At 8:30 a.m., outside the Luckin Coffee store in Shatou Town, Guangling District, 35-year-old courier Jing Aihua’s phone continuously buzzes with new orders. Grabbing steaming cups of coffee, she hops onto her electric bike and heads toward Xinminzhou, four kilometers away. Xinminzhou falls under Jingkou District, Zhenjiang City—making this a cross-city delivery route. After handing the warm beverages to customers, Jing puts on her helmet and sets off for the next delivery. She has lost count of how many times each day she makes this four-kilometer trip between Shatou Town and Xinminzhou.
"Since Luckin Coffee opened in our town, orders from Xinminzhou have surged," Jing explains. Although Xinminzhou belongs to Zhenjiang, it is separated from the city’s main urban area by the Yangtze River, making it impractical for locals to order coffee from downtown Zhenjiang. Now, thanks to the Shatou Town outlet, residents along the river can enjoy freshly brewed coffee delivered to their doors.
Born in 1991, Jing has lived in Shatou Town since getting married. A few years ago, she worked at a U.S.-owned company in Bali Town, within the city’s economic development zone. After corporate restructuring led her to seek new opportunities, a friend recommended she join Meituan in the spring of 2023, shortly after the platform began operating in Shatou. Before that, the town had no dedicated delivery personnel. "Even before Meituan’s arrival, some local restaurants accepted orders through the platform, but owners had to make deliveries themselves, which was highly inefficient," Jing recalls. Small restaurateurs often juggle multiple roles—cook, server, and sometimes delivery person—making it impossible to keep the business running smoothly while delivering meals.
The real takeoff in food delivery began after Luckin Coffee entered Shatou in August 2025. Capitalizing on the "first cup of milk tea in autumn" trend, the store once achieved a peak of 600 orders in a single day. Jing later transitioned from Meituan to become a dedicated courier for Luckin. She still remembers the day she delivered those 600 orders, working nonstop from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Luckin’s success attracted other well-known brands such as Gu Ming and Mixue Bingcheng to open outlets in Shatou. In her spare time, Jing also delivers for Gu Ming, and her income has risen by about 30% compared to her factory wages years ago.
These days, Jing covers nearly 300 kilometers daily. To save time, she invested 6,000 yuan early this year to upgrade her e-bike with a lithium battery that allows a 300-kilometer range on a single charge. "Now I only need to charge once a day," she says.
Her daily deliveries have given Jing unique insight into the riverside town’s transformation: "There are more young people now. Most of my coffee customers are either office workers from local factories or small business owners from the markets." She notes that the establishment of Lianyi and Yalian markets in Shatou has provided a steady stream of customers.
The arrival of Luckin, Gu Ming, and Mixue Bingcheng is also reshaping local consumption habits. "In the past, people had to go into the city for a cup of coffee. Now it’s different—just a tap on your phone, and it’s delivered to you," Jing says. Even during off-peak seasons, she still handles over 200 orders per day, indicating robust consumer demand in small towns.
Shatou is not alone in this trend. Neighboring towns in Beizhou, such as Lidian and Touqiao, are also attracting commercial investment. Lidian was the first to bring in a CMC Stars Joy cinema, while KFC and Pizza Hut opened dual-branded restaurants in Touqiao earlier this year, introducing new dining experiences to these areas.
"Brand expansion into township markets is an inevitable outcome of market competition," an industry insider commented. Well-known brands entering these areas not only fill commercial gaps but also stimulate local economic growth and reshape consumption patterns.