Start-up Cafe, make a living Alumni record

Besides reading, chatting, listening to music and drinking coffee, what else can you do in a cafe? In the teaching building of Communication University Of China MBA College, a well-informed entrepreneurial cafe founded by alumni of Communication University, students focused on only one topic-entrepreneurship. The main team of the cafe is all alumni from the MBA College of the Communication University. Liang Chen, the owner of the cafe, laughs that Bowen Cafe is a living alumni record.

The "tea room" set up by the eldest brother

Liang Chen is the first student of MBA College. "there is no more 'older' master brother than me. My younger brothers and sisters love to come to me when they have something to do." Before studying MBA, Liang Chen, who graduated from undergraduate course, originally worked in a large central enterprise with a stable job and a handsome salary, which was the envy of many people.

In 2005, Liang Chen, who was in his early twenties, just went to work, and the unit sent him to Europe on an inspection tour. During his trip, he saw for the first time the atmosphere of hand-ground coffee in exotic cafes. "this is so different from the scribbling of instant coffee in domestic cafes that I remember at that time." It was this "first acquaintance" that fascinated him to make coffee, and for many years since then, he has been a "conscientious" enthusiast, making friends with coffee associations to learn coffee knowledge and buy professional equipment to practice at home.

In 2010, Liang Chen, who was uneasy about the status quo, enrolled at Communication University Of China MBA College. "my job was too stable at that time. I was a Gemini, type B person, and I was born to challenge." Liang Chen said with a smile. Shortly after entering school, he found that teachers and students lacked a place to communicate after class. "the teachers' lounge is too boring and the coffee shop outside the school is inconvenient, so it's hard to find a place near the college where you can exchange ideas and collide with each other."

In order to find an ideal "tea room" and hold an enthusiasm to serve everyone, Liang Chen decided to fight in person. He took his home's professional coffee equipment to the college and set up a small "booth" in the corner of the lobby next to the classroom to provide everyone with homemade, freshly ground quality coffee. This is the embryonic form of the "Bowen Entrepreneurship Cafe."

Tens of thousands of monthly losses do not change their original intention.

As more teachers and students came to sit down and have a drink, Liang Chen began to think about turning the cafe into a career. "in August 2011, I kept talking to my classmates about my coffee shop model in my spare time, which was originally defined as' school coffee 'and has been revised into the current' business school coffee shop 'several times." During the short holiday in October, Liang Chen and several classmates buried themselves in painting walls, arranging lines, installing lights and installing equipment in a teaching building on the west campus of the Communication University. "for more than three hundred days and nights since then, I haven't fallen asleep before 12:00 at night."

Liang Chen summed up his initial working status as "7 × 24 × 365 × 2" model: 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, a family of two. This description may be a little exaggerated, but it truly reflects the hardship and difficulty in the early stages of starting a business.

After the long holiday, the students were pleasantly surprised to find that a "well-informed coffee shop" had appeared in the original recess lounge, and the one who was busy making coffee for everyone was still the elder brother of Grade 2010. "since the cafe aims to serve its classmates, it has never thought of raising prices." The American coffee sold in the small restaurant costs only 3 yuan, and the cappuccino coffee costs only 5 yuan. "students who know coffee know that I use LAVAZZA coffee beans bought by my family from Italy, so they begin to wonder about my revenue. At that time, I pursued 'guilt marketing'. Even if it didn't include water, electricity and labor, I only considered the cost of raw materials. I had to pay more than NT $1 for each cup of coffee, resulting in a loss of tens of thousands of yuan a month. " With the enthusiasm of turning his interests into a career and serving teachers and students, Liang Chen never retreated in the face of difficulties.

Visit a hundred European cafes

In order to make high-quality coffee, Liang Chen visited local cafes and coffee producing areas in Europe and Africa many times. He drank nearly 100 cafes in Europe alone, and made a total of five self-driving trips in Europe. He "tasted" all the famous cafes along the route from Switzerland to Italy. Everywhere he goes, he always has new gains and insights.

When he came to the ancient Swiss city of Lucerne, Liang Chen found that the local coffee industry, which is proud of its profound historical accumulation, had been badly hit by the new American coffee chain, and the operators of traditional cafes were pessimistic. Liang Chen felt very curious and walked into the local Starbucks. "when I went in, I realized that it was nothing like the uniform Starbucks we had in mind. From decoration to furnishings, there is a strong local tradition, and even the taste of coffee has been improved. The price is cheaper than that of traditional cafes, so it's no wonder it attracts more tourists. " Liang Chen has a lot of feelings, and only by adjusting and improving himself in time according to the needs of the guests can he be recognized.

Baden Baden is a hot spring town in Germany with a deep "cafe" tradition. Liang Chen Mu Ming came to experience a famous local cafe. The man who welcomed the guests and ordered food at the door was an old man in his sixties. After some chat, Liang Chen found that this respectful and meticulous "waiter" turned out to be the fourth generation heir to this famous old store. "the old man is very proud of himself. It has nothing to do with his post and has something to do with his job." The shop owner's hands-on attitude and the strong human feelings in the coffee shop let Liang Chen understand the "secret" of coffee shop operation.

The cafe next to Milan Cathedral in Italy is very popular and is often overcrowded. The shopkeeper told Liang Chen that he was often advised to open a chain of coffee shops to "expand the business." But the shopkeepers refused one by one, on the grounds that "making coffee is a hobby. Now that I am busy enough, I will not be in the mood to enjoy life." Liang Chen was deeply infected. "I'm not going to open a chain store either. It's better to make coffee than anything else."

Cafes become elegant "billboards"

Shortly after graduating from MBA, Liang Chen quit his job in a central enterprise and began to concentrate on running a coffee shop. After 24 months of operation, Bowen Cafe finally broke even. At this time, Liang Chen began to think about other business models, "Don't make money from your hobbies, so you will lose your interests." Bowen coffee shop does not sell other restaurants, there are only five or six kinds of coffee that Liang Chen specializes in. His purpose of making coffee is simple, unwilling to raise prices or increase categories. "making 'less but better' coffee means that cafes can't make money from coffee, so I started to develop other values of cafes."

Coffee shop is originally a platform for students to communicate, give full play to the advantages of the platform in order to better serve you. Liang Chen decided to turn the Bowen Cafe into a "start-up cafe" to help students "find people, find trouble, and find value." When you walk into the Bowen Cafe, you will find that the walls are covered with photos of students from all walks of life, some with QR codes. Just scan it and you can meet this new friend on Wechat. The "Entrepreneurship small Blackboard" is full of students' various entrepreneurial needs, and the electronic screen is also showing advertisements made by the students. The exquisite table cards on the dining table are unique, printed with students' entrepreneurial project profiles or personal data for people in need. Coffee cups are also painted with beautiful posters and QR codes. Students who are interested in entrepreneurial projects can consult Liang Chen, the "master brother" who is making coffee for them at any time.

Liang Chen laughs that he is a "living address book", while Bowen Cafe is an elegant "advertising column". "this is a kind of information matching based on the basic trust between classmates, and is not eager for quick success and quick profit. We are the 'ammunition depot' for thinkers, allowing people to relax and chat in cafes and inspire more active sparks of thought. "

Mobile salon helps customers solve problems.

In addition, Bowen Cafe is also a "mobile coffee shop", which not only provides consulting services, but also organizes "coffee salons" on various themes irregularly according to the needs of customers. "for example, a younger brother's start-up project had legal doubts, so I found a well-known lawyer from the law firm through the coffee shop. Bring professional coffee equipment and make an appointment with professional legal personnel to get together and chat. Between making coffee and drinking coffee, all kinds of 'difficult and complicated problems' in the process of starting a business can be easily solved. "

Although Liang Chen conscientiously runs a well-informed coffee shop, in the process of consulting, he persuades no less than 20 younger brothers and sisters who are interested in opening a coffee shop. "the Communication University is a 'concentration camp' for literary and artistic youth, and many younger brothers and sisters have unrealistic romantic fantasies about opening cafes, impulsive and uncalm."

Whenever he meets a consultant who wants to start a coffee shop, Liang Chen will share the daily business process of the coffee shop with them. "from opening in the morning to closing the shop in the evening, there are a total of 40 processes and 155 steps, which is not a romantic thing, it is a trivial and tedious thing. This is not what you imagined about literature and art, you will face the real life of hard work. When fantasy is out of step with reality, when you are under financial pressure, when most customers go to cafes for a plate of spaghetti, and you can't find like-minded 'bosom friends', can you stick to it? "

In the face of such a rational analysis, 80% of the consultants retreated, but Liang Chen was pleased to find that there were still "survivors" who persisted, including himself, of course. "the joy of making a good cup of coffee is far better than the frustration caused by all the difficulties," said Liang Chen, who is still selling good coffee for a few yuan.