China’s Cotti Coffee Has Been Quietly Growing Throughout the U.S.

“20230407 Cotti Coffee at Grand Plaza, Zhengzhou High-Tech Zone.jpg” by Windmemories, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

While Luckin Coffee’s Manhattan debut in June 2025 drew wide coverage, signaling the arrival of a Chinese model for discount specialty coffee in the United States, another rapidly growing Chinese chain with an intertwined backstory had already been spreading throughout the country for more than a year, with less media fanfare. 

Cotti Coffee, which claims more than 18,000 stores in 33 countries, has been building a U.S. presence since spring 2024, when it opened its first U.S. store in Honolulu. The brand has since expanded into New York, Washington, D.C., Illinois, Tennessee and California, with more shops planned.

According to a Daily Coffee News review of dozens of public records and local media reports, the expansion is taking shape through a network of newly established U.S. corporate entities, including a Delaware-registered franchisor called Cotti Partners LLC, licensees, franchise-related entities, importers and distributors.

Daily Coffee News reached out to Cotti Coffee and multiple U.S.-registered affiliates of the company for comment on this story, but had not received a reply as of this writing.

Openings from Coast to Coast

In New York alone, Cotti opened its first New York City store in May 2025, followed by additional openings in Bensonhurst, Chinatown, Chelsea and Williamsburg.

More recently, Cotti appears poised to grow its footprint throughout California. In Southern California, the chain already has stores in San Gabriel and Rowland Heights in Los Angeles County, while additional locations are planned for Santa Monica and the Bay Area, according to numerous recent reports. 

The chain has also targeted areas heavily trafficked by college students, with Illinois openings in Evanston and Champagne-Urbana. 

Public records indicate that there have been at least 29 Cotti Coffee locations throughout the U.S., although DCN has not been able to independently confirm a current store count.

While that number pales in comparison to Cotti’s more than 16,000 shops in China, the expansion is setting up a rivalry between Cotti, Luckin and entrenched U.S. brands. Luckin, which has more than 33,000 stores globally, has opened 14 U.S. stores, all in New York.

Building a U.S. Infrastructure

Public records point to a growing U.S. distribution infrastructure for Cotti Coffee, although DCN has found no indication that the company is roasting in the U.S. Cotti’s primary roasting plant is in Anhui province, with an annual capacity of 45,000 tons. The company has previously described it as the largest single coffee roastery in China.

A 2026 franchise disclosure document filed by Cotti Partners LLC offers the clearest available window into the company’s U.S. structure, while revealing a footprint larger than previously reported.

A Cotti Coffee kiosk in Xiamen, China. Image by HualinXMN, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The franchising entity’s parent, Cotti USA Inc., is a Delaware corporation formed September 22, 2023. The brand’s marks are held by Hong Kong-registered Cotti Coffee International Limited, which also serves as the holding company for approximately 234 Cotti Coffee stores outside China, including 47 company-owned stores and 187 franchised or licensed stores.

According to the FDD, most existing U.S. locations do not operate as traditional franchises. They are licensed through a separate affiliate, Cotti Tech LLC — a Delaware company also formed in September 2023 — which as of the FDD date had 25 licensee locations plus one company-owned store in Los Angeles. The FDD notes that these arrangements are “not considered franchises” because Cotti Tech does not provide substantial assistance to licensees or substantially control their operations.

Two additional affiliate-operated U.S. locations are run by separate entities: Cotti Coffee Hawaii LLC, which operates the original Pearl Highlands Center store, and Banyan Tree City Investment LLC, a California entity registered in Lomita. In total, the FDD accounts for at least 28 U.S. locations as of March 31, 2026.

November 2023 press release image by Colliers.

Cotti Partners LLC — the new entity that filed the FDD — appears to represent the launch of a formal franchise program alongside the existing licensee network.

The U.S. supply chain runs through Cotti Supply Chain LLC, a Delaware affiliate listed in the FDD as an approved supplier of equipment, store fixtures, furnishings and consumable inventory to U.S. operators. U.S. Customs import records show the entity importing goods from Cotti Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd., the company’s Chinese manufacturing subsidiary.

U.S. Growth Part of a Remarkable Second Act

Cotti’s origins are tied directly to one of the most prominent accounting scandals in the history of coffee.

Luckin Coffee disclosed in April 2020 that an internal investigation had found more than $300 million in fabricated sales. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Luckin with fraud and the company agreed to pay a $180 million penalty. Luckin’s shares were suspended from Nasdaq trading on June 29, 2020, and the company later moved to over-the-counter trading.

Luckin’s board terminated CEO Jenny Zhiya Qian and COO Jian Liu, and demanded that Qian and Lu Zhengyao — also known as Charles Lu — resign from the board.

Less than two years later, Lu and Qian launched Cotti Coffee, opening their first store in Fuzhou, Fujian, in October 2022. The new chain’s mobile-first, franchise-heavy format bore a strong resemblance to the one they had built at Luckin, including a menu of affordable coffee and flavored beverages.

Cotti expanded at a breakneck pace, surpassing 6,000 locations within roughly a year of its founding and reaching its 10,000th store in Doha, Qatar, in October 2024. The company had publicly declared a target of 50,000 stores globally by the end of 2025. It fell well short, reaching approximately 15,000 stores by August 2025, with Chinese media reporting that around 3,000 of those had not yet opened. By early 2026, the company was claiming more than 18,000 stores globally.

Pricing and Market Fit

In China, Cotti built much of its appeal on promotional pricing as low as 9.9 yuan per cup, approximately $1.50 as of this writing, a strategy that helped fuel a prolonged price war with Luckin. In the U.S., both chains appear to have adapted parts of that model to marginally undercut competing chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin.

A DCN analysis of U.S. menus shows that standard pricing ranges from roughly $3 for a plain Americano to about $7 for other specialty drinks, putting Cotti more in line with conventional U.S. chains. The company also routinely offers promotional sales on drinks, including hot or iced specialty lattes for $2.99.

Cotti remains privately held and has made no public financial disclosures regarding its U.S. operations.

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