(1) Deciding the orientation of a coffee shop is the first step to successfully open a coffee shop. For example, is it a luxury cafe, a take-away cafe or an in-seat cafe? Do you only sell coffee, or (coffee+cakes), or (coffee+cakes+light meals)? In addition, is it a single-store operation or a compound cafe that is allied with different industries (for example, operating together with a bookstore)? This is all to be thought out from the beginning.
(2) The management orientation of the cafe determines the capital, personnel, menu, location and even the design and decoration of the storefront; We must first determine the business direction, and then plan other details. However, many shopkeepers, on the contrary, often decide the design, decoration and location first, and then consider what kind of coffee shop they want to open. For example, (I really want to open a coffee shop full of Provencal style), their brains are all focused on how to decorate the Provencal style, which is the most common and fatal mistake made by coffee shop owners.
Coffee shop lesson 2: financial planning-opening a shop, abacus should be played well
(1) The hardware and software required for a coffee shop are as follows:
1) menu (menu, including coffee, cakes and light meals);
2) Money-making equipment (coffee machine, oven, microwave oven, gas stove, smoothie machine, refrigerator, freezer, etc.);
3) Hardware equipment (air conditioning, lighting equipment, etc.);
4) utensils;
5) Design and decoration (bar design, cafe style and color, table and chair furniture, etc.);
Among these five elements, the menu is the most basic, which will determine which money-making equipment and hardware equipment need to be purchased, and will also affect the bar design. If you just want to open a coffee shop (coffee+cakes) at first, the design of the bar is relatively simple. However, if you find that it is impossible to maintain the operation after opening, and you want to add smoothies, you will find that there may be no room for the smoothie machine at the bar. In case you want to add simple meals and don't plan the kitchen at first, the problem will be even greater, and even you need to redecorate it locally, which will be a large expense. Therefore, at the beginning of starting a business, we must think clearly about the selling projects in cafes.
(2) The decoration budget is the easiest to get out of control, and the coffee shop fund planning must include the following expenses:
1) money-making equipment;
2) Hardware equipment;
3) utensils;
4) design and decoration;
5) Rent (rent for the first month+deposit for 3 months = rent for 4 months);
6) raw materials;
7) personnel expenses (such as the salary of timekeepers);
8) Miscellaneous expenses (water and electricity costs);
9) Reserve fund (rent+raw materials+personnel expenses+miscellaneous expenses) × 5 that can maintain the deficit operation of the cafe for at least 5 months;
It is suggested that the budgets of money-making equipment, hardware equipment and utensils can not be moved, and only the cost of design and decoration can be changed; As for the rent, it involves the choice of location, which is variable. Why do we always warn entrepreneurs not to start with design and decoration when opening a store? Because experience tells us that when many entrepreneurs have a million dollars in cash, the first thing they do is to look for a design and decoration company. At that time, they have abundant funds. In order to build their dream cafes, the decoration budget is often increased. Obviously, when the budget is only 200,000 yuan, they often spend 500,000 yuan when it is completed. The remaining funds are used to buy wealth and hardware equipment, and after deducting the rent and deposit paid to the landlord for four months, there is not much left. As long as there is some trouble, the cafe is likely to be unsustainable, either closing the store or letting it go.
(3) Every penny is spent on the knife edge. Some people are willing to buy a chair from 500 yuan to decorate the cafe, but some people buy a second-hand chair from 50 yuan. With the chair cover, the effect is just as good. Coffee brewing equipment and the bar are the core of the whole cafe. In fact, a good two-hole or three-hole espresso machine costs tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan, which is enough to cope with the guests in a 150 square cafe. It must not be ignored. His experience is that if the espresso machine breaks down and the supplier can't come and fix the machine within 4 hours, the coffee machine is useless no matter how good it is, because there is no need to do business all day! (4) Keep the decoration design flexible. In fact, the design and decoration is very flexible, so it should be adapted to local conditions, and the investment should not be too large. As for the pure take-out cafe, the decoration is even simpler. As long as the bar is well designed, the others can hardly spend any money.
Coffee shop lesson 3: specialty-technology is not in place, nothing is possible.
(1) Since it is a coffee shop, the quality of coffee beans and the technology of brewing coffee are the key to determine the customer return rate. Chinese people like the new and hate the old in restaurant decoration. The decoration of a store may be out of date after three years. If you just want to win with the decoration atmosphere, maybe the media effect will bring crowds at first, but after the fever goes down, what can a bad coffee shop rely on?
(2) It is suggested that since we are interested in opening a coffee shop, it is best for the entrepreneur to take charge of the bar at the beginning of opening the shop, and invite 2 ~ 3 full-time or part-time work-study students in the outfield, which is enough to cope with the daily operation of the coffee shop. This will not only save personnel costs, but also make coffee by hand, and avoid the situation that the quality of coffee will be different in case the bar staff leaves their jobs and the manpower is green and yellow.
(3) What do you know about the characteristics of coffee beans? Many people don't even know how to make coffee before opening a shop. Before opening a shop, they must spend more time tasting other coffee beans everywhere. In addition to training their taste, they can also study the quality and taste of different coffee beans, find out their favorite coffee beans, or bake their own beans. It takes time to cultivate experience. There are many importers and vendors of coffee beans in China, so it is not difficult to get to know coffee beans because they can surf the Internet more or consult people in the industry, and bean vendors or coffee machine suppliers offer relevant courses.
(4) In addition, you should read more coffee books and listen to related activities, because the threshold of cafes is not high and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Only by making the quality of coffee is the only way.
Coffee shop lesson 4: location-don't be superstitious about prime locations
(1) Many people believe that the key to the success of opening a store is "location, location, location". As long as you open a store in a prime location, you are sure to win. In fact, this statement is only half right.
(2) Usually we use Grade A, Grade B and Grade C to distinguish commercial lots. For Grade A prime lots, the rent is either insanely high or there is no market, which is why the shops in prime lots usually sell high-priced products. Many gold storefronts in the first-class war zone have a monthly rent of at least tens of thousands of yuan. How many cups do you have to sell a day to level the rent? This does not include personnel costs and equipment depreciation. In fact, as long as it is managed properly, the B-class and C-class lots can also have the spring of cafes. Close at hand, the rent is very different.
(3) Every penny of the entrepreneurs must be spent on the knife edge. The store rent on the main road will cost tens of thousands of yuan a month, but if it is in an alley only a dozen meters away from the road, customers will not mind walking a few more steps, and the rent may be quite different.
The lot can be divided into department stores, office areas, commercial areas, cultural and educational areas, entertainment areas, residential areas, traffic transfer areas, etc., and the daily activities and crowd flow in this area can be observed in depth, and the success rate of operating cafes in this area can be analyzed.
(4) Every location has a different way of working and rest, and the time when people gather is different. If the coffee shop is located in the office area, noon from Monday to Friday is the most important business time, so you can take Sunday off. On the other hand, if you open a shop in an entertainment area or a shopping area, it is clear that you have a hard time with money on weekends.
(5) Crowd is not equal to Qian Chao. However, "Crowd" is not necessarily equal to "Qian Chao". It is suggested that entrepreneurs should spend at least one week to observe the local crowd attributes and consumption patterns when choosing a location. Focusing on the scheduled store opening location, investigate how many competitors (including chain or single-store cafes, fast food shops and bubble black tea shops) are around 500 meters, record the number of people who enter the store every day and the estimated turnover, and evaluate how sure you are that you can share the cake or make it bigger if you enter this battle.
Lesson 5 of Coffee Shop: Cost Control-How much is a cup of coffee?
(1) If you open a shop, of course you can't lose money. But many people only know how much a cup of coffee costs, but they don't know how much it costs. Usually, it takes 1 5 ~ 20 grams of coffee beans to cook a cup of coffee, and a pound of coffee can usually cook 25 ~ 30 cups of coffee. The cost of creamer (or milk) and sugar required for a cup of coffee is about1yuan, and it also includes paper cups, facial tissues, stirring rods and other materials. In this way, the raw material cost of a cup of coffee is roughly between 2 ~ 4 yuan. In addition, don't forget to add the cost of rent, water and electricity, personnel and equipment depreciation, plus a certain percentage of profit is the price of a cup of coffee.
(2) Many shopkeepers don't know how to set the price, depending on how much the competitors order, and they follow suit. However, this lazy practice is very dangerous. In the future, it is found that we can't make ends meet and dare not raise prices, so we have to switch to cheaper coffee beans, and the vicious circle begins.
Lesson 6 of Coffee Shop: Customer Training-Building Word of Mouth with a Long Flow of Water
(1) Opening a coffee shop is like chasing a girlfriend. It takes time to brew. A few years ago, the profit of opening a cafe was quite good, but with the increasing number of competitors and the strong intervention of chain cafes, it is becoming more and more difficult to open a dream cafe with its own style. As long as you are a conscientious coffee supplier, you will warn entrepreneurs not to get rich overnight by opening a coffee shop.
(2) Opening a coffee shop is a long-term venture, usually in the stage of burning money in the first three months. Many people hope to make a name for themselves through various marketing and advertising activities before opening a shop. "But don't weddings on the first day of opening!" Zhou Wenpei said very seriously. His reason is that the opening ceremony may not be familiar with the dynamic line of coffee making and the customer service process, and some even don't know how to use the coffee machine. The more people come, the more customers complain.
(3) "As long as two or three kittens come on the first day, you can gradually get familiar with various skills and work processes, and as long as one cat is not a dumb cat, you will gradually gain a reputation." Since the estimated crowd flow at the beginning will not be too high, it is necessary to rely on lower operating costs (of which lower rent is the most important) in exchange for time to cultivate customers.