Except Shanghai, I can be sure that you won't go well with it. But, for Shanghai, I just can not be sure of it. It does not mean definitely that it has a chance.
Hi
I live in the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou or Canton, been here for almost 4 years now.
I don't think that this is such a bad idea but you have to wait with it as for today the playing fields here in China aren't really levelled. (I am in the sourcing business and man I see a lot of crap happening). If you as a foreigner want to start your business without a Chinese partner you have to deposit tons of money for example.
Coffee is a good investment here because it's expensive and is associated with rich people, foreign things, etc. But a drive thru is pretty much the opposite, isn't it? For example I have to travel like an hour to buy proper bread but if I wanted to buy a golf club or a Ferrari, I could do that in my neighborhood.
The Chinese love expensive places where they can take others to amuse and show off but they are simply not hooked on coffee at all. So I just don't see they would come in for a coffee because they really need to have that caffeine. Also I have been to a lot of beautifully designed coffee houses where they would serve you a cup of Nescafe for 5 USD a cup and nobody would say a thing. The same on the Hong Kong- Guangzhou train.