50% of the coffee shops don't make money by selling coffee.

There are doubts that Starbucks' differential pricing is contrary to the principle of fairness, but there is also a view that calculating only the cost of raw materials while ignoring other operating costs obviously lacks economic common sense, and coffee is a non-monopoly industry. the pricing power should be decided by the market and the enterprise.

How much does a cup of coffee cost? To this end, the reporter conducted a survey from the whole coffee industry chain. However, the survey results show that the coffee industry, which seems to be "high-end and high-end", is actually struggling to survive in the Chinese market.

The average profit of the coffee shop is 10%

Li Zhongqing (a pseudonym), who has opened a coffee shop in the embassy district of Beijing for six years, admitted: "Labor and rent costs are rising, and opening a coffee shop is becoming less and less profitable." So now that some of my friends want to be a coffee shop, I advise them not to vote. It's not what they think. "

Li Zhongqing calculated an account for the reporter: "take my shop as an example, employees' wages account for 30%, purchase costs 30%, as well as rent, utilities, and network fees. In fact, the profit of the coffee shop is only about 10%. A small coffee shop with meals can achieve a net profit of 20%."

Yang Ruihan, operator of the Ying painting Cafe in Hengshui, Hebei Province, said directly: "after opening the coffee shop for five years, it has basically earned the living expenses and training fees for both of us."

"Girls have a dream of opening a coffee shop, and I realized it, but it's actually very difficult to run." Yang Ruihan talked to the reporter about her business experience: "when our business is good, our daily running water is about 1000 yuan." The price of the product is slightly lower than the same level in Beijing. take a cup of latte as an example, the price is 25 yuan, and the cost includes 2 yuan for milk, 2 yuan for coffee, 0.6 yuan for paper cup, 1 yuan for sugar cup and mixing bar, and 6 yuan for material cost. But the indirect cost is too high. When we first opened the store, the rent was 24000 yuan a year, but now it is 40, 000 yuan. It is estimated that it will rise to 60, 000 yuan next year, and nearly 200000 yuan has been invested in decoration. Later, some coffee machines have been upgraded one after another.

In addition, there are a lot of expenses-600 yuan a year for the Internet, 1000 yuan for electricity, 400 yuan to 500 yuan for water, 200 yuan for consumables, and 2000 yuan for staff training. In a third-tier city, the current income and expenditure can only be flat. "

"it is said that Starbucks coffee is expensive, in fact, you can see by comparison, compared with other coffee shops, they are cheap, they make a profit by scale." Li Zhongqing told reporters.

"Cafe is a special product in China," Qin Gang, chairman of Panzhihua dry and Hot Valley Biological Engineering Co., Ltd. and founder of Banpo Coffee, revealed in an interview. "in China, most cafes have become a high-end, petty bourgeois, fashionable and emotional space. A second-tier city has invested at least 1.5 million in opening a coffee shop, plus many people pursue fancy coffee, such as cappuccino, latte and so on. The price of a cup of coffee is certainly high. But in fact, few of them feel better. About half of the coffee products in cafes are at a loss, and they have to rely on products such as fast food and desserts to "make up". It is difficult for ordinary single-store cafes to make a profit, and some chain cafes rely on scale to make a living. "

Wang Xingrong, director of communications for Starbucks China Public Affairs Department, said in a written response to reporters: "compared with other countries and regions, Starbucks' operating costs and market drivers in the Chinese market are completely different. In addition, compared with the American market, the Chinese market is still in the early stage of development, and there is a lot of infrastructure investment at this stage, so Starbucks' profits in China are not higher than those in the United States. Our investment is to ensure that our customers can enjoy a full range of Starbucks experience, including coffee shop experience, quality and innovation, and quality service. "

Low profits lead to the inflow of little capital

Speaking of whether coffee is a profiteering industry, Qin Gang smiled: "this must be a statement without common sense, the simplest way to judge, if it is a profiteering industry, why is there no influx of capital?"

"there is no way. The profit margin is getting smaller and smaller, so we can only rely on quantity. When we first opened the shop six years ago, the profit margin of coffee was indeed very large, but it has gone down in the past two years, labor and rent are rising, costs are increasing, but the profit point is still the same. " Li Zhongqing said.

According to Li Zhongqing's experience, a coffee shop never has guests, and it makes money when it is full of people, but when it is full, it makes less money when the source of customers is stable. The reasons include skyrocketing raw material prices, employee insurance and benefits, as well as rising training fees year by year in order to improve the level of service and retain employees. "the salary of employees was 500 to 800 yuan per month six years ago, but now it is at least more than 3000 yuan per month. All these are on the rise. If the turnover remains the same, am I going to lose my profit? " Li Zhongqing shook her head with a wry smile.

The reporter's survey found that the mode of investment in coffee shops for the next step will tend to be divided, one is the simple coffee shop in Europe and the United States, and the other is the current Chinese-style coffee shop.

With regard to the operating environment of the coffee shop, there is a paradox: a coffee shop with a good environment will attract and retain customers because of its characteristics, but at the same time, there will also be a unique phenomenon in China: a cup of coffee will be brewed for a day. The cost of water, electricity, Internet and consumables all drive up the cost of the coffee shop.

Qin Gang, who has studied coffee culture for many years, insists that in the future, coffee will certainly become a common drink for Chinese people, such as simple cafes in Europe and the United States will be more popular. At the same time, they have also opened Banpo Cafe in some office buildings in Chengdu and Guangzhou, using the strategy of low cost and high quality coffee to cultivate the market.

The investment space of coffee industry chain needs to be broadened.

On Oct. 25, according to the Yunnan Coffee Industry Association, the purchase price of Yunnan coffee in 2013 was lower than the cost price, which means that millions of coffee growers in Yunnan will work in vain for a year.

"this is a global problem and an injustice to coffee growers." Qin Gang analyzed, "if the price of a cup of coffee is between 38 yuan and 48 yuan, in fact, only about 1% of the coffee farmers will have it. This is because coffee growers are generally developing countries, while coffee consumers are mostly developed countries, and the pricing power is in the hands of developed countries. "

Due to the continuous contradictions between coffee consumers and producers, the two major international organizations, the International Coffee Organization and the Fair Trade Coffee Organization, have been committed to coordinating the interests of all parties in the coffee industry, and will also set aside a part of the consumption chain to feed coffee farmers. China has changed from a coffee grower to a coffee consumer, so people in the industry are more optimistic about the development prospects of the coffee industry.

"in fact, a cup of coffee is good or bad, 60% of the factors are determined by coffee farmers, from seeds to planting soil, to planting, flowering and fruiting, picking, selection, but they are only 1% of the profit, which is certainly not conducive to the healthy development of the industry." Qin Gang pointed out. He believes that capital does not see the investment space in the coffee industry chain. "at present, all those who have invested in coffee shops are opening coffee shops, but in fact, the profits of coffee shops are very thin, and the ones with large investment space should be the upstream industries."

During the 2012-2013 harvest season, Yunnan produced about 82000 tons of coffee, exported more than 50, 000 tons of coffee, and some of it was used for instant powder production by Chinese local coffee enterprises with intensive processing capacity, and the domestic consumption of Yunnan coffee was less than 20, 000 tons. In 2012, China's domestic coffee consumption was about 130000 tons. The proportion of Yunnan coffee consumption in China is very small. On the one hand, the domestic coffee consumption market basically depends on imports, and the pricing power lies with the suppliers, while the coffee produced in Yunnan can only be exported desperately, and the pricing power is still in the New York Stock Exchange.