Some good advice in this thread, though not all of it.

@logos I've seen many businesses fail over the last 15 years or so. Some were simply to early (before the local Chinese palate was generally interested in novel international/foreign experience), others attempted to gain custom through basing themselves in too expensive zones of real estate, quite a few failed through partnerships.

The challenges with F&B businesses here can include reliable and cost-effective acquisition of suitable ingredients, lack of local experience with the cuisine in question, differing expectations about ordering, environment and other aspects of the consumption experience, navigating registration and licensing.

My advice is to jump through any and all hoops required to get the licensing you need yourself: do not use an agent (though do bring a translator). If you use an agent, you will never be aware of the various government bureaus that have control over your business, and will not have established any personal relationship.

Finally, about real estate selection: overheads can be very high here, even more than western cities. If you have a large initial budget that may make sense, but with a lower budget you could probably just focus on quality, experience, service and word of mouth. Wealthier locals tend to drive and/or spend significant time seeking novel experiences. You would not have a great issue obtaining extra customers through word of mouth, given time. Another thing which has not really been tried here is drive-thru. Finally, there are a large number of delivery services, the undisputed king of which is Meituan. These services facilitate both increased marketing exposure and a larger customer base, without requiring expensive real estate. However, due to delivery time considerations, you may be well-advised to seek out cheaper yet relatively central real estate if these distribution channels are a focus. Finally, you can take orders, payment, and do delivery yourself via WeChat.

Good luck!

There are also white stickers on the doors down Hongshan Nan Lu (north side) and Longfeng Jie (north side).

Seems there is a mass military land reclamation in progress.

Is this: (a) The government kicking the military out of the middle of the city?; or (b) Someone in the military trying to turn a quick buck; or (c) Beijing-sponsored attempt to re-invigorate the nationally ailing construction industry and keep down unemployment for migrant workers by initiating military-owned commercial land revamps during the lapse in the construction boom?

My thoughts: (a) There have been rumours of Kundu shutdown from Beijing for awhile, so this would not be too strange. Wouldn't be too hard to verify though, just ask one of the owners. Incidentally, I would be happy about this because the military presence has created lots of pain for regular people, eg. it is very difficult for hotels or residential real estate owners to allow foreigners to stay in most of these areas because the military is afraid of 'spying' (like they do anything all day except make noise anyway!) (b) If this is the case, they are not going about it very covertly. (c) If this is the case, one would expect similar and roughly concurrent projects in other cities.

Sure Alexis! Hope you guys are having fun.

Just get any bus headed for Lijiang! These will head down the river a little, cross, then climb the mountain. Just after climbing, there is a turnoff for the old road southward to Dali, which passes Jianchuan. When you get there, jump off.

Wait awhile and another bus will come by headed that way.

Once on a bus, you have two options, either stay in Jianchuan itself (couple of OK but basic hotels) or continue to Shaxi by bus. From either location you can climb up to the carvings at Shizhongshan/Shibaoshan. If you go from Shaxi, you have to walk. If you go from Jianchuan, you can get a driver to drop you up there (hire one or hitch), then walk back down. I actually walked both up and down, which was a really long day and not recommended.

There is an ongoing archaeological dig around the Jianchuan lake, as well as some old Nanzhao-era towers atop mountains further south (toward Dali) from the Shaxi/Jianchuan area.

If you have a bit of time a nice way to get there is breaking the trip in Jinghong then getting a bus to Guanlei and a cargo boat to Chiang Saen.

Yes, the fee sounds reasonable but the exchange rates are a rip ... nearly criminal. Check out how much arrived versus the real exchange rate.