In the Qingyun Market and on Taiping Road, glasses clink in craft beer bars, the fizz releasing the aroma of prickly pear and bayberry. Beneath the Wengbu Cliff Waterfall in Kaiyang, the scent of coffee mingles with mountain breezes. Around Minsheng Road and Jiaxiu Tower, Changwang noodles, Xiangsu duck, and grilled dishes draw bustling crowds, with time-honored establishments and trendy eateries equally popular.
In recent years, formats like specialty coffee, local craft beer, and distinctive dining have become Guiyang and Gui'an's most recognizable "taste calling cards," continuously attracting tourists, energizing the night economy, and boosting cultural tourism traffic. However, looking nationwide, trendy consumption formats often fall into the trap of "explosive popularity followed by rapid decline and severe homogenization." Many outlets lack quality support, standardized systems, and industrial planning, making it difficult to create lasting economic value.
Aligned with the industrial upgrade requirements of "enhancing quality, extending chains, nurturing brands, and strengthening oversight," Guiyang and Gui'an are moving beyond the single-point "trendy spot" mindset. They are reconstructing the development path for the taste industry with the logic of a real economy, focusing on standardization, branding, and clustering. This approach drives the three major formats from unregulated growth towards regulated, quality-focused industrial upgrading, charting a path from urban consumption symbols to high-quality development as a distinctive, advantageous industry.
Enhancing Quality and Establishing Standards: Using Flagship Stores as a Breakthrough
Deep in Yujia Alley, the lights at TripSmith Craft Beer remain warm. Products like Prickly Pear Wheat, Bayberry Fruit Beer, and Wild Strawberry Wheat consistently top the bestseller lists. Unlike many craft beer brands chasing rapid scale-up, this local enterprise, which grew from a community workshop, steadfastly adheres to a 90-day optimal consumption period standard, strictly controlling quality from brewing and storage to final sale.
"The core of craft beer isn't traffic; it's consistent flavor," said Zhang Ziang, President of the Guiyang Craft Beer Association and founder of TripSmith. He noted that the short life cycle of many trendy spots fundamentally stems from a lack of quality baseline, and the industry must achieve sustainable development through standards and self-discipline.
With stable quality control and localized innovation, its products won a gold medal at the 2025 Brussels Beer Challenge, becoming a landmark example of Guiyang craft beer's quality breakthrough. TripSmith also pioneered introducing the international craft beer circle's "collaborative brewing culture" into local practice, engaging in cross-border collaborations with time-honored brands like Dingjia Crispy Pork Cracklings and Quchashan. They aim to spread Guizhou flavors in innovative forms, exploring new paths for brand-driven industrial synergy.
Unstable quality, inconsistent standards, and irregular operations were once common pain points in the "taste" sector. To address the "short-lived" nature of trends, Guiyang uses flagship stores as demonstrations, with government, enterprises, and associations working together to build standards, strengthen norms, and improve quality.
By the end of 2025, the Guiyang Craft Beer Association was established, aiming to leverage the demonstration effect of leading enterprises to regulate the operations of over 1,300 craft beer businesses in the city. Simultaneously, it promotes the establishment of industry standards for craft beer sommeliers, addressing the shortfall in service standardization. Currently, local outlets like Yuanhu Craft Beer and Dasheng Craft Beer strictly follow industry self-regulation norms, insisting on small-batch brewing, localized innovation, and high-quality output, driving Guiyang's craft beer scene from a cluster of trendy shops towards quality-focused, standardized development.
In 2026, the Guiyang Coffee Association took the lead in issuing two group standards: "Café Management and Service Specifications" and "Coffee Cupping." These cover the entire process from roasting, grinding, and extraction to service, hygiene, and operations. Champion stores like Captain George and Duide Coffee set benchmarks with professional quality control. Community shops like SeekSeeking, Combos, LowLight, 2222, and Snow Coffee maintain affordable pricing and consistent output. Cliffside and cave coffee spots in wild settings enhance the experiential aspect.
"Issuing relevant standards aims to strengthen industry self-discipline and service capabilities, making the high standards of the 'City of Champions' part of the everyday consumer experience," said Lu Yuan, President of the Guiyang Coffee Association.
In the dining sector, time-honored brands and chains are driving standardization. Danjia Xiangsu Duck has scaled and standardized the replication of its century-old intangible cultural heritage flavor by fixing oil temperature, heat control, and spice ratios, with stores spread across and beyond the province. Dapang Liu Grilled Pot has unified dipping sauces and工艺流程, achieving consistent taste across 20 national outlets, with daily接待量 exceeding a thousand tables.
For the distinctive sour soup industry, Guiyang established a Sour Soup Industry Innovation and Transformation Center, promoting the shift from经验-based traditional flavor making to technological, standardized production. Coupled with a special campaign to enhance餐饮品质, it comprehensively regulates business order, making the lively food scene safer.
The core competitiveness of Guiyang's taste industry lies in transforming Guizhou's unique natural resources into stable product capability. Former professor at the former Guizhou University College of Brewing and Food Engineering and national beer judge Hu Penggang suggested accelerating the establishment of local group standards and forming a raw material standardization system. This would better enable the stable output of distinctive flavors and provide a solid industrial foundation for trendy formats to achieve long-term development.
Extending Chains and Addressing Shortcomings: Using Terminal Demand to Build a Full Industrial Ecosystem
The Wengbu Cliff Waterfall Coffee in Kaiyang,凭借 its unique wild mountain setting, became a national网红打卡点 upon opening, with single-day peak接待量 exceeding 3,000人次. Founder Yin Licui坦言 that despite explosive traffic growth, if upstream and downstream capabilities like product supply, supporting services, and客流承载 couldn't keep up, a single scene would struggle to sustainably bear high热度. This is also a common短板 facing the development of Guiyang's taste industry: most outlets focus only on the终端消费环节, with disconnected upstream and downstream industrial chains, missing supporting elements, and fragile single-store profit models, making it difficult to achieve economies of scale.
Based on this, Guiyang and Gui'an,立足 the industry's long-term development, use终端门店 market demand as the牵引,反向 extending,补全, and strengthening chains. They因地制宜打通 the entire process from source, processing, R&D, circulation, consumption, to文旅, letting "a cup of coffee, a bottle of craft beer, a table of Qian cuisine" drive industrial chain growth.
"From the亲民消费 of community coffee shops to the文旅引流 of cliffside coffee, and the professional specialty consumption of places like Captain George, the current multi-level coffee shop system in Guiyang and Gui'an催生了全链条 industrial demand," introduced a relevant official from the Guiyang Culture and Tourism Bureau's Consumption Promotion Department. On the upstream end, Guiyang and Gui'an collaborate with research institutions to introduce优质品种 and conduct localized trial planting. Midstream, they cultivate烘焙加工 entities like George Coffee, supporting the development of local烘焙企业. Downstream, they vigorously develop "coffee +文旅," "coffee + wild landscapes," "coffee + night economy," while also leveraging the comprehensive bonded zone for green bean import,保税加工, and trade circulation, turning coffee from a beverage into a场景,流量, and industry.
A relevant official from the Guiyang Commerce Bureau's Market System Development Department introduced that the craft beer industry is also drafting a special support implementation opinion. For instance,针对 brands like TripSmith and Dasheng Craft Beer using innovative本土原料 like prickly pear, bayberry,藤椒, and wild berries, plans include开展 "特色酒粮订单农业" and building standardized辅料种植基地. Simultaneously, leveraging the comprehensive bonded zone for bulk原料进口集采 and exploring the construction of仓储分拨中心 to lower enterprise costs. Midstream plans include building a craft beer industrial park, exploring shared brewing workshops and灌装线 systems, promoting the standardized, intensive development of 6规模化酿造企业. Downstream involves串联商圈,景区, and街区; a消费网络 of over 1,300 operating entities has already formed. The next step is developing new scenes like "craft beer +" camping, music festivals, and night tour打卡.
The餐饮 industry focuses on addressing the短板 of食材工业化 and供应链标准化. Through产教融合 and校企合作, it trains chefs and operational talent, supports brands like Danjia Xiangsu Duck and Dapang Liu Grilled Pot in outward expansion, and promotes "Guiyang flavor" moving beyond the本地 to the全国. Currently, the city's餐饮经营主体已达 120,000, gradually moving from scattered neighborhood shops towards a distinctive industrial cluster with standards, supply chains, and brand power.
Nurturing Brands and Expanding Scenes: Aggregating Traffic Potential to Build a City Taste IP
As night fell on May 29th, at Liquid Workshop · Sunset Living Room on Taiping Road, tourist Xu Lisha from Hangzhou was enjoying craft beer and a band performance with friends. "The atmosphere is fantastic! This trip to Guiyang was specifically for eating, drinking, and relaxing. During the day, we had coffee and Dapang Liu Grilled Pot. At night, we came specifically to experience Guiyang's本地特色精酿. Guiyang has a vibrant烟火气 and a great sense of松弛感," said Xu Lisha.
At Ayunduo Warehouse in Guanshanhu District, Captain George Coffee was bustling with customers. "Came specifically to打卡. The store layout is very stylish, tried the champion coffee from Captain George, the experience was excellent," said Tang Shuwen, a tourist from Zhuhai visiting Guiyang.
In May last year, Captain George Coffee founder Peng Jinyang won the championship at the 2025 World Brewers Cup, becoming the first world champion barista from Guiyang. This honor not only boosted Captain George Coffee's reputation but also raised the profile of Guiyang coffee. On social media, "going to Guiyang for a cup of coffee" and "staying in Guiyang for a sip of craft beer" have become choices for young tourists.
But a single trendy store is just temporary热度. Only by forming a city-level IP can true, lasting popularity be achieved. To this end, Guiyang is systematically building three brand systems—"Cool Guiyang · Fragrant Coffee," "Cool Guiyang · Distinctive Craft Beer," and "Cool Guiyang · Gourmet Paradise"—based on stores, centered on flavor, and using activities as the载体,凝聚零散流量 into industrial potential.
Brand cultivation坚持龙头引领 and梯队发展. In coffee, leveraging the talent advantage of 1 world champion and 5 national champions, it strengthens标杆品牌 like Captain George and Duide Coffee. In craft beer, led by TripSmith, it drives a batch of本土特色品牌 towards differentiated development. Focusing on餐饮, Guiyang will持续壮大 46 time-honored brands and 80钻级酒家, promoting the rejuvenation of traditional brands and the standardization of trendy brands.
Industry associations are shifting from "各自为战" to "抱团发展,"提升整体品牌声量 through salons, competitions, and exchange events.
Scene innovation构建起多层次消费矩阵: community coffee for亲民便民, wild coffee for引流破圈, craft beer bars点亮夜经济,特色餐饮贯穿市井烟火. Mountain scenes like cliffs, caves, forests, and lakeshores make Guiyang coffee more出众. Craft beer combined with night markets, music festivals, and camping economy拉长消费时长.餐饮联动 with文旅,街区, and民宿 makes "eating in Guiyang" a core吸引力...多元场景互补 both retain本地市民 and attract外地游客.
A relevant official from the市商务局 introduced that to further amplify the brand effect, Guiyang持续举办 events like the Craft Beer Festival and Gourmet Carnival. In 2026, it will host professional competitions like the World Brewers Cup China Finals and the Craft Beer "Master Cup." Simultaneously releasing coffee maps, craft beer maps, etc., and广泛传播 through multimedia矩阵, Guiyang's city taste IP is正在实现从 "网红" to "长红."
Strengthening Safeguards and Planning for the Long Term: Institutional Dividends as a Foundation for Sustainable Industrial Evolution
TripSmith's thirteen-year journey from a小众作坊 in Yujia Alley to a nationally知名精酿品牌 is a microcosm of Guiyang's taste industry evolving from野蛮生长 to规范发展. Dapang Liu Grilled Pot's跨区域扩张 from a单一街边小吃 to a全国连锁品牌离不开持续优化的营商环境与政策支撑. The爆红与持续经营 of Wengbu Cliff Coffee from a鲜有问津的山野点位 to a现象级文旅消费场景依托于城市配套完善与产业生态加持...
对标 the requirements of "enhancing quality, extending chains, nurturing brands, and strengthening oversight," Guiyang and Gui'an持续完善政策与要素保障体系, providing support for各业态门店升级 and产业集群长效发展,推动味觉产业 from relying on流量 and热度 to relying on制度 and实力.
Regarding政策体系, Guiyang and Gui'an issued a special implementation opinion for the coffee industry,推行咖啡店 "one-stop" integrated services,压缩审批时限 by 60%; accelerated the formulation of a high-quality development implementation opinion for the craft beer industry, providing精准赋能 in供应链建设,集群发展,场景创新, and要素保障;针对餐饮行业推出降成本,优环境,促融合系列举措, using "Gui Ren Service" to松绑减负 for industrial development.
In要素保障, for talent cultivation, it builds咖啡产业学院 and餐饮实训基地,开展技能认证与补贴,破解招人难,留人难. For金融扶持, it推出 "Five Precision" industry loans,搭建银企对接平台,缓解中小微门店融资压力. For技改, it supports作坊转企业,建设数字化产线,扩大SC认证覆盖面,提升产业规范化水平.
Simultaneously, Guiyang and Gui'an坚持监管与自律同步强化. The三大行业协会 for coffee, craft beer, and餐饮全面发挥作用,探索建立信用评价,行业自律,违规惩戒机制. Market监管部门严守食品安全防线,严厉打击造假,售劣,恶意竞争等行为,维护产业口碑与市场秩序,让行业在规范中行稳致远.
From网红流量 to产业增量, from单点爆红 to全域长红, the提质升级 of Guiyang and Gui'an's taste industry实质上是一次消费业态的现代化转型: using standards to stabilize quality, using chains to strengthen support, using brands to shape advantages, using systems to ensure longevity. Integrating primary industry sources, secondary industry processing, tertiary industry services, and文旅消费... the三大业态 of specialty coffee,本土精酿, and特色餐饮彼此联动,互为支撑,正逐步成为 Guiyang城市竞争力的重要组成部分.
Moving forward, Guiyang and Gui'an will focus on标准化,品牌化,集群化,推动网红经济走向实体经济,推动消费升级赋能产业升级,让 the "味觉名片"持续释放长效动能,真正成为城市高质量发展的鲜活注脚与强劲引擎.
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