Cafes in small counties have become a utopia for young people, and when he returned to his hometown for the Chinese New Year, Xixi unexpectedly found that many cafes had sprung up in his hometown town. In the hottest shopping mall in this prefecture-level city, a magnificent Starbucks has opened. The local middle school classmates are happily saying that we finally have Starbucks. Although ** is the same as Shanghai, more than 30 yuan a cup, it has become a face-saving thing in the hearts of fashionable people in small towns.
When I go to visit relatives in surrounding towns, I often see Luckin and Cudi huddled together, and they often have to wait in line for more than ten minutes to buy a drink. Next to them is the dazzling red Honey Snow Ice City. What surprised her the most was that the town also has a boutique coffee shop with a good design and aesthetics, just by the river, and the environment is first-class. Order a raw coconut latte and it's a great place to get together with old classmates and chat.
The sinking of coffee in China's county towns and towns, people like her have felt it solidly in this Spring Festival. 
According to the "Observation of the "New Meaning" of Consumption during the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon", from February 9 to February 15 this year, coffee consumption increased by 40% year-on-year. The growth rate of per capita consumption in the county market is 26% higher than that of first-tier cities, which is the fastest growing market at all levels. Seeing that the coffee trend is flourishing, young people are beginning to be tempted, leaving the big city of involution, returning to their hometown to open a coffee shop, isn't it beautiful? We talked to some young people who are already opening coffee in the 18th-tier county.
Open a coffee shop in a small county townFrom a loss of 60,000 yuan to a burst of ordersDuring the Spring Festival holiday, Xiao Guo opened the "Unbounded White Coffee Night Wine" in Jiaozuo, Henan Province, and the orders exploded almost every day. From morning till night, more than a dozen ** asked him if he was open. He joked: "There are so many people that it's like rushing to a big gathering, and you have to queue up during peak hours." ”
Many young people regard this place as a "base place", meet with friends, and have a lively conversation. Some even came for 4 days in a row, and Xiao Guo knew what the other party wanted to drink without asking after it was cooked. Looking at the lively scene in front of him, and recalling the tragic situation of not making ends meet last year, Xiao Guo was extremely embarrassed in his heart. He finished university in Guangdong and returned to his hometown after a few years of tossing and turning. Because of my lack of experience, I stepped on countless pits in the process of opening a coffee shop. 
At first, he wanted to make good coffee, but found that there were very few people in the county who loved to drink coffee, and most of them just wanted to find a space to chat. So, he adjusted his business hours to 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., trying to sell coffee during the day and alcohol at night. He doesn't like to stay up late, but he has to stay up for work. 
In addition, he has also put a lot of effort into the decoration, with carefully selected books and plants on the shelves, and a lot of Internet celebrity accessories have been added. No matter how beautiful the scene is, the heat will pass. Two or three months later, the store's business plummeted, and it was difficult to maintain it for a while. In order to survive, Xiao Guo thought of various ways to learn from the business models of other stores and constantly adjust products. 
He also did various activities and tried to hang out with his guests. Once, he saw a retro dance party in a big city, and he felt that the tone and atmosphere matched his store, and he wanted to hold one. I thought that few people came, but I didn't expect the number of applicants to be exceeded. He realized that even in small cities, people were looking forward to joining in on fun activities. 
There are also students in the store who come to study, and there are sockets at every seat, so people often sit all day at a time. Every time he sees a guest who is serious about reading, Xiao Guo will feel an inexplicable emotion in his heart, and occasionally exchange with them the flavor of coffee or his opinion on a certain book. Since the beginning of this year, Xiao Guo has seen many similar coffee shops around him closed, and he is glad that his shop is still alive. You may not be able to make a lot of money, but it is enough to be able to do something different for the city and have a more comfortable pace of life. 
Won 1,500 square meters of old buildingsIt took 700,000 to renovateXue Jing opened a coffee shop in Jianshui, a small city in southern Yunnan, and the Spring Festival has been continuous. Even on Chinese New Year's Eve, it was open until 4 p.m. Before becoming the manager of OAN Coffee, she worked as a North Drifter for 16 years and worked in the investment industry. Because of the high intensity of work, I rely on coffee every day to survive. After the age of 30, although the salary is not bad, her sense of professional crisis is getting stronger and stronger. So I began to wonder, how can I have a career that is not limited by age? 
The idea of opening a coffee shop comes to mind from time to time. However, she is not an impulsive person herself, and she did her homework before landing. For two years, Xuejing went to work normally on weekdays, and went to boutique cafes on weekends to work part-time, starting from serving plates, and slowly learning how to make products and maintain customers. In her spare time, she also taught herself coffee knowledge and spent tens of thousands of yuan to study for certification. 
At that time, her idea was simple, she thought that as long as the coffee shop had a beautiful environment, a coffee machine would be enough. But when she actually looked for a bunk, she found that there were many doorways inside, and she had to consider the location, passenger flow, consumption habits, etc. 
After several turnovers, she took a fancy to a local first-class western-style building, which was very beautifully designed. However, the area of 1,500 square meters is a bit too big for a café, and the rental cost is high.
Xue Jing struggled for a long time, but still gritted her teeth and took it. In her opinion, old houses and shops can be found everywhere, but buildings with their own historical charm are scarce.
Her judgment proved to be correct. At 10:30 a.m. on the first day of opening, there were already three tables of admiring guests sitting in the outdoor area at the entrance. She likes to chat with customers, and the store has not yet opened a mini program and scan the QR code to order, because she hopes to help each customer order the right coffee through face-to-face communication. This is also what sets her store apart from other chain brands.
The people who come to her shop are half local and half tourist. Many guests came for the high-value decoration style at first, and later they were fans of the stable production of coffee. Nowadays, there are more and more customers who know how to eat coffee. Some will ask very professional questions, such as what kind of bean, where the production area is, and how to extract it.
Xue Jing still remembers that when she returned home in 2018, there were almost no professionally extracted coffee shops in the small town, and in 2019 there were already specialty coffee shops, and now they are blooming everywhere. Because the decoration cost of her store is as high as 700,000 yuan, she is still in the first cost period, and her income is not as high as when she worked in Beijing, but she is more leisurely. Xuejing told us: "I hope that people who come to Jianshui will think of me when they mention coffee." ”03After losing 50,000 yuanThe café was closedThere are many people who return to the county to open cafes, but not all of them succeed. In the entrepreneurial circle, there is a saying: "Wenqing loses money and has three treasures: coffee shops, homestays, and bookstores." "Li Juan, a girl from the Northwest, only understood it after losing 50,000 yuan. Because she couldn't stand the involution of the Internet giants, at the beginning of last year, she returned to her hometown Wudu to open a coffee shop, and spent nearly 40,000 yuan on decoration alone.
In the first 3 months of opening, the business was very average, with about 20 cups per day, deducting the cost of labor, water and electricity, and ingredients, and it was impossible to make money at all. She still remembers that the turnover on the first day of opening was only 56 yuan, and both cups were coffee-free special blends. Finally, there were some old customers, but I didn't expect to open two Luckin and one Cudi next to it at once, facing 9With a low price of 9, her products are not competitive. After learning the hard way, she closed the store a year ago and decided to find a new job. 04
Minimize costsProvide emotional value to guestsCompared with Li Juan, ** girl A Xi is much more restrained, she opened "Xili" mainly sells hand-poured coffee, only 16 square meters, which is transformed from an old warehouse of a relative's house, with a monthly rent of 1,000 yuan. She didn't hire employees either, ordering, making coffee, wiping tables, washing cups, etc., all by herself. When I couldn't get busy, I called my sister to come and help.
I did this because I didn't want to increase the cost. Maintaining the current small scale means that she only needs to sell two or three cups a day to recoup her investment.
Her original intention for opening this store was simple: to provide a place for girls to chat outside of the smoky chess and card room. Ah Xi is very good at providing emotional value to customers, knowing that the best photos in the store are good-looking, and when he is not busy, he will help take pictures and send them to customers after repair.
She is also very clear about her position, and some customers tell her, "It would be nice if the store was bigger." ”
But she knows that it is enough to serve a small group of guests who are not in a hurry. In order to maintain the sense of relaxation in the space, she deliberately did not make takeout, not wanting the coffee that she had worked so hard to adjust the grinding parameters to taste.
Because of this, she has many repeat customers. Some regular customers, sitting and sitting become the same table.
It has been open in the county seat for 10 years
Half a step ahead of the market is enough
Ah Xing can be regarded as a predecessor in the field of coffee in the county, and has been opening stores for more than 10 years.
After graduating from college in 2013, she spent about 250,000 yuan to open a clumsy boutique café in Dengfeng with her boyfriend. However, because it opened too early, the locals did not accept the 23 yuan cup of coffee very well, and the turnover began to decline in less than a year.
At the worst time, I only sold 2 cups a week, and my friends still cheered me on.
In order to keep the store alive, Ah Xing had to add categories such as cakes, pasta and steaks, and also added friends by ** and shake it, adding about 150,000 private domain fans.
These people in the neighborhood became her first loyal customers." It wasn't until 2017 that her customer base became more and more stable.
But at the same time, the competition for coffee is also fierce, and Dengfeng opened more than 10 cafes at once. She retains old customers and develops new ones, holding three coffee sharing sessions every quarter.
She and her boyfriend go to Shanghai at least twice a year to attend coffee exhibitions, roasting exhibitions, and learn marketing courses. The products in her store are also constantly changing, and she launches 3 creative coffees every month, which is full of freshness.
In the face of the sinking of big brands, she constantly adjusts her business and does business in a way that young people like. For example, pay attention to social platforms, set up stalls in night markets, and decorate stores in a camping style.
She thinks it's not necessarily a bad thing for big brands to come, because they have cultivated a group of coffee drinkers in the county and made the market bigger.
From only selling 2 cups a week to a daily turnover of 8,000 yuan in the peak season, Ah Xing's experience is half a step ahead of the market. The coffee in the county town can't be too advanced, and it can't follow the trend in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
At present, the consumption of the county is steadily increasing. According to Morgan Stanley China Chief Economist Xing Ziqiang**, it is expected that by 2030, the consumption of residents in third- and fourth-tier cities will reach 45 trillion yuan.
Many young people who can't move in first-tier cities bring the fashionable coffee culture back to their hometowns. At the same time, there are also many café brands that are expanding downward. More and more small cities can also find some unique cafes to drink good coffee. It is important to know that the saying of "six losses, three draws and one profit" is also applicable in the county. It is true that some people in small cities like to drink coffee, but opening a good café may not be easier than working part-time.