Next door to Huangxing Road Pedestrian Street, the most prosperous street in Changsha, there is a strange teahouse.
The owner of the teahouse made a series of "wrong" decisions: selling steamed buns in the business district that are cheaper than breakfast stalls, and not urging customers to leave when there is a long queue outside, making the teahouse slow like an activity room for the elderly......
It stands to reason that if this continues, it should have gone out of business a long time ago.
But it has become a hit, and in the more than four months since it opened, it has been able to sell more than 3,000 cups of tea almost every day, and the customer flow is as high as 15,000. It's comparable to a shopping mall.
As soon as I walked in the door, I was blown away. The news is not exaggerated, it is really crowded.
This is what has been particularly popular in Changsha recently, the Dongmao Street Teahouse.
Someone on the news estimated that the Dongmao Street Teahouse could have a revenue of "200 million".
Its founders, who have operated 7up Trend Aesthetics Center, Super Wenheyou, etc., have all become phenomenal Internet celebrity brands. The Dongmao Street Teahouse is his own project.
If it is luck to succeed once or twice, and can make a hit many times, he must have his own methodology.
I'm too curious about it. On January 7, 2025, I made a special trip to Changsha for a study tour and visit with the entrepreneurs of Wendao China. Early in the morning of the first day, we arrived at this teahouse non-stop.
We were warmly received by the manager of the teahouse. I listened and kept taking notes. It's amazing how well a traditional teahouse can be built.
Some of the content involves trade secrets and data, and some redaction has been done. But many phenomena and thoughts after the visit, I really can't help but want to share with you in front of the screen: why can this teahouse, which seems to have done everything "wrong", live so well?
10 points of harvest to share with you.
"Dragged like 2580,000" is cheap
Walking into the teahouse, a strong historical atmosphere comes to your face. There is calligraphy on the walls, paintings on the pillars, and large plaques on the porches. Special crossing.
Teahouse, with several floors. The ground floor, which is mainly a place to drink tea.
Walking into the teahouse, a large blackboard hangs on the wall with the menu handwritten on it. Looking at the price, it surprised me.
In this era when a cup of pure tea starts at 10 yuan, and occasionally drinks a cup of milk tea and eats a bread for 50 yuan, they only need 2 yuan for scallion oil baba, 5 yuan for peanuts and melon seeds, and 8 yuan for black tea and green tea. There are also perilla sour jujube cakes for 12 yuan, amber walnuts for 8 yuan, buns of various flavors for 3 yuan, and siu mai for 2 yuan...... You see, for 10 yuan, you can have a breakfast with tea and snacks.
Take a closer look at the 8 yuan tea, tea is basically the kind of tea that old Changsha people love to drink. For example, Hunan black tea, Changsha smoked tea, monkey brand jasmine. There is a motive everywhere.
In the bustling business district where every inch of land is valuable, it occupies 5,000 square meters of land, and the teahouse can give this price, which is really comfortable.
The manager shared with me that this 258 has a history.
In Changsha mahjong, 258 can be done, and do will be able to win, if there are a lot of 2, 5, 8 cards, then you are very dragged, you can do big Hu.
Behind 258, there is also an empathy. For example, my wife only gives you 100 yuan of pocket money today, and you ask three or five friends to go to dinner, what should I do? Go to any store, and the average person can easily exceed 100. But when you come to the Dongmao Street Teahouse, you slap this Grandpa Mao on the table with arrogance, and you can't spend it all in a day. Unique noodles.
It's funny. Very human.
The teahouse sells not only tea, but also meals.
Changsha people have the habit of drinking tea and eating, and tea drinks are jointly sold. Therefore, coming to drink tea and eat refreshments, eat a steamed bun and roast wheat, or a bowl of noodles has become the choice of most guests.
Overall, however, the average order value (EVERN) remains low. The manager said that it was about 27 yuan per person.
Ah, this, from a business point of view, how can you make money?
The answer lies in the sense of crossing through the door.
To open a store, the rent is the big head. With the play method of cultural tourism + traffic, the rental cost can be greatly reduced and the ping efficiency can be improved.
Therefore, when the manager introduces, he will always say that they are doing cultural tourism projects.
Truly. The overall decoration is particularly retro, and cultural and creative products are also sold, and many people come to check in. What is this not cultural tourism?
But I have a different opinion.
What kind of business does a retro teahouse do?
As a business consultant, when I visit different companies and observe various business formats, I always classify them first.
Because, different categories must correspond to different income models.
Although some industries are also referred to as "food and beverage", they are essentially "retail".
For example, most bubble tea shops.
You may find it strange. Many bubble tea shops also sell bread and biscuits. Catering and catering, isn't there a "meal" and a "drink"?
How do I divide it? The underlying logic is to see if there is a "table".
The revenue model of the restaurant industry, in essence, is actually operating around the "table".
This table is used several times a day, and it is a turnover rate. How much is eaten at this table, the unit price is called. The number of people queuing outside and dining inside is the flow of customers.
Ping effect = turnover rate x customer unit price x number of tables / square area number
Therefore, you will see that the operation of the restaurant is to use the strength of milk, and strive to increase the turnover rate, the unit price and the flow of customers. For example, playing fast-paced music makes you walk quickly after eating, for example, a 6 yuan Coke outside sells you for 18 yuan, and for example, holding activities to attract customers.
However, when you buy milk tea, you usually go to the store and buy it and leave, right? While you're in line, you're already placing your order.
It's more of a "make-to-sell" retail business. Just like the freshly made roast duck, fried chestnuts, egg cakes, etc., these shops are essentially retail.
Therefore, Luckin, which sells 9.9 yuan coffee, is a retail industry with "no table". Starbucks, which sells caramel macchiato for 37 yuan, is a restaurant with a "table".
The Dongmao Street Teahouse seems to be a "cultural tourism" project, but I think it is actually a "catering industry".
There are a lot of people in line, but as long as they don't come into the store and sit down, there will be no consumption behavior.
The table is the condition for you to come in and sit down to eat. At the same time, it is also a limitation.
When the seats are full, consumption is suspended. When this table is finished, the next table can be entered.
So you see, the Dongmao Street Tea House is actually a restaurant.
Since the unit price is low, we have to work hard to increase the turnover rate and customer flow.
How?
The table economy is again a game of space and time
Let's talk about the turnover rate first.
The manager told me that their turnover rate can be more than 3 points. What is this concept? 4 is very good, and 10 is the head.
In order to increase the turnover rate, many restaurants put effort into "space". In other words, we will strive to increase the "customer density".
Some of them are as simple as food stalls to make the tables compact, while others are decorated to lower the height of the floors.
But at the same time, these also degrade the customer experience. You are talking about the secrets of the boudoir at this table, and you must always worry about the next door hearing it.
As a result, some restaurants will be supplemented elsewhere. For example, the roaster I visited last November used a beam of light overhead to create a sense of privacy at the table.
(The roaster article has a relevant link at the end of the article, welcome to click to read)
And what about the Dongmao Street Teahouse? The main effort is on "time".
Think about it. How many meals do people eat in a day? Four meals.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper.
These four meals are naturally covered as much as possible.
But the vast majority of restaurants only manage one meal. Those who can manage two meals are already very powerful. Many restaurants offer lunch deals, why? Because no one went at noon. No one went at noon, and in the morning, no one went. So the opening time was set directly after 11 o'clock.
Although the turnover rate of the Dongmao Street teahouse is not impressive, this is based on the premise that they hardly do any urging customers.
Urging back and forth to order, playing fast-paced music, urging customers to check out, etc., they don't do it. I even hope that the old man will sit longer.
That's because they've solved a huge problem, and that's morning business.
Business is hard to do in the morning. Because of the breakfast demand, it is generally solved by the breakfast stall at the door.
But the Dongmao Street Teahouse opened at 6:30 a.m. and was already full of people.
Who is attracted during this time of the morning? Old man.
You can't get far on crutches
The manager's nickname shared many touching stories:
Some elderly people often come in groups and are each other's tea friends. If you want to see it every day, you will feel happy, which is a kind of happiness.
There is an uncle who doesn't care if it's cold at the door, he also sits at the door. As soon as I sat down until the afternoon, I watched the teahouse come and go.
There are also some elderly people who are really pushed in wheelchairs by their grandchildren.
They used to be brilliant too, but now their legs and feet are not flexible, and they are far enough to come to the teahouse.
The simple name says that everyone wants poetry and distance, and for these old people, poetry and distance are teahouses.
The teahouse does not sell tea, it is the lost time of the old people.
When I heard this, I was quite moved.
As a person who is nearly half a hundred years old, I have climbed Mount Everest, been to Antarctica, and crossed the Gobi. But now, I realize that there are places I can't go to anymore. But when you see that there are still young people climbing up, you are still very happy for them.
The elderly come to the teahouse to socialize, especially love to invite friends and make an appointment to meet every day. In the morning of the teahouse, someone came.
Consideration was also put into the tea. Although it is only sold for 8 yuan, and the guests have to pour hot water by themselves, the tea leaves selected are all loved by the old Changsha people.
The simple name says that the local old man sitting in the teahouse has become a scenery in the eyes of tourists and is part of the retro scenery of the entire old Changsha.
Curiosity from culture drives sales.
For example, the old Changsha tea customers love to eat "steamed bun hamburgers". A sugar bun on the left, a meat bun on the right, grab a handful of peanuts, rub off the skin, stuff it in the middle, knead it into a cake on the left and right, and then start eating.
Tourists see it and think it's new, and many local young people have never eaten it like this. I'll want to give it a try. A cup of tea, a meat packet, a sugar packet, a plate of peanuts, and that's all sold in sets.
It has just opened, why do the old people have such a deep affection for this place? Because, scarce.
A cup of tea, two or two powders, three or five friends, see Changsha again
If there is ethnic customs and cultural design, is it called scarcity?
In my annual speech last year, I mentioned that many customs streets are like copy and paste, and it doesn't make much difference between tourists going to City A and City B.
What is scarce? It is not only "history", but also "memory".
I don't know if the place where you lived when you were a child was demolished. If you dismantle it, wouldn't it be a pity that you didn't leave a photo?
Every month, I go back to my hometown in Nanjing. The old photo below is a street next to my house.
Although I left the photo, it is now unrecognizable and I will never go back.
The Republic of China style street in the 80s can't resonate, but the imprint of life 80 years ago can greatly awaken people's nostalgia.
The old objects of the past are now long gone.
When these old people were young, they often went to the "Quotation Tablet" in Wuyi Square in Changsha to sing and dance and socialize. But then the main road was demolished, and the memory was lost.
(Picture from the Internet)
But they are in the teahouse and can regain the memory space of the past. The "Quotation Tablet" is painted with the portrait and quotations of Chairman Mao, and the portrait of Chairman Mao is also hung in the Dongmao Street Teahouse, and Chairman Mao's quotations are written on the wall. So this nostalgic scene, it makes a lot of sense.
In addition, there are countless small details, all of which are constantly awakening and reproducing the memories of the old Changsha people.
The "scarcity" brought by historical memory not only firmly captures the hearts of local middle-aged and elderly people, but also attracts foreign tourists.
However, this scarcity is also limited to Changsha.
If the Dongmao Street Teahouse lands in Shanghai and Chengdu, there is a high probability that it will be yellow. Shanghai has the most coffee shops in the world, and Chengdu teahouses are everywhere. Those fast-paced cities are naturally not suitable for opening a teahouse.
Not to mention, Shanghai and Chengdu want "the epitome of old Shanghai" and "the epitome of old Chengdu", not "the epitome of old Changsha".
However, as the abbreviated name of the operator of the top cultural tourism projects in many places, he has found a universal solution to do scarce cultural tourism.
Let's go on.
Consumers do not perceive culture, but they can perceive conflicts and contradictions
When talking about cultural tourism projects, most of the time you may think that you are talking about "culture".
In short, consumers are not aware of culture. What they can perceive is contradiction and conflict.
What are contradictions and conflicts? Haven't seen it. It's a novelty. It catches your eye right away.
Tell me a story and you'll understand.
Before 2017, a boy went missing, and his father called the police. The Ministry of Public Security released photos to search for people, this is a routine operation, right? But this father's operation is not ordinary, he uses a photo of his son wearing a black bikini.
This is a terrible thing. It instantly attracted many onlookers.
People are accustomed to seeing photos of people sitting in front of them, and when this photo was posted, it quickly attracted a large number of retweets on Weibo. Soon, the child was found.
Let's not talk about whether this father's approach is appropriate. But this conflict made the child go home early.
Return to the Dongmao Street Teahouse. The unit price is low and the turnover rate is average, so the passenger flow has to make up for the gap. How to make up? It also has to rely on conflicts and contradictions.
For example, site selection.
It's like a small grass popping up in a pile of rocks, will it attract your attention? In the bustling neighborhood, there is such a "tattered" nostalgic teahouse, are you more willing to come here to experience it than to go to Starbucks?
The abbreviated name used the same way when trading super Wen and friends before. Several floors are opened, and there is still a modern shopping mall over there, but here it is super retro and nostalgic. It's very impactful.
Another example, stories.
Where there is a story, there is a scene, there is content, there is something to do.
How do the old Changsha people live? What have the celebrities in Changsha done? What poems did the poets of Changsha sing?
You must not write these stories yourself, but copy them.
Where to copy from?
The power of the short name lies in the fact that he found not only a story, but a set of storytelling methodology: Fang Zhi.
Stories are the bridge between the "metaphysical" and the "metaphysical".
Born in a cultural tourism project, what is the reason for choosing to open a teahouse? For example, why not restaurants, butcher shops, stinky tofu shops, and Hanfu shops?
The abbreviated name shared a concise sentence: "The country has a history, the family has a genealogy, and the place has aspirations." ”
Fang Zhi is like the genetic map of the city, recording the character, habits and memories of the city.
It is a kind of literature that comprehensively reflects the situation of a place, including customs, education, products, geography, people, places of interest, etc., everything.
Let me tell you a few, have you seen it before? National, such as "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Unification Chronicles of the Qing Dynasty", local ones such as "Shanxi Tongzhi" and "Nanxun Chronicles", as well as those towns, temples, mountains and rivers, etc., also have corresponding "chronicles".
Others are asking for directions, they are decoding.
After reading various chronicles and doing a lot of research, I extracted the most suitable carrier for Changsha culture, which is the teahouse.
In ancient times, the teahouse was the largest social space. Tea drinkers are living microscopic historians.
Therefore, a teahouse is often a microcosm of a city's memory. The mountains and rivers of Fang Zhi are integrated into the architectural space, and the local food culture is added to the products.
From all aspects of vision to taste, refer to Fang Zhi to recreate a microcosm of urban memory.
This place of memories resonates with young and old, locals and outsiders alike.
Just like a concept put forward by the manager: "In ancient times, there were places and old chronicles, and now there are clouds, dreams, mountains and seas." ”
When I work on projects, I also think about making documentaries and trying to spread these stories.
The following video is from:
Changsha Observation
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It's wonderful.
What's even more powerful is that this set of playing methods can be applied to any place in the country. Because any place has its own unique chronicles.
But people's memories are limited, and they can't always move everything mentioned in Fang Zhi.
So, you have to make a trade-off.
How to choose? In addition to looking for conflicts, contradictions, and scarcity, we also need to see what stories can build momentum. So, let's pick a few stories.
Always work with the head
How to build momentum? The answer is, to chase the first place cooperation.
Let's say I'm a tourist from thousands of miles away. You say hello, why should I believe you?
Hello to peers, it's not enough. But if the head says hello, then I'm interested, right?
Nickname shared that in the past 10 years of trading experience, he has always chosen to cooperate with the head. Either with the regional head, or with the national head. If the first place is not good, it will be the second place. If the second place is not good, it will be the third place. Until the first place comes to you.
If you always have the first place you like, you will definitely be able to cooperate.
When tourists come to Changsha, the first place they want to go is the head. Where is it?
For example, Yuelu Academy.
Another example is Orange Island Head and Changsha Snack Street.
Behind each one, there is an inexhaustible story of old Changsha.
So if I invite you to one place, you come to me to experience it all at once, will it be enjoyable?
Entering the door is the large plaque and calligraphy of Yuelu Academy, and on the wall are Chairman Mao's classic quotations, commemorating the paintings and old objects of Chairman Mao's career in Anyuan.
At the same time, you can eat authentic Changsha rice noodles and various snacks at a low price.
50 yuan may be just the ticket price of Yuelu Academy, but you can't eat it all day in the teahouse.
So far, contradictions, local stories, and head building, step by step, have attracted a large number of customers to the teahouse and caught these passenger flows.
After listening to the sharing, I was very impressed. Finally, I would like to share some of my feelings.
The hardest traffic is the traffic that amateurs give you
Regarding traffic, the most impressive thing is that when listening to the sharing, I heard this sentence of the short name: "The most difficult traffic is the traffic given to you by amateurs." ”
Two years ago, when I interviewed Wuwu Media, I summarized a POE traffic model theory.
P stands for Paid Media, which is the traffic that can be paid for.
That is, what is often heard now, the flow business.
The traffic is up because you spend money. Awesome is also a great caster, not because you are very capable of content.
O指代Owned Media（自有媒体），也就是私域。
For example, WeChat groups and public accounts.
But this requires you to continue to cultivate, build vigorously, and accumulate little by little.
E则是Earned Media（赢得媒体），就是素人流量。
The last one is the hardest traffic to get.
Because it's purely because you're fighting for the traffic, you're earning. Relying on its own value, there is no need to give money, attracting ordinary people to share and forward.
The "E" in POE is a battle.
The scarcity, conflict, and contradiction of the Dongmao Street Teahouse is to build "winning traffic".
So you can understand that the teahouse wants the old man to sit for a day. When tourists from other places come, they can chat with the elderly, and they have a lot to gain from each other. Tourists took videos and photos and posted them on social platforms, which continued to cause secondary dissemination.
The best advertising is always the user's word-of-mouth.
And this unique way of motivating "earned traffic" can be summed up in one word. The word is, "curation".
Any format is suitable for "curating" to do it again
A good exhibition often has 2 challenges to solve.
First, whether it can attract a steady stream of tourists. Second, whether there is enough leverage.
How to attract tourists? The answer is to create "never-before-seen" scenes.
Here's a small example. There is a cultural center near our company, which is also an exhibition. The compartments inside are retro furniture and objects to recreate the street of the past.
Guess what. Why is the fire of this "watch out for the candle" written upside down? I don't think anyone has ever done this.
(Didn't this "fire" also make you come closer to see it?) ）
Oh, it turns out that the word "fire" written upside down was used to attract the attention of the people, and the residents would pay attention to it, and it would be terrible to cause a fire when the time came.
"I haven't seen it", it depends on planning. How to plan? Trouble.
Other people are performing in the theater, can you go outdoors? Zhang Yimou's "Impression Liu Sanjie" uses the mountain as the curtain and the water as the stage, and the lights are directly performed on the landscape, which has a 1:5 pull effect on the local economy.
Similarly, there is also the Lingshan Giant Buddha in Wuxi, which is huge and incomparably gives you a visual impact. Another example is the Confucius Six Arts City, which directly transforms a hill into an ancient cultural city.
Did you find out? Curating is actually about "making things". and, find a replicable methodology for "making trouble".
In this, Liu Sanjie, Buddha, Confucius, these cultural matrices are their methodology. And for the Dongmao Street Teahouse, "Fang Zhi" is their methodology.
So, what does it mean to find leverage?
Take Tsutaya Bookstore, for example. Each bookstore is designed according to the local scene and then run by local people. Conveying a lifestyle through books is essentially an "exhibition".
So what do you think Tsutaya Bookstore relies on to make money? Is it books and coffee in bookstores? That's going to be a loss.
CCC Group, the company behind Tsutaya Shoten, not only designs bookstores, but also provides supply chains. For example, cultural and creative products such as fountain pens and Japanese handmade ceramics have gradually expanded from bookstores to "department stores" with lifestyle scenes.
Mastering the supply chain means that you can negotiate big collaborations with suppliers. That's a leverage.
And if it falls on people. The core competence of a curator is to produce traffic.
With the same ability, is it easy for you to do a 10 million project by yourself, or to cooperate with others to do a 100 million project, and you provide a plan and charge 20% of the fee?
If you have curatorial skills, you go to professional people to work with.
The catering part is handed over to the catering company. The operation part is done for the operation. Only by giving money to investors can you leverage your core competencies into bigger business.
Therefore, tourists, leverage, are indispensable. So you will see some obviously good cultural tourism projects, but they are not big, and even worse are even bankrupt.
But if these two problems can be solved well, a good exhibition will become.
Coming out of the Dongmao Street Teahouse, I had a deep understanding:
A tourist city is especially suitable for turning any kind of business into a "curator", so that locals and tourists can immerse themselves in the experience.
Locals can find memories, and tourists from other places can find value in travel. Curatorial companies can quickly amplify their profits through amateur traffic.
For example, the Dongmao Street Teahouse, which sells more than just tea, is the lost time of the old people, and the expectations of tourists for old Changsha. It is like a time collection museum, where the history and taste of old Changsha are contained.
In this era of extreme speed, it may take more skill to make people stop and drink a cup of tea for 8 yuan than to sell a cup of coffee for 88 yuan.
However, every city must have its own unique memory code. Just like the owner of the teahouse said, the country has a history, a family tree, and a local ambition.
Those who research carefully can always find the most suitable curatorial method.
Can't wait a long way.
*Personal opinion, for reference only. Resources:
Viewpoint / Liu Run Writer / Mu Yansheng Editor / Erman Layout / Huang Jing