From the price war that kicked off in 2023 through 2025—widely seen as the coffee industry’s “darkest hour”—Luckin expanded to 30,000 outlets, Cotti surpassed 15,000, and both Lucky Coffee and Nowwa announced they had broken the 10,000-store mark. In early 2026, Wallace installed coffee machines across its 10,000 locations, ushering in a new wave of explosive growth for the sector.