Cafe doesn’t just deal with small potatoes
Liu Yong jie has big plans for his chain of cafes after using crowd funding to turn his dream into a reality. The 22-year-old college student launched his new venture in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in August 2014, and has since earmarked outlets next to universities in a rapid expansion program.
Ambition and drive have been key to Liu’s success. “I want to be the Wang Jianlin of the post-1990 generation,” Liu said in a telephone interview, referring to the Chinese real estate tycoon. “You must have big dreams to be successful. You must have something to strive for. Although we are small potatoes now, we believe that we will become big potatoes in the future.”
With that sort of bullish approach, it is hardly surprising that Liu has named his chain of cafes BEPOTATO. So far, he has opened three outlets in Guangzhou and is planning to move into Beijing later in the year.
Each outlet is aimed at students, providing them with good food at reasonable prices, close to the campus. Investment has come in the form of crowd funding, much of it from college students.
Liu’s team advertised for shareholders on WeChat, a popular messaging app in China. In the space of just two months in 2014, Liu raised half of the startup capital of 1 million yuan from 166 people.
After that, it took him only six months for his idea to take off with the initial cafe making more than 300,000 yuan ($48,000) per month.
The secret behind such rapid growth has been the use of crowd funding. “Many students are adventurous, sociable and eager to prove that they can make a difference,” said Liu. “And it’s not difficult for them to find a few thousand yuan, from money they have been given as holiday gifts, to become a shareholder.”
The student shareholders also know who the cafe’s target customers are — themselves. So word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising for the brand.
More importantly, the shareholders identify with the cafe’s function as a public space for young people to get together. The outlets have become great meeting points.
From book clubs to smart phone try-out events, BEPOTATO has carved out a niche market and is more than just a cafe.
Liu now hopes to repeat his success by moving into other crowd funding ventures which could transform more traditional industries. This is in line with the central government’s policy, which called for the integration of the Internet and traditional industries through online platforms and IT technology.
“Internet Plus is more than opening an online mall,” he said. “Its core is to help traditional enterprises build closer connections with customers and employees online and then offline. Crowd funding can help that bonding.”
Zhang Aiming , general manger of Guangzhou Yixianhui Food Tech Co, hopes to work with Liu on business-tocustomer deals. Zhang runs a Guangzhou-based businessto-business fruit company and catering service with an annual turnover of more than 30 million yuan.
“I want to try out the B2C business on college campus first and Liu’s idea of equity crowd funding is new and interesting to me,” said Zhang. “It can help me quickly build up my brand on campus with the student shareholders promoting the brand by word of mouth. I may also save on labor costs if they join my delivery team.”
“But, I have doubts that Liu’s idea can still be that effective in marketing if applied to businesses off campus. The social network outside campus is more complicated,” he said.
Zhang met Liu at an e-commerce seminar at one of the BEPOTATO cafes. He was impressed by the college student’s commercial savvy.
“I didn’t have such strong creativity and business sense as he has when I was at his age,” said Zhang, 40, who started selling fruit from a street stall 20 years ago.
China is embracing entrepreneurship and innovation, which Premier Li Keqiang has called one of the “twin engines” for the country’s economic growth. Young people, who were born after 1990 and are referred to as the post1990 generation, have become a force for innovation under new government plans.
“The post-1990 generation want to start businesses from scratch and help fundamentally change industries. The older generation may start a business mainly to make money,” Liu said.