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** Brand Officer
Author Brand Officer
I was tired of working part-time, and when I saved enough money, I went to open a bubble tea shop and become the owner. ”
For many young migrant workers who are struggling with staying up late and working overtime, 996, and boss PUA, opening a bubble tea shop is a retreat in their lives.
However, a bubble tea shop is not something you want to open, you can open it if you want to.
Recently, the Supreme People's Procuratorate released a typical case of catering franchise fraud, involving more than 5,800 franchisees across the country, and the cumulative amount of defrauded is as high as 4More than 400 million yuan.
The lesson of blood and tears is telling young people:
Joining a bubble tea shop with a deep routine may not make you free in the second half of your life, and even the "mental loss fee" earned by your hard work may lose money. 01
Join the bubble tea shop,Beware of the traps of "quick recruits".
This time, the Supreme People's Procuratorate "re-mentioned the old case" is the "Chazhilan franchise fraud case" that has been boiling in recent years.
Source: Little Red Book.
The reason why it is regarded as a typical case is not only that this is the first "routine franchise" contract fraud case in which a "catering quick recruitment company" was defrauded of franchise fees with false brands and fictitious performance capabilities, but also because of the large amount of money and the number of people involved behind it.
The case involved 700 million yuan and 5,800 franchisees were deceived 4400 million yuan, 69 people were sentenced, and the main culprit was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, which is really shocking.
Source: News screenshot.
When it comes to joining the bubble tea shop, I have to mention the "catering quick recruitment company". Such companies often register a catering brand casually, and after simple packaging, they dare to weave a beautiful entrepreneurial dream for customers, and their purpose is to earn a lot of franchise fees.
The catering company involved behind the "Chazhilan franchise fraud case" has more than 20 fake milk tea brands, and after a series of brand packaging, through the design of the investment promotion, the investment advertisement with the words "well-known brand joining" is released, so that young people who are not deeply involved in the world think that they can go to the peak of life and obediently offer the franchise fee.
In order to win the trust of franchisees, the company will even hire people to queue up in front of the store in the early stage to create the illusion that the Internet celebrity milk tea shop is popular, and then through packaging publicity and Internet fermentation, the franchisee will be convinced that this is a way to make a fortune.
Source: Zhou to Shanghai, Chazhilan store was exposed to hiring people to queue up.
However, when the franchisee's store officially opened, it was a different scene.
In the ** interview, a 23-year-old young franchisee in Hefei, Anhui Province, said that he paid 50,000 yuan in franchise fees and deposits to open a Chazhilan.
However, the one-stop service promised by the investment manager was not realized, due to the poor location of the store, no customer flow, and the high cost of materials, it was opened for half a year, and lost more than 100,000 yuan, and finally had no choice but to close the store. 02
Celebrity endorsements that add fuel to the fire
Searching on the Internet with the keyword "milk tea joining**", we will find that the case of Cha Zhilan is only the tip of the iceberg, and the deceived caterers can be counted in hundreds of thousands. As for why so many people are deceived, many celebrities who endorse them are to blame.
As public figures, celebrities' popularity and positive image make them more credible than ordinary people, which is also a big reason why brands are willing to spend a lot of money on celebrity endorsements.
Some "catering quick recruitment companies" are taking a fancy to the traffic effect of celebrities, and by inviting well-known celebrities to endorse their brands, they can improve their credibility when negotiating with franchisees, so that franchisees can let down their psychological guard.
In the "Cha Zhilan Franchise Fraud Case", the well-known actor Ma Yili was implicated in it for endorsing Cha Zhilan.
Source: @茶芝兰.
After the case, although Ma Yili apologized to the franchisee as soon as possible and said that she had terminated the contract with the brand, this could not erase her role in misleading the franchisee in the fraud case. In fact, in the era of savage expansion of the tea industry, it is not uncommon for celebrities to endorse and overturn.
For example, Guan Xiaotong and his endorsement milk tea brand are inextricably linked.
Guan Xiaotong's father, Guan Shaozeng, once held a wholly-owned Tongmeng Xinyuan (Chengdu) Culture Media ***, which once held 35% of the equity of Natural Stay; On the opening day of Natural Stay, Guan Xiaotong also appeared at the opening site as the store manager and co-founder. 
Source: @天然呆.
However, with the collapse of natural stupidity and the large-scale closure of stores across the country, in the face of the pursuit of franchisees, Guan Xiaotong's attitude was quite tough, threatening to sue the "rumor-mongers", and picking up the law to protect his rights and interests.
In addition, Zhang Jike's "Monkey's Rescue", Li Weijia's "Happy Equation", Chen He's "Xianhezhuang" and other catering brands have exploded one after another, and the routines behind them are the same.
In the early stage, the popularity was expanded through celebrity endorsements or platforms, and after the circle was opened, it was opened to join, and then through "buying heads and queuing", "topic hype", "marketing momentum" and other ways to create a scene of hot business, and then harvest the first.
The second and third batches of franchisees finally ran away with money.
However, as the Supreme People's Procuratorate takes the "Chazhilan franchise fraud case" as a typical case, this releases a signal that the "catering quick recruitment company" that has been wandering in the gray area in the past will be vigorously rectified, and the "quick recruitment" model of making huge profits by earning franchise fees has also come to an end. 03
Milk tea franchise business,It's not good to doDoes the country's heavy attack mean that young people can show their strength by joining bubble tea shops? The answer is still far from optimistic, and even more difficult.
According to iiMedia Consulting data, the domestic new tea beverage market size will be 2,938 in 2022500 million, which is expected to grow to 3,749 by 2025300 million. However, the "2023 New Tea Drink Research Report" shows that in 2024 and 2025, the growth rate of the new tea drink market may drop to 197% and 124%。It is an indisputable fact that the domestic new tea market is shifting from increment to stock, which has led to a huge change in the pattern of head tea brands.
Especially from 2022, in order to meet the needs of mass consumption downgrade, the three "high-end" giants of Heytea, Naixue and Lele Tea have reduced their prices, and the products have gradually bid farewell to the "3-word prefix" and taken the route of parity.
Source: @奈雪的茶.
To a certain extent, this has reduced their differentiation from Shanghai Auntie, Tea Baidao, Gu Ming, Overlord Tea Queen, etc., and invisibly intensified the fierceness of competition.
In addition, in order to occupy market share and improve competitive advantage, major new tea brands are expanding their stores, and Heytea and Naixue's tea, which have been taking the direct sales model, are also open to joining, and sinking to third- and fourth-tier cities and even county areas.
The opening of the head brand to franchise can reduce the living space of "fraud". However, for franchisees, the concern of being deceived in the early stage is gone, and the follow-up return on investment and continuous profitability are the top priorities for opening a store.
But today's situation is that even in an inconspicuous fourth-tier town, there are milk tea shops such as Mixue Bingcheng, Shanghai Auntie, Gu Ming, and Tea Baidao on one street.
Source: @lv Lu Xiaole.
According to geoqdata brand data, from January to early December 2023, more than 9,000 new chain tea stores will be opened in counties across the country, and the competition is even more fierce than that in first- and second-tier cities.
For example, a Mixue Bingcheng store, in addition to facing the fierce eye of other new tea brands, there is also the competition of "own family", and the back is enemy.
For such a franchise business, young people should think twice! Hotspot Engine Program