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Recently, Shuangjing outlet Century Yili, a time-honored bakery in Beijing, re-opened to the public with its first cafe.
In the 150-square-meter cafe, Century Yili’s brand elements can be found everywhere, including Beibingyang soda’s logo - a white bear printed on wall hangings and coffee cups.
Coffee, cakes, fast food and salads are served in the cafe besides Yuli star products such as Beibingyang soda, Yili fruit bread and Yili vitamin bread to follow suit as customers are pursuing more diversified and personalized demands.
“We hope to provide our customers not only a shop, but also a place for a break and chat,” Ma Chunying, director of Beijing Century Yili Grocery Co., Ltd of Beijing Yiqing Group, said.
“We appreciate customers’ trust in Century Yili through the years, and our cafe will also carefully select each ingredient used in our products to protect the fame of the old brand,” she added.
In order to improve customer experience, more services have been offered. Enterprises can hold small meetings in the cafe in workday afternoons, and families can learn how to make cakes or chocolate on weekend courses. “We want to turn the outlet into a multifunctional community centre,” Ma said.
At present, Century Yili has 105 chain stores in Beijing, and the number is set to reach 300 in five years. If space allows, more cafe areas will appear in Century Yili outlets.
Besides Century Yili, more and more time-honored brands are adapting to new movements while sticking to their traditions. Neiliansheng, the century-old Beijing shoe company, for instance, has launched a series of “Angry Birds”.
“We need to uphold traditional craftsmanship, perhaps the most tangible manifestation of intangible cultural heritage, but also to create new patterns to match modern fashion tastes , ” a manager of Neiliansheng said.
By successfully combining new designs with traditional techniques, Neiliansheng has maintained its popularity among Chinese people – an encouraging reminder for companies that change though change is inevitable, it is not the same as loss.
