With financing from the Pre-A round, he drove the coffee bar into 15 office lobbies and 42000 white-collar workers got off the elevator.

Wei Feng, founder of ◆ 8-hour Coffee

Article by Hong Jiatian, a reporter from Pencil Road

? Introduction

In previous work experience, the habit of drinking coffee abroad and coffee culture have left a deep impression on Wei Feng. In China, coffee, as the largest drink in the world, has not fully penetrated into people's ordinary life.

When he helped his friends design office buildings, the empty office lobby inspired him: he could face the workplace crowd and do something about coffee. "occupy the offline traffic entrance of the office lobby, take coffee products as an entry point, and then provide workplace life services for users of this building."

Based on this idea, Wei Feng founded 8-hour Coffee at the end of 2014. Its stores are located in the office lobby, the products are mainly coffee, while providing fresh food catering products.

Up to now, 8-hour Coffee has opened 15 stores in Wuhan and has 42000 registered members.

The project is seeking round A financing.

Note: Wei Feng promises that the data in the article is correct and is responsible for its authenticity. The pencil track has backed up the recording shorthand to endorse the objectivity of the content.

Start with a cup of coffee

In the summer of 2013, a cup of coffee from 7-11 planted the seeds of entrepreneurship in Weifeng's heart.

At that time, he took his team of designers to Japan to exchange and study. At noon, Wei Feng, who had just landed from Osaka Airport, called a friend. "you can go to 7-11 and buy a cup of coffee sometime. It's delicious." That's what the other side said.

At that time, he was only surprised, "you didn't talk to me about when to pick me up, nor did you recommend me to eat or play. You asked me to go to a convenience store to buy a cup of coffee?" Wei Feng had a strong curiosity in his heart.

He followed the advice of his friend and went to a 7-Eleven convenience store. He handed a coin to the shop assistant and took a cup from the other side. After waiting in line for two people by the huge coffee machine, he finally received a cup of coffee.

As a wine player, Wei Feng thinks he is very sensitive to the taste of the drink, and there is no special feeling in the throat of the first sip of coffee. However, slowly, gradually have the sweet feeling of honey, "very moist feeling".

However, at that time, he only thought it was delicious and did not want to do anything about the coffee.

More than a month after returning from Japan, a friend invited him to help him see how the interior of the office building was designed and laid out. Wei Feng believes that we can follow the example of Google's office space, rather than the traditional row of desks.

The friend joked, "doesn't it have to change my office to be like a coffee shop?"

The two men went on to discuss the topic of the coffee shop. The coffee shop on the middle floor of the office building is difficult to publicize and get customers.

When the two walked back to the office lobby to chat, Wei Feng suddenly imagined a picture in his mind: in this lobby, filled with the smell of coffee, all the white-collar workers who came to work were cheered up. "the office lobby has its own flow, which is only separated by an elevator from the customer, so it is convenient for distribution; and during the rush hour at noon and to and from work, the crowd queuing in the lobby and elevator entrance is a good consumption scene."

The idea of starting a business emerges: make a coffee bar in the lobby of the office building, only make coffee, provide only the production scene of coffee, and only serve the users of this office building, who can pick up a cup of coffee as they pass by.

Occupy the office lobby

After deciding to start a business, Weifeng began to understand the coffee market, find equipment, run the supply chain, think about the model, form a team, and complete the Angel Round financing by the end of 2014.

On the equipment, the 8-hour coffee uses the Thermoplan and Eversys automatic coffee machine; in the selection of coffee beans, the 8-hour coffee is blended with well-known coffee beans such as Yegashifi of Ethiopia and Mantenin of Sumatra. In order to ensure the freshness and caffeine content of coffee beans, 8-hour coffee is roasted in medium depth with a shelf life of one month.

For different periods of time, 8-hour coffee has been adjusted in terms of coffee beans and blending ratio: it tastes stronger in the morning and provides more caffeine, while it is lighter in the afternoon.

After a series of preparations, the first 8-hour coffee store officially opened in Wuhan's Genesis Square in April 2015. However, the first store quickly encountered problems: there was no drainage and water supply system in the office lobby, and the operation was inefficient, with five clerks scrambling for orders of nearly 200 cups a day.

To this end, the team developed a mobile water source solution to solve the problem of "upper and lower water"; optimized the efficiency and supply chain, adjusted the production process, and developed 8H order system, iPad POS cashier system and customer end, order management system. Through data analysis, predict and prepare in advance on the goods.

After the improvement, the shop with 3 clerks can achieve an average order of 400 orders per day.

◆ 8 hour Coffee offline Store

In early 2016, the project completed the Pre-A round of financing, led by Huagong Venture Capital.

Since then, the team has developed the category of coffee and invited users to participate in the design of drinks. According to user feedback, 8-hour coffee has also added fresh food products such as sandwiches on the basis of coffee.

So far, 8 hours Coffee has opened 15 stores in Wuhan, with 42000 registered members.

When it comes to short-term planning, Weifeng plans to do a thorough job in the Wuhan market, opening more than 100 offline stores across the country within 2 years, serving more than 300000 people in the workplace. Finally, the 8-hour coffee will be turned into a workplace life service platform.

The project is seeking round A financing.

/ The End/