Jilin Yanbian Prefecture Party Secretary Invites Internet Celebrity Coffee Enterprises for Discussion: Making the “King of County Coffee” Golden Brand Shine Brighter

On December 2, Yanbian Prefecture in Jilin Province held a forum 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 leaders 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” image)

According to reports in “Yanbian Daily,” Hu Jiafu, representing the Yanbian Prefectural Party Committee and Government, expressed gratitude to the coffee enterprises for their contributions to the prosperity of Yanbian’s cultural tourism market. He encouraged 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 good coffee stories, 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 forum had a relaxed and lively atmosphere. Nineteen enterprise leaders from coffee shops including 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, Yiwusan Coffee Co., Ltd., Yanbian Yanfu Qingtandong Catering Management Co., Ltd., Yanbian Enxi Coffee Management Co., Ltd., Yanji Pengpei Vocational Training School, and Longjing Tianhuali Coffee freely expressed their views. They introduced their current production and operation status, candidly discussed the difficulties and challenges they faced, shared their future development plans, and expressed their thoughts and expectations regarding policy support for enterprises, staff training, and strengthened financial services. Officials from Yanji City, Longjing City, and relevant prefectural departments interacted with the enterprise leaders on supporting enterprise development and promoting the deep integration of “coffee and tourism.”

Hu Jiafu pointed out that he hoped everyone would persist in creativity, innovation, and invention, focusing their efforts on production and operation management, coffee product development, and marketing promotion to make the “King of County Coffee” an even brighter and more eye-catching “golden signboard” that attracts more customers, further enhancing the popularity and influence of Yanbian’s cultural tourism. (WeChat public account “Yanbian Fabu” image)

Hu Jiafu noted that Yanji is dotted with coffee shops and brands, ranking first among county-level cities nationwide in the number of cafés 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 in the area, further extending the coffee industry chain, cultivating new coffee consumption formats, and accelerating the deep integration of “coffee and tourism” to make the coffee industry a new growth point for the cultural tourism industry. He hoped that everyone would 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” an even more dazzling and attractive brand, further enhancing Yanbian’s cultural tourism popularity and influence. Efforts should be made in product development to cater to increasingly diverse consumer needs and personalized consumption psychology, exploring innovations in taste, pairing, packaging, and drinking methods. Furthermore, product development should be more localized to Yanbian, striving to introduce coffee products that are rich in flavors, suitable for various drinking habits, fashionable, convenient, and imbued with local Yanbian characteristics to provide consumers with better taste experiences and superior consumption experiences. In terms of innovating consumption scenarios, efforts should be made to closely integrate the business themes and characteristics of the target consumer groups, creating unique consumption scenarios such as “coffee + books,” “coffee + e-sports,” “coffee + performances,” and “coffee + folklore” tailored to local conditions. By shaping specific scenes 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, and word-of-mouth promotion can be facilitated, striving to create new city attractions. Precise efforts should be made in marketing by learning from the operating models and marketing strategies of well-known enterprises in the industry, exploring the opening of 24-hour stores, brand image stores, and city flagship stores, adopting comprehensive online and offline “omnichannel retail,” leveraging social media platforms for real-time interaction and live sales, actively engaging in cross-brand and IP collaborations, carefully launching a series of co-branded coffees and related products, and conducting promotional activities during specific periods to continuously stimulate consumers’ freshness and purchasing desire, promoting sustained and steady growth in enterprise operating efficiency.

Among these, 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 resident population of 690,000, there are over 800 coffee shops scattered throughout the streets. 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 a previous report by People’s Network, Yanbian is located at the juncture of China, Russia, and North Korea. As the capital city of Yanbian Prefecture, Yanji was the first to encounter 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. That was the first time I tasted 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 Koreans’ love for coffee, they brought this trend back to Yanji, ushering in the “tea house” era in Yanbian.

The report stated that around 2008, Yanji natives returning from South Korea to start businesses introduced South Korean coffee chain brands. The elegant and comfortable environment of these shops, coupled with freshly ground coffee beans, gradually introduced more Yanji residents to coffee culture and cultivated their taste for coffee. After nearly four decades of development, drinking coffee has become a daily habit for most Yanji residents.