一杯瑞幸咖啡，解锁长宁新餐饮创新样本A cup of Luckin Coffee unlocks innovative samples for Changning's new catering industry

(Source: Shangguan News)

In recent years, Changning District has focused on the development needs of enterprises throughout their entire life cycle, using "new catering" as a lever. Through precise services, institutional innovation, policy support, and business district linkage, it has continuously improved its consumption level. In this context, Luckin Coffee (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is based in Changning and actively exploring a new paradigm of integrated cross-border consumption of "catering+public services+digital experience". With "urban service stations" as the core carrier, it has laid out integrated consumption scenarios in public spaces such as core subway stations and communication service halls in Shanghai, bringing convenience and warmth to citizens' lives.

Accurately embedded in public spaces

Commuting stations solve the "pain points" of people's livelihood

In the Hongqiao Gubei business district, the subway station on Line 15 at Loushanguan Road is bustling with people. In front of a Luckin Coffee commuter station, citizens who are picking up their meals are waiting in an orderly manner. With this post station, you can order in advance and pick up the coffee on your way out, which is very convenient and ensures the quality of the coffee. "Ms. Xu, a white-collar worker, placed an order in advance through the WeChat mini program, arrived at the counter, scanned the code, and picked up the meal in less than 2 minutes. This convenient experience is a microcosm of Luckin Coffee's introduction of the "new catering" concept in the public service field and its efforts to solve the pain points of people's livelihood.

This type of commuting station utilizes the scattered areas, transfer channels, and even abandoned ticket offices in the subway station hall. Without adding commercial land, high-quality coffee, tea, and light food services are integrated into the daily commuting routes of citizens through lightweight transformation. There is no dining area in the post station, and the "pick up and go" policy ensures that the order of the subway's large passenger flow is not affected.

At present, commuter stations like this have been laid out, including multiple subway lines passing through Changning, covering core stations of Shanghai subway lines, serving tens of thousands of daily commuters. As of April 2026, Luckin Coffee has built over 50 stations covering 13 subway lines. The number of cups in some post stations has rapidly increased from 300 cups in the early stages of opening to 800 cups, which intuitively confirms the effectiveness of this model in accurately targeting the demand for instant consumption.

Cross border integration reshapes the experience

Smart Station Upgrades Public Service 'Quality'

Next to the traditional business processing area of China Unicom Building in Zhongshan Park commercial district, there is a modern Luckin Coffee "Smart Station" that is refreshing. Mr. Wang, a citizen, bought an iced latte at the post station while waiting for broadband services. Before, waiting for business processing felt like time was unbearable. Now, having a cup of coffee and experiencing new products, I feel like waiting has become leisure, and the service experience is completely different, "Mr. Wang said.

This is the result of the deep cooperation between Luckin Coffee and Shanghai Unicom. Through scene reconstruction and business upgrading, traditional communication service halls have transformed from a single business processing window to a "community smart living room" that integrates convenient services, quality consumption, and digital experience. The station has also innovatively launched cross-border rights activities such as "recharge phone bills and get coffee". Users can recharge through the China Unicom payment system to obtain coffee consumption vouchers, achieving two-way drainage and value exchange between communication services and catering consumption. This integration not only enhances the added value of public service spaces, but also connects the user system through digital means, opening up new growth channels for all parties.

Global empowerment of digital technology

Building an efficient and intelligent operational ecosystem

Behind the efficient operation of the relay station, there is a strong support from a digital operation system. All stations are connected to Luckin Coffee's independently developed digital order fulfillment system and big data precision marketing system. Citizens can place orders online in advance through the Luckin App or mini program, and quickly pick up their meals at the station, forming a standardized consumption loop of "online booking and station pickup". The average time is controlled within 2 minutes, greatly optimizing the consumption experience.

On the operational end, the system pushes breakfast package discounts to commuters based on user habits, or provides targeted coffee coupons to Unicom users, effectively promoting efficient conversion and cross purchase of traffic in different scenarios. In the Smart Station, the intelligent interactive devices equipped integrate functions such as voice wake-up, motion capture, and digital life experience, transforming traditional waiting time into an immersive and rewarding interactive experience, reflecting the deep coupling between "digital experience" and public service scenarios.

Multi party win-win and sustainable

Create replicable 'Changning samples'

Luckin Coffee has established long-term and deep strategic partnerships with Shentong Metro and Shanghai Unicom, forming a mature mechanism of resource complementarity, benefit sharing, and collaborative operation. Shentong Metro opens up passenger flow and scene resources, Shanghai Unicom opens up space and user resources, while Luckin Coffee exports its brand, products, and digital operation capabilities. Commuting stations solve the catering needs during transportation, while digital stations optimize the waiting experience during operation. The two scenarios are organically linked through a unified brand image, operational standards, and digital system, building a convenient service network that covers the daily high-frequency activity trajectory of citizens, fully reflecting the cross-border, intelligent, and inclusive integration of new consumption scenarios. By 2026, Luckin Coffee plans to expand its subway stations to 100 and extend to other public service spaces such as government service centers, transportation hubs, hospital waiting areas, and university libraries.

Behind the success of Luckin Coffee's "City Service Station" is the vivid annotation of Changning District's deep cultivation of the "new catering" track and the practice of cross-border integration and resource sharing development concepts. With the continuous iteration and upgrading of consumer demand, Changning District actively guides catering enterprises to break away from the traditional positioning of "providing meals alone", promoting the industry to shift from basic "satiety supply" to a composite experience driven by emotional value, scene integration, and digital efficiency, constantly breaking through traditional dining spaces and extending to outdoor, retail, and multi format integration. At the same time, Changning District continues to deepen intimate business services, and under the guidance of the Municipal Water Affairs Bureau, implements the "commitment system+post approval supervision" and "drawing free" simplified processing mode for drainage permits, quickly breaking through the bottleneck of store approval for new catering enterprises and escorting business innovation with institutional innovation. This development model is opening up new growth opportunities for the catering industry and has become an important lever for stimulating consumption vitality and improving urban service temperature in the region, continuously releasing the benefits of convenience and people's livelihoods.

Reporter/Photographer: Li Songnan

Editor: Shi Huanhuan

Editor in Chief: Yan Wenbin