Overlooking the Deep Blue Project, the entire pit takes on a heart shape. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
How many cups of coffee can a café in the village sell in a day?
The answer of the "Deep Blue Project" café in Anji Hongmiao Village is: 8818 cups.
During the Qingming holiday, the "Deep Blue Plan" hit a new high in single-day coffee output, refreshing its own record of 7,132 cups of single-day single-store coffee sales in the country.
This café is a renovated café from an abandoned mine pit and an old factory, with a view of the landscape, rows of parasols and camping chairs on the waterfront shore, and a social distance of 2 to 3 meters between each group of seats. Some people leisurely walk their dogs along the beach by the pit, some people nest in the deck chairs facing the clear water, and more people hold up coffee as props to take photos in front of the window view of the sky and the lake.
Most of the visitors to the Deep Blue Project are young people between the ages of 18 and 35. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Three years ago, if someone told the villagers that this would become a top check-in place for Internet celebrities, most of them would be replied with a sentence of "whimsy".
A village far from the county seat, an abandoned mine pit full of garbage, and a gravel road less than two meters in and out...... This is the first impression of Cheng Shuoqin, the manager of the "Deep Blue Project", when he stepped on the spot.
However, the dirty and messy background can't hide the heart-warming scenery - the natural storage of water in the mine pit after the shutdown, and the cold rock walls encircle the deep blue water, forming a cold, calm atmosphere, reminiscent of Iceland, a tourist destination in the minds of young people, known as the "end of the world".
This deep blue planted a seed in Cheng Shuoqin's heart. It is the coffee that waters the seeds that sprout.
During the past Qingming holiday, from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. every day, 50 shop assistants operated 37 coffee machines running non-stop, producing an average of nearly 14 cups of coffee per minute, with a maximum of 20,661 people in a single day.
It's not just a cup of coffee that attracts people to check in. "Coffee is just a carrier, and our positioning is not to attract traffic with coffee in the first place. In Cheng Shuoqin's concept, the country coffee is the scenery gifted by nature, and it is a "special blend" containing rural customs.
Facts have proved that young people are very buying the scenery and ecology.
Facing the clear water, many young people choose to relax in a village café. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In 2022, during the "May Day" holiday, the "Deep Blue Plan" was put into trial operation, and the niche scenery and innovative formats made its monthly turnover rush to 800,000 yuan. But the heat quickly faded the next month, and the pit fell silent again.
"If an industry is not working, it must be a slow decline, not a cliff-like fall. Cheng Shuoqin firmly believes that the idea of selling scenery is correct, but they have not yet achieved the extreme. To this end, he raised money everywhere and continued to rectify and improve. "Our goal is to make everyone who comes to the 'Deep Blue Project' pick up their mobile phones and produce films. ”
Follow Cheng Shuoqin to check in more than 50 film points in the venue, and move to change the scene. Each selfie mirror in the landscape has been adjusted to the most oblique angle of the film, and for the wild roses in the ruins, the designer has compared more than 80 kinds of flowers with different textures online. Repeat visitors to the Deep Blue Project can always see its growth.
In addition to the landscape, there is also an invisible emotional value. Unlike the average coffee shop, there are more tourists here on rainy days than on sunny days. "Tourists tell me that here you can unshackle and indulge your emo (melancholy) emotions. Cheng Xiao, a 1999-born young man from Guizhou Province and co-founder of the Deep Blue Project, was so impressed by a frequent visitor from a large factory in Shanghai that he almost "moved" his desk to a café and insisted on "abducting" customers to the countryside to discuss business. "Only in nature do I feel less impatient and constrained. Cheng Xiao said.
Most of the visitors to the Deep Blue Project are young people between the ages of 18 and 35. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In the past two years since its opening, the "Deep Blue Project" has maintained a passenger flow of nearly 800 people on weekdays and more than 2,000 people on holidays, and most of the people who come to experience it are young people between the ages of 18 and 35. Looking at the energetic faces, Shen Yongtian, Secretary of the Party Committee of Hongmiao Village, often rejoices in the decision to let young people give it a go.
"There are many powerful cultural and tourism enterprises that have taken a fancy to the development potential of this scenic spot, and the two village committees have repeatedly discussed and decided to hand it over to young people. Shen Yongtian said truthfully, "Although the 'little whites' lack of experience and capital, they are creative and energetic, and are willing to explore and grow together with the countryside." ”
Barista who has worked in a well-known western restaurant in Suzhou, an art graduate who has returned from studying in the UK, ...... seven founders of the "Deep Blue Project" come from all over the world, and Cheng Shuoqin, 31 years old this year, is the oldest "leading brother". Seeing this opportunity, they walked all over the 367 acres of land in the pit and stayed at the site for 5 consecutive months to ponder the transformation plan, which led to the results of 18 days of construction day and night and explosion at the opening.
Today, the team has grown to 127 people, with an average age of 25. Cheng Xiao, who was attracted by the promise of "giving you a corner and doing anything with ideas", has put his graffiti works on the wall and is preparing to start a new "village café". "When we go to the countryside, we are not lying flat, but we are busier, and we want to spread the concept of Deep Blue to run the countryside."
In order to allow young people to travel lightly, with the support of the talent policy of Anji County and Meixi Town, young entrepreneurs have low-rent apartments and commuting buses, and they can also receive various subsidies totaling 1,500 yuan per month.
So far, the revenue of the "Deep Blue Plan" has reached more than 20 million yuan. According to the entrepreneurial team's 51% shareholding and the village's 49% shareholding in abandoned mine pits and idle houses, Hongmiao Village has received dividends of 1.5 million yuan and more than 300 yuan in rent and salary income.
The village café regularly hosts a variety of events such as music and markets. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
At present, Anji, with a population of less than 600,000, has more than 300 cafes, which exceeds the density of many large cities, and various types of "village coffees" are all over the green waters and green mountains.
The resource-based "Waterfall Coffee", backed by a third-order natural waterfall, brings an average daily passenger flow of 3,000 people;
Xiaohangkeng Camping Village, which has a complex business format, has complex models such as "camping + coffee" and "farm + coffee", so that the needs of tourists of different ages can be met;
The culturally imprinted "Zhaimen Coffee" is located in Wu Changshuo's hometown, and the coffee fragrance in the ancient house of the Qing Dynasty carries a rich regional culture......
In 2023, Anji's "Village Coffee" will receive a total of about 5.5 million tourists, achieve a revenue of more than 100 million yuan, and drive more than 100 college students to start their own businesses.
Just like tasting coffee, it is rich and sweet after bitterness, and this cup of youthful "village coffee" has a long taste.
Source: CCTV