The cause of death of the independent cafe

Many people have dreams of opening a cafe, but few dreams come true. Is it just because it's hard to make up your mind to quit and start a new life?

This is not the case. In the past two years, cafes have sprung up in second-and third-tier small cities, which shows that many people dare to take this step. However, very few of these small bamboo shoots can really grow into talent. Most stores close down in less than two or three years.

As a consumer standing on the sidelines, I try my best to appreciate the rise and fall of every store from a rational and objective point of view. I no longer think that if you open a coffee shop, you can get a leisurely and comfortable life. On the contrary, it is very difficult to really do this thing well. In this way, so many stores in the chronic death or have died, or even have no room to fight back.

Where on earth did they die?

1. It is not operated by the librarian himself.

Many people opened a coffee shop with the mentality of testing the water. Don't lose your job, invest some money, invite two small workers to look after the store, go to the store to take care of it when you have time, and have a drink once in a while if you don't have time. This is a good idea, but for independent cafes, it ignores the importance of a full-time, responsible, charismatic owner.

The reason is simple. Compared to store decoration, promotion, fine management, and cost reduction, as an independent small coffee shop, how to compete with Starbucks and other large coffee chains? The only hope can only lie in the operator himself and the special charm that his own accomplishment brings to this store. It is by no means possible to hire one or two shop assistants for a little money.

A successful independent coffee shop is a physical extension of the owner's personality charm. If there is no soul, there is no starting point.

2. The quality of coffee is not up to standard

Many people think that cafes do not sell coffee, but a kind of environment. Therefore, many stores spend a lot of thought and a lot of money on store decoration, but they are only willing to buy a second-rate coffee machine, and there is no master who can make high-quality coffee.

This is completely putting the cart before the horse. Just like saying that hammer phones only have feelings and Luoji can only boast, they ignore the starting point of everything: there is no hard-tempered, hard-working, high-quality product, and everything else is empty talk.

Coffee shops really can't just sell coffee, but all the details, including coffee, and the atmosphere in which all the details are pieced together. If you can't even make coffee well, talking about the back is just like a castle in the air. How to make a good cup of coffee involves too much, which requires constant struggle from the aspects of coffee bean screening, roasting level, freshness, coffee machine quality, brewing technology, customer preferences, and so on, and needs to endure loneliness and put a lot of time and energy into it.

At this point, it has been decided that this will not be an easy task.

3. Storefront location

A lot of stores are in busy neighborhoods, and I think it's a nightmare for an independent coffee shop. Many people refute Starbucks, but Starbucks is no longer a purely artisanal coffee shop, and I don't want to elaborate here. Just to say, for a small independent cafe with no scale advantage and no supply chain advantage, Starbucks' model cannot be imitated.

The reason why it shouldn't be in a busy neighborhood is that it's a cafe, not a restaurant. Everyone who passes by in a busy neighborhood may be a hotel customer, which is also the meaning of large passenger flow. However, although the coffee consumption group in China is constantly expanding, the overall ratio is still too small. It is not worth the loss to invest a lot of rental costs in exchange for such a low customer conversion rate.

Compared with restaurants, cafes have another disadvantage, that is, the overturning rate is too low. A cup of coffee in the afternoon is often the norm. Considering the above two points, independent cafes in busy areas often die quickly or struggle to live. I work very hard to market and prolong business hours every day, but in the end, all the hard-earned money is paid rent, completely losing the pace of life that a cafe should get, which makes it difficult to stick to it.

4. Single marketing means.

Since you can't drive in a busy area, how to let more customers know about it is of course a problem.

The first is to rely on word of mouth. This depends on a variety of hard details, good ideas to piece together, naturally needless to say. If customers come once and are very satisfied, the current social platform is so developed that it can slowly spread.

However, the store's own application of the social platform is also very important. This can not only accelerate the promotion speed and expand the scope of promotion, but also help to strengthen the stickiness to existing users. However, many shops, with no awareness of the Internet, are still clinging to a simple sentimentalism, so high that they do not even have a network platform, which is a bit too pedantic.

Of course, most stores do not have WeChat account, official account or Weibo platform, not because they are obsessed with feelings, but because no one is willing to do it at all. This is also what I said before, only ask the small workers to look at the sequelae of the store. Operating a marketing platform requires considerable energy and level, but also a personal will, and no matter which one, it is not what people who work for money can provide.

5. Be too eager for quick success and quick profit

Some shops are hastily closed after they have been open for less than half a year. I think the shopkeeper may have treated the coffee shop as a regular startup in the first place. This is a very serious mistake.

Independent coffee shops are definitely not the kind of business that sees huge profits in the short term. Therefore, if only to make money, this is by no means a good project. At the beginning of time, most of them need to keep. In the process of constantly polishing their mood and craftsmanship, the shop may gradually improve. This process can be long or short, but without a persistent mentality, it is easy to lose patience and be defeated by yourself first.

What is even more brutal is that even if it succeeds, it is not a business that can make a lot of money. Despite the impressive opening of many coffee chains, that model is a far cry from independent coffee shops that pay attention to detail and feelings.

It may not be a problem for a truly successful independent coffee shop owner to be self-sufficient and well-off, but it is impossible to get rich and have a luxury car villa. (I hope this is wrong, but it is obviously more difficult to sell coffee alone. If there is any change, it still depends on more exploration on the business model and scope). What you really earn is only a kind of freedom to fight for yourself, a slightly literary and artistic way of life that suits you.

6. The so-called feelings

In the end, let's make it a little empty. Feelings are not illusory things. Feelings are not unique decoration, unique tables and chairs, gentle and soothing music, or unique hairstyles.

If you want to make a metaphor, your feelings are like a sketch portrait. For every detail of the dead knock, like a stroke, inconspicuous pencil marks. However, if you knock yourself to a certain level, accumulate for a certain time, and continue to knock around a seemingly vague theme, the sketch image will appear vaguely. The final work presented in front of us is the feelings sought after by everyone.

So, what on earth is feelings? It is nothing more than persistence that is purposeful, durable and focused on the slightest detail.

Many people will say that it is too wasteful to open a small shop after studying for so long and getting such a high degree. However, if it is purely in terms of the difficulty of operation, it is definitely more difficult to open an independent coffee shop than to be a bad job in the government or a white-collar worker in a state-owned enterprise.