(Yicai Global) March 31 -- Luckin Coffee opened two outlets in Singapore today and plans to have nearly 10 in trial operation in the Southeast Asian island state by the end of next month following the soft opening of the initial pair, Beijing News reported

“Singapore is Luckin’s first step overseas,” the report cited Guo Jinyi, the Chinese coffee chain’s chairman and chief executive, as saying

The two cafes are situated at Singapore’s fashion hub of Ngee Ann City on Orchard Road and the oceanfront shopping center Marina Square. During the trial phase, customers can use the Luckin app to buy their first cup for just 99 Singaporean cents (74 US cents).

Like in the Chinese market, Luckin Coffee will open pick-up stores and ‘relax’ stores -- casual, sit-down coffee shops -- in Singapore based on different scenarios. The two that opened today are pick-up points.

“Though we’re still in the early phase of exploration and tests, we hope we can be committed to the Singapore market for the long term,” Guo said.

Since last December, Luckin Coffee has been recruiting managers for local stores as well as marketing managers, project managers, senior engineers, and other roles on recruitment platforms such as JobStreet and JobsDB, offering salaries between SGD3,800 and SGD4,900 (USD2,859 and USD3,686) per month.

Xiamen-based Luckin, once touted as a rival to Starbucks, had 8,214 stores in the Chinese mainland as of the end of last year, 5,625 of which were self-operated. In fiscal 2022, the coffee chain swung into the black for the first time, logging an operating profit of CNY1.1 billion (USD160.2 million) on revenue of more than CNY10 billion.

Editor: Peter Thomas