I Have an Idea to Open a Coffee Shop, But I'm Not Sure If It's Feasible

I recently came across a question about "I have an idea to open a coffee shop, but I'm not sure if it's feasible." Before starting this article, let me summarize the author's perspective: "Don't consider opening a coffee shop just because you can't find a suitable job and have some savings, because 'loving coffee' and 'running a coffee shop' are two completely different things!" Of course, this article aims to express more than just that.

The reason I'm sharing this topic with everyone is that the original poster's想法 is also the想法 of many people, so I'd like to take this opportunity to briefly discuss the problems that exist in these想法. Since the original post is quite long, I'll present it in a four-panel format.

First, let's address a critical misconception from the original poster: they equated specialty coffee with pour-over coffee, specialty coffee with single-origin coffee, and single-origin coffee with pour-over coffee... This is also an issue that I noticed after scanning through the comment section, where none of the netizens' responses pointed this out. Although the original poster claimed they don't look down on latte coffee, they have subconsciously created a "hierarchy" based on coffee preparation methods.

Understanding True Specialty Coffee

In fact, the terms "specialty coffee" and "single-origin coffee" have caused deep misunderstandings among many domestic consumers due to the way they're expressed in Chinese.

The original term for "specialty coffee" is "Specialty Coffee," which refers to coffee beans cultivated under specific climate and geographical conditions that possess unique regional flavor characteristics. It's not limited to high-scoring, expensive single-origin coffee beans. If blended coffee beans are made using beans that meet the above conditions, they can also be called specialty coffee beans.

The original term for "single-origin coffee" is "Single Origin Coffee," which refers to coffee beans from a single producing country/region/estate/plot, not single-variety coffee beans. Single-origin coffee beans are the opposite of blended coffee beans. Blended coffee beans can be a mix of coffee beans from region A and region B, but single-origin coffee beans can only come from region A.

For example, Ethiopia's native varieties actually don't refer to a specific variety but are a mix of many coffee bean varieties. However, because they're grown in the same place, they belong to single-origin coffee beans~

This means that single-origin coffee = specialty coffee, but specialty coffee ≠ single-origin coffee. Single-origin coffee can showcase unique regional flavors through all coffee preparation methods, and the same applies to specialty coffee.

The president of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) once said that specialty coffee cannot be defined solely by the quality and score of coffee beans, but rather depends more on the preparation process. From selecting green coffee beans to presenting them to consumers, every step in the entire process must maintain the highest quality standards to be defined as specialty coffee.

This means that in addition to the green beans themselves meeting quality standards, the roaster and brewer must have sufficient understanding of the coffee beans to extract reasonable flavors through appropriate methods, showcasing the unique characteristics of the coffee's origin. This method is not limited to drip extraction.

Professional Expertise in Coffee

The original poster's statement that "I think good coffee beans can only be enjoyed through specialty methods and cannot have their flavor profile altered by adding other things" only shows that they are fond of tasting pour-over coffee and enjoy the purity that pour-over coffee brings, but this doesn't represent specialty coffee as a whole. If you want to open a specialty coffee shop but don't have a correct understanding of specialty coffee, this is already a significant disadvantage.

It's certainly possible for a coffee shop to focus on pour-over coffee and sell its own roasted coffee beans. However, the original poster also mentioned that they only love drinking coffee, can identify origins through tasting, and know that different varieties and roasting levels bring different flavor expressions to coffee, but they didn't mention any research they've done on coffee brewing.

So they came up with the idea of providing equipment for customers to brew their own coffee... As mentioned above, the most important factor in specialty coffee is the person who can showcase the unique characteristics of the coffee beans. As a shop owner, if you don't have stable brewing skills and haven't researched other brewing methods, what reason would consumers have to trust the owner or the brand?

Making a delicious dish requires the chef's understanding of ingredients and finding appropriate cooking methods. The same applies to coffee roasting. Having knowledge of coffee varieties and understanding how different roasting levels affect coffee flavor, but not understanding why the same variety from different regions can have significant differences, or how the same variety grown at different altitudes in the same region can exhibit different flavor expressions, how to determine appropriate roasting plans based on green bean condition, how every second and temperature/rotation speed during the roasting process affects the coffee beans, etc.—these are often the most important knowledge areas.

Coffee roasting seems easy—just roast it thoroughly. Coffee brewing also seems easy—just pass water through coffee grounds. But to make coffee beans showcase their best state through roasting, or to extract appropriate flavor compounds when water passes through coffee grounds, requires extensive knowledge, research, and practice. This process takes a very long time and is not easy.

Business Considerations for Coffee Shops

So if the original poster truly wants to open a specialty coffee shop, I suggest first learning related courses, then continuously researching relevant materials, expanding and applying the knowledge gained. The biggest sign of a shop lies in the owner/barista themselves.

What about hiring baristas? This would be very costly! The original poster is located in Shanghai, where both rent and labor costs are extremely high. From the moment a shop opens, if there isn't a balanced income, it will continuously lose money. And coffee shops don't immediately get customers as soon as they open. A new coffee brand needs time to build its reputation. Many of the coffee shops we see today that are doing well and have great reputations were either built with significant investment or established over time.

However, based on the economic situation described by the original poster, I still don't recommend impulsively investing all your hard-earned savings without understanding the reality.

Liking to drink specialty pour-over coffee and running a coffee shop are two completely different matters. Specialty coffee pursues the quality of coffee beans, the quality of coffee output, and the value of the barista themselves, but there are very few people who can truly appreciate it. Besides enthusiasts who have studied coffee to some extent, the general public doesn't actually have much research or pursuit of coffee flavors. A coffee that's not too sour or bitter and offers good value is considered good coffee.

If a coffee shop doesn't provide coffee with added ingredients that makes the flavor more acceptable to the general public, then the number of people who will discover and patronize this coffee shop will be very limited, and these customers cannot support the operation of a coffee shop.

Online and Franchise Options

To enter Tmall (a major Chinese e-commerce platform), you must first register your brand trademark. To sell pre-packaged food, you also need a food business license. Besides these, entering Tmall requires paying a security deposit, which typically ranges from 100,000 to 150,000 yuan depending on the store type. Additionally, for every order transaction, Tmall deducts a commission in real-time, generally ranging from 3% to 5%. So even without opening a physical store, selling your own roasted coffee beans online through Tmall involves considerable expenses.

Finally, there's the franchise issue. As the original poster mentioned, competition between coffee chain brands is intense, and the coffee brands available for franchising are not the mainstream chain brands that consumers typically frequent. In a saturated coffee shop market like Shanghai, if it's not a mainstream chain coffee brand, the operating costs and expenses are also very high. The franchise fee alone can cost hundreds of thousands, plus monthly rent, labor, and raw material costs—it's no easier than opening an independent coffee shop.

Conclusion

Of course, if you truly want to open a coffee shop, consider opening it in an area that's not in a first or second-tier city. But regardless of what coffee business model you choose, the most important thing is that the owner themselves needs to have in-depth knowledge of coffee and a clear understanding of running a business, because operating a coffee shop is inherently a business.

Rather than "waiting and seeing" as some netizens suggested, it's better to start studying coffee thoroughly and understanding what's needed to open a coffee shop, then open a coffee shop that you can support and operate based on future circumstances.

Don't plan to "lie flat" from the beginning! This money could be used for more meaningful things~ Not recommending it now doesn't mean it won't be suitable in the future. Facts are not absolute, and dreams only leave no regrets when realized.

Image source: Internet (images unrelated to text)

Question source: Douban

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