China’s Moutai, Luckin launch alcohol-tinged latte to woo younger Chinese language customers By Reuters

By Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh

BEIJING (Reuters) – Kweichow Moutai and occasional model Luckin Espresso (OTC:) on Monday launched in China a latte marketed as containing the fiery Chinese language spirit baijiu, because the Chinese language luxurious liquor maker goals to drag in additional youthful customers.

The 38 yuan ($5.23) “sauce-flavoured latte”, which Luckin discounted to 19 yuan on the primary day of gross sales, was one of the crucial mentioned matters on Chinese language social media platform Weibo (NASDAQ:), with a number of customers saying that they had positioned orders.

Moutai, often known as the nationwide liquor of China, is a potent, colourless spirit that’s normally served at banquets in China, and drinkers say that the flavour and aroma of Kweichow Moutai’s model are much like soy sauce. The businesses mentioned the latte alcohol content material was decrease than 0.5% of its quantity.

The launch comes amid a slowing economic system and as Kweichow Moutai, whose alcohol sells at a mean market information worth of 1,499 yuan, has been on the lookout for methods to be extra accessible and pull in a brand new era of customers. The corporate, based mostly in China’s southwestern Guizhou province, additionally launched a baijiu-infused ice cream final 12 months.

Chinese language social media customers posted movies of themselves selecting up cups of the drink and being informed by gross sales workers that they need to not drive after consuming it. By Monday afternoon in Beijing, the app confirmed patrons would wish to attend for greater than an hour to select up their drinks, up from the same old couple of minutes.

Unbiased meals trade analyst Zhu Danpeng mentioned the collaboration would most certainly profit each manufacturers.

“Moutai and Luckin are the main enterprises within the home liquor and occasional sectors, respectively,” Zhu mentioned. “On the one hand, Moutai accelerates its model rejuvenation by way of cooperation with Luckin and then again, for Luckin, its cooperation with Moutai additionally helps to enhance its complete energy and model tone within the espresso trade.”

Luckin has been aggressively increasing its retailer portfolio in China after surviving an accounting fraud scandal in 2020 that compelled it to withdraw from the Nasdaq change and introduced it to the brink of collapse.

($1 = 7.2640 renminbi)