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China's coffee upstart is pouring millions into overtaking Starbucks

Luckin Coffee, a Chinese startup that's banking on selling cappuccinos to on-the-go office workers, is spending millions of dollars a year opening outlets to unseat Starbucks Corp. as the top java seller in the country.

bank on, 依靠，指望 （=rely on） | You can bank on it.

on-the-go, a.忙个不停的，特别忙的 | I've been on the go all day.

Launched about a year ago, the local challenger is confident it's got a winning model: small coffee outlets that will outnumber Starbucks cafes by year's end, an app that rushes out deliveries in about 18 minutes and lots of steep discount. Chasing the entrenched rival, it's burning through $130 million a year, according to the Xiamen-based company on China's southeast coast.

outnumber, v.在数量上超过，比...多 | Women outnumber men five to one.

rush out, 匆匆生产；赶制 

entrenched, a.牢固的；根深蒂固的 | Ageism is entrenched in our sociaty.

burn through, 快速用尽 | burn through money

"China is Startbucks' best and most profitable market now, but it took them nine years of making huge losses," said Chief Strategy Officer Reinout Schakel in an interview in Beijing this week. "We will be faster than that." 

Questions abound whether Luckin can parlay customer discounts and media hype into as powerful a brand as its rival. Starbucks reported last month that comparable sales growth could be as low as 1 percent over the long term, sparking concern that competition and cannibalization are taking their toll.

abound, v.大量存在；有很多 | The forests abound with deer and birds.

parlay sth. into sth. 使增值；成功地利用 | He parlayed his small investments into a large fortune.

hype, n.炒作 | The director hyped his movie.

cannibalization, n.品牌替代；同类相残

take their toll, 造成损失，造成严重影响 | Take a heavy toll

Seeking to shift focus from its competition with Starbucks, Schakel said that China has enough potential to sustain more than one chain. Even as it mounts its challenge, Luckin still look to Starbucks to lead the way with its considerably larger resources in promoting coffee consumption in China.

"Of course we are competitors, but ultimately we both want the market to grow," he said.