Chapter 127: The Money-Losing Plan

Chen Mo followed Li Zhengqi to the fourth floor.

The fourth floor was the apartment of his eldest brother, Li Zhengqi, and his sister-in-law, while the third floor was where Second Aunt and her husband lived.

They opened the door and went in.

They saw two women sitting in the living room. The older one was his sister-in-law, Song Qing. He hadn't seen the other woman before, but her features were somewhat similar to Song Qing's, so she must be the person his eldest brother had mentioned.

It must be Song Qing's sister, Song Xia.

She wasn't exactly a great beauty, but she was the type who looked better the longer you looked at her.

"Wife, my little brother is here."

Li Zhengqi walked into the living room and said casually.

"Chen Mo is here. Sit down quickly, let me go get you some fruit."

Hearing this, Song Qing saw Chen Mo entering the room and hurriedly stood up to greet him.

"Sister-in-law, don't go to any trouble. I'll be leaving in a bit."

Chen Mo tried to stop her, but Song Qing had already headed toward the kitchen.

Soon, she returned with a fruit platter.

"What's the rush? Eat some fruit before you go. This was just bought, it's fresh."

Song Qing placed the platter on the coffee table in front of Chen Mo and introduced her, saying,

"You came at the right time. This is my sister, Song Xia. You two are about the same age, so you should get to know each other."

"Hello, I'm Chen Mo."

Chen Mo looked up at Song Xia and introduced himself generously.

"Hello!"

Song Xia replied.

"Chen Mo came over because he wanted to ask Song Xia about franchising a milk tea shop."

Li Zhengqi spoke up at the right moment.

"Chen Mo, why are you asking about milk tea shops? You're not thinking of opening one, are you? Let me tell you, you really shouldn't do it."

"Song Xia lost a lot of money doing this. She didn't even dare go home for the holidays and ran over here to me instead."

Song Qing said anxiously.

Their family had been very stressed because of this matter.

The lease for the place was signed for two years, with rent at five thousand a month. It hadn't even been a year, and the milk tea shop couldn't keep running.

Franchise fees, plus store renovations, various machines, raw materials… and other miscellaneous expenses, added up to around 200,000 yuan.

And that's not even counting the monthly rent.

Before the holidays, the milk tea shop completely folded; she couldn't even afford to buy raw materials or pay the staff's wages.

"Sister."

Song Xia called out from the side, looking embarrassed.

"What, you can do it but I can't talk about it? You lost so much money. If the family hadn't covered for you, you'd be on a blacklist by now. You actually dared to take out a private loan; look how capable you are."

Song Qing glared at her sister, Song Xia, irritably.

Because of her sister's situation, their parents had been very upset.

Watching this scene, Chen Mo hesitated to speak. He felt that if he asked anything now, it might be like rubbing salt in the wound.

However, Song Qing looked at him at this moment.

"Chen Mo, what is it that you actually want to do by asking about the milk tea shop?"

"Oh, a friend of mine wants to open a milk tea shop too, so after hearing about Song Xia's situation, I came over to help ask about it and see what pitfalls can be avoided."

Chen Mo brought out the excuse he had just used again.

"Is that so? I thought you wanted to open a milk tea shop. You scared me."

Hearing Chen Mo's words, Song Qing instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

"But, I suggest you tell that friend of yours that it's best not to franchise a milk tea shop."

"I know. I'm just here today to ask about the drawbacks. When I go back, I'll tell him the pros and cons and let him decide whether to open it or not."

Chen Mo said calmly, thinking to himself that he must ask about all the drawbacks clearly, and then go back and step into every single one of them.

"Alright then."

Song Qing nodded and turned to look at Song Xia.

"Tell him carefully about how you managed to run your milk tea shop into the ground, especially where the pitfalls are. Emphasize those points."

"Okay!"

Song Xia pouted, and although she was a bit reluctant, she began to explain earnestly.

"The most important thing about opening a milk tea shop is the location. You can't just look at foot traffic; you also have to check if there are other milk tea shops nearby."

For her, this was a lesson written in blood.

The location she chose actually had decent foot traffic, but there were just too many milk tea shops. On that entire pedestrian street, she counted later, there were actually twelve milk tea shops.

Some had been open before, and some opened after she did.

The street was only so long; no matter how much foot traffic there was, it couldn't support being split among so many milk tea shops.

Moreover, at the time, to save on rent, she chose a spot that was relatively out of the way on that street, so she couldn't compete with the other milk tea shops at all.

"The second point is the milk tea brand you franchise. This is also very important. Some milk tea brands just want to earn franchise fees from franchisees and don't care at all about how the franchisees operate. The recipes and taste of those milk teas are also very average."

"…"

"That's about it."

"Thank you, this is very useful to me."

After listening to Song Xia finish, Chen Mo pondered secretly.

If he opened a milk tea shop himself, he couldn't franchise, since a franchise wouldn't belong to his own company.

He would have to set up his own milk tea brand.

But there was a key point to this: the franchising aspect.

Through Song Xia's account just now, those trendy milk tea shops make the most money by earning franchise fees from franchisees.

If he were to open a milk tea shop, he would definitely have to rule out franchising.

He would open only directly operated stores.

Not earning franchise fees, and then letting the store lose money—it was simply killing two birds with one stone.

Then there was the issue of location.

He would either choose a place with little foot traffic or a place with many competitors.

However, he already had a plan for the location. Wasn't there a "successful case" right in front of him? Since she wasn't doing it anymore, he would take over her location.

And her shop happened to be in Jiang City.

Thinking of this, Chen Mo looked up at Song Xia.

"Um, could you tell me the address of your shop? I'd like to go and inspect it in person."

"What address do you need? Aren't you heading back to Jiang City tomorrow, Chen Mo? Song Xia is also going back tomorrow to deal with the shop. You two can go together tomorrow; you can just stop by and see it on the way."

Li Zhengqi suddenly spoke up from the side. He had heard downstairs that Chen Mo was returning to Jiang City tomorrow.

"That's perfect. Xia is going back to prepare to sublease the shop. Chen Mo, if you go with her, you can help out. I'm a bit worried about her handling this by herself."

"I have no problem with that."

Chen Mo nodded, his gaze falling on Song Xia.

He was just preparing to take over that shop, and he hadn't expected that she was going back specifically to handle the subleasing. This was like someone handing him a pillow just as he was getting sleepy.

He would just take the opportunity to take over the shop and make it his own milk tea brand.

Then he could start his money-losing plan.