How did I close a 300-dollar cafe after three years of profit?

Near-perfect location, very careful operation design, quite predictable retail way …...

I wanted to open a dream cafe, but in the end, I lost not only to the reality of profit, but also to my dream and self-doubt.

I haven't shared the experience of opening a store for a long time. In today's case, many people should be able to see their own shadow, and I hope you can find some experience from the ways of others.

one

Sow a dream seed of "opening a coffee shop"

Like most young writers and artists, I once had a very unoriginal dream: "to open a coffee shop".

In order to stay up late to finish my homework in middle school, my parents unlocked the Nestle instant solution to the underage me ahead of time. From then on, I was poisoned by coffee.

As a diligent and studious teenager who loves to pretend, I began to try to make up coffee knowledge in cafes. The alcohol lamp siphon pot on the island and the real pot is simply the magic artifact of Harry Potter.

Later, when I went to college, with more pocket money at my disposal, I went further. Take an one-night train to Beijing International Trade on the weekend, and completed the "pilgrimage" nervously at the first Starbucks on the mainland at that time.

Later, from the photosynthesis of Xiamen University to the carving time of Wudaokou, from Laomai Coffee on Taojiang Road to China's first COSTA on Nanjing Road, I experienced poor travel all the way and recharged my faith.

▲ is a pious faith.

Slowly, the seed of "opening a coffee shop" was planted in his heart, and he decided to take action.

two

The "almost perfect" location is a big pit.

From business planning to fund-raising; from inspection in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to local market research in Chengdu; from team formation to supplier selection; from brand design to location and shop selection.

Like every ambitious first-time entrepreneur, I think day and night, confident, hands-on, and do my best.

Finally, we found a commercial port that looked excellent at that time-- Lan Guifang in Chengdu.

It almost met all my demands for the ideal shop at that time: the beautiful and exquisite landscape along the river, the famous Jiuyanqiao Bar Street in Chengdu, the best Hotel Shangri La Santa Monica in Chengdu at that time, the single-family and open commercial exhibition area, and the fashionable Shanghai-style neighborhood atmosphere. Everything is almost perfect.

However, it turned out that I fell into a big pit.

In the end, ▲ ended up with an unexpected ending.

As a bar and entertainment district, the vitality of Lan Kwai Fang began to bloom after 9 p.m. During the whole day, when my coffee shop needs people most, this block is a kind of ren month (yan) xi (shao).

three

"dream"? He he

At that time, in my eyes, Lan Kwai Fang was almost perfect, with only one drawback-price.

The monthly rental cost of a store with nearly 300 square meters is 100,000 yuan, which is still an unbearable pressure for the catering industry in Chengdu in 2009.

Including the prepaid rent, deposit, decoration, fire fighting, gas, facilities and equipment, the total investment has reached nearly 2 million.

However, the ignorant was fearless, and with the great trust of my investment partners, I successfully entered the pit as an ALL IN with all my previous savings and cash borrowed by my family, and became the first batch of merchants and the second coffee shop in Lan Kwai Fang, Chengdu. Also full of confidence, ungrateful drive in my "idol"-Starbucks next to.

Our coffee shop is named "Xintang". It is translated from the English name "New Zealand town" of qi (guai) into Chinese.

Unlike the traditional European style popular in Chengdu and Starbucks' business style at that time, I particularly hope to create a modern, fresh and natural space experience.

▲ gets high in his own way, regardless of whether it is commercially appropriate or not.

I also made a series of theme packaging around my favorite travel destination at that time, "New Zealand": in addition to kabu and latte, flat white was specially launched, butter was only imported Anchor, exotic juice featuring Zespri was freshly squeezed, and even house wine was New Zealand's Acacia.

We also named the dessert "Lord of the Rings" (New Zealand is the setting of the Lord of the Rings): Tira Misu became the "devil's capital" and chocolate cake became "Aragon".

I am keen to turn those careful thoughts into reality slowly, and my feelings are out of control.

I carefully selected each song played in the store and struggled with the order in which it was played in different periods of time. I asked that the cushions of six colors be put in the designated position to make sure they match well. There was an earthquake in New Zealand. I gathered everyone to pray and raise money.

I gave unsold desserts and sandwiches to the homeless every day, and then those sandwiches were hardly sold out again; then the store began to add night live show, I did not choose the people-friendly POP, wayward request only JAZZ.

George Bernard Shaw said a powerful saying: "there are two tragedies in life, one is despair, the other is complacency."

four

The profit will not double with the area of 20 and 300 yuan.

Opening a coffee shop is, after all, a business.

The reason why I dared to take this shop of nearly 300 square meters came from a small shop set up by a partner in Wenshu Square.

The shop has more than 20 square meters, with only two or three tables and chairs, and mainly sells more than ten yuan of milk tea and coffee. Manjushri Square is generally popular, so the shop can have an average revenue of about 1,000 a day.

We have calculated a very simple account. The area of the shop has been expanded by more than 10 times, and the price of drinks can still be doubled. Even if our new store, like Manjushri Square, is not popular, it is very easy to earn more than 10,000 yuan a day.

The truth is that in the early days when we only sold coffee, our daily turnover was almost never over 10,000.

The ▲ account is not calculated by slapping the head.

Think about an interesting question: what happens if you magnify the body of an ordinary person by five times?

The answer is: he will be overwhelmed by his own weight.

The reason is that after the person is scaled up by 5 times, the weight will be magnified to 5 cubic, that is, 125 times, while the support force will only be magnified by 5 square, that is, 25 times. In this way, the body will naturally be overwhelmed.

He almost took care of the small shop of his partner, while the staff of our cafe employed more than 20 people. The small shop spent 10,000 yuan to complete the layout of the soft-fitting store, while we invested 80,000 to 90,000 in fire protection alone. The monthly rent of the small store is no more than 5,000, while we have more than 100,000.

five

It's too early. It's not an opportunity. It's not an opportunity.

In Chengdu in 2009, we worked hard on our meals to match the ideal cafe: Western-style vegetarian sandwiches, organic Vegetables Salad and fruit meals. Purchase expensive ingredients, make stylish packaging, accurately measure calories, and promote a new vegetarian concept to the market with a healthy and nutritious mix.

I even designed an e-commerce website, registered 400 phone numbers, and customers can place orders online, and then our special couriers deliver food to the door.

Later, there is no later.

▲, if the timing is not right, it will be wasted.

Yes, today, all these business concepts have been practiced by more and more brands, and the market has cultivated more and more mature consumption habits.

But in Chengdu in 2009, a shopping mall has not yet sprung up; smartphones are not yet popular; Starbucks is not flooded with streets; there is no Wechat, ele.me, and efficient city logistics; vegetarian food is considered a religious fast; organic is not yet known; salads are seen as just lettuce leaves.

A lot of people say, you're not wrong, you're just early. But if it's early, it means bad.

six

Looking for the key and staring at the lock won't solve the problem.

In theory, I had already realized my dream of opening a cafe as I wanted it to be. But in retrospect, at that time, I did not have a day of happiness and peace.

Every day, I habitually sit in a corner of the store and see all the problems that are happening: the furnishings on the shelves are not aligned, the magazines are misplaced, the ash on the bar has not been wiped for two days, and the tables and chairs that the guests did not clean up in time after they left.

The volume of the song played during this period was too loud. Yesterday, another light bulb broke at the corner of the stairs. The sign advertisement light was not turned on on time. Why did the guest only eat a little bit of food?

I turned myself into a hammer and everything looked like a nail.

After ▲ opened, I found that it was different from my dream.

I am full of interest in other people's cafes, but I am on pins and needles in my ideal cafe.

Look for the key instead of staring at the lock. Such a simple truth, but how painful to understand.

seven

The fatal blow comes from "suspicion of dreams."

In retrospect many years later, I will even be glad that I did not run that coffee shop successfully.

In the third year of difficult operation, we have successfully achieved a monthly turnover of more than 300000, that is to say, barely profitable.

On the one hand, we have run out of cash flow. Although the turnover is growing, the growth has been weak due to the characteristics of the business area (the effective operating time of the bar street). And all the accumulated large amounts payable must be paid by tomorrow's operating cash.

From a financial point of view, we are already stretched. Next year, rents will increase by 10%, which may eat up profits. If you take into account the amortization of door-to-door stores and the return on investment, this is obviously not a sustainable business.

More importantly, I suddenly realized that the dream of owning a cafe of my own is not the life I like.

▲, that's the worst part, isn't it?

Is it really a better choice to be indifferent to fame and wealth at the age of fighting?

So, in the winter of 2012, the rumored end of the world did not come, but I decided to end this beautiful business. I maxed out my credit card, paid all the suppliers, laid off the staff of the store, and closed my cafe myself.