150+品牌齐聚、近七成首入，郑州这场咖啡节如何持续圈粉？How can Zhengzhou's coffee festival continue to attract fans with 150+brands gathering and nearly 70% of first-time customers?

On the morning of May 27th, the 8th Zhengzhou Haihui Port Coffee Carnival opened. Although it was still a working day, it did not affect people's enthusiasm to rush to this "coffee appointment". The on-site staff were still busy installing equipment and setting up exhibition booths, while the tourists outside had already formed long queues. It is reported that this event brought together more than 150 coffee and lifestyle brands from all over the country and overseas, with nearly 70% of the brands participating in the coffee carnival for the first time. The event will last until May 31st, during which citizens and tourists can receive free admission tickets.

More than 150 domestic and foreign brands gather in Zhengzhou, offering diverse formats and rich exhibition experiences

The reporter from Dahe Caifang noticed that there were not only locally renowned independent coffee shops such as Zhiren Zhiwei and Z Square on site, but also popular boutique coffee brands from Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, such as MaLu Coffee, Coffee Lost, MONO, as well as more than 10 international coffee brands from overseas regions such as Australia and South Korea. You can encounter flavors and specialties from all over the world without leaving the city. There are also catering, baking, craft brewing, and home furnishing merchants on site, with rich and diverse product offerings, further amplifying the "coffee+" effect.

Besides "old friends" such as Beijing Xiong Pao and Xinjiang San Qiu, why did the foreign brands that entered Zhengzhou for the first time not hesitate to cross thousands of miles? This is our first time attending the coffee festival in Zhengzhou, and the atmosphere on site exceeded expectations, "said Tu Sheng, the head of Xinjia Coffee from Qingyuan, Guangdong, in an interview with Dahe Caili reporters. He started participating in various coffee markets across the country at the end of 2024, and this is his first time stepping into the Central Plains market. He specially brought his signature -86 ℃ iced cup coffee, hoping to further enhance his brand influence through offline activities. The staff of STITCH COFFEE in Sydney, Australia, stated that participating in the coffee festival not only allows one to experience the coffee culture of different regions, understand local consumer preferences, but also allows for on-site inspection of the market environment, providing reference for the brand's future offline store layout and location selection.

According to Liu Yang, the brand manager of Haihui Port, more than 300 brands have registered during the preparation stage of this year's coffee carnival. The organizer takes product quality, brand awareness, and influence as the core standards, and ultimately gathers more than 150 coffee and lifestyle brands, of which nearly 40 coffee brands are making their debut in Zhongyuan. In order to provide a better experience for everyone, we will also actively invite top domestic and foreign brands to participate in the exhibition, and some brands will also bring new product special promotions

Meeting friends with coffee and organizing market activities to build a new cultural and social scene

Nowadays, coffee has surpassed its simple beverage attributes and evolved into an important social bond and public space carrier in modern cities. At the event, people hold various types of coffee or stop in front of stalls, chatting shoulder to shoulder with coffee managers from home and abroad, listening to each other tell the story of a bean; Or sit around the table, chatting about flavors, baking, and sharing the surprise you just had.

Just after noon, the event site experienced another peak in foot traffic, with many citizens and coffee enthusiasts coming to check in and visit the exhibition. We usually like to drink coffee very much, and today we happened to take a break. I heard that the coffee carnival was opening, so I immediately invited friends to come and take a stroll. "Ms. Zhang, a citizen, walked with her friends, tasting coffee and taking photos as a souvenir.

I am a 'coffee enthusiast'. In recent years, coffee festivals have been coming, and I can taste many popular brands from other places. I don't have many opportunities to go out, so drinking here is a way to make money, "said Mr. Liu, a citizen.

On social media platforms such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu, many netizens have also shared their check-in records. Some are experienced enthusiasts who have already "drunk 10+cups", while others have expressed their intention to leave immediately and "ask for recommendations not to spread widely". There are also out of town tourists who "checked in while on a business trip to Zhengzhou".

By participating in coffee market activities, one can have face-to-face communication with coffee enthusiasts from all over the country and understand the coffee culture of different regions. This is a very rare experience, "said the staff of Sidiqi brand.

It is understood that this carnival also provides a professional platform for coffee enthusiasts to exchange and share knowledge, culture, and flavors. During the event, a special coffee tasting sharing session will be held every afternoon, where multiple coffee brand managers and baristas will share industry knowledge and brewing techniques on-site, providing consumers with an immersive experience.

From a niche gathering initially attended by over a dozen brands, to an industry event now attracting more than 150 high-quality domestic and foreign brands, the Haihui Port Coffee Carnival has continued to witness and promote the flourishing development of coffee culture in Central China over the past eight years. We hope to create an international, fashionable, and youthful lifestyle through activities that can continuously interact and connect with young people, "said Liu Yang.

The market economy continues to heat up, how can the industry get out of the homogenization dilemma?

In recent years, Zhengzhou's markets have blossomed with diverse themed markets such as coffee, bread, hamburgers, ceramic art, and intangible cultural heritage. These markets integrate social, check-in, and cultural consumption modes, which not only accurately meet the consumption habits and spiritual needs of contemporary young people, but also bring huge online and offline traffic, becoming an emerging comprehensive economic format and a new scene for urban cultural and tourism consumption. But with the surge in the number of various themed festival activities, homogenization problems such as creative convergence and single mode have become increasingly prominent, which have also become a shortcoming restricting the long-term development of the industry.

In this context, how does Haihui Port, which holds hundreds of events every year, continuously bring a sense of freshness to merchants and tourists? Bai Yadong, the general manager of Haihui Port, previously stated in an interview with Dahe Caili reporters that the purpose of holding the event should not only be to bring revenue growth to the merchants who have settled in, but also to deeply integrate the positioning of the block, the business format of the merchants, and the preferences of the target customer group, with high-quality content as the core, and finely polish various characteristic themes.

The core of commercial traffic lies not in blindly catering to the public, but in accurately reaching and serving specific groups who identify with brand values. "At the recently held 2026 Zhongyuan New Business Creator Conference, Tian Haicheng, a well-known cultural and tourism brand planner and chief brand officer of Anaya, stated that the industry should abandon extensive traffic thinking, deeply cultivate users' real needs, gather niche circles through vertical activities, and then use circle influence to radiate to the public.

Editor in Chief: Wang Shidan | Reviewer: Zhang Yipeng | Reviewer: Li Zhen | Supervisor: Guzheng