Chongqing joins the merchant to ask for "Coffee with you" where is the way to make money under the tide of closing stores?

A coffee shop in Jiefangbei accompanies you. Tang Hao, a reporter, has gone out of business.

"if you invest 49% of the shares, you will be the boss with your feet crossed, and you will sit and count the money." Yesterday, the Business Daily reporter saw the coffee to accompany you franchisee Li Li, mentioned joining, but how he could not laugh.

"the monthly loss is tens of thousands of yuan, the store rent is ridiculously high, and the brand does nothing." 'Business can't go on in just half a year, 'Mr. Li said. In fact, not only the Nanping New Year's Day department store joined by Li Li, but also the Nanping East and West Motors Store and Chongqing Ruifu Square Store all encountered similar problems. To this end, they jointly asked to check out. "the other party promised to settle the refund, but put it off again and again." After several unsuccessful rounds, they gathered in the "Coffee with you" store in Elephant City, Nanan District, Chongqing, looking for coffee to accompany your company to discuss an explanation, which eventually led to the closure of the store in Elephant City. But even if this is the second direct store "closed", as of the press release, coffee accompany your company still did not come forward to solve the problem.

Dynamic coffee accompanies you to close the shop.

According to a survey by a reporter from the Business Daily, since the beginning of this year, Coffee has closed six stores in Chongqing with you, of which four franchise stores have been closed because they cannot continue to operate. They are the New Year's Day department store on the south bank, the east-west motorcycle store, Chongqing Ruifu Square store and Fuling franchise store; two direct stores have been shut down by franchisees, which are located near Liangjiang Happiness Square in Yubei District and in Elephant City. At present, there are still 10 franchise stores in operation, but have been separated from the brand management, responsible for their own profits and losses.

Yesterday, Li Li opened the contract and said that the way he joined Coffee to accompany you was "entrusted to start a business", that is, the franchisee himself accounted for 49% of the shares, and the coffee company accounted for 51% of the shares. The company is entrusted with the overall responsibility for the management and operation of the franchise store, while the franchisee can enjoy the benefits only by paying the money. "looking back now, I can only say that it looks beautiful." Li Li said, "even if I feel that the contract is not equal, I will invest 1.3 million yuan to take 49% of the shares." This comes from the gorgeous "resume" that coffee accompanies you. According to public information, coffee accompany you is called "South Korea's Starbucks", and the spokesman is popular idol Kim Soo-Hyun. Founded in 2008, the company has expanded thousands of stores in South Korea in just five years, making it the largest local coffee chain brand. In 2012, China Enterprise Investment Group cooperated with Korean Coffee Company to set up Coffee Management Co., Ltd in Shanghai, which is responsible for introducing this brand to China. In just over two years, Coffee has expanded more than 600 stores.

Accusation

Franchisee

Question the brand's circle of money

"if you want to be a shopkeeper, you don't know there are so many problems." After opening the store in June last year, Li Li felt that he had fallen into a "trap" and wanted to check out after four months of operation. what problems did he encounter?

Where's the franchise fee?

Doubt: Li Li and other franchisees think that the contract is a hegemonic clause, which mostly stipulates the responsibilities and obligations of the franchisee, and there are only a few words to restrict the brand, but after breach of contract, they can only choose arbitration and settle the arbitration in Beijing.

Is the contract a bully clause?

Doubt: on the issue of funds, we have not seen the proof of 51% of the company's contribution, nor have we seen the financial statements of last month that should be provided on the 15th of each month. "I don't know where the money we invested went. It is said through the grapevine that South Korea has already withdrawn its investment. "

Is the cost falsely high?

Query: Li Li introduced that the shop rent is expensive, basically 200 yuan / square meter per month, while the same shop rent of similar brands is only about half. Secondly, procurement, decoration and other costs are falsely high, such as decoration publicity wall, coffee with your company quotation of 50, 000, other decoration companies offer only 10, 000.

Stop paying multiple fees?

Query: "Coffee accompany your company from last October, began not to provide materials in accordance with the contract purchase, do not pay rent." Li Li said that according to the contract, the daily turnover of the franchise store will be deposited into the coffee company account the next day, and the company will allocate funds to cover the expenses of purchase, rent, manager's salary and so on. Now franchisees are responsible for their own profits and losses.

The brand side does not act?

Doubt: in many aspects such as marketing management, the company can play a very small role. Li Li asked the brand to help talk about the rent, but the brand didn't talk about the rent in the end.

The brand will not check out?

Doubt: Li Li said that in January this year, he reached an oral agreement with Lu Changqing, chairman of China Enterprise Investment, promising to liquidate and check out in March this year. "after operating for half a year, I admit that I have lost 500000 yuan in liquidation, but they have procrastinated again and again, and now no one can be directly responsible."

Respond

Coffee with you

Suspend entrustment to start a business and join

The reporter asked the coffee company for a response, but the relevant officials in Southwest and Chongqing said it was not convenient to respond, and Lu Changqing, chairman of China Enterprise Investment, did not answer the phone. Subsequently, the reporter made an appointment to meet the relevant person in charge of Chongqing, Zhang Bing, on the grounds of joining.

Where's the franchise fee?

Response: Zhang Bing said that the brand side is indeed relatively strong, but the whole country is unified, which is easy to manage. Xu Jian, a lawyer at a law firm in Chongqing, said that the judicial path can be stipulated in the contract, which is not a bully clause.

Is the contract a bully clause?

Response: "this is not what I can understand at this level." However, the financial statements were provided every month, and South Korea did not withdraw its investment, but because it was beneficial to open up the market because it was familiar with the national conditions, the leadership was replaced by the Chinese. " On the negative news, Zhang Bing said, "at present, the company has suspended the entrustment to start a business."

Is the cost falsely high?

Response: Zhang Bing said it was not convenient to answer directly. A clerk in a franchise store said that the prices of self-collected raw materials were lower than those offered by the company. For example, honey grapefruit tea company quotes 45 yuan, self-collected price 39 yuan. The price of BRICS light cream company is 268 yuan, and the self-mining price is 250 yuan.

Stop paying multiple fees?

Response: Zhang Bing said he was not clear about this. The manager of a franchise store where coffee accompanies you said, "most of the raw materials have stopped supplying. At present, the franchise stores are responsible for their own profits and losses, while the 'social insurance and house fund' paid by the coffee operator has stopped since the end of last year." According to insiders, due to the arrears of decoration company payment, the decoration company also went to join the store to ask for arrears.

The brand side does not act?

Response: "except for signs, there is not much help that can be given." Zhang Bing said that the only two responsible persons in Chongqing had limited energy. Yesterday, the relevant person in charge of the Power International store also confirmed that at present, the brand does not act.

The brand will not check out?

Response: Zhang Bing said that he only knows that the franchisee is docking with the company, but it is not clear how the docking situation is. But according to the agreement, it will take 3 years to check out, but the franchisees want to return immediately. "there are risks in investing capital, not to mention the company's offer to help reopen the store, but it was rejected."

Progress Police: the case has been accepted

At present, the three franchisees who accompany you have reported the case to the public security department in the district. Yesterday, the relevant person in charge of the Nanan District Public Security Bureau said that the case has been accepted and is still in the stage of preliminary investigation, so it is inconvenient to reveal more details of the case for the time being.

"this is a contract dispute, and Li Li and others may eventually resolve it through judicial channels." Xu Jian, a lawyer at a law firm in Chongqing, believes that when investors such as Li Li sign a contract, they may not even know what the contract is. For example, this contract is a partnership contract and stipulates the amount of joint investment as well as rights and obligations of both parties, while Li Li and others believe that this is a joining contract.

Analyze the "evil root" of being entrusted to join

In fact, not only Chongqing, Guiyang, Hangzhou and other places have exposed coffee to accompany you to close the shop. Yesterday, Jiang Wei, a MBA professor at Chongqing Industrial and Commercial University, said that coffee is in a dilemma with you or its entrusted membership model, which has drawbacks in the process of rapid expansion.

The essence of entrusting and joining is entrusted management. In general, the commercial alliance model is provided by the franchisee with funds and local facilities, while the brand side provides management and brand. However, the franchisee is still the actual controller and operator of the franchise store. As far as the franchisee is concerned, entrusting to join is to entrust others to operate, and to be a "shopkeeper". It is more like an investment behavior. "this is a financial investment but the ownership structure is used, so there is a natural contradiction. There are many differences in the standards and interest demands of the two sides." Secondly, the brand side exports the brand and management, and the franchisee should be the shopkeeper. For the brand side, its essence is equivalent to joining the way to do direct marketing. Especially for the new brand, its management foundation is weak, it has not yet formed a management system that can support rapid expansion, and it is also unable to borrow from franchisees, so it is more prone to errors.

Jiang Wei said that entrusting to join is an investment that can be participated in, but three points should be paid attention to. First of all, choose a mature brand. Secondly, if the major shareholder is the brand party, we must sign a supplementary agreement to avoid risk. At the same time, according to the market fluctuations, the shareholder agreement needs to be revised every 3-5 years. Finally, you must learn to do accounts. Some investors blindly believe in brands, but if rational accounting analysis, we will know whether this business is worth doing, will reduce a lot of follow-up troubles. In this regard, franchisee Li Li has a deep feeling, "if you can settle accounts earlier, you will not invest this money." Li Li said, "now I understand that the expert sees the way, and the layman sees the lively." "

(at the request of the interviewees, some of the characters in the article are aliases.)

(Chongqing Business Daily)

Source: Chongqing Business Daily transferred from: Xinhuanet