Chapter 166: Is This the Pay a Staff Member Should Have?

Su Dan instantly realized what Zhou Mei was doing; it was clearly the cosplay that had been becoming popular this year. She had only seen it on short video apps before, and hadn't expected to find a cosplay enthusiast among the trainees.

Looking at Zhou Mei's cartoonish outfit, Su Dan spoke softly.

"Zhou Mei, if they don't want to wear it, don't force them."

"I know, Teacher, I was just teasing them for fun."

Zhou Mei stuck out her tongue, turned around, and returned to her Room. She took a few photos in the mirror and then posted them to her short video account.

Soon, comments started appearing below.

These commenters were all fellow cosplay enthusiasts like her.

…

The next day, around nine o'clock.

Chen Mo arrived at the coffee shop with Shen Rou. As long as the contracts were signed today, the coffee shop could immediately begin operations.

"Morning, President Chen!"

Just as they pushed the door open, they saw Song Xia already standing at the entrance waiting, with a row of people standing behind her—clearly the staff members Song Xia had recruited.

Chen Mo took a rough glance and said with a smile.

"Thank you all for choosing Nanhe Coffee. I've come here today to discuss benefits and sign employment contracts with you all."

After a brief greeting.

Chen Mo, led by Song Xia, arrived at a seating area.

He arranged for the others to find chairs and sit nearby before he continued.

"I won't waste time with unnecessary chatter; let's start by discussing benefits and pay."

"You should all be aware of the salary by now: 6,000 per month and a 0.1% share of net profits, plus full social insurance and housing fund."

Upon hearing this, all the trainees let out a sigh of relief. Although Song Xia had mentioned this compensation before they arrived, who could guarantee that it wouldn't be changed or reneged upon once they got here?

This was the issue they had been worried about. Now that the boss had personally confirmed the compensation, and right before signing the contracts, it was clear that the offer was genuine.

Their hanging hearts finally settled.

However, President Chen's next words made their settled hearts hang once again.

"Of course, there is a slight change to this."

"I previously thought I was only recruiting trainees, but I didn't expect to recruit a professional teacher. Since you are a professional teacher, it would clearly be unreasonable to give you the same salary and benefits as the trainees."

"Therefore, Teacher Su's salary and benefits will be the same as those of Store Manager Song Xia."

"Teacher Su, is that alright with you?"

Chen Mo looked up at Su Dan.

"No… no problem."

Su Dan hurriedly shook her head. She was very surprised that President Chen had raised her compensation to the level of a store manager, especially since Song Xia hadn't mentioned this to her beforehand.

She turned to look at Song Xia and found that Song Xia also had an expression of surprise, clearly unaware of this beforehand.

That meant this was a last-minute decision by President Chen.

Thinking of this,

Su Dan felt a wave of emotion. Although she didn't care much about salary for the sake of running a specialty coffee shop, having the same salary as the trainees was somewhat awkward.

"Thank you, President Chen."

"Don't mention it. This is the compensation you deserve as a senior barista."

Chen Mo said with a smile.

The other trainees present let out a sigh of relief again after hearing this.

So that slight change had nothing to do with them!

"Next is the benefits. The previously promised reimbursement for training fees will be issued along with your salary."

"Then there are the meal and housing allowances. The housing allowance is 1,000 per person, and the meal allowance is 1,500 per person. There is also a 500 shopping card, which will increase to 1,000 after three months of employment."

"There is also the matter of time off. Since this is the catering industry, we basically need to be open every day, so we will adopt a rotating shift system. Everyone gets two days off per week; as for how you arrange the days off, you can discuss it among yourselves."

"Of course, if you don't want to take time off, you can choose to work, and you will be paid double."

Chen Mo slowly explained the benefits of the coffee shop.

As for the rest policy, he had hesitated for a long time between mandatory two days off per week and voluntary rest.

He ultimately chose the voluntary rest scheme.

Although mandatory rest could reduce employee work efficiency, if the coffee shop didn't have many customers to begin with, reducing work efficiency would be useless.

With voluntary rest, he still had a chance to pay out a bit more in wages.

The trainees opened their mouths wide upon hearing the benefits Chen Mo described; this was too good!

Housing allowance, meal allowance, plus the shopping card—that was already 3,000.

Plus the 6,000 salary, their actual monthly pay was 9,000.

And if they chose not to take time off and worked overtime, the double overtime pay would mean their monthly salary could exceed 10,000.

Was this really the salary a staff member should have?

It wasn't just the trainees; even the most experienced Teacher Su had an expression of shock.

With benefits like this, even civil servants would be hard-pressed to match it.

Chen Mo looked at everyone's shocked expressions and smiled slightly.

"Alright, that's about it. Do you have any questions? If not, we can sign the contracts."

Upon hearing President Chen's words, everyone hurriedly nodded.

Questions!

With benefits like this, where would there be any questions?

Seeing that no one had any questions, Chen Mo turned to look at Shen Rou.

"You arrange for them to sign."

After handing everything over to Shen Rou, he walked around the coffee shop and found that the coffee machines and other equipment were already installed. In that case, they could officially open for business tomorrow.

A while later,

everyone had signed their employment contracts.

Chen Mo called Teacher Su and Song Xia over.

"Teacher Su, what is the usual price for specialty coffee?"

Since they were preparing to open, he naturally had to set the prices.

"President Chen, the price of coffee beans from different estates varies. Generally, a cup of Americano is in the range of 30-75. Of course, there are some more precious beans where the price will certainly be higher, such as Blue Mountain coffee or Geisha coffee. If it's high-quality coffee beans, selling for over a hundred or even several hundred is possible."

"So, different beans will have different prices; it won't be fixed."

Su Dan explained briefly.

Chen Mo frowned upon hearing this; if that was the case, it would be hard for him to set prices.

However, he quickly figured it out—he didn't need to dwell on the prices of those high-end coffees; he just needed to raise the price of the lowest tier of coffee.

Raising the minimum consumption would be enough to deter a large portion of customers.