Beijing Coffee Industry News: Zoo Coffee franchisee Guanzhang runaway value storage members cry out grievances

Soothing Korean music, wooden tables and chairs, cute animal dolls, this belongs to Zoo Coffee's unique coffee shop decoration style was originally intended to provide leisure and relaxation for consumers, but some consumers are in trouble because of membership cards here. A few days ago, Zoo Coffee SOHO modern city store owner "run", consumers once handled stored value cards have become "waste cards". Franchise mode is one of the expansion methods of most coffee brands, but at the same time of rapid growth of store size, it often implies hidden worries.

The cafe suddenly closed before the lease expired

Ms. He, who works near Dawang Road, applied for a 500-yuan stored-value card at Zoo Coffee SOHO Modern City Store in early November, but when she went to the store again in early December, she found the words "Closed" posted on the glass door of the store.

"Since the beginning of November after handling this 500 yuan stored value card, Only used once, The card is expected to have more than 400 yuan balance," Ms. He said,"But now this money can neither be used, Also can not be refunded, Equivalent to playing water." Ms. He also told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that Zoo Coffee's stored value card has information on the back such as "This card can only be used in the issuing store" and "The final interpretation right belongs to the issuing store". Zoo Coffee related responsible person to reporters said, In view of China's geographical differences, As well as storefront, Investment requirements, Zoo Coffee in China's development model to join store-based, Stores will decide whether to promote membership cards according to specific circumstances. As for the problems existing in Zoo Coffee SOHO Modern City Store, the franchised store belongs to independent operation, and the enterprise needs to contact the person in charge of store operation before answering the question of how to compensate consumers.

Beijing Business Daily reporter visits found, The above stores have really stopped business, Through the store transparent glass can see the store is very messy, Random pile up construction ladders and tables and chairs and other sundries, In the store outside the window glass has been posted on the "Owner direct rent" notice. Modern City Property said the store had been closed for more than 20 days. Ms. He said she had not received any notice that the Zoo Coffee store would be closed during this time.

Beijing Business Daily reporter contacted the owner of the store was told that it is only for housing rental, not the original Zoo Coffee staff. According to him, the former head of Zoo Coffee operations signed a five-year lease contract, so far only more than two years of operation, not long ago the store returned to his hands, now the store has begun to rent and sell.

Shopkeeper leaves Beijing to save value member to cry injustice

The owner also revealed that he had asked the former head of Zoo Coffee operations to inform customers who had already applied for stored value cards about the closure to avoid disputes. The former head of Zoo Coffee also promised the owner that he would repay the balance in the stored value card to consumers after sorting out the store income and expenditure, but it would take time because it would take an external software company to process the data.

The most direct loss caused by the closure of coffee shops to consumers is that the amount in stored value cards is difficult to refund. Zoo Coffee Shanghai headquarters hotline related responsible person said, Join store stored value card in other stores can not be universal, For how to return consumer stored value card balance, The company will let store manager later directly call contact. Zoo Coffee has received a number of consumer complaints about Beijing SOHO Modern City stores, according to people familiar with the company. But because the store is a franchise store, the store suddenly closed, and the company has been trying to get in touch with the store manager. Zoo Coffee Beijing officials said the company is currently counting consumer losses, specific compensation measures will be notified in the future text messages.

Through many inquiries, Beijing Business Daily reporter got the closed Zoo Coffee operation responsible person's contact information, and dial the phone. "I am not in Beijing at the moment due to personal business relationships," he said."The store is closed because there are some problems in terms of housing rent and service quality." At the same time, he also said, Now is sorting out the stored value card member information, After sorting out the information will contact and negotiate one by one, Or refund money, Or through cooperation with other stores so that consumers can spend in other stores, But did not explain the processing cycle.

Legal experts said that for general franchisees, they belong to independent subjects, not established by chain brand head office, head office does not bear legal responsibility for them. It is not uncommon for a franchised store to close suddenly and the amount in the customer's stored value card has not been returned. If the franchised store has registration information in the industrial and commercial department and belongs to the nature of a company, it can auction and sell the company's property through legal procedures. If it belongs to an individual industrial and commercial household, the person in charge shall bear responsibility for the debt and may auction the personal property of the person in charge.

Store rent high maintenance period needs more than three years

According to the description of the former head of Zoo Coffee operations, the closure of the store is related to "house rent." Zoo Coffee SOHO Modern City is located on the south side of Dawang Road SOHO Modern City, adjacent to Metro Line 1. According to the description of surrounding consumers, the store has no shortage of traffic on weekdays and weekends. The golden area with strong passenger flow is indeed an inch of land.

According to the above-mentioned owners, the original Zoo Coffee store covers an area of 354 square meters, divided into two floors, with an annual rent price of 1.8 million yuan.

A coffee practitioner told Beijing Business Daily that if only the cost of coffee beans is considered, the cost of a cup of coffee does not exceed 5 yuan. According to the price of 30 yuan, the gross profit rate can reach 80%. Ji Ming, the first president of Beijing Coffee Industry Association, said that rent cost is the main operating expenditure of coffee shops, and consumers buy stored value cards, which is the main channel for stores to supplement cash flow. On the whole, the profit of coffee drink sales itself is not much, many stores profit is realized through long-term operation, training old users, a newly opened coffee shop often needs more than three years of return cycle.

It is understood that the threshold of joining Zoo Coffee is not low, out of the protection of brand image, the brand also set corresponding default punishment. According to the joining information on Zoo Coffee's official website, Zoo Coffee's joining fee is 300,000 yuan, and the franchisee needs to pay a deposit of 100,000 yuan. If the franchisee breaches the contract during the performance of the contract, the deposit will not be returned. In addition, according to the reference value on the brand official website, according to the volume calculation of 180 square meters, including decoration, kitchen equipment and furniture and other costs, join a Zoo Coffee Cafe, the initial investment is about 1.18 million yuan. The closed store measures 354 square meters, almost twice the reference value, so the franchise fee will be higher.

Doubled store opening rapid expansion buried hidden worries

It is understood that Zoo Coffee brand entered the market development period this year. According to public media reports, Zoo Coffee has entered Sanya, Hainan Province for the first time since the second half of this year, and has accelerated its layout in Shanxi, Kunming, Tianjin and other places successively. As previously reported by this newspaper, Zoo Coffee entered the mainland market in 2012. As of May 2015, it has 130 stores in China, and plans to achieve the target of 300 stores in China by the end of 2015.

This means that Zoo Coffee has only laid out more than 100 stores in nearly three years, but it will double the number of stores this year. The analysis points out that the franchise mode is one of the expansion ways of most coffee brands, but at the same time of rapid growth of store scale, it often implies hidden worries. The expansion speed is too fast, and sometimes the quality of a single store will be lost.

Coffee, which belongs to the Korean coffee brand like Zoo Coffee, has a precedent for accompanying you. Under the loose franchise management system, enterprises have achieved rapid growth in brand scale through "crazy" open franchising, but due to problems such as non-universal membership cards, brands are frequently criticized by consumers, coffee accompanies you into a vortex of out of control, and finally the brand declines due to the broken chain of funds. Coffee accompany you related responsible person once told Beijing Business Daily reporter, Brand will form market scale, To join stores for systematic arrangement. However, in the opinion of industry analysts, considering the proportion of franchised merchants in chain stores and possible interest disputes, the idea of enterprise expansion first and then governance is difficult to realize.

Test operation to join the brand is not omnipotent

Brand-affiliated stores often have some independence in operation, which is a double-edged sword for chain enterprises.

Beijing Business Daily reporter in another located in Chaoyang District Zoo Coffee franchise store saw, In addition to the counter above the hanging display board sales of standard goods, Also erected a wooden bracket type hand-painted blackboard beside the counter, On the top of the mint chocolate, Strawberry milk and other warm winter drinks, But the same goods in other direct-sale stores did not see. Store sales personnel introduced, store sales similar to ice cream, bread and other desserts and snacks, many products of raw materials are purchased by the store itself.

According to an industry insider engaged in coffee shop operation, coffee shops often launch their own specialty products according to customer preferences within their coverage, and it is easier for stores to control costs by purchasing themselves.

Wang Hongtao, director-general of China Chain Business Association, believes that diversified products enrich taste choices for consumers, but increase the difficulty of risk control for brand management. Therefore, the opening of the store ultimately still needs to test the operator's operational ability.

With the improvement of consumer spending power and the change of consumption habits, the business philosophy of enterprises pays more attention to meeting the needs of consumers. Wang Hongtao said that as far as the chain industry is concerned, the chain management system of "six unification" of management mode, store image, service standard, product quality, commodity price and supply mode once advocated in the past is gradually changing. Many chain brands will manage the unified procurement and pricing of image products to ensure product taste and brand image, but they will also allow franchisees to launch some featured products to better meet consumer demand, which is already very common in the industry. The biggest advantage of the franchise model is that it allows enterprises to rapidly expand their scale, but the biggest difficulty lies in the control of service quality.

Source: Beijing Business Network