Many people's cafes in Chongqing

Chongqing version of "many people Cafe" 30 young people join in dreaming

03:38 on 05 December 2012

Source: Chongqing Business Daily

Pictures of some members of Chongqing version of "many people Cafe"

Tidal current

A reporter from the Business Daily talks about the book Zhang Xiaofeng

Which young artist doesn't have a dream of opening a cafe? In Beijing, Nanjing, Changsha, Zhongshan and other cities, "many cafes" have emerged one after another, with hundreds of shareholders and only a few thousand yuan per person. Now, a post on Douban entitled "Chongqing 'Hey many people' Cafe preparation for launch" has become popular on the Internet, saying that if one person cannot open a coffee shop, then everyone will raise money together, with a minimum contribution of 2000 yuan, and everyone can be a boss. Everyone has the right to manage the cafe. This made many Chongqing white-collar workers with the dream of opening a coffee shop moved and joined them one after another and responded enthusiastically. Yesterday, the reporter learned that hundreds of people have joined the preparatory team to make continuous efforts for this small capital dream.

With a dream, 30 people are sure to contribute.

Yesterday, the reporter contacted Jia Ming, 30, the founder of Chongqing version of "many people Cafe", who is a professional coffee technical instructor with more than ten years of experience. According to his friends, Jia Ming is crazy about coffee, and his family has enough coffee beans, roasters and other equipment to open a cafe. He often visits coffee producing areas to observe and understand the growth of coffee beans. Jia Ming told reporters that on the evening of August 29 this year, he sent a solicitation post on Douban, hoping that friends who love coffee can join in and contribute money to open a cafe.

As of yesterday, 154 people had joined the "many people Cafe" QQ group, from various industries, such as home appliance maintenance, construction machinery manufacturing, advertising design, wine sales, etc., and most of them were post-80s, with about 30 members confirmed to contribute. Since most of the respondents are not familiar with the expertise of coffee, Jia Ming also plans 32 coffee sharing activities to exchange experiences and share coffee in independent cafes in Chongqing every Wednesday and Sunday.

"everyone got together, made coffee, tasted beans, shared their understanding of coffee, and tried to realize this dream." Jia Ming said that in the future, he will continue to carry out offline member activities to deepen people's understanding of coffee. Han Chong, a 27-year-old wine saleswoman, said that in the fast-paced, high-pressure city life, owning a cafe, occasionally sitting in it listening to music and reading books, slowly precipitated herself. "this is the life I want."

There are too many people and it is difficult to determine the location of the store.

How do you operate a cafe run by so many people? Jia Ming said that according to his vision, this is an independent minority cafe that mainly operates its own roasted boutique coffee, with a joint-stock system of 2000 yuan per share in the form of a company, with the lowest share and the highest 10 shares.

But problems still follow, and the location of cafes has been a headache for members since September. Members of the group often discussed the issue of location, some said that it would be good to open a small cafe in the mall, while others said that the pedestrian street was so noisy that no one had made up their mind for a while.

"it took a long time to discuss the location of the cafe in Jiangbei District, covering an area of about 100 square meters." Jia Ming said that in the plan, from store opening to operation, the capital cost is about 800000 to 1 million a year, including rent, decoration, equipment and operating expenses for half a year. "if the rent is too high, the cost is too high and the risk is too high. So location and rent are very important." Apart from the question of location, it is also difficult for everyone to agree on many other chores. Tang Jun, one of the organizers of the cafe, said that the more people there are, the more ideas there will be. how to reach an agreement is the most troublesome, but no one has ever thought of giving up and may consider voting for a decision in the future. Han Chong also said that he had thought about all kinds of problems encountered in the future, "but I will not give up, and no one cares about the money, but the process of accomplishing this dream together."

outside the box

Beijing made a short profit after a year of loss

The first domestic "many people Cafe" in Beijing also lost money at first, and it was not until a full year of operation that it made a "short" profit in a single month for the first time. In order to solve the funding problem, the cafe also held a second IPO meeting, the number of shareholders also increased from 80 to 132.

The most difficult thing for Zhongshan to make ends meet is trust.

In addition, the "many people Cafe" in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, which has only been operating for three months, is initially losing money, and now it has just broken even. Zhu Jianming, the manager of the coffee shop, said in an interview with our reporter that the coffee shop had been prepared for a year, from the initial 90 shareholders to 115 now. The most difficult of these is mutual trust among members. Zhu Jianming said that the core staff involved in their management is about 10 people, and how to make good use of every sum of money and reassure shareholders has become the key to mutual trust. Nowadays, according to the rules of the team, the income and expenditure of cafes are transparent. Every week, they will put the income and expenditure statement on the table in the group share, "although the road ahead is tortuous, but we will stick to it."

Risk hint

Shareholders should sign agreements to protect their rights

Yesterday, Duan Qin, deputy director of Chongqing Lida Law firm, said in an interview with reporters that according to the provisions of the Company Law, the number of shareholders when registering a limited liability company cannot exceed 50, and it is not allowed to withdraw shares casually, so when the company is established, the original shareholders cannot exceed this number.

"there are bound to be risks in the large number of shareholders," he said. First, it is very difficult to protect the rights and interests at the same time, especially the risk of no return. Investors should consider carefully when investing. Second, the risk of personnel fluctuations, due to the large number of shareholders, the turnover of shareholders may be faced with the situation of withdrawal at any time. Third, it is more difficult to manage, and it is difficult to balance the opinions of many shareholders. Therefore, he suggests that investors should consider carefully before buying shares, and once they decide to join, it is best to sign an agreement with the sponsors to guarantee their rights and obligations in written form.

Industry suggestions

The mode of board of directors can be used for reference.

Zhang Ming, the owner of the Cafe in the past, told the reporter that many people opening cafes together actually pay for their dreams and can accumulate experience, but if they want to operate for a long time, they will encounter a lot of difficulties. "for example, it is difficult to manage a large number of people." Zhang Ming suggested that in terms of operation, we can adopt a more mature business model such as the board of directors, or the way of managers and shareholders, which can be managed by some people. The other part of the investment can be paid a dividend.

In addition, Deng, manager of Shangdao Coffee three Gorges Plaza, said that nowadays, competition in the catering industry is fierce, and the model of "many people's cafes" is novel. If the operation is good, there are characteristics and bright spots, it is not impossible to make a profit. She said that this model seems to have the problem of "multiple management", but as long as the "leader" is identified, the problem can also be overcome.

Investors and managers should be separated.

Liu Yue, chairman of Flavor Chongqing Restaurant Group, believes that "many people's Cafe" embodies a way of life and an entrepreneurial model, which can realize the dreams of many young people, which is worth encouraging. This kind of many people participate in the investment, as far as capital is concerned, each person invests thousands to ten thousand yuan, even if the failure, the economic loss is shared among each shareholder, which is controllable, but what they gain is entrepreneurial experience.

So how can we succeed in starting a business? Liu Yue suggested that, first of all, the positioning should be clear, and the products should be distinctive; secondly, the financial affairs should be clear, and the investors and store managers should be completely separated; finally, the rights of shareholders should be clearly defined, and the central management should not be too much.

(responsible Editor: coffee vera)