Chapter five hundred and ninety-eight from scratch (two in one)
After a long talk with Zhou Dongsheng last time, Nie Yunchen completely firmed up his idea of building a new brand. Facing the ubiquitous pirated imperial tea, the long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain.
If you want to practice this skill, you must first go to the palace!
Nie Yunchen opened his first milk tea shop in mid-2012 and has been operating it for three and a half years.
And Nie Yunchen's number of milk tea shops with the "Royaltea Imperial Tea" sign has increased from one to fifty, from his hometown of Jiangcheng to Pengcheng.
All stores were opened one by one by Nie Yunchen steadily, and all are directly operated stores without exception. This is also Nie Yunchen's stubbornness in rejecting the franchise model in order to ensure quality.
It is precisely because of this that although the number of stores in Nie Yunchen's hands has surged to 50 stores in three and a half years, his steady development speed has not slowed down at all.
However, in the face of pirated imperial tea that is blooming all over the country, it is just a drop in the bucket. A conservative estimate is that the number of pirated stores is at least ten times its size!
That is to say, for the imperial tea that is everywhere on the market, not one of the ten stores may be genuine. Although the direct operation model has quality assurance, its slow expansion is also its obvious drawback.
After returning to Pengcheng from the Magic City, Nie Yunchen convened a meeting with his company's entrepreneurial team to set the tone for his plan to reshape the brand.
"The First Cause of All Realms"
As a brand that still falls into the category of a start-up company, Nie Yunchen has the final say throughout the company, and he has absolute control.
Meetings are just for brainstorming, not informing others.
Under Nie Yunchen's insistence, the purpose of the meeting was naturally to focus on a series of issues regarding the brand name and subsequent name change.
One of the great advantages of Yiyantang is that the whole company has only one will, and it is easy to twist it into a rope and push in one direction, so the new brand name was naturally determined quickly.
Changed the name from "royaltea" to "HEEKCAA"!
At first glance, it seems that it is just a change of soup without changing the medicine, but judging from the highly consistent naming preferences, it is obvious that this is entirely due to Nie Yunchen's personal preference, and it just tastes good.
In addition to looking more tonally, the pronunciation also has some ingenuity from Nie Yunchen, that is, "HEEKCAA" sounds like the pronunciation of "Hitea" in Cantonese.
After establishing the route to restart with a new brand, the next main task is naturally to carry out drastic brand replacement work.
Just changing the look of all 50 of its directly-operated stores is a big project, but as long as we get through this painful period, everything will suddenly look new.
At the same time, Nie Yunchen finally arrived at Lu Sifang.
Strictly speaking, this investment in Heytea is Dongsheng Investment’s first investment in the real economy, and the previous investments were all investments in the virtual economy.
The difference between the two is also very obvious. Compared with the high risks and high returns of Internet companies, the risks of entity companies are undoubtedly much lower.
In fact, the solid business model is undoubtedly steady and steady, with considerable output and income. The 50 stores in Nie Yunchen's hands alone are already a considerable asset.
Even though these 50 stores are only leased, the cash flow generated by the operation of these 50 stores is real, which is undoubtedly a major feature of the catering industry.
That is, the cash flow is very huge. The number of tea bags used by these 50 stores alone last year has exceeded 50 million bags, not to mention the cash flow on the books.
The small goal of annual turnover of over 100 million has naturally been achieved long ago. The next goal is naturally to achieve a net profit of over 100 million after excluding various operating costs. This goal is still challenging at present.
Especially if you choose to rebrand, the final market feedback is still unknown.
However, after having a long discussion with Zhou Dongsheng, Nie Yunchen is now confident about this path, and with capital backing, Nie Yunchen is also full of energy for drastic reforms.
Therefore, at this critical time point, Nie Yunchen naturally attaches great importance to the financing of Dongsheng Investment.
For Nie Yunchen, who has huge cash flow, financing can certainly provide him with a large amount of funds for development, but what Nie Yunchen values most is still the huge value contained in Zhou Dongsheng.
In particular, concepts such as "Internet celebrity economy" and "social currency" mentioned by Zhou Dongsheng have brought a lot of inspiration to Nie Yunchen, giving him a deeper understanding of the path to building brand value.
Therefore, under Nie Yunchen's strong willingness to raise funds, this transaction was naturally negotiated extremely smoothly. After professional evaluation, Lu Sifang's team gave a "taking advantage of the situation" valuation.
"I personally think that a valuation of 200 million is more reasonable. The average valuation of a single store can reach more than 4 million, which is already outstanding among the many new tea shops on the market."
"Of course, the biggest reason for this valuation is the brand value. If the Imperial Tea brand belonged entirely to Mr. Nie, the valuation could even double!"
"At this critical moment of reshaping brand value, Dongsheng Investment can not only provide Mr. Nie with considerable cash for development, but we can also contribute to brand building..."
"I believe Mr. Nie should be aware of this."
Lu Sifang said strategically.
It has to be said that this valuation still has a certain gap in terms of Nie Yunchen's psychological price. After all, considering the current scale of his company, this valuation is not high, and Nie Yunchen even feels that it is greatly underestimated.
But the brand pain points that Lu Sifang grasped are indeed Nie Yunchen’s biggest shortcomings at present.
After all, compared with the ubiquitous Imperial Tea, consumers' brand recognition value is undoubtedly higher, and Heytea still has a long way to go to start from scratch.
At least these two words are still blank in the market. Whether consumers will accept it and whether it can continue the current good operating situation remains a question mark.
After all, for any brand, changing its name and logo is undoubtedly a matter of life and death...
Nie Yunchen couldn't help but think of Zhou Dongsheng's bright smile, the series of deeds that he admired, and the unreserved teachings...
By accident, Nie Yunchen took a deep breath and nodded.
"Although I think this valuation is greatly underestimated, I agree with this valuation because of my trust in Mr. Zhou. I think it is also a blessing for me to be able to cooperate with an outstanding person like Mr. Zhou..."
Nie Yunchen said very proudly, while Lu Sifang couldn't help but reveal a scheming smile.
He is indeed a young man. He is too young and naive to play the emotional card in the capital market... How much is that worth?
If you don't even bring back the price, if you don't take advantage of the situation, wouldn't you be doing yourself a disservice?
At the same time, Lu Sifang couldn't help but sigh, he didn't expect his boss's personal charm to be so great now.
After both parties reach a consensus, signing the contract and other matters will naturally be a matter of course.
Dongsheng Investment won the A-round financing of Pengcheng Meixixi Catering Management Company with 50 million yuan. The post-financing valuation was 250 million. Dongsheng Investment took 20% of the shares and will not announce it to the public for the time being.
Nie Yunchen felt that at least he should wait until the Heytea brand was rebranded and on track before announcing the news to the outside world, so as to maximize benefits.
After all, based on Zhou Dongsheng's current personal reputation, getting his investment is equivalent to an advertisement in itself.
Maybe this is the so-called celebrity effect.
After completing the first round of financing, Dongsheng Investment, which is now wealthy, naturally transferred 50 million to the company's public account without any delay.
With this abundant cash in hand, Nie Yunchen naturally no longer had any worries and started the grand road of brand reconstruction with a wave of his hand.
However, it is obviously unrealistic to directly replace the signboards of all 50 stores in one step. After all, not to mention the manpower and material resources required for such a large project...
Simply shutting down for renovations is an unpredictable loss, which is undoubtedly a fatal blow to catering companies that are highly dependent on cash flow.
It often takes several days of profits to make up for the losses caused by a day of shutdown.
Therefore, the project of replacing the signboard cannot be rushed and needs to be carried out gradually.
Since it is done step by step, which store should I start with?
If we start from the perspective of minimizing losses, should we start upgrading and transforming stores with the lowest turnover?
This can ensure profits as much as possible and minimize losses on the books...
This kind of profit thinking is obviously reasonable, but it is a bit putting the cart before the horse. After all, if it is to ensure profits, then if you don't do such a thankless thing, isn't it just a sure profit?
Starting from the idea of reshaping brand value, if you want to make a brand new brand quickly remembered by consumers and make yourself famous instantly, what is a good way?
In bustling business districts, pedestrian streets, and other core commercial areas with a huge flow of people, direct air landing is a good way. This method of acquiring customers is simple and crude, but it is effective.
Of course, the cost of acquiring customers is very high, but you get what you pay for, and the results are absolutely immediate.
Therefore, Nie Yunchen decisively chose to operate at the Coast City Shopping Center store, which ranks high among the stores in Pengcheng. This move can be said to be cost-effective.
Since they all chose the most expensive option, Nie Yunchen also tried his best to make adjustments to the decoration plan as perfect as possible.
At this point, Nie Yunchen also fully absorbed Zhou Dongsheng's suggestions and worked hard on aesthetics.
According to Nie Yunchen's understanding, doesn't the so-called "Internet celebrity economy" and "social currency" mean that consumers are so happy that they can't wait to take photos and share them, so that they can be spread online?
Aesthetics is undoubtedly one of Nie Yunchen's strengths. After all, the original design of "Imperial Tea" was personally designed by him. Whether it is the iconic "crown" or the mainly black store style, they are all from
His hand.
In this bustling commercial road, this store originally had a lot of customers, so the sudden closure and renovation naturally attracted a lot of attention.
The first reaction of many loyal consumers is, has this store closed down? It shouldn't be, business is so good every day, why did it suddenly close down?
Before the inner regret could brew, consumers' regret was interrupted by the "Brand Upgrade" announcement posted in the store.
"For the better development of the brand, we will carry out a comprehensive upgrade and transformation of the brand. From now on, the original Royaltea will be officially renamed as HEEKCAA, so stay tuned..."
"What kind of name should I change? Wouldn't it be better to change the name of the milk tea?"
"Oh, it seems that there is no milk tea to drink these days, so I have to go to other places to drink it."
"But I still think theirs tastes the best, although it's a bit expensive..."
Remarks like this were spread by this group of consumers and quickly spread in this area, attracting the attention and curiosity of quite a few people.
They actually want to see what earth-shaking changes will happen to Heytea after the upgrade?
After all, in the final analysis, it’s just a cup of milk tea, isn’t it? There’s actually some kind of brand upgrade, which sounds very fresh...
However, just a cup of milk tea, even if it is a little more expensive, is still affordable. You can go and join in the fun when it reopens.
As the first "HiTea" store, it is naturally of great significance to Nie Yunchen, just as he opened the first Imperial Tea store in his hometown of Jiangcheng in mid-2012.
At that time, when he was young and frivolous, he once joked and boasted to the employees, pointing to this small store: "This will be the place where a brand is born."
Naturally, what he got was disapproving snickers from several employees.
Unexpectedly, he opened up 50 stores from one store step by step. In a sense, the "Imperial Tea" brand is already quite successful.
But unfortunately, just like "Gongcha", this success has little to do with the founder.
Now, in order not to repeat the same mistakes, all trademark registration and other matters for the Heytea brand have been settled at a huge cost.
Looking at the newly renovated first "Hi Tea" store, Nie Yunchen once again pointed at this store with great pride and solemnly announced to all his subordinates.
"This will be the place where a brand is born. Heytea is our future. Let's start from scratch together!"
This time, what Nie Yunchen received was not ridicule, but applause from all his subordinates, "Okay! President Nie said it well!"
As for how much true feelings there are, it is naturally unknown.
"Tomorrow, we will officially open for business!" Nie Yunchen said with a smile.
Tomorrow, Heytea will officially set sail starting from this first store.
Naturally, Nie Yunchen notified Zhou Dongsheng of such an important matter as soon as possible. To his surprise, Zhou Dongsheng responded with a message right away.
"I know, I'll definitely be there! I'll give you a small gift by the way, and wish you good luck with your business!"
…
Ps: Do you think it is better to combine it into one or separately?
