Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Tea Franchise Store

Based on the operating data of franchise stores of 12 different brands that I have come into contact with, as well as 2 store site selection and operation cases that I have personally participated in, ordinary people can open a traditional Chinese medicine health tea franchise store, as long as they avoid quick traps and choose the right store location that suits the customer group, 30-40 The payback cycle of Pinghai community stores is generally 8-14 months, and their risk resistance is about 40% higher than that of ordinary milk tea shops of the same area. However, there is no possibility of "making money" or "earning 100,000 yuan a month" as advertised, and the net profit level is mostly in the range of 12,000-30,000 yuan/month.

In 2022, I helped a friend in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, to shop for a shop. He used to open a regular milk tea shop, and he made a lot of money for two months on iced drinks in the summer. In winter, he couldn't even make up the rent, so he switched to a health tea franchise owned by an old local traditional Chinese medicine clinic. The 32-square-meter shop opened at the entrance of the old community and hired two college students part-time. The main items are formulas prepared by practicing Chinese medicine practitioners in the restaurant: the ancient sour plum soup with the addition of rugosa and licorice, which is not too sweet but also relieves tiredness. ； Five-finger Mao Peach Poria Tea uses authentic ingredients directly supplied from the medicine store. It removes dampness and does not have a strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine. ； There is also chrysanthemum and berry tea for staying up late, with burdock root and osmanthus added to cover the bitter taste. It is much better than the tea bags sold in ordinary pharmacies. I went to handle his accounts last fall, and within 11 months of opening the store, I recovered all the 170,000 yuan franchise fee, first rent and equipment money. Now the monthly net profit is stable at around 20,000 yuan, and the proportion of regular customers can reach 60%, which is much more stable than opening an ordinary milk tea shop before.

Now the entire track is actually running in two ways, and the difference is so big that you will feel that they are two industries. One type is the "traditional Chinese medicine background" shop made by my friend, which is either backed by a traditional Chinese medicine clinic or endorsed by a traditional Chinese medicine factory. The formula is compliant and the raw materials are transparent. Many also provide free physical fitness testing and online consultation services with traditional Chinese medicine doctors. Last time, an aunt came to the store with a physical examination report for high blood lipids. The store clerk directly called the traditional Chinese medicine doctor at the headquarters and made a video call to make hawthorn and cassia seed tea with salvia added. The aunt came every week and even brought a bunch of old sisters who danced in the square. However, this type of brand is not without its faults. The franchise fee is generally 120,000 to 200,000 yuan. The headquarters is very strict about the raw materials and formulas. You can’t even add some taro balls, milk caps and other toppings yourself. It is said that they are afraid of affecting the effectiveness of the herbal ingredients. When you encounter young people who want to drink milk and sweetness, they often lose customers.

The other type is the "fast-moving consumer goods cross-border faction". Most of them are transformed from the original milk tea brands. The franchise fee is only 50,000 to 100,000, and the formula is more taste-oriented. They can make ginseng late-night water, wolfberry milk cap, and angelica pearl milk tea. Young people are willing to check in for photos and videos. I saw one in Shanghai’s Jing’an Temple shopping district last month. Its main late-night drink contains a whole artificially grown ginseng. It cost 28 yuan. There were more people queuing up than the Heytea next door. But this type of model is also controversial. Many people say it is an "IQ tax on skin-changing milk tea." There are very few herbal ingredients, and there is no talk of efficacy. The repurchase rate is generally very low. A boss I know opened this kind of store in Suzhou Industrial Park. He made a fortune by relying on check-in traffic in the first three months. In the second quarter, the revenue was cut in half, and the store closed after eight months. It was suitable for making quick money, but it didn't last long.

To be honest, the biggest pitfall in this industry is the rapid recruitment companies flying all over the world. I met a young man who was born in 1998 in Zhengzhou last year. He came across a health tea franchise advertisement with "zero franchise fee and full custody from the headquarters" through short videos. When I went to the headquarters for inspection, I was fooled by the crowds in the model room. I paid 70,000 yuan in equipment fees and raw material fees, but the tangerine peel I received when I came back was moldy. It's easy to identify this kind of fast-moving brand. Just ask him if he has any direct-operated stores that have been operated for more than a year. Can he take you to a random store to see the sales? If you can't answer the question, don't touch it.

If you really want to get into the industry, I have a heartfelt suggestion. Don’t focus on shopping districts where rents are extremely expensive. Look for the intersection of old communities and office buildings. It’s best to have two or three communities around that have been built for more than ten years, plus one or two office buildings with many office workers. The rent is cheaper than in the business district. There are more than half of them, but the customer base is still stable - aunts will come to buy dampness-removing tea and liver-protecting tea for the old man in the family to drink, and office workers will bring a cup of late-night water or aunt's ginger and jujube tea on the way home from get off work. You can also occasionally organize activities such as free Luo Han Guo lozenges and solar terms and health cards. If you have more regular customers, the business will not be bad.

Oh, by the way, last time I met an old Chinese medicine practitioner at a friend’s shop who said that it is actually a good thing that young people are now willing to drink this kind of herbal tea with less or even no sugar. It is better than drinking full-sugar iced milk tea every day. To put it bluntly, there is nothing too advanced about opening a store like this. Don’t treat it as a way to make quick money, treat it as a small business that serves people around you. Choose a reliable brand and don’t cut corners. You will definitely earn more than working at work, and it will be much more stable than opening an ordinary milk tea shop.