Why do I open a coffee shop now and never find a partner again?

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Doing business in partnership is a bit like falling in love, perturbed and excited, between words, looking forward to a bright future.

But the difference with falling in love is that once you "like" each other, you have to partner in a "flash marriage" to open the store, and when the store changes for better or worse every day, participants often lose the patience to "fall in love". At this time, the contradiction is easy to appear.

Today, let's use a case study. Do you want to find a partner to open a store? Which three chapters do you need to agree on before partnering?

1

The lessons learned from the "partnership"

I have seen such a piece of news that a boss suffered a great loss in opening a shop in partnership.

She is a caterer, and her partner is her best friend. The business of the joint restaurant is very good, and the queuing scene is very hot. She belongs to the kind that seems to think, "the boss must have made a lot of money."

But the boss said-"in the face of 8 million yuan of running water is still a loss of 200000 yuan of embarrassment."

Why? It was only later that she realized that, for example, the monthly beef consumption in the store was only 380 jin, while the amount given by the purchasing, finance and chef was 800 jin-more than double.

And these people are all related to their partners in one way or another.

In another store, which was equally popular, the cash on the account was suddenly transferred hundreds of thousands of yuan by the partners for no reason and closed directly.

▲ was so angry that he vomited blood when something like this happened to him.

There are simply not too many similar cases. A search on the Internet will lead to "enmity against each other" and "inescapable human nature". After the partnership, I found out that TA is not your "dish". If there is a contradiction, it may not only be impossible for a friend to do it, but will inevitably have to argue over economic interests.

If you want to "close a shop quietly" and "go bankrupt happily", it will all become a luxury.

two

Do you have to find a partner to open a coffee shop?

Let's take a look at what may be the reason for looking for a partner:

-- lack of money.

To put it bluntly, but this is indeed a big common divisor problem. If you can't reach the size and appearance of your cafe by relying on your own money alone, and you stubbornly refuse to budge, finding a partner to invest is a priority.

In this case, please be sure to make sure that the partner you are looking for is only a capital investment to get a dividend, or whether you should also participate in management and partnership.

▲ figured out why he was looking for a partner.

Lack of manpower / ability.

For this reason, there are a lot of people who want to partner with each other. It takes a generalist to open a coffee shop, and the entry barrier is not low for coffee rookies. A barista who won a prize in a gold coffee competition and a store manager experienced by a well-known chain are all helpful targets.

But first of all, let's go back to the above one. Does the other party contribute money? Or pure technology shares? And, does the other person's ability and experience really complement you and still be able to do it on your own?

-- good relations.

Uh. It is true that there are partnership ideas that come from this. Friends for many years, trust each other, drinking beer, eating kebabs, a hot head, a pat on the thigh--

"just a few of us, we can't make a career by doing something!"

▲ frees himself as soon as his mind gets hot?

Take it for granted.

In a way, this can be understood as a psychological search for sense of security. First of all, you need to understand whether this idea is purely emotional or contains other factors that can promote the development of your cafe.

A partnership based solely on a "good relationship" is irresponsible to each other and to the cafe you are going to open.

Especially for students who are fresh out of campus and eager to start their own business, such partnerships need to be extremely cautious because of the lack of business experience.

It may be more appropriate to go to work honestly to do business with the idea that "at least a few people feel sorry for each other when they fail."

three

If you want to form a partnership, you must first "make three rules".

As a matter of fact, we have to understand the truth. Partnering to open a coffee shop is not always a fraud. After all, people gather firewood and do their homework well in advance, so they may not be able to "hold hands and grow old together". But pay attention to a few key points--

one

Different ways do not conspire with each other, but this is not enough.

First of all, we should pay attention to the convergence of values: a person who wants to pursue short-term interests and make a fortune will leave; a person who wants to be a long-term brand and open a century-old store will have different goals and directions. Even if they all have the ability, this force will not be able to go together.

Does ▲ aim in the same direction?

So won't it be unpleasant to make sure that values are the same? Unfortunately, no.

In fact, there are other areas that can easily cause resentment among partners: style, trivial disputes.

You act vigorously, he is calm and calm, and he seems to be an excellent quality in work decision-making, but this kind of incongruity may be repeated again and again because of all kinds of tedious matters in the cafe, and when disagreements become a dispute of morale, once or twice, five or eight times.

Even if you pat your chest and promise to "only talk about business, no hard feelings", and once the decision lags behind, it will be directly reflected in the business, and your team will be affected.

two

Recognize the reality and make a good psychological consensus

Opening a coffee shop is a hard business to make quick money.

You may know how popular some cafes are, but be aware that most of the time these profitable cafes are not replicable: a special location (surrounded by people in rigid demand for coffee), a relative's shop (rent is no longer worried), a beautiful marketing (a huge amount of publicity investment in the early stage).

For you, who are out of reach, opening a coffee shop depends on the continuous accumulation of popularity and healthy management in order to touch the edge of the cloud called "profit".

After all, ▲ has to go through a long period of store maintenance before it makes a profit.

Therefore, as a founder, to be able to withstand "poverty and loneliness", your partner should know this, of course, to have a sense of entrepreneurial team.

three

Clarify each person's "rights, responsibilities and interests"

There is such an example, the same restaurant, the initial business is very good, but because the knowledgeable shareholder has a small share, when he continues to put forward his own ideas in the course of operation, the major shareholder has an idea in his heart, "Why are you telling me what to do here for that kind of money?"

Time and again, the knowledgeable minority shareholder get came to this kind of voiceover and slowly lost his enthusiasm.

It was quickly reflected in the business-it wasn't long before profitability failed.

In order to maintain a long-term relationship, it is necessary to conclude a contract with a clear division of labor. Make clear who is in charge of the overall situation, break down who is responsible for what, and know each other's shares and dividends. And, it is also necessary to establish a good exit mechanism and supervision mechanism.

▲ defines their respective "rights, responsibilities and interests".

On the other hand, partnerships are changing. The resources for opening a coffee shop are different in its infancy and development period, so make some preparations in advance and reserve some space, so as not to allocate too many shares "in order to open up the store" in the early stage, when you need to introduce talents to vigorously expand. Equity incentives have no room.

"ugly words come first" and "the villain comes before the gentleman". This seems to be an impersonal sentence, but in a way, it reflects the sincerity of the partnership.

Do you have any experience of doing business in partnership? Share it.