Explore the way of coffee shop management in different places

With the rapid development of economy and the increasing frequency of international exchanges, coffee consumption in China shows an attractive prospect. Some data show that the coffee consumption market of our country has great potential and considerable growth momentum.

To a strange city, if you want to observe the consumption level of the city, want to explore the cultural taste of the city, the cafe is a place that can not be ignored. "I'm not at home, I'm in the cafe; I'm not in the cafe, I'm on my way to the cafe." The cafe has changed the way of life of some urbanites. Opening a coffee shop has also become the choice of venture capital for many people.

We found that almost every city has cafes, large and small, but many cafes are not so unforgettable. The editor specially invited reporters from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Lanzhou to interview cafes in four cities, east, west, north and south, to find out their unique way of doing business. Some of them win by culture, some are good at fashion, and some focus on service. Reporters in Shanghai found that at least 40,000 cups of coffee are consumed every day during the Shanghai World Expo, and more cafes need to be opened in Shanghai. It seems that we should pay more attention to this market.

Do you like cafes? Do you want to open a coffee shop? Take a look at the operation of cafes everywhere, which may give you some inspiration for your investment.

Service plate of Lanzhou Cafe

Staff pre-job training to serve customers

Gannan Road in Lanzhou is a famous local street of coffee and western food. Walking into the "Mingdian Coffee Tea" in the middle of Gannan Road, there is a strong aroma of coffee. Antique decoration, soft lighting, soft music, green bonsai, make people feel very warm.

This is a franchise store, the owner of Mingdian coffee tea asked the reporter: "how can a cup of coffee with a raw material cost about 5 yuan sell for more than 20 yuan?" Because there are a lot of hidden costs in it, such as service level, equipment and consumer environment. I not only want to use high-quality raw materials to ensure quality, more importantly, to attract customers with professional services and equipment, to some extent, we sell professional and humanized services. "

In recent years, coffee shops in Lanzhou have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, and many investors see that the industry is profitable and invest blindly in the absence of professional business philosophy and cultural services. According to industry insiders, at present, less than 1/3 of Lanzhou cafes are profitable. And a number of chain stores and franchisees with distinctive management currently occupy 50% of the Lanzhou coffee market.

"apart from the holidays, it's hard to see the scene that was full of customers every day when it first opened four years ago," says the owner of Mingdian Coffee Tea Gannan Road, but he seems more satisfied with the current development: "my customer base has basically stabilized. There are about 80% attendance every day. They are mainly concentrated in some middle-aged and young people with higher income, many of whom come by taxi from Xigu and Anning, and most of them are repeat customers. "

Since 2005, the development of Lanzhou Cafe is gradually stepping into the track of benign development. In the face of the new competitive environment and market requirements, customer-oriented, professional and quality service-oriented is still the most basic concept of Lanzhou cafe industry leaders.

Liu Jianjun, director of Lanzhou Fashion Restaurant Management Co., Ltd., which owns the brand "Bund Fashion", said: "first of all, we have to adapt to the consumption habits of local customers in order to seek their own development. We try our best to cater to customers, but this does not mean blindly following customers. "

The charm of culture is the charm of the market, and the charm of cafes lies in its elegant and leisure environment. There is an "apology notice" on every table of coffee and tea in Mingdian, which refuses customers to play cards, guess fists, make loud noise, and so on. They adhere to the delicate and elegant atmosphere of coffee culture. "in our business, we will also guide customers' consumption habits," Liu Jianjun said confidently. "the two are not contradictory. For example, we will tell customers about the culture, concept, etiquette, and other aspects of coffee. We will strive to create the original atmosphere and cultural atmosphere of coffee, which customers are very happy to accept."

Quality service is a magic weapon for the survival and development of any industry. While providing customers with elegant environmental services and high-quality products and services, meticulous, comprehensive and strict pre-job training for employees is almost an indispensable business strategy for competitive cafes. "the location of the store, product quality, business strategy and personnel training are the most important things for cafes." The owner of Mingdian Coffee language Tea Gannan Road said.

Many cafes serve western food from the beginning, but this is still a single business pattern. At present, some powerful cafes have put forward diversification strategies to achieve complementary advantages among business projects through diversified operations. Liu Jianjun said: "only by seeking innovation and change can we gain a foothold in the competition. This is also our common goal." (by our reporter Li Chenqi and intern Chen Xin)

Photo by Li Chenqi

Fashion brand of South Guangzhou Cafe

Innovate the mode of operation and strengthen the emotional communication

Zhang Lei was originally a civil servant with no business experience, but she chose to open a coffee shop as the start of her business. This restaurant is located in a secluded district of Guangzhou. It is thin and special in the Cantonese catering industry, which is dominated by fast food stalls. But it grew up in the gap and made a profit in the first month of its opening.

Over the past seven years, her coffee shop has started a trend, and the decoration design inside and outside the shop has become the object that the industry is competing to emulate, and has become the weather vane of Guangzhou catering fashion.

"to be honest, I didn't expect the business to be so good at first." Zhang Lei, who had previously studied abroad, opened the cafe in July 1999, with hundreds of thousands of yuan, which was one of the earliest coffee cafes in Guangzhou at that time. She asked her friends to decorate the interior according to their own ideas and refer to the style of bars or coffee shops in France and Southeast Asia. Various decorations and coffee sets are carefully selected: rattan chairs are designed by retired French designers and hand-woven by Indonesian workers; pianos are old-fashioned British CONCONE; coffee cups are imported "Givenchy", and even coffee spoons are bought from the Friendship Store.

Although a lot of money was spent on decoration and materials, the opening of the shop seemed so low-key and careless. Her "small building of heart" finally chose to settle on the law and politics road with a secluded environment, rather than downtown areas such as ring city road and sports west, where young people are concentrated and have high spending power. Why abandon the trouble and choose to be quiet? Zhang Lei said that her idea of doing business comes from working abroad: in her city, there are cafes in many neighborhoods or residential buildings, which are small from 7 a.m. to 10:00 in the evening. most of the people hired are part-time, but the business is doing well. In the bustling international metropolis, some people opened cafes in secluded neighborhoods and achieved success. She also wanted to try it in Guangzhou. Coupled with the fact that the rent was relatively cheap and she liked to be quiet, Zhang Lei's coffee shop was finally chosen here.

Zhang Lei, who started from scratch, said: "before opening, a friend asked me to show him my marketing plan. I was dumbfounded." I have been a clerk. I have no business experience. How can I be so professional? At that time, I thought that I would rely on some of my old business friends to support the market. if the business situation was not satisfactory, I could also sell the handicrafts I collected abroad. That's where the name-'CAF AND ART' (coffee and art) comes from. "

Although there is no marketing plan and almost all her savings have been spent on decoration, Zhang Lei still insists on quality first as the foundation of the store: the coffee shop's most important products, such as coffee and alcohol, she has to negotiate with foreign manufacturers or agents and compare them one by one; sometimes she has to use her old friends abroad, and the price of the finished product is relatively high. It was because of the unique style and the high quality of the drinks that the store made a profit in the first month; after that, there were more and more repeat customers, and for a while, consumers had to wait in line to drink a specially brewed cup of coffee.

In recent years, coffee shops in Guangzhou have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Many operators have to go to "small buildings with small hearts", and some even directly copy its design, which puts a lot of pressure on Zhang Lei's coffee shop. In order to cope with the new competition, the small shop has also made some adjustments to the consumer demand of the Guangzhou market. After three adjustments and decoration, the environment is more warm and comfortable, while maintaining the original simplicity and elegance.

In addition to the transformation of the business environment, the small shop pays more attention to maintaining and strengthening the emotional ties with customers: many of the exquisite coffee cups on the shelves are bought and stored here by customers as their own special cups; the guest book lying in the corner of the store has poems left by poets here, but more of them are casually written by coffee shoppers with delicate writing, which makes people have the impulse to write something. And then there is the English piano. The shopkeeper doesn't invite anyone to play it. Customers can play it if they want.

Because the management is very good, friends all suggested that Zhang Lei expand the scale of operation, but she has no big "ambition". Her idea is that if you want to do it, you have to be like a century-old store in Europe. She runs a coffee shop with the concept of managing life, and the reason why she does not expand easily is because she is worried that the quality can not be maintained. this is not only the concept of management, but also the idea of life. Guangzhou people's concept of doing business is to make quick money, and it is difficult to guarantee the quality if they choose a franchise store; and even if the decoration keeps up, it is difficult to find suitable management personnel, for fear of smashing their own signboards, because experiences and ideas are difficult to copy. Therefore, it was only the year before last that she cautiously opened a private restaurant nearby. "it's just another attempt to entertain a small range of friends." Zhang Lei said. (by our reporter Hong Min)

Photo by Li Shugui

The cultural atmosphere of the East Shanghai Cafe

The design has ingenuity to create a classical flavor.

When my friends come to Shanghai from abroad or other cities, I like to take them to a cafe on the 31-story high-rise on the Bund. I hear them marvel at how they can look out from the floor-to-ceiling windows and have a panoramic view of the modern high-rise buildings in Lujiazui and the classical buildings in Puxi at the same time. The reason is very simple. The Huangpu River turned a corner at the foot.

I know that this is the biggest "business eye" of Shanghai Cafe-creating an atmosphere with environment and atmosphere. To borrow a classic joke, the cafes in Shanghai are absolutely romantic, but the coffee is not necessarily good.

When famous cafe brands from all over the world come to China, the first stop is usually Shanghai.

How many cafes are there in Shanghai? No one can tell.

Just like the perennial "mash-up" style of street fashion, cafes and bars in Shanghai often live in one room, even cafes during the day and bars at night. One figure says that there are more than 5000 cafes and bars in Shanghai, while another says that foreigners account for 30 per cent of Shanghai's cafes.

Miss Xia Ling, who introduced the classic American coffee brand thecoffeebeanery to China three years ago, said that she once asked an American industrial psychologist to do market research in China for a year. She traveled to almost all large and medium-sized cities in the country and found that Shanghai was more suitable for the development of cafes than any other city in China.

I've been to Europe and heard the phrase "I'm not in a coffee shop, I'm on my way to a coffee shop". In the streets of Paris, I have seen many people who put a cup of coffee on the table and sit quietly watching the street view, which is their enjoyment. Xia Ling said that unlike Americans and Europeans who drink coffee, they are more likely to buy it and leave. If they sit down, they will get a refill for less than $1. Xia Ling likes to talk to guests in the store. I read out not only the details of coffee from Shanghainese, but also some of the ways of running Shanghai cafes.

Xia Ling has three cafes in Shanghai, the largest one on the first floor of the Shanghai Grand Theater, which is very lively as long as there is a performance, and those foreign actors even come several times a day. Not far away is the Shanghai Museum, where some foreign friends are looking for cafes everywhere and will be overjoyed to find that the house opened by Xia Ling, with their familiar coffee cup logo, will come straight in for a drink.

Customers usually like to ask a few questions when they come into the store. Ask, "how many are there in Shanghai?" Most of them are Shanghainese, who trust the chain operation of big brands more. I heard that there are 300 stores in the world and 3 in Shanghai, and they will basically stay and spend. Xia Ling said that in the future, they may reach 50 stores across the country, all of which are directly operated stores. Xia Ling believes that the advantage of brands is that they do not have to explore their own ways to start from scratch, and can best retain brand-conscious customers in cities like Shanghai.

If it is a female customer, she may then ask, "how long has this brand been?" When they heard that it had been nearly 30 years, they relieved to look at the menu and wondered how there could be more than 30 kinds of coffee. They did not know that there were more than 130 varieties of this brand abroad. If they were male customers, they might ask, "can I smoke?" If not, most of them will turn around and leave. Xia Ling's approach is to create a strong air-exhaust smoking area.

In this way, there are more and more cafes in Shanghai, and foreigners who love coffee can find coffee from all over the world in Shanghai. I have also heard that cafes are one of the necessary facilities for the World Expo. It has been predicted that at least 40,000 cups of coffee will be consumed every day during the Shanghai World Expo, and more cafes will be opened in Shanghai. It seems that romantic cafes will increasingly become a scenery on the streets of Shanghai. (by our reporter Shen Zejin)

Photo taken by our reporter Zhang Xin

The culture card of Beijing Cafe

Carry out cultural activities and create a full cultural atmosphere

Talking about the way coffee shops are run, Huang Daoping and Zhuang Yili, who run the coffee industry in Beijing, believe that in the face of strong competition from large coffee chains, small size and refinement is the key to individual investment in coffee shops.

With the rapid development of economy and the increasing frequency of international exchanges, coffee consumption shows an attractive prospect. According to statistics, the number of potential coffee consumers in the mainland is about 200 to 250 million, which is between Bozhong and the market of the United States, the largest coffee consumer in the world. The annual growth rate of coffee consumption of mainland residents is 15%, while the annual growth rate of world coffee is only 2%.

"Coffee consumption is facing the challenge of thousands of years of tea drinking tradition, so the first task of coffee industry is to cultivate and create the market." Huang Daoping pointed out that in the 1990s, Beijingers were still strangers to coffee. In 2000, he set his sights on the coffee consumption market and opened the first coffee training classroom in Beijing. So far, he has trained 500 to 600 students.

With the initial market, it is necessary to make an accurate positioning in the market. Zhuang Yueli founded the "carving time" cafe in Beijing in 1997. after more than a year of dismal operation, the cafe has gained fame and become a leisure and fashion place for students, intellectuals and people from literary and art circles. So far, it has opened four branches in Beijing. For his own success, Chuang Huan-lie believes that the main reason is accurate positioning. Most of his cafes are located around the university, featuring book bars and movie bars, making his cafe a leisure space with cultural taste. The cultural theme is the business philosophy of "carving time". Chuang often holds new book launches, film lectures and other cultural activities in the cafe, so that the cafe is always permeated with cultural atmosphere.

They all agree that the biggest difficulty in running a cafe in Beijing is the high rent. Zhuang Yueli said that the rent of cafes is 10 times higher than that of eight years ago, but the price of coffee cannot be raised casually, so we must redouble our efforts to make a profit. Huang Daoping also believes that high rents make it difficult for small cafes. Therefore, small and medium-sized cafes must make great efforts in refinement and personalization. They believe that in addition to ensuring the pure quality of coffee, it is necessary to decorate and decorate the cafe carefully in Chinese and Western style, so as to create a comfortable, romantic and cozy atmosphere. Because coffee consumption is largely emotional consumption, cultural consumption and fashion consumption, the cultural atmosphere of cafes is an important factor to retain customers.

Leisure compound management is also a good strategy. Huang Daoping said that coffee industry should combine coffee with exquisite light meals, drinks or books and movies according to the specific conditions of various places to create a local cafe culture.