This bank in Shanghai helped Yunnan coffee brands settle in Jing'an, only to see two sides of Biton | Shanghai | Coffee
Recently, a coffee brand from Yunnan, Biden Coffee's East China headquarters, officially settled in Shanghai, with the first store in the country opening at Changde Apartment in Jing'an District. What many people don't know is that behind the appearance of this coffee shop in Shanghai, it was the support of a bank.
"Biton" means "we" in Dai language, and Biton Coffee has its own industrial park in Baoshan, Yunnan, where it grows the famous "Baoshan small grain coffee". But for many years, Biton has always faced the same problem as most Yunnan coffee companies - becoming a cheap raw material supply base for large coffee companies with meager profits. So, going out of Yunnan and building its own coffee industry is the path that Biton Coffee has always wanted to take.
Yunnan is the province with the highest quality and largest production of coffee in China, while Shanghai has the world's largest number of coffee shops. If you can open a shop in Shanghai, there is hope to connect upstream Yunnan coffee farmers, downstream Shanghai coffee shops, and a large number of coffee enthusiasts.
So in 2014, Biton Coffee came to Shanghai to prepare to open a store. But there were more difficulties than imagined. Li Lihong, the chairman of Biton Coffee, recalled that Shanghai was so big and unfamiliar with the place of life. She didn't know where to choose to open a store, but after choosing it, she encountered a series of procedural problems and ultimately came to an end. But the dream of opening a store in Shanghai has always been buried in my heart.
"Opening a coffee shop mainly involves two issues - location and talent. We have been preparing for many years, and we have also accumulated a lot of talent, but the location has always been difficult to choose. Because Shanghai is the first store in our country, we hope to set a benchmark, so we are particularly cautious. This has been dragging on for many years," explained Fang Mingfeng, the general manager of Biton Coffee Co., Ltd.
The opportunity has finally arrived. On May 25, 2023, the Shanghai Branch of China Construction Bank came to Yunnan to hold a cooperation symposium with the Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Yunnan coffee industry. During the communication, the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank heard that Biton Coffee wanted to open a store in Shanghai and offered to help.
"Isn't it true that banks borrow money? Do you still care about this matter?" Fang Mingfeng was a bit puzzled.
Taking advantage of his business trip to Shanghai, Fang Mingfeng came to the Shanghai Branch of China Construction Bank to explore new avenues. I didn't expect the bank to take him directly to the state-owned asset platform New Jing'an Group in Jing'an District to see the location of the store together. "We immediately fell for it! In other words, seeing only two sides, China Construction Bank helped us solve the problem that had been troubling us for several years," said Fang Mingfeng.
In just over a month, China Construction Bank has pushed this Yunnan based coffee enterprise into the Shanghai market. The relevant person in charge of the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank stated that Biton Coffee wants to choose a location in the city center, and New Jing'an Group is a client of China Construction Bank. Therefore, China Construction Bank helped both parties to match up, strive for high-quality commercial resources, and also attract investment for Jing'an. "We are pulling existing customers with one hand and target customers with the other, bringing them together on our CCB platform for cooperation and mutual benefit."
Not only that, the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank is also planning to develop one of its branches and open a store for Biton Coffee. At the same time, the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank actively collaborates with coffee shops in Shanghai to purchase and bake coffee beans, and recommends high-quality Shanghai enterprises to invest in Yunnan's coffee industry.
Helping Biden is just a small step in this bank's coffee program. At the opening ceremony of the just concluded Third Shanghai Coffee Culture Week, the Shanghai Branch of China Construction Bank released six measures to fully support the high-quality development of the coffee industry, including providing 5 billion yuan of special credit line support, "Magic Coffee Loan" inclusive financial special products, carrying out CCB's life promotion activities, and promoting digital operation of merchants. Taking the inclusive financial loan product "Mokadai" as an example, the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank provides credit loans of up to 5 million yuan and 500000 yuan respectively to coffee enterprises and individual businesses that meet credit conditions, and offers a maximum loan interest rate discount of 30 basis points. At present, China Construction Bank Shanghai Branch has provided credit support to more than 30 coffee operating enterprises, with a credit amount exceeding 68 million yuan. In addition, the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank has also empowered coffee merchants with digitalization through the "CCB Life" app. Currently, over 4000 coffee merchants have settled on the CCB Life platform, and China Construction Bank has also invested over 1.5 million yuan in coffee discount activities.
"Biden Coffee is our exploration, and once the road is paved, it can benefit the entire Yunnan coffee industry and also find a new direction for our bank to support Shanghai coffee culture," said the relevant person in charge of the Shanghai branch of China Construction Bank.
