"So, why are you opening a cafe out in Sanjiang and not in Liuzhou?" Good question, and one I am asked almost daily. On the surface, it does not make too much sense for a foreigner in China to pick a mostly rural county seat over the bustling city with yuppies who want to buy coffee roaming the streets.
There are superficial answers, which now roll of the tongue quite quickly, and there are the real answers. There certainly are not vast amounts of money to be made in such a small town, but if there is not some convincing answer, Chinese people will just never understand and just give you that you-must-be-crazy look when you talk about it.
Really, though, I would say the true concern is not whether Chinese people give you some funny look. It really does come down to the age-old precepts of business. Is it profitable? Would a different location be more profitable?
Usually, I just say something to the effect of, "Well, Sanjiang is a tourist town, and it is much easier to target foreign customers in such a small location, with a steady flow of foreigners past a limited number of places. Plus, with rent in the big city, for us to locate a cafe where it really should be, we would be struggling to pay the bills even with a phenomenal volume of customers!"
That is true, but it is only the pat answer. With rent so low out in the small town, you can find one location where everybody goes, foreigners and Chinese, the kind of location that simply does not exist in a large city.
Thinking only a little deeper, though, quickly reveals the question of why any foreigner would want to situate in a dumpy, dusty county town. We should not count out "crazy" as an answer just yet. I often wonder myself.
A quick look at my resume would reveal that the food industry is not exactly my specialty. I did work at Subway once, and was a fine sandwich artist, but that hardly qualifies me to open my own cafe. The real answer? The small town is the "testing ground" of sorts. Not testing the market, but testing me, my managerial skills and restaurant smarts. In reality, the big city would only be more profitable than the small town if I knew what I was doing.
Still silly? Yes, I know. I would probably say so too. But who knows what the future holds? For now, it is a small town focus. You just have to make sure and pick the right small town!
