Why is the consumer group of boutique coffee Chengfengkou still a minority?

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The Prospect of Fine Coffee remains to be tested

After the popularity of Korean coffee has come to an end, the desire of capital for the boutique coffee industry has become increasingly obvious in the past two years. In addition to Nestl é's acquisition of a 68 per cent stake in niche coffee chain Blue Bottle, there is a growing number of independent personalized stores of boutique coffee brands in China, with some brands pursuing large-scale operations. For example, after completing the 45 million yuan A round of financing, Seesaw plans to open 20 stores by the end of the year; Eagle set, which opened at the beginning of this year, is preparing a 30 million yuan round of Pre-A financing, and there are plans to increase the number of stores. Zheng Songmao, founder of Qiguan Coffee, once said that 1000 franchise stores will be opened in 2016, but only 10 stores are currently available.

According to data from the specialty coffee alliance, boutique coffee accounts for 15% to 20% of the total coffee consumption market in the United States. Zhao Kedong said: "in the United States, boutique coffee has not been promoted for a few years, while China is imitating the United States to make investment in the field of boutique coffee." Because from the point of view of investors, boutique coffee looks fresh, so they will invest in a certain brand. However, whether it can be promoted or whether consumers can accept it may have to be questioned first. Moreover, fine coffee is advocated without milk or sugar. In my opinion, at present, a large number of consumers still cannot accept it. In other words, Chinese consumers still need to be trained. "

According to the data provided by Lin Guangchao, president of the Guangzhou Coffee Association, "at present, instant coffee is still in the dominant position in the Chinese market, accounting for 70% of the total coffee consumption, and the proportion of ground coffee is about 20%. Personalized coffee (including boutique coffee) accounts for 10%. In addition, convenience store coffee and buffet coffee have also been gradually grabbing market share in recent years. " Albert also said: "instant and bottled coffee account for a large proportion, followed by freshly ground coffee, followed by a small portion of coffee ripe beans, and only a small portion of ripe beans are fine coffee, the specific proportion can be expressed as very small. If you are a boutique coffee lover, then you are an absolute niche. "

There has always been a saying in the coffee industry that "six losses, three equals and one profit". Albert told reporters: "in general, there are several accounts to open a coffee shop, including rent, labor, raw material costs, as well as the flow of people, overturning rate and passenger unit price, and so on." A small cafe needs 300000 yuan to invest. If you add in fixed store rent, manpower, water and electricity, and so on, from the perspective of pure investment, it would be quite good to make a profit of 300000 yuan in three years. "

"for small coffee shops, it is a fact that losses are mostly. The direct reason is that the efficiency is not high enough, and the inefficiency is not reflected in the fact that the customer unit price is not high enough, but that the transaction frequency is too little and the transaction frequency is actually less demand. There is no denying that Chinese people's acceptance and demand for coffee have been increasing in recent years, and now we are facing the Red Sea for a long time, because investment has been growing, demand is also growing, but not synchronously growing, so the competition will be very fierce. It is already very difficult to create customers and demand, and it is even more difficult to maintain profits. " Albert said.

For boutique coffee brands, it is not easy to scale. Albert pointed out: "it is difficult to strike a balance between giving consumers a fresh feeling and pursuing large-scale efficiency. Because the core of boutique coffee is quality, but after the beginning of scale, baristas are needed to maintain from quality to store links, so the quality of baristas largely represents the level of coffee shops, which is also the biggest restriction on store expansion. High-quality baristas are lacking, and baristas are poorly paid. It can be noted that Seesaw has only opened 20 stores in five years, and the expansion rate is very slow, mainly for quality. " Zhao Ketong said: "whether a boutique coffee shop can be run well includes too much content, such as marketing, training, management, promotion, reputation, and so on, which cannot be completed immediately. It takes a long time to accumulate."