Is Opening a Coffee Shop in a Small Town Worth It?

More young people are returning to small towns to open specialty coffee shops, and chain brands are pushing into lower-tier cities too. During the Spring Festival many county-town shops were full, with daily revenue reported above ten thousand yuan. Behind that short bustle sit limited spending power, unstable customer bases, and rents that are not always cheap.

Drawing on the experience of frontline owners, the article lays out the real opportunities and challenges of running a coffee business in a small town. It offers eight questions worth reflecting on calmly, aimed at balancing cost, product, service, and customer base before committing to a lease or a menu.

In recent years, more and more young people have chosen to return to small towns to open specialty coffee shops, and large chain brands are also accelerating their penetration into lower-tier cities. During the Spring Festival homecoming period, many county-town coffee shops were packed to bursting, with daily revenue even exceeding ten thousand yuan. However, behind the brief bustle, coffee shops in small towns face practical problems such as limited spending power, unstable customer bases, and rents that are not necessarily cheap. Drawing on the experiences of frontline owners, this article sorts out the real opportunities and challenges of opening a coffee shop in a small town, and offers eight key questions that require calm reflection, to help entrepreneurs find a balance among costs, products, service, and customer base.

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With discerning eyes, grasp the extraordinary—Martell Blue Swift? No, a county-town coffee shop.

Thinking back ten years ago, when you returned to a small town, forget drinking coffee—even finding a cup of any other beverage required a long search... if there was one, it might have had a style that could easily be misunderstood... (not really)

Those small towns once mocked as entertainment deserts for young people have, in recent years, sprouted fresh buds like a century-old tree. In recent years, many young people who could no longer keep up with the rat race in big cities have returned to their hometowns one after another and started entrepreneurial lives.

And specialty coffee shops, refined dessert-and-coffee shops, hybrid book-bar coffee shops, all kinds of internet-famous coffee shops... stores that can continue the trendy lifestyle of big cities have naturally become popular projects.

When these young people made this decision at the time, people around them would still advise them : Opening a coffee shop in a small town, a cup costs fifteen or twenty yuan—how could the people there have such consumer demand!

Yes, a few years ago in small towns, not many people had consumer demand for coffee. But quite a few young people who made this decision said they believed that in the future there would be many young people like them returning to small towns to live. Although it is not easy now, they need to start laying the groundwork from now.

Their choice can truly be described as having discerning eyes! In the past two years, many large chain brands have begun opening stores in small towns one after another, and more and more young people have returned to live in small towns.

These young people are not only the main consumers, they have also inspired their relatives and friends to taste and understand coffee. Some brands have also used actions to tell everyone: drinking coffee is not an extravagant consumption, and the price of coffee can also be very affordable.

As brands have driven the coffee market to sink downward, those independent coffee shops have also been demanded by more and more people. Coming home this year, the writer's biggest feeling is that in the past, wanting to drink a cup of coffee required a half-hour bus ride; now, within 10 minutes of going out, you can see several well-decorated coffee shops.

Coming home this year for the New Year, these coffee shops were truly packed to bursting, every single one! So exaggerated that as long as a shop was open, one day was like doing a month's business on a normal day.

The writer's colleague said there is a coffee shop near their home that used a New Year menu during the Spring Festival, with each cup priced 20 yuan more than usual, and there were still a huge number of people! Extremely, extremely many.

A coffee shop owner known to the writer revealed that on normal days the revenue was over a thousand, but starting from the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, daily revenue could reach several thousand, and during the few days of the New Year the highest revenue reached over ten thousand. Many owners who run coffee shops in small towns also shared online their orders during the Spring Festival, the receipt printer: etc. ! I "vomited" , and can still continue !

Such a scene is partly because of this year's policy relaxation, with everyone rushing home for the New Year, but because there is not much entertainment, well-decorated coffee shops have become the best place for everyone to gather with a few close friends and chat. Another reason is that coffee prices are gradually becoming more affordable, and coffee culture has also penetrated into the public's daily life in different ways. Another reason is that coffee has become a daily dependence for many people striving in cities, and has also become a ritual to start a new day.

Seeing small-town coffee shops so booming, many netizens left messages in the background, " Is there really money to be made opening a coffee shop in a small town? Friends around me are all urging me to open one." It is possible, but it is not as beautiful as everyone sees.

It is true that coffee shop business is good during the few days of the New Year, but only for these few days . When the holiday ends and most people return to the city to work, everything returns to quiet. Although quite a few people will still choose to stay here for development, how to make these people become repeat customers becomes very important.

Another colleague said that in their area there are several coffee shops, and during the few days of the New Year every shop had a huge number of people, but some of the products were truly hard to swallow.

Because orders increased, many coffee shops lost control over product quality, which is a very common phenomenon. Although this way orders still kept coming continuously, after the New Year heat fades, this situation cannot cultivate a group of loyal customers for the coffee shop.

If you start considering opening a coffee shop in a small town now, it is estimated that you will have to wait until short holidays such as Labor Day, which may bring a short-term small burst of popularity. However, the current situation is that there are several coffee shops of the same type in one small town, how to get a share of these few coffee-consuming customers is also something to consider.

Is it really easier to make money opening a coffee shop in a small town? Are there really so many people in these areas who need coffee? These two questions must be carefully considered. Although the shop rent seems to be cheaper, the spending level of people in small towns may not be as high as you imagine—at least in terms of coffee consumption, people who are willing to regularly spend twenty or thirty yuan on a cup of coffee are truly very few.

Is shop rent in small towns cheap? That is just an illusion of cheapness when compared with rents in big cities... Shop rents are mostly determined by foot traffic. In small cities, places with high foot traffic also have very expensive rents, possibly even more expensive than in big cities... For this reason, you cannot simply measure cheapness and expensiveness by comparing rents in different regions; more importantly, you need to consider the local people's spending level and how much you need to price your drinks to find a balance between cost and profit. Second, what we need to consider is the demand for coffee drinks among people in these areas . Some special blended coffees that sell especially well in cities may not be in much demand in small towns because the pricing is too high. In small towns, what people need are stable, tasty, and cost-effective products. Therefore, sweet and consistently high-quality milk coffee products are the focus we need to pay attention to. ,

There is one more most important point: serve with care and cultivate customer loyalty. Do not think that because ordinary customers do not understand coffee, you can lower your requirements for professionalism and service. Only by treating every customer with care and a professional attitude will they feel a sense of belonging, which will raise their satisfaction with the coffee shop and further turn them into loyal customers. No matter what type of shop you open, you cannot follow momentary excitement just because you see a short-lived burst of popularity. When everyone realizes it too late, everything has already returned to dullness. If you still want to open a coffee shop in a small town, I hope you can calm down and consider the following 8 questions: (be sure to consider them in order!) 1. Why do you want to open a coffee shop? 2. What do you hope to mainly sell to customers? 3. When do you want to open? 4. What kind of customers do you hope will come to the shop? 5. Who will operate this coffee shop? 6. Where will you open the shop? 7. What style will you adopt? 8. How much startup capital do you have? Calm down, calm down, start only after thinking it through, no rush~

Image source: internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.