Dai Wei Photo/VCG

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In May of this year, Dai Wei, the founder of the long-silent Mobike competitor ofo, once again became the focus of public attention in China.

It had been 54 months since he disappeared from the public eye. At that time, capital fled in a hurry, ofo"s funds dried up, and a large number of yellow bicycles were piled up like garbage on the streets.

To this day, he still has 40 orders restricting his consumption. Meanwhile, the approximately 1.6 billion yuan in deposits paid by tens of millions of Ofo users has yet to be refunded.This time, Dai Wei was brought back into the public eye as an investor in the About Time Coffee chain, which was incubated in New York City.Upon hearing this news, many Chinese netizens urged for the return of their deposits. A reporter with National Business Daily (NBD) recently visited this coffee shop, which has an average price of $3 per cup and focuses on cost-effectiveness. Can it fill the deposit hole left by ofo?

According to public information, the first store of About Time Coffee opened in one of the most picturesque neighborhoods in New York - Gramercy Park, and there are currently four chain stores.

As soon as the news came out, Chinese netizens couldn"t sit still and started to demand the refund of their ofo deposits online.

Photo/Screeshot

Reporters with NBD also tried to re-download the ofo App, but multiple login requests ended with a message saying "network request timed out." Attempts on the WeChat mini program also failed.

According to online rankings posted by users at the end of 2018, over 16 million people were waiting for ofo to refund their deposits, which were either 99 yuan or 199 yuan. Even if we calculate based on a deposit of 99 yuan per person, the amount of unrecovered deposits owed by ofo is as high as approximately 1.58 billion yuan.

NBD learned that as of now, Dai Wei has received a total of 40 consumption restriction orders, with the latest one issued on February 28, 2023.

According to the requirements of the orders, Dai Wei is not allowed to take airplanes or G-series high-speed trains, engage in high consumption activities such as staying in hotels above a certain star rating or playing golf, purchase real estate or engage in high consumption activities such as building, expanding, or luxuriously decorating houses that are not necessary for daily life or work.

Netizens have also questioned how Dai Wei was able to go to the United States to start a business despite being restricted from high consumption.A lawyer who wished to remain anonymous told NBD that a restriction on high consumption does not necessarily mean a restriction on leaving the country. There is no direct correlation between the two, unless the court explicitly states "restriction on leaving the country" in the judgment, in which case the person subject to the order cannot leave the country.

According to the lawyer, it is currently unclear whether Dai Wei had already gone to the United States before the "restriction on consumption order" took effect or if he left after it was issued, and further investigation is needed on this matter.

In order to understand the traffic situation of About Time Coffee"s stores, the special correspondent of NBD visited two stores (Gramercy Park store and Grand Central Station store) under About Time Coffee several times.In New York, where coffee shops are gathered, the Gramercy Park store on 23rd Street does not look conspicuous, but because there are attractions, office buildings, and residential areas around it, the flow of people is surging. In the prime location, there are naturally competitors. Across the street from this store are Starbucks and a North American local coffee shop called Gregory.

Photo/NBD special correspondent in New York

NBD had an interviewed with a customer Tracy coming to the About Time Coffee shop. The first keyword mentioned by Tracy was "cheap". She said that the same coffee at Starbucks across the street is generally $1 to $2 more expensive than at About Time Coffee.

Although the taste of About Time Coffee"s coffee drinks is not outstanding, it still meets the local people"s description of "rich" and "strong". She also emphasized that the packaging of About Time Coffee"s coffee is good and easy to carry when going for a morning run.During the nearly one-hour exploration, the NBD reporter found that compared with the countless tea shops in Manhattan, the main customers of this shop are ordinary local residents or office workers. Compared with Starbucks, About Time Coffee"s consumer group is younger, almost all middle-aged and young people aged 25 to 40, and mainly sells coffee drinks, not the previously popular "boba coffee" on social media platforms.

However, according to the reporter"s observation, the number of people entering About Time Coffee is still less than that of nearby Starbucks and Gregory.

Regarding About Time Coffee"s strategy of entering the market with low prices, Jiang Tianhe, a senior investment manager at Vista Fund, which focuses on investment opportunities in the new consumer industry, told NBD, "The chain of coffee shops in the United States is already a mature product of the last century, and the ownership of coffee machines is close to one per household. The demand for coffee is not lacking, and it is difficult for About Time Coffee to replace existing user consumption habits with just "innovative taste + low price"."

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