Exclusive interview with the founder of Seesaw: revenue depends almost entirely on coffee, and it will go to 20 stores this year.

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Zong Xinkang, founder of ▲ Seesaw Coffee

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Open 20 stores before the end of the year and go large-scale

A few days ago, the boutique coffee brand Seesaw was invested by Baifu Holdings, a subsidiary of Hony Capital, with a valuation of more than 200 million yuan.

"money is of course very important. But there is also a very important point is the ability of capital to endorse. "

In the fifth year of founding Seesaw, founder Zong Xin Kuang began to think about the pace of the company's development. "from the perspective of offline chain, the speed of opening seven stores in five years is relatively slow."

In 2012, Zong Xinkang founded the boutique coffee brand Seesaw in Shanghai. With its differentiated positioning and exquisite space design, it soon became one of the representative brands of domestic boutique coffee.

In China, boutique coffee is a concept that has not yet entered the field of public consumption. After the education of Nestle and Starbucks, some customers have a more fastidious pursuit of coffee flavor, so boutique cafes representing better coffee quality emerge as the times require. In Shanghai, Seesaw, quality Hall, Eagle set and other chain brands are well known in the industry.

An exclusive interview with ▲ Eagle Collection Coffee

But on the other hand, due to the relatively small customer base, high barriers to entry, and the immature profit model of boutique cafes, the commercialization and large-scale development of brands are affected to a great extent.

"We went on a scale from the very beginning. Sally (Seesaw CEO), who was born in the financial industry, had these ideas from the beginning. Now we have a team base of more than 100 people, and then maybe from 100 to 300 people. "

Zong Xinkang believes that the intervention of capital can release influence and help Seesaw go faster. For example, it can help Seesaw strengthen its attractiveness and appeal to senior talent. In addition, in the choice of shopping malls and stores, there is also a chance to get a better position.

His plan is to open 20 stores by the end of the year. At present, stores in Shenzhen have been opened one after another, and stores in Beijing will also open in the second half of the year.

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Profit model: almost all income comes from selling coffee

The coffee industry is known as "six losses, three equals and one profit". Many brands have made a lot of attempts on how to design a profit model. How does Seesaw do it?

"it's mainly about your location and location." Zong Xinkang said.

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Location: the core of the mall, open a big store

In terms of location, Seesaw was the first to break the convention of location of boutique cafes. Instead of choosing the street side, it opens the boutique coffee in shopping malls with a large flow of people. At the same time, it breaks the tradition of opening boutique coffee shops. Many of its stores are open to 200 yuan, and they are designed to give full play to the space and open the space for interaction.

▲ opened a big shop in the mall.

"in terms of location, I believe that what kind of location, what kind of price, what kind of location, what kind of flow of people and groups of people."

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Positioning: only a little more expensive than Starbucks

In the early days, the price of Seesaw Italian products was even lower than that of Starbucks.

Zong Xinguang himself does not like the word "boutique", which makes him feel distant from his customers. Starbucks has always been a brand he admires.

"Coffee is already a very popular drink, but in fact, I have never wanted to put the word 'boutique' on it. What I hope is that our presentation, environment, services, products are suitable for you, have a good appeal, have interaction and expression, and make a relatively 'close' connection with customers. "

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Product structure: coffee-based

Surprisingly, most of Seesaw's revenue comes from coffee.

In Zong Xinguang's expression, Seesaw's performance is almost infinitely close to the imagination of the "cafe dreamer": no extra meals, a little dessert, no need to sell beans or training, and you can make good money by selling coffee alone.

▲ can make good money by selling coffee alone.

Seesaw doesn't have many desserts, and most of its revenue is concentrated in coffee drinks. At present, the average daily volume of Seesaw stores is 400-500 cups, which has doubled over the weekend, Mr. Zong said.

"investors are surprised to see our financial performance. Our flat effect is good in the retail industry."

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An attempt to work together

In addition to the above "sell coffee in the mall" model, seesaw is also experimenting with some new models, such as joint office.

In addition to working with the shared office Wework, Seesaw is also doing its own thing. "the Leo store is on the fifth floor. Let's make the area bigger, do a little partition, and have a better interaction with the bar. This is one of our attempts. It looks good now. There are a lot of people working and meeting. "

Many of ▲ 's new Leo stores are working on computers.

In today's "exquisite, high-priced, minority" boutique coffee market, Seesaw's exploration of the profit model is worth paying attention to.

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"Popularization" of fine coffee

The popularity of boutique coffee is a problem that all ambitious boutique coffee brands have to face, and it is also an opportunity to define the brand pattern in a new round.

Zong Xinkang said that the current boutique coffee brand pattern is basically defined by "insiders". At the level of the mass consumer market, the face of boutique coffee is trance. The next round of brand pattern must be formed in the process of popularization.

The brand of ▲ boutique coffee must have been formed in the popularization.

In the market, some brands are trying to pull their products to the top level at the technical level, while others are trying to guide the mass market through approachable creative coffee drinks.

"in terms of the business model of boutique coffee, each brand is more or less the same. However, what kind of products and ideas you use to communicate with consumers is different. "

"We are different from the blue bottle. The market in which the blue bottle is located is relatively large and the market is more mature, so it is easier to switch to the elite, the minority, and the group of people who boast taste."

"for example, service is very vague, but it is a very, very direct feeling for consumers." Zong Xinkang believes that in order to popularize boutique coffee, we must first accept the reality of popularizing the customer base. This is reflected in the concept of service, it is necessary to be prepared to deal with various types of consumer groups, not that small group of people.