台灣街頭咖啡店和餐廳，為何汰換率非常高？

Economic development in Taiwan has been mainly stimulated by medium-sized and small businesses. Many believe that the best epitome of career is to be an entrepreneur. Catering industry seems to be an easy option to cross the threshold of start-up. However, turnover rate of businesses is quite high, especially in restaurantsand coffee shop sectors. It could be argued that starting up your own business is a good idea when it comes to getting a job.

There is no doubt that economic scale in Taiwan domestic market is quite small. Most multinational corporations in the first place would not take Taiwan market into very careful consideration while building up a branch or a reginal office, in addition to the difficult political situation with Mainland China. As a result of that, to create own business has become a social norm since the end of 1980’s after the declaration of martial law. Acer, ASUS, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing all exemplify the best in entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, with the global economic depression, layoff and unpaid leaves have escalated in the job market. The society is uncertain what the future holds. Another social norm has arisen during this time period: follow your heart and say “NO” to company rules. Many people have so much zeal about opening a coffee shop or a restaurant as a dream job. This is especially true for the young people who do not want to obey top managers’ orders and also for the elders who want to pursue a different lifestyle after retirement.

Nevertheless, there is an illusion of successful stories of entrepreneurs. It is unrealistic to think that the society is formed with entrepreneurs without labor workers. Moreover, Rome was not built in one day. It is impossible to learn the failure rate and non-achievement case studies of start-ups through multi-media publications. I feel that high turnover rate is fundamentally related to lack of accurate business focus and plans. There is no market research and ignorance of implicit cost. Take coffee shops for example, Taipei has become one of the top ten cities where the number of stores has reached the highest density around the world. In addition, many championships in different categories of coffee competitions may be found throughout the island. Not to mention, every convenience store around the corner sells a cup of coffee at a quite fair price. The market is very competitive. Only the ones who differentiate and stand out could survive in this fast-paced market.