representing the Yanbian Prefectural Party Committee and Government, expressed gratitude to coffee enterprises for their contributions to the prosperity of Yanbian’s cultural tourism market. He urged them to seize the current favorable opportunity of Yanbian’s rising cultural tourism market, closely follow changes in market demand, enrich product offerings, enhance consumer experiences, tell coffee stories well, and jointly promote the scale, specialization, and branding of Yanji’s coffee industry, making the search for a whiff of coffee in Yanbian a new cultural tourism consumption trend.
The report stated that the symposium had a relaxed and lively atmosphere. Nineteen enterprise representatives from Hanzhi Coffee, Laodingben Coffee, Yanchuan Xuebing Coffee, Shiting Coffee, Houlang Coffee, Xinluoyu Coffee, Yinglun Shiguang Coffee, Xiaoxingqiu Coffee, Kube Coffee, Quanchao Coffee, Hagenna Coffee, Leye Coffee, Yanqing Coffee, Miluojia Coffee, Yiwu San Coffee Co., Ltd., Yanbian Yanfu Qingtandong Catering Management Co., Ltd., Yanbian Enxi Coffee Management Co., Ltd., Yanji Pengbei Vocational Training School, and Longjing Tianhuali Coffee freely spoke their minds. They introduced their production and operation status in detail, candidly discussed the difficulties and challenges in development, shared their future enterprise development plans, and expressed their thoughts and expectations regarding policies supporting enterprises, employee training, and strengthened financial services. Officials from Yanji City, Longjing City, and relevant prefectural departments engaged in interactive discussions with the enterprise representatives on supporting enterprise development and promoting the deep integration of “coffee and tourism.”
Hu Jiafu pointed out that he hopes everyone will adhere to creativity, innovation, and invention, focusing on production and operation management, coffee product development, and marketing promotion to make the “King of County Coffee” this “golden brand” even more dazzling and attractive, further enhancing the popularity and influence of Yanbian’s cultural tourism. WeChat public account “Yanbian Fabu” photo.
Hu Jiafu noted that Yanji is dotted with coffee shops and brands, ranking first among the country’s county-level cities in coffee shops per 10,000 people. Coffee culture has deeply integrated into the city’s fabric and citizens’ lives, becoming a beautiful calling card for the city. Currently, Yanbian Prefecture is leveraging the rapid development of Yanji’s coffee industry, actively attracting upstream and downstream coffee enterprises to settle, further extending the coffee industry chain, cultivating new coffee consumption formats, accelerating the deep integration of “coffee and tourism,” and striving to make the coffee industry a new growth point for the cultural tourism industry. He hopes that everyone will adhere to creativity, innovation, and invention, focusing on production and operation management, coffee product development, and marketing promotion to make the “King of County Coffee” this “golden brand” even more dazzling and popular, further enhancing Yanbian’s cultural tourism popularity and influence. In product development, efforts should be intensified to cater to increasingly diverse consumer needs and individualized consumer psychology. Innovation should be pursued in taste, pairing, packaging, and consumption methods, and product development with local Yanbian characteristics should be strengthened. Efforts should be made to launch more coffee products with rich and varied flavors, suitable for various drinking habits, fashionable and convenient, and embodying local Yanbian characteristics, providing consumers with better taste experiences and superior consumption experiences. In terms of innovative consumption scenarios, efforts should be made to closely integrate the business theme and target consumer group characteristics, creating distinctive consumption scenarios such as “coffee + books,” “coffee + e-sports,” “coffee + performances,” and “coffee + folklore” tailored to local conditions. By shaping specific scenarios and atmospheres, creating comfortable environments and services, and offering immersive consumption experiences that are observable, sensible, participatory, and interactive, customer loyalty can be further enhanced, word-of-mouth promotion can be facilitated, and efforts can be made to create new city attractions. Precise marketing efforts should be made, learning from the operating models and marketing methods of well-known enterprises in the industry, exploring the opening of 24-hour stores, brand image stores, and urban flagship stores, and adopting comprehensive online and offline “omnichannel retail.” Real-time interactions and live sales should be conducted on social media platforms, cross-industry brand and IP collaborations should be actively pursued, a series of co-branded coffees and related products should be carefully launched, and promotional activities should be carried out in conjunction with specific events to continuously stimulate consumers’ freshness and purchase desire, promoting sustained and steady growth in enterprise operating performance.
Among them, the “King of County Coffee” mentioned by Hu Jiafu refers to Yanji City, the capital of Yanbian Prefecture.
According to data provided by the Propaganda Department of the Yanji Municipal Party Committee, in Yanji City, a county-level city with a permanent population of 690,000, there are over 800 coffee shops scattered throughout the city. The number of coffee shops per 10,000 people is nearly four times that of Shanghai, known as the “Coffee Capital,” making it worthy of the title “King of County Coffee” among the 394 county-level cities in China.
According to an earlier report by People’s Network, Yanbian is located at the junction of China, Russia, and North Korea. As the capital city of Yanbian Prefecture, Yanji was the first to come into contact with the coffee culture of neighboring countries at the beginning of reform and opening up, becoming a “window” for cultural openness and integration in Northeast Asia.
“I remember when I was a child, a relative brought back instant coffee from Russia, which was my first time having coffee,” said Cui Fenghua, President of the Yanbian Coffee Culture Exchange and Development Association, in an interview with People’s Network. In the 1980s and 1990s, Yanji residents were already drinking coffee. With the deepening of reform and opening up, many Korean-Chinese took advantage of their language and geographical advantages to work in South Korea. Influenced by the South Korean love for coffee, they brought this trend back to Yanji, ushering in the “tea shop” era in Yanbian.
The report stated that around 2008, Yanji residents who had worked in South Korea returned to start businesses, introducing South Korean coffee chain brands. The elegant and comfortable environment of these shops, along with freshly ground coffee beans, gradually introduced more Yanji residents to coffee culture and cultivated their love for coffee. After nearly four decades of development, drinking coffee has become a daily habit for most Yanji residents.
