The success of the boss of "Shepherd Boy" Cafe: Cafe can't just make coffee.

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Trend to start a business, for many young people who intend to start a business, opening a Cafe seems to be a business project with a lower threshold. "Shepherd Boys" brand coffee shop founder, post-80s Liang Dylan (Dylan) on the identity of experience, said that to open a Cafe is not an easy task, to succeed, must be unique in the product in order to effectively attract customers.

Dylan founded the Shepherd Youth Cafe in 2012 and opened its sixth branch earlier this year, which is well-known in Hong Kong. Dylan said that many employees working in his store are ambitious to start their own Cafe, and he is very supportive of them, discussing this topic with their employees every month. However, he pointed out that it was shared by former employees who had gone out on their own, saying that it was not easy to operate.

Cafe admission is easy. Hong Kong is highly competitive.

He explained that Cafe or western food is easier to enter, and it even takes only a year or two to master the knowledge needed for operation, so there is already a lot of Cafe in the market and there is a lot of competition. Therefore, he pointed out that it is necessary to have characteristics in the product in order to attract customers to continue to patronize.

The market may not be saturated, but there should be some changes in the products, not All day breakfast, spaghetti, Cappuccino or Latte.

However, he also stressed that it is difficult for the new generation of Cafe entrepreneurs to do this. He says:

About 10 or 8 years ago, most of the entrepreneurs who came out to open restaurants had some experience in the catering industry, and many of them had worked as Western chefs for more than 10 years and had certain culinary skills. But today's Cafe entrepreneurs, many of whom only have a year or two of experience to open stores, may not have the ability to make surprise breakthroughs in food.

The Shepherd Youth Cafe often holds all kinds of cultural activities. (fb Photo of Shepherd Boys Cafe)

Dylan also pointed out that although he has several years of experience in operating Cafe, it is also a great challenge to make a breakthrough in the product. The shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, which he opened last year, cooperated with famous Taiwanese coffee masters to introduce overseas success with the theme of creative coffee. On the other hand, the shepherds themselves mainly take the literary and artistic route, and the main activities in the store, such as concerts, tourism sharing activities, and so on, take the atmosphere in the store as a big store. Dylan said that he himself also likes literature and art-related content, and it would be very boring if he only made meals.

Self-developed member App attracts repeat customers

As for the problems of business and foreign guests, he recently teamed up with IT personnel to develop the catering industry customer management App Stampon, improving the traditional practice of distributing stamp cards and storing and stamping seals. the store only needs to print out a receipt with QR code, and guests can save points after downloading App without having to carry a stamp card. It began to be tested in its own store at the beginning of the year, and it was officially launched on the market earlier, and other peers were invited to join it free of charge.

The method of operation is very simple, and the staff do not need too many extra procedures. The store can operate smoothly as long as a mobile phone downloads the relevant App and a printer.

Stampon App, developed by Dylan and its partners, can replace traditional printing cards and can be stored by scanning QR code. It has been tried out in shepherd stores earlier this year.

Dylan will first focus on the Stampon project, hoping to increase the number of users and the number of meals on the platform. As for the shepherds who have no plans to expand in the short term, they will first hold more cultural activities in the store.