Lock Internet practitioners cafes to make money by circle

Garage coffee

3W coffee

Beta coffee

In 2009, Beta Coffee, the first Internet-themed cafe, opened and was rated as the "best gathering place for online merchants" at the China C2C Summit Forum after only two months of operation. Then, Internet cafes such as garage coffee and 3W coffee have come out one after another, and they are all doing very well at present. Yesterday, the reporter learned in the interview that the success of these three Internet cafes is to achieve the goal of making a profit by locking in the circle of Internet practitioners. At present, there are more than 100000 Internet practitioners in Chongqing, and so far there is not a commercial Internet cafe.

Successful cases

Beta Coffee serves as the living Room for Internet users

Beta Coffee, which officially opened in Hangzhou in June 2009, is the first cafe with IT as its theme in China, and its founder, White Raven, has an Internet background.

"We invested 1 million yuan at that time." Yesterday, manager Zhao, head of Beta Coffee, told reporters on the phone, "our position is to become the living room of Internet people, and the target customer group is the entire Internet practitioners." "at the beginning, friends from the Internet circle often came to support me." Manager Zhao said that they will often invite some friends in the Internet circle to carry out exchange activities, including business leaders. "Beta Coffee has organized numerous formal and informal meetings, there are job advertisements from major companies on the recruitment wall, and even bathrooms have become a sea of information." Manager Zhao said that later, Beta Coffee also set up its own website, Flickr photo album and Twitter ID.

Although he would not disclose the annual profit, Manager Zhao said the cafe was doing well and had opened a second store in Zhongguancun, Beijing.

Garage coffee provides an open office environment

The western district of Zhongguancun in Beijing brings together several well-known technology companies such as Sina, Microsoft, Innovation works and so on. In April 2011, garage coffee with the theme of Internet entrepreneurship and investment appeared near here.

Prior to this, Su Di, founder of garage coffee, has been in charge of strategic investment business in an IT company, and has a deep understanding of the hardships that investors have to find projects. After resigning, in order to bring entrepreneurs and investors together, she set up the 800-square-meter coffee shop with a capacity of about 150 people.

The person in charge of garage coffee told reporters on the phone yesterday that the main business model of garage coffee is that here, entrepreneurs in any industry only need to order a cup of coffee to enjoy a free open office environment, including independent desks, wireless networks, as well as iPhone, Android, tablet testing machines and projectors, desktop touch screens and other devices.

According to reports, due to the relatively partial location of garage coffee, the monthly rent is only 1600 yuan, including water, electricity, labor costs and other expenses, the monthly income of the coffee shop can recover the cost at about 50, 000 yuan. In fact, the monthly income of garage coffee is far more than 50,000 yuan.

3W Coffee creates Internet Social Circle

Four months after the opening of garage coffee, 3W coffee, also with the theme of the Internet, quietly opened in the west of Zhongguancun. Like the first two, 3W Coffee is profitable.

"August 6, 2011 is our opening day and the 20th anniversary of the birth of the Internet." Bao Chunhua, the person in charge of 3W coffee, told reporters on the phone yesterday that the positioning of 3W coffee is an in-depth communication platform for Internet professionals.

It is understood that the three founders of 3W Coffee, Xu Shan, Ma Delong and Ella, are all senior Internet personages. In the daily operation of the cafe, Madelong is mainly responsible for offline platform construction and salon investment, while the other two are responsible for activities, store management, and shareholder activities operation and planning.

"We invite an investor over every day, and then we select five of the many entrepreneurs and give each entrepreneur an hour to face the investor. This is a luxury for many entrepreneurs, and even if the investment fails, you can learn something from it. " Bao Chunhua said: from its opening to the end of March this year, 3W has held a total of 137 salons, three projects have been funded, more than a dozen projects are being followed up, and more than 170 projects have been invested.

Bao Chunhua said that the main goal of 3W Coffee is to create a social circle at the middle and high levels of the Internet industry. "the circle can generate a lot of added value, and people who come here will start a business and grow themselves." it is also possible to join other companies to become new executives.

Market analysis

There are more than 100000 Internet practitioners in Chongqing. At present, there is no Internet cafe.

According to information from the Chongqing municipal government network, Yuzhong District is building a national important data center and an information center in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River around the city. By 2015, the total output value of Chongqing's Internet industry will exceed 30 billion yuan.

"the current situation of Internet development in Chongqing is getting better and better, and there is a good prospect of becoming an Internet-themed cafe in Chongqing." Hu Gang, president of the Municipal Internet Merchants Association, told reporters yesterday that he estimated that there are more than 100000 Internet practitioners in Chongqing. Hu Gang said that at present, Internet practitioners in Chongqing are mainly concentrated in Yuzhong District, but in terms of future development trends, several major industrial parks, Liangjiang New area, and industrial service ports will all settle in Jiangbei, and these areas also have great potential. "therefore, Internet cafes should focus on selecting sites in Yuzhong and Jiangbei." Hu Gang said.

The reporter learned through SouFun that the monthly rent of shops in Yuzhong District is about 40 yuan per square meter, while that of Jiangbei shops is about 30 yuan and 75 yuan per square meter. According to a rough estimate, including equipment costs and labor costs, it takes about 300000 yuan to open a coffee shop with an area of about 300 square meters in Chongqing.

The point is that there are no Internet cafes in Chongqing at present. Although there is a special clubhouse in the Shangqing Temple Internet Industrial Park, which organizes salons and invites experts to train, the organization and management of the clubhouse are completely public welfare, and there is no business model. " 'This implies considerable commercial potential, 'Mr. Hu said.

Industry tips

Opening an Internet cafe with industry resources is the key.

"if you want to replicate such a model, financial resources are not the most important. the key is whether cafes can provide relevant resources to create a communication platform for Internet people." The person in charge of 3W Coffee, Bao Chunhua, told reporters that compared with the three Internet cafes mentioned earlier, we can see that most of the key to their success is that the founders have a senior Internet background, which itself has a certain influence in the Internet circle.

"the Internet atmosphere is the most important, and other factors, such as rent, decoration, waiters and so on, can be controlled by themselves." Bao Chunhua said, "the environment like Zhongguancun is also very important to the development of cafes." A large number of Internet practitioners in Zhongguancun are 3W potential customers.

The person in charge of Beta Coffee Beijing also said that in the process of site selection, network resources are very important and must be in areas where Internet practitioners are concentrated. "from a cost point of view, the cost of the venue accounts for more than half of the total cost, and manpower accounts for 30%."

In addition, Hu Gang, president of the Municipal Internet Merchants Association, believes that it is also important whether cafes can be favored by people in the Internet community. As far as he knows, there are not many individuals with considerable influence and appeal in Chongqing Internet circle at present, but they have great potential in the future.

Expert advice

Identify the theme and mobilize the initiative of the relevant population

"the reason why the operation mode of the Internet-themed coffee shop can quickly gather Internet entrepreneurs and obtain a relatively stable customer base is that many sponsors or shareholders have considerable networking resources and cohesion in the circle." Yesterday, CIC consultant IT industry researcher Li Fangting told reporters, "the purpose of their investment is to expand their network of people and enhance the visibility of their industry, rather than mainly operating cafes." Therefore, the lack of certain experience in operation and the intention of sustainable operation, coupled with the vagueness of the value-added profit model, make the long-term development uncertain. "

Li Fangting suggested that if you want to replicate such a model, you need to recognize the key to the operation of the model, that is, to mobilize the initiative of the relevant groups to make the Internet theme of the cafe become an effective brand promotion point, and according to this to find the commonality of consumers.

In Li Fangting's view, in addition to combining with the Internet, themed cafes can also be combined with libraries and galleries. This form of themed cafe is actually a further subdivision of the industry and a model innovation. Deep ploughing and careful cultivation of this model will have great potential for development. This group of manuscripts were collected and written by trainee journalist Ren Zhongjun intern Liu Qiufeng.

China Coffee Trading Network: www.gafei.com