Our coffee shop: leave unforgettable memories in this life

What can I do with 4000 yuan? You can buy a house of less than 1 square meter, and a trip abroad may only be enough to pay for a half-way ticket. But 4000 yuan can be the boss. In Xi'an, a post-80s girl named Ma Lin launched an online campaign to invest 4000 yuan each to open a 'our coffee shop'. Can her whimsical dreams come true?

Interestingly, in an era when everyone said that financing was difficult, she had a flash of inspiration and came up with the idea of using the Internet to open a "our coffee shop". She did not expect that there were many followers. 63 young people with dreams came up with 780000 yuan. Surprisingly, most of these investors don't know each other. What is the soul-stirring story behind this coffee shop, which is the first coffee shop in China to start with "online fund-raising"?

In a flash, we also opened a coffee shop.

One day after New Year's Day in 2012, a girl with a ponytail plunged into Beijing. Her name is Ma Lin, a post-80s girl who is the editor of Xi'an Contemporary Women's Daily. She is here to organize contributions on this trip to Beijing.

That day, Ma Lin stayed in a hotel near Zizhuyuan in Beijing. As a result, she invited the authors to talk and party in a coffee shop near the hotel. With the coming and going of a group of authors, Ma Lin has become very familiar with the waiters here. Through chatting, she learned that the coffee shop was owned by more than 20 friends, and she thought it was very interesting at that time.

Ma Lin was born in Xi'an and was born and raised in Xi'an.

She is an authentic foodie-no matter where she travels, her playbooks are all excerpts from restaurants, night markets and stalls in so-and-so streets and alleys. In the past two or three years, she fell in love with baking again and realized that western food is different from Chinese food. Baking all kinds of pastries to share with her friends has become her favorite thing to do every day.

One day in February 2012, she suddenly learned that a friend had been admitted to the hospital because of advanced liver cancer. Ma Lin went to visit sadly. With tears in her eyes, the friend held Ma Lin's hand tightly and said to her with tears in her eyes, "maybe it is because time is running out that I feel the beauty of the world. To say regret, it is the dream of Xizang's travel that will never come true in this life." Ma Lin saw that her friend's eyes were full of regret. A week later, Ma Lin was at a loss when she learned that her friend had passed away.

On this day, Ma Lin passed by a coffee shop when she suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Didn't she have a dream of opening a coffee shop? Why not open a coffee shop like the "many people" in Beijing in Xi'an? At this time, she somehow thought of her friend who had just passed away. If you have a dream, you should act quickly and don't leave yourself regret. Ma Lin's heart began to light up.

On Feb. 11, 2012, she posted a proposal of "4000 yuan, let's open a cafe for many people" on her Sina blog. She hopes that people with dreams can contribute at least 4000 yuan, capping 40000 yuan, and open a coffee shop together. I hope to bring together young people who want to open a cafe, or love good food, or want to start a business, to realize this dream. She said with emotion: "here we can bring together a little bit of our ideals, a little bit of money, a little bit of time, a little bit of wisdom, a little bit of talent, and finally drip water into the sea and gather sand into towers, while keeping our feet on the ground." do not forget to look up at the starry sky and let our dreams blossom and bear fruit in the soil of reality. "

At the suggestion of her friends, she posted her proposal of "opening a coffee shop together" on her Sina Weibo. Maybe this proposal is very fresh, and soon netizens repost it one after another. In just three days, her Weibo has been forwarded more than 3500 messages.

She was a little excited and a little upset. In her apprehension, she didn't know how many people could join.

There is coffee, there is circle, there is trust

In the first few days, I soon got a response from more than 10 young netizens. A series of follow-up posts surprised her. "your creativity is very unique. I like it." "Oh, well, you take me away." "what is lacking between people today is trust. Let's start by trusting strangers. Support you, good girl. " "it's a great idea. I'm the dish on your plate." ……

Some netizens said that Ma Lin's idea coincided with them. Zhang Yin, a 25-year-old white-collar worker, happily told Ma Lin that she wanted to open a coffee shop a long time ago, but she had just graduated and had limited funds, so she had to bury her dream deep in her heart. Ma Lin's creativity made her dream come true ahead of time.

There were many responses, and of course, there were also many people who questioned: "4000 yuan as a shareholder?" How many people do you have to buy to make the coffee shop open? " "the more people there are, the more troublesome things are. With so many shareholders, how will they be managed then? "

The reminder from the blogger made Ma Lin more sober. Ma Lin decided to operate their coffee shop in the form of a limited liability company in the future. everyone is a shareholder, and they will elect a board of directors and a board of supervisors to manage it. It is stated in the articles of association that the rights of all shareholders cannot be transferred within 3 years, and the stability of the team should be ensured. "A small coffee shop is not a profiteering industry. we operate with our conscience and do not cut corners on raw materials, so the profit will not be very big. I believe that after 3 years, the shop will have some accumulation, and then we will discuss the issue of how to pay dividends collectively. " Ma Lin said.

In order to facilitate contact, Ma Lin established a quasi-shareholder QQ group. At the stage of capital injection, she set up a special account. Soon, 4000 yuan, 6000 yuan, 8000 yuan, one after another into her card. That day, she was pleasantly surprised to find that there were 40,000 yuan in the account. Ma Lin was very excited and shouted in the group: "who spends so much money?" Soon, a netizen appeared: "I took a taxi." Ma Lin joked: "such a large sum of money, are you not afraid of being cheated?" "how could that be? The idea is as beautiful as a fairy tale. I'm glad to be cheated for such a wonderful idea. " The trust of netizens warmed Ma Lin's heart.

At the end of February 2012, under the convening of Ma Lin, the preparatory meeting of "our Coffee Shop" held its first shareholders' meeting. More than 20 of the more than 80 netizens who signed up came. This made Ma Lin feel the power of trust and increased her confidence.

Ma Lin originally planned to raise 500000 yuan from 50 shareholders, as netizens continued to join and eventually identified 63 people as the first shareholders of "our Coffee Shop". Among them, there are post-70s, post-80s and post-90s; there are civil servants, lawyers, business managers and workers; some drivers of Mercedes-Benz and some cyclists.

63 shareholders raised 780000 yuan. At this time, the construction of the coffee shop is basically completed. Ma Lin was naturally elected as the chairman of the joint-stock company.

It took only more than 2 months from the post in February 2012 to the funding in May.

The next step is the location. Beilin District, Xi'an City, they took a fancy to an old house on an old street, antique, very suitable for opening a coffee shop. The negotiation with the homeowner also went well. A week later, the landlord suddenly backed out and said: "I have asked, you are too many partners in the coffee shop, it is difficult to get in the future, will not rent you." Later, the owner quickly rented the house to a branded clothing store.

Everyone can't laugh or cry. After many trips, the directors finally determined the address: the Sun Temple Street in the small South Gate is a secluded place in the busy street. This is a house of 150 square meters with three floors. At this time, Ma Lin came up with the positioning of "our coffee shop": slow down the pace, we are warm together, dreaming. Yes, once strange people, because of the dream and created it, it is not only our spiritual home, but also the dream place of many people!

Dreams come true, moving forward in the midst of ups and downs

Yong er, who is called "hipster" by shareholders, is a post-80s girl. She is a well-known designer with fashionable clothes and rich taste. The shareholders unanimously recommended her to be in charge of the overall design of the coffee shop. In Yong'er 's view, the opening of the store by 63 shareholders can not be simply understood as an investment behavior. People attach importance to "strangers huddling together because of their dreams and beliefs." this is an initiative, and there is no precedent in China.

Of course, some of the gadgets on the toy cabinet on the second floor were picked up by shareholders when they were traveling. From the left-hand side of the bar to the third floor, you can see a permanent old bike fixed on the stairs, which is also provided by the shareholder Xiaohu.

The rightmost space on the third floor is the cafe's signature area: several sets of Tetris-shaped bookshelves hang on the left-hand wall, and the entire right-hand wall is a LOGO wall painted by shareholders themselves, with dozens of colored coffee beans, symbolizing their close-knit hearts. In addition, this space is also a projection area, and the walls next to the curtain are covered with old English newspapers, all of which are posted by shareholders bit by bit.

There are also times when there are disagreements. In August 2012, shareholders sparked controversy over where to buy coffee beans. Everyone was divided into several factions, and they were at loggerheads with each other. In this case, directors have to adopt democratic centralism-voting, with the minority subordinate to the majority. In order to show fairness, the number of votes is allocated to one vote at 2000 yuan and five votes at 10,000 yuan. Vote on the spot, decide the topic on the spot, the winner is not arrogant, the loser is convinced.

On October 18, 2012, our Coffee Shop officially opened to the public. In order to thank the first batch of customers who came to the coffee shop, Ma Lin personally made her best baked desserts and gave them to everyone for free. Shareholders wish Ma Lin to end her single life and get a love one after another. Interestingly, Ma Lin has not yet reaped love, and there are already some people in their shareholder team who have "achieved the right results".

When our Coffee Shop organized the shareholders' meeting for the first time, Asiana was fascinated by a girl named Wang Qin. At the meeting, Wang Qin put forward the proposal of "preventing the dominance of one share, capping 40,000 per shareholder", which was agreed by all the more than 60 shareholders present. Asiana can't help but be impressed by her. In the next talent show, Wang Qin played a guzheng "Lin Chong Night running", followed by a dance. Her talent and playfulness are deeply imprinted on Asiana's heart.

Hanya is a designer of a company, and Wang Qin is a lawyer.

After that, as the coffee shop entered the stage of site selection, decoration and trial operation, they both actively participated in the activities and had a tacit understanding. Especially during the renovation of the cafe, Hanya, a designer, put forward a lot of constructive suggestions, and Wang Qin praised him as "brilliant."

One day, Asiana rushed to the decoration site, rolled up her arms and began to work. When Wang Qin came over, when he saw that his back was wet with sweat, he felt distressed and told him to take off his dirty coat and take it home and wash it carefully. When the fragrant clothes were handed into Asiana's hands, a feeling of happiness rose in his heart. Before they knew it, love sprouted in their hearts.

Now, "our Cafe" is on the right track, and their love has entered the "harvest season". On January 18, 2013, they held an engagement ceremony in their coffee shop. Wang Qin affectionately confessed: "because the coffee shop, we are from strange to familiar, I have harvested a love, this is an unexpected harvest ah."

Love and warmth pervade every inch of space in the coffee shop.

The "our coffee shop" management model is also very interesting. They hold regular shareholders' meetings and vote for executive directors, the board of supervisors and a six-member management team, and the remaining shareholders are responsible for the day-to-day operation of "our Coffee Shop" together with the management team. Report to shareholders on a regular basis. In the event of a decision on a major matter, the executive director shall convene a general meeting of all shareholders to discuss the decision together.

Unlike ordinary coffee shops, our Coffee Shop pays more attention to platform communication. They regularly carry out interest courses such as baking and coffee for free, as well as a series of interesting and vivid activities such as "Youth Entrepreneurship Lecture", "Star meeting", "it is you" and so on.

Of course there is no shortage of romantic things happening here. On February 14, 2013, a boy named Zhong Sheng proposed to his girlfriend at our Coffee Shop. Hearing this, many young shareholders came to help him make the small screening room of the coffee shop super romantic. The room was full of roses blooming, and their acquaintance experiences began to be shown in the projection. After all this, the girl was moved to tears.

Standing by, Ma Lin was filled with emotion when she saw this touching scene: there are people who love each other who are willing to leave unforgettable memories here, what reason do we have not to love our own coffee shop?