【故事】ofo戴威二次创业败走美国，咖啡馆仅剩一家

他依然在等待下一个东山再起的风口。

今年上半年，ofo创始人戴威在美国的咖啡创业项目About Time Coffee迅速走红——这家挂着红色霓虹招牌的连锁小型咖啡店，在纽约格拉梅西公园率先开业，很快，又在曼哈顿市中心的繁华地段开了四家连锁店。

然而，繁华很快落幕。《中国企业家》获悉，About Time Coffee仅剩纽约麦迪逊大道一家店营业，其余四家均显示“已永久关停”。《中国企业家》在Instagram搜索发现，About Time Coffee账号最后一条推文停留在9月，消费者最近一次晒图则是在去年。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

早在今年5月末，便有消息称About Time Coffee的运营已经陷入困境，资金链遇到瓶颈，整个项目接近停营边缘。彼时，About Time Coffee在纽约尚有4家门店维持运营。

不过，戴威并非About Time Coffee的CEO，其CEO是一位华人面孔、名为Marian Chen的女士。此前她向媒体透露，戴威虽然没有参与日常运营，但其实是About Time Coffee背后的“攒局者”，帮忙组建了团队并安排了与投资人会面，“他是把我们粘在一起的人”。

戴威的确帮忙引入了不少中国大型风投，包括IDG资本、真格基金、唯猎资本。真格和唯猎与戴威本人关系匪浅，都是ofo的老股东，戴威本人还是唯猎资本其中一只基金的LP（有限合伙人）。

业内人士向《中国企业家》分析，戴威的新创业项目很可能留了股权给老股东作补偿，“就像罗永浩的细红线一样，比起项目，风投更看重的也是戴威本人”。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

此前消息称，真格的投资是“徐小平直接投的”，不过，一位知情人士告诉《中国企业家》：“这个项目是真格其他合伙人亲自投资和管理，内部并不清楚项目的具体情况。”

五年前，ofo总部大楼下堵满了前来维权的用户，但这一举动并没有实质性作用，因为ofo早已没有资产可供执行。至今在ofo的官方微博下，仍有不少用户在质疑，“到底什么时候退钱”“我的押金还没退，你们老板就拿着钱去请美国人喝咖啡了？”

据《中国企业家》了解，目前仍有超过1600万人在排队等ofo退押金，押金分为两档：99元和199元。即便按照每人99元计算，待退的押金也高达15亿元。

目前看来，戴威想靠咖啡这个新项目“翻身”希望渺茫。戴威的二次创业，再次以失败告终。

一、水土不服

做ofo起家的戴威，深谙流量入口，About Time Coffee当然不只是一家普通的社区咖啡馆。

剖开About Time Coffee内核，实则是一家科技驱动商业的创业公司——从模式上来看，用户可在APP提前对喜欢的品类进行下单，到店后可自取，也可堂食，就像瑞幸一样。

About Time Coffee的定价策略、目标消费人群、营销策略也都十分眼熟。价格主打高性价比，单价在3美元~7美元之间，比星巴克低；产品上，主打珍珠咖啡、芋头咖啡等创新产品，口味介于咖啡与奶茶之间；外带包装则使用了独特的密封易拉罐。可见，其主要目标人群是年轻人。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

About Time Coffee前期的补贴玩法更是借鉴了瑞幸的“烧钱”套路——靠真金白银的补贴去拉动APP下载量，向大众发短信促销，并在咖啡店门口的广告牌上宣传：“注册APP在线下单，前五杯我们请。”

显然，戴威想把瑞幸的玩法复制到美国。Marian Chen也向媒体侧面印证了这一点：“我们有一个来自中国的成熟模式，我们卖的咖啡味道比星巴克好，但比星巴克便宜。”

但这条路很难走通，戴威面临最大的难题，是如何改变美国人的消费习惯，克服水土不服。

在美国，移动支付目前只占连锁店总销售额的15%，美国人至今仍然更喜欢用现金和信用卡支付。而About Time Coffee想要做大规模扩张的前提，是让美国人的支付习惯变成手机APP，才能继续规划下一步做流量入口、以线上驱动商业。

此外，About Time Coffee的选址也存在较大问题。有美国用户曾吐槽，“5家店都开在游客地段，不但咖啡馆最该忙的早晨没生意，游客也不会进一家无名铺子买咖啡。要是开到Greenwich或者东村，或许还能有点儿顾客粘性。”

在创业做ofo时，戴威尝到了资本烧钱扩张的甜头，却因为没能做懂盈利而摔了个大跟头。二次创业的咖啡项目，戴威显然仍然没有逃出自己的逻辑怪圈。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

二、创业梦不死

半年前，戴威的新创业项目浮出水面后，许多人曾质疑，作为一名“老赖”，戴威为何还能出国创业？

企查查风险信息显示，从2018年8月开始，戴威陆陆续续收到40条限制消费令，涉案金额高达6035万元。根据近期北京市海淀区人民法院发布的限制消费令，限制戴威在乘坐交通工具时，选择飞机、列车软卧、轮船二等以上舱位。

但《中国企业家》了解到，限制高消费和列为失信被执行人是两个概念，目前戴威仅因ofo公司的大量执行案件被“限高”，尚未列入失信被执行人。他可以绕开被限制的交通工具去海外。

据接近戴威的知情人士称，戴威目前人已回到北京。虽然许久未出现在公众眼前，但戴威创业的心始终不灭。

此前，有媒体媒体援引知情人士称，戴威一直在中国和美国之间穿梭工作，先是在西雅图开了一家充电宝租赁创业公司，但效果不太好。随后才又在纽约参与创办About Time Coffee咖啡连锁店。

虽然创业失败被限高成为“老赖”，但戴威一直密切关注着商业生态。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

Keep上市时，他转发了朋友圈，由衷祝贺；ChatGPT引起国内大模型风潮，戴威也在时刻关注，在英伟达“最强AI芯片”H200发布时，他感慨道：“太炸裂了”；甚至瑞幸和茅台联名，戴威也忍不住评价：“美酒加咖啡，太可以了。”

Keep和瑞幸，都是和ofo同一黄金时代出生的新商业物种，戴威关心着它们的命运，或许也叹惋着自己的过去。但可以确定的是，戴威从未放弃他的创业梦，他依然在等待下一个东山再起的风口。

翻译：

ofo Dai Wei second business failure in the United States, only one cafe left

He’s still waiting for the next big comeback.

In the first half of this year, ofo founder Dai Wei’s Coffee startup project About Time Coffee in the United States quickly became popular – the chain of small coffee shops with red neon signs first opened in Gramercy Park in New York, and soon opened four stores in the bustling area of downtown Manhattan.

However, the boom soon came to an end. “Chinese Entrepreneur” learned that About Time Coffee has only one store remaining in New York’s Madison Avenue, and the other four stores are “permanently closed.” A Chinese Entrepreneur search on Instagram found that the last tweet from the About Time Coffee account was in September, and the most recent photo posted by a customer was last year.

About Time Coffee stores. Source: Screenshot from Google Maps

As early as the end of May this year, there was news that the operation of About Time Coffee has been in trouble, the capital chain has encountered a bottleneck, and the entire project is close to the edge of suspension. At the Time, About Time Coffee still had four stores operating in New York.

But Dai is not the CEO of About Time Coffee, which is a Chinese-looking woman named Marian Chen. Previously, she revealed to the media that although Dai Wei did not participate in the daily operation, he was actually the “saver” behind About Time Coffee, helping to set up the team and arrange meetings with investors, “he is the person who glued us together.”

Dai Wei did help bring in a number of large Chinese venture capital, including IDG Capital, Zhenfund, and Only Capital. Zhenge and Vihunt have a close relationship with Dai Wei himself, both of whom are old shareholders of ofo, and Dai Wei himself is also an LP (limited partner) of one of Vihunt Capital’s funds. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

Industry insiders to “Chinese entrepreneurs” analysis, Dai Wei’s new venture project is likely to leave equity to the old shareholders as compensation, “just like Luo Yonghao’s thin red line, compared to the project, venture capital is more important to Dai Wei himself.”

Previous sources said Zhenge’s investment was “directly invested by Xu Xiaoping”, however, a person familiar with the matter told China Entrepreneur: “This project is personally invested and managed by Zhenge’s other partners, and the specific situation of the project is not known internally.”

Five years ago, ofo’s headquarters building was full of users who came to defend their rights, but this move has no real effect, because ofo has no assets to execute. So far, under ofo’s official Weibo, many users are still questioning, “When will the money be returned?” “My deposit has not been returned, and your boss took the money to invite Americans to drink coffee?”

According to “Chinese Entrepreneur”, there are still more than 16 million people waiting in line for ofo to return the deposit, which is divided into two files: 99 yuan and 199 yuan. Even if calculated at 99 yuan per person, the deposit to be refunded is as high as 1.5 billion yuan.

At present, it seems that Dai Wei wants to rely on coffee this new project “turn over” hope is slim. Dai Wei’s second venture, again ended in failure. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

First, acclimatization

Dai Wei, who started from ofo, knows the traffic entrance well, About Time Coffee is of course not just an ordinary community cafe.

The core of About Time Coffee is actually a technology-driven business startup – from the perspective of the model, users can place orders on their favorite categories in advance in the APP, and they can pick them up or eat them in the store, just like Luckin.

About Time Coffee’s pricing strategy, target consumer group and marketing strategy are also very familiar. The price is mainly cost-effective, and the unit price is between $3 and $7, lower than Starbucks; Products, mainly pearl coffee, taro coffee and other innovative products, taste between coffee and milk tea; To go packaging uses a unique sealed can. It can be seen that its main target group is young people. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

About Time Coffee’s early subsidy game is borrowed from Luckin’s “burn money” formula – rely on real money subsidies to drive APP downloads, send SMS promotions to the public, and advertise on the billboard at the door of the coffee shop: “Register APP online order, the first five cups are please.”

Apparently, Dai Wei wants to replicate Luckin’s game play in the United States. Marian Chen confirmed this to the media side: “We have a proven model from China. We sell coffee that tastes better than Starbucks, but it’s cheaper than Starbucks.”

However, this road is difficult to go through, and the biggest problem Dai Wei faces is how to change the consumption habits of Americans and overcome the soil.

In the U.S., mobile payments now account for just 15 percent of chain stores’ total sales, and Americans still prefer to pay with cash and credit cards. The premise of About Time Coffee’s large-scale expansion is to make the payment habits of Americans become mobile apps, so that it can continue to plan the next step to do traffic entry and drive business online.

In addition, there are also big problems About the location of Coffee. Some American users have joked, “The five stores are opened in the tourist area, not only the cafe is not the busiest morning business, tourists will not enter a nameless shop to buy coffee.” If we go to Greenwich or the East Village, we might get a little stickiness.” CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

When starting a business to do ofo, Dai Wei tasted the sweetness of capital burning money to expand, but because he failed to understand profit and fell. The second business of the coffee project, Dai Wei obviously still did not escape their logic cycle.

Second, the entrepreneurial dream will not die

Six months ago, after Dai Wei’s new venture project surfaced, many people questioned why Dai Wei could go abroad to start a business as an “old Lai”.

Enterprise check risk information shows that since August 2018, Dai Wei has successively received 40 restrictions on consumption, involving an amount of up to 60.35 million yuan. According to a recent consumption restriction order issued by the Beijing Haidian District People’s Court, Dai Wei is restricted from choosing second-class or higher classes on planes, trains and ships when taking transportation. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

However, “Chinese entrepreneurs” learned that restricting high consumption and being listed as the person subject to enforcement for breach of trust are two concepts, and Dai Wei has been “limited” only because of a large number of execution cases of ofo, and has not yet been listed as the person subject to enforcement for breach of trust. He can circumvent restricted transportation to get overseas.

Source: China Enterprise Photo Library

According to people close to Dai Wei, Dai Wei is now back in Beijing. Although he has not appeared in the eyes of the public for a long time, Dai Wei’s entrepreneurial heart has never been extinguished.

Previously, some media quoted informed sources as saying that Dai Wei has been shuttling between China and the United States, and first opened a charging treasure rental startup in Seattle, but the effect was not good. Then he co-founded About Time Coffee in New York.

Although the entrepreneurial failure has been limited to become “old Lai”, Dai Wei has always paid close attention to the business ecology.

Keep listed, he forwarded the circle of friends, sincere congratulations; ChatGPT caused the domestic big model trend, Dai Wei is also always concerned, in Nvidia “strongest AI chip” H200 release, he sighed: “too burst”; Even Luckin and Moutai co-name, Dai Wei can not help but comment: “Wine and coffee, too good.” CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

Keep and Luckin are both new commercial species born in the same golden age as ofo, and Dai Wei is concerned about their fate, perhaps also regretting his own past. But it is certain that Dai Wei has never given up his entrepreneurial dream, and he is still waiting for the next stage of a comeback.

由CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）转载而成，来源于中国企业家杂志；编辑/翻译：CXO UNIONCXO联盟小U。

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