China’s largest gas station chain launches its own coffee brand

Chinese gas station giant Sinopec has launched its own brand of coffee called EasyJet as part of its strategic move into new segments.

Across Sinopec’s own convenience stores at some 27,000 gas station in China, users will now be able to order EasyJet coffee. The first EasyJet Coffee shop opened last week in Suzhou offering three different types of coffee all named after a product they know very well: 92-RON, 95-RON and 98-RON.

Though a brand under Sinopec, EasyJet Coffee’s operations are provided by Coffee Box, responsible for building software, developing products and conducting training, reports warc.com.

China Petrochemical Group Co., known as Sinopec, wants to boost its in-store sales and move away from a reliance on fuel and coffee shows a lot of potential. In 2018, the average annual consumption of coffee in China was 6.2 cups, only 1.6% of that in the United States. However, the coffee market in China has maintained a compound growth rate of 20% annually, which is nearly 10 times the world average.

In another effort to grow the convenience and food market, last march Yum China Holdings, owner of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, announced agreements with Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation to open 100 restaurants at gas stations.