The business behind the smell of romantic coffee-how to open a dream cafe?

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What kind of store would you most like to open? The most common answer must be "coffee shop". However, drinking coffee is romantic, but opening a coffee shop is realistic. How can the dream of opening a shop come true when the market is oversaturated?

Written by Zhang Zhicheng

Once upon a time, cafes have replaced fast food restaurants as the first choice for parties or killing time. In the annual entrepreneurial exhibition, cafes are always voted as the top ten start-up industries, so it can be seen that opening a cafe is fatally attractive to many entrepreneurs. How wonderful it is to be able to smell coffee, chat with guests and make money every day!

Although drinking coffee is a basic condition for becoming a cafe owner, drinking coffee is completely different from opening a coffee shop. "drinking coffee is romantic, but opening a coffee shop is realistic," said the deputy general manager of Italian illy coffee importer Mafu Foods, which coaches the experience of opening more than 400 cafes.

Coffee shop lesson 1: positioning ─ Dream, but also have a sense of direction

Experts stress that determining the positioning of a coffee shop is the first step in successfully opening a coffee shop.

For example, open mobile cafes, take-out cafes or inner-seat cafes? Do you only sell coffee in the shop, or "coffee + pastry" or "coffee + pastry + light meal"? In addition, is it a single store or a compound cafe allied with other industries (for example, in conjunction with bookstores)? All this has to be thought out from the very beginning.

The management orientation of the coffee shop determines the capital, personnel, menu, location, and even the design and decoration of the store; we must first determine the management direction, and then plan other details. But many shop owners are just the opposite, often decide to design decoration and location choice, and then consider what type of coffee shop to open. For example, "I really want to open a Provencal cafe," focusing on how to decorate Provencal style, which is the most common and fatal mistake for coffee shop owners.

Coffee shop second lesson: financial planning ─ to open a shop, the abacus should be precise

The hardware and software required for a cafe are as follows:

1. Menu (menu, including coffee, pastries and light meals)

two。 Money-making equipment (coffee maker, oven, microwave, gas stove, smoothie machine, refrigerator, freezer, etc.)

3. Hardware equipment (air conditioning, lighting, etc.)

4. Utensils

5. Design and decoration (bar design, cafe style and tone, table and chair furniture, etc.)

Of these five elements, the menu is the most basic, which will determine which money-generating equipment and hardware equipment need to be purchased, and will also affect the bar design. If you only want to open a coffee + pastry cafe at first, the bar design is relatively simple, but if you find that this alone is unable to maintain operation, and when you want to add smoothie products, you will find that the bar may not have room for a smoothie machine; if you want to add more light meals and do not plan the kitchen at the beginning, the problem will be even bigger, and even need to be redecorated, which is another large expense. Therefore, at the beginning of starting a business, it is necessary to think clearly about the selling program of the cafe.

The decoration budget is most likely to get out of control.

In terms of financial planning for cafes, the following expenses must be included:

1. Money-generating equipment

two。 Hardware equipment

3. Utensils

4. Design and decoration

5. Rent (first month's rent + 3 months' deposit = 4 months' rent)

6. Raw material

7. Personnel expenses (eg salaries of timers)

8. Miscellaneous expenses (water and electricity expenses)

9. Can maintain the reserve of the coffee shop in deficit for at least 3 months [(rent + raw materials + personnel expenses + miscellaneous expenses) x 3]

Experts suggest that the budgets of money-generating equipment, hardware equipment and utensils are immovable, and only the cost of design and decoration can be changed; as for rent, it involves the choice of location and has a large variable.

"Why do we keep warning entrepreneurs not to start with design and decoration when opening a store? Because experience tells us that when many entrepreneurs have NT $100,000 to NT $2 million in cash, the first thing to do is to find a design and decoration company. At that time, they had plenty of money, and in order to build the cafe of their dreams, the decoration budget was often constantly increased. Obviously, it only needs a budget of 800000, and often by the time it is finished, it has already spent 1.6 million. " The rest of the money is used to buy wealth and hardware equipment, and after deducting the rent and deposit paid to the landlord for four months, there is little left. As long as there is something wrong, the cafe is very likely to be unsustainable, either close or give way.

Every penny is spent on the knife edge.

"some people are willing to buy a 3000-yuan chair to decorate the cafe, but others buy a 200-yuan second-hand chair with a chair cover, and the effect is just as good," says yen Yun-ching, who runs a "promenade Cafe" with her husband after closing the export business.

Yen Yun-ching believes that coffee brewing equipment and bar are the core of the whole cafe. "in fact, a good two-hole or three-hole Italian coffee machine, whose price ranges from more than NT $100,000 to NT $300000, is enough to handle the customers of a 50-ping coffee shop," says an expert who has been immersed in the coffee industry for many years.

The expert warns that the after-sales service of the coffee machine must not be ignored. his experience is that if the Italian coffee machine breaks down and the supplier cannot come and repair the machine within three hours, the coffee machine is useless, "because you don't have to do business all day!"

Upholstery design should be flexible

In fact, the design and decoration is very flexible. in the case of the promenade cafe, at first, the designer felt a headache for the long, tall space that was only 20 ping large, which was very different from the square pattern, but after adjusting measures to local conditions, instead, it designed the warm atmosphere of a typical European street corner cafe, with glass doors isolated from the heavy traffic outside, plus large murals, small square tables and benches that filled the whole wall. Let the long Corridor Cafe successfully create a sense of simplicity that is different from that of the chain coffee shop.

As for take-away cafes, the decoration is even simpler, as long as the bar is well designed, the rest can hardly cost much money.

Coffee shop lesson 3: professional ─ technology is not in place, everything is out of the question

Since it is a coffee shop, the quality of coffee beans and the technology of brewing coffee are the key to determining the return rate of customers.

Experts say that with the speed that Chinese people like the new and hate the old, the decoration of a store may be out of date in three years' time. If you only want to win with the decoration atmosphere, the media effect may bring a crowd at first, but after the fever goes down, how can a bad cafe be supported?

Experts suggest that since you are willing to open a coffee shop, it is best for the entrepreneur to take charge of the bar at the initial stage of opening the shop. In the outfield, three full-time or working students will be hired to cope with the daily operation of the cafe. This will not only save personnel costs, but also make coffee by hand. It can also avoid the situation of different quality of coffee caused by the lack of manpower in case the bar staff leaves.

What do you know about the characteristics of coffee beans?

Many people don't even know how to make coffee before opening a shop. Experts believe that before opening a shop, you must spend more time tasting coffee beans from other places. In addition to training your own sense of taste, you can also study the quality and taste of different coffee beans and find out which coffee beans you like.

There are still many importers and large-market importers of domestic coffee beans, so you might as well surf the Internet or consult people in the industry, and bean merchants or coffee machine suppliers all offer relevant courses, so it is not difficult to understand coffee beans.

In addition, usually read more coffee books, it is best to listen to relevant speeches, because the threshold of the cafe is not high, the competition is increasingly fierce, the only way is to make the quality of coffee.

Coffee shop lesson 4: location ─ need not be superstitious about prime location

Many people believe that the key to success in opening a store is "location,location,location". As long as you open a shop in a prime location, it is a safe bet. In fact, this sentence is only half true.

Usually we distinguish commercial areas by Class A, Class B and Class C. for prime lots of Class A, the rent is either frighteningly high, or there is no market, which is why shops in prime locations usually sell high unit price products.

In many gold stores in the first-tier war zone, the monthly rent is at least NT $200,000 to NT $300000. How many cups a day do you have to sell before you can even the rent?. This does not include personnel costs and equipment depreciation. In fact, as long as it is managed properly, class B lots can also have the spring of cafes.

There is a great disparity in rent.

Lin Ching-Yi, who used to run a coffee shop on Songjiang Road in Taipei, says that every penny for entrepreneurs must be spent on the knife edge, and the rent for a store on the road costs NT $60,000 to NT $70,000 a month, but if it is in an alley only more than ten meters from the road, customers will not mind taking a few more steps, and the rent may differ by NT $20,000.

Lin Jingyi suggested that the area could be divided into department stores, office areas, business districts, cultural and educational districts, entertainment areas, residential areas, and traffic transfer areas, so as to observe in depth the daily activities and the flow of people in the area, and analyze the success rate of running cafes in the area.

Each location has a different way of work and rest, and the crowds gather at different times. If the cafe is in the office area, the noon from Monday to Friday is the most important business time, and you can take advantage of Sunday rest; on the other hand, if you open a shop in the entertainment area or shopping area, the weekend break is obviously against money.

The tide of people is not equal to the tide of money.

However, the "crowd" is not necessarily equal to the "money tide". Yan Yunqing, a coffee from the promenade, has a deep understanding of this. When I first chose the location, I thought that the opposite side of the cafe was the Songshan Railway Station, while the famous Raohe Street Night Market was in the rear, with both traffic and a huge crowd in the night market business district. It was not too much to say that it was a "treasure basin". When the shop opened, I knew it wasn't the case at all! "

Yen Yun-ching says with a smile that the consumption pattern of the night market is fastidious. Many people are used to eating and shopping at the same time. They simply don't have the patience to go into the store, sit down and taste the coffee slowly, and can only watch the crowds pass by. On the contrary, many shop assistants and office workers in the nearby stores have become regular customers of the cafe.

On-the-spot investigation of the consumption pattern of crowd

Experts suggest that entrepreneurs should spend at least a week observing the nature of local crowds and consumption patterns when choosing a location. Focus on the scheduled location of the store, investigate how many competitors (including chain or single-store cafes, fast food restaurants, and foam black tea shops) are within 500 meters, and record the number of people these competitors spend in the store every day and their estimated turnover. At the same time, assess how much cake you can share or make bigger if you enter the war.

Yen Yun-ching particularly cautioned that when choosing a site, we should also pay attention to the topography and drainage facilities. Songshan District, where the Promenade Cafe is located, was badly affected by Typhoon Nali, and it took half a month to clean, disinfect, and clean up. "this kind of loss that is not in the assessment is often the most serious," she says with lingering palpitations.

Coffee shop lesson 5: cost control ─ how much is a cup of coffee?

Of course, you can't lose money when opening a shop. But many people only know how much a cup of coffee costs, but do not know how much a cup of coffee costs.

A cup of coffee usually takes 15 murmur20 grams of beans, and a pound of coffee can usually brew 25 murmur30 cups of coffee, while the cost of cream (or milk) and sugar for a cup of coffee is about 5 yuan. In addition, it also includes paper cups, tissue paper, mixing sticks and other materials. In this way, the raw material cost of a cup of coffee is roughly between 10 and 19 yuan. In addition, don't forget to add the cost of rent, water, electricity, personnel and equipment depreciation, plus a certain percentage of the profit is the price of a cup of coffee.

Experts say that many shopkeepers do not know how to set the price and follow suit depending on how much their competitors order. But this kind of laziness is very dangerous. later, when we find that we cannot make ends meet and dare not raise prices, we have no choice but to switch to cheaper coffee beans, and the vicious circle begins. "this is the beginning of preparing to close down!"

Coffee shop lesson 6: customer training ─ long stream to build word of mouth

Opening a coffee shop is like chasing a girlfriend. It takes time to brew.

Ten years ago, it was quite profitable to open a coffee shop, but with the strong intervention of competitors and coffee chains, it is becoming more and more difficult to open a dream cafe with its own style. "any coffee supplier with a conscience will warn entrepreneurs not to get rich overnight by opening a coffee shop," the expert said.

Opening a cafe is a long-running business, usually in the stage of burning money in the first three months, and many people hope to make a name for themselves through various marketing and advertising activities before opening the shop. "but don't be full on the first day of the opening!" The expert said very seriously.

His reason is that the movement line and customer service process of coffee brewing may not be familiar with at the beginning of the opening, and some of them are not even good at using coffee machines. The more people come, the more customers complain.

"on the first day, as long as there are two or three kittens, you can gradually familiarize yourself with various skills and work flow, and as long as one is not a dumb cat, you will gradually gain word of mouth," the expert says with a smile. Since the initial estimated crowd flow will not be too high, it is necessary to rely on lower operating costs (of which lower rent is the most important) in exchange for time to train customers.

Ask yourself three questions

To open a coffee shop, you can not only realize your entrepreneurial dream, but also make some like-minded friends. However, be sure to ask yourself three questions: is the rent in the store reasonable? Is the capital for starting a business mostly self-owned? Is it your lifelong interest to open a coffee shop?

If the answer to all three questions is "Yes!" Then owning your own Fantasy Cafe will no longer be a distant dream.