Founded in 1997, the well-known bakery brand Tous Les Jours belongs to South Korea's CJ Group. Centered on the idea of offering freshly baked bread and cakes 'every day,' the brand follows a philosophy of handcrafted quality, health, and delicious taste, with products spanning baked goods, light meals, and beverages. Since its establishment, Tous Les Jours has expanded rapidly across global markets and now operates more than 1,600 stores in countries including South Korea, China, the United States, and Vietnam. It is widely favored by consumers and has received customer-satisfaction brand awards on multiple occasions. In 2010, the brand added coffee to its product portfolio, using the pairing of coffee and baked goods to increase average transaction value and repeat purchases, and becoming synonymous with high-quality bakery and coffee experiences in the minds of consumers.

Against the backdrop of consumption upgrading and the convergence of business formats, coffee has become an important lever for chain foodservice brands to enrich their product portfolios and strengthen consumer loyalty. Yet the path of expansion is not easy. Although the coffee market is booming, competition is intense, and the industry faces a common challenge: how to improve preparation efficiency and reduce operating costs while maintaining stable quality.

Many chain brands are actively exploring solutions. A recent field visit to Tous Les Jours revealed a practical approach: the Dr.coffee Minibar fully automatic commercial coffee machine introduced in its stores uses a systematic set of functions to provide strong support for upgrading coffee operations in chain foodservice.

1

Common Challenges in Coffee Operations for Chain Foodservice Brands

Chain foodservice brands are placing increasing importance on coffee, but in actual operations a series of pain points continues to restrict healthy business development.

From the perspective of quality control, traditional coffee production depends heavily on operator skill, and the same beverage can vary significantly between stores and shifts. Internal data from one chain brand showed that complaints caused by inconsistent coffee flavor once accounted for as much as 23% of all complaints, seriously affecting brand consistency and reducing customer loyalty.

In product innovation, consumer demand for personalized and diverse coffee choices continues to grow. From oat lattes to fruit-and-coffee signature drinks, market tastes evolve quickly. Traditional coffee machines, however, often have fixed functions and cannot respond rapidly to recipe changes, leaving many brands with coffee menus that remain unchanged for years and gradually lose appeal among younger consumers.

Operational efficiency and cost control create another layer of pressure. Professional baristas can cost 30%-50% more than general store staff and require lengthy training. Equipment cleaning procedures are complex, consuming substantial labor time and potentially creating food-safety risks when not carried out thoroughly. Insufficient beverage output during peak periods can also drive customers away. Combined, these issues significantly weaken the profitability of coffee operations.

Equipment adaptability is another concern. Chain stores vary widely in size and layout: traditional coffee machines take up substantial space, while smaller machines may not handle peak-volume demand. During expansion, some brands find that equipment cannot adapt flexibly to different store formats, resulting in lower operating efficiency.

In addition, on the digital-management side, most brands lack real-time visibility into coffee sales data across individual stores, making it difficult to optimize operations and decisions through data-driven management.

2

How Tous Les Jours Breaks Through

Systematic Upgrading Enabled by Dr.coffee Minibar

As a chain brand with deep roots in bakery, Tous Les Jours recognized early on the natural fit between coffee and baked products. After introducing the Dr.coffee Minibar, its coffee operations achieved significant improvements in quality, efficiency, and innovation, offering a replicable reference for other chain brands.

1. One Machine, Multiple Uses - Unlocking More Beverage Possibilities

Minibar integrates a powder system, fresh-milk system, and high-efficiency extraction system in a three-in-one design that opens up broad possibilities for beverage innovation. At Tous Les Jours stores, in addition to classic coffee, the machine can easily prepare specialty drinks such as chocolate milkshakes and matcha lattes. The customizable beverage system responds to diverse consumer preferences and helps attract more customers. This innovation capability allows Tous Les Jours to stand out in a highly competitive coffee market and continue expanding its share of demand.

2. Metal Brewing System - Ensuring Quality and Stability

Its metal brewing system supports both high-pressure and non-pressure brewing, offering excellent stability and a long service life. During busy operating periods at Tous Les Jours, the system can continuously produce high-quality coffee and can be removed easily for cleaning and maintenance. This reduces equipment-failure risk and maintenance costs while helping ensure consistent coffee quality across stores and strengthening the brand image. Even under long periods of intensive use, crema richness and full-bodied flavor remain strong, providing consumers with a consistently high-quality coffee experience.

3. IoT Mobile Payment - Improving Operating Efficiency

Minibar supports IoT-enabled mobile payment. At the same time, brands can access sales data in real time through the backend, including coffee sales trends and popular beverage categories at individual stores, providing a strong basis for targeted marketing and product optimization. Tous Les Jours uses these capabilities to adjust product-supply strategies according to sales data in different regions, improving operating efficiency and sales performance.

4. Fully Automatic Cleaning System - Reducing Operating Costs

The coffee machine has a built-in fully automatic cleaning system. The milk foam circuit cleans itself after use, helping maintain fine, smooth foam while reducing manual cleaning workload. For chain brands, this means lower labor costs and higher equipment hygiene standards. At Tous Les Jours, employees only need to perform simple routine maintenance, saving substantial cleaning time and allowing more attention to be devoted to customer service. According to calculations cited in the source, after Minibar was introduced, monthly labor input for coffee-machine cleaning at stores decreased by approximately 30%.

5. Independent Functional Configuration - Meeting Diverse Commercial Needs

Models equipped with an independent hot-water wand and independent steam wand provide significant convenience in Tous Les Jours' commercial operating environment. Whether steaming and heating, manually preparing milk foam, or dispensing hot water at the touch of a button, the functions are easy to use. This design supports varied beverage preparation requirements and improves the store's ability to handle diverse orders. During breakfast, for example, staff can quickly serve hot coffee or hot chocolate alongside bread and other baked items, improving the dining experience.

3

Upgrade Insights for Coffee Operations in Chain Foodservice

The collaboration between Tous Les Jours and Dr.coffee Minibar reveals a clear path for upgrading coffee operations in chain foodservice:

Build an operating system centered on intelligent equipment, with stable quality, higher efficiency, controllable costs, and flexible innovation.

Dr.coffee Minibar addresses the challenge of quality standardization through its metal brewing system, improves operating efficiency through fully automatic operation and IoT functions, and enables product innovation with its integrated three-in-one beverage system. In this way, it responds comprehensively to the core needs of chain brands expanding into coffee. This systematic solution is relevant not only to bakery brands, but also provides important reference value for coffee extensions in fast food, hot pot, tea beverage, and other chain formats.

As consumer demand continues to upgrade and market competition intensifies, coffee is no longer simply an additional category for chain foodservice brands; it has become an important part of differentiated competition. The technological innovation and scenario adaptability demonstrated by Dr.coffee Minibar are creating new possibilities for more chain brands to break through growth bottlenecks, pushing the industry toward greater efficiency, professionalism, and vitality.