Chapter 167: Promoted Again

"Since the prices aren't stable, let's set a minimum consumption requirement. Let's price the simplest cup of Americano at 50 yuan, and for anything above that…" Chen Mo said with a smile.

This price would basically deter a large portion of customers. After all, a cup of Americano at Starbucks is only around 30 yuan, and he was pricing his directly at 50—a full 20 yuan more.

What normal customer would be willing to spend an extra 20 yuan for a cup of Americano, especially when it's not as famous as Starbucks?

"General Manager Chen, some estate beans don't have such high costs; selling them for 30 yuan would still be profitable." Su Dan said hurriedly upon hearing Chen Mo's pricing.

Although it is a specialty coffee shop, they definitely still needed to offer a few more affordable coffee options to attract regular customers to come in and spend.

If the minimum consumption was 50 yuan, it was estimated that only white-collar workers needing this kind of coffee shop environment for afternoon tea or business meetings would come. However, the quantity and frequency of such demand simply couldn't support a coffee shop's profitability.

"Since it's a specialty coffee shop, let's not buy those inferior coffee beans. Buy only beans from good estates." Chen Mo waved his hand dismissively.

"But General Manager Chen, this will deter many low-spending customers."

"No, I'm not deterring them; I'm doing this to improve the coffee shop's reputation. You have to understand that if we set the prices too low, it would indeed attract a segment of low-spending customers."

"But this undoubtedly increases the staff's workload. Once the staff gets busy, it's very easy to neglect the flavor and mouthfeel of the coffee. If we do that, how is our approach any different from those commercial coffee chains?"

"My original intention in opening a specialty coffee shop was to have a place in this fast-paced metropolis where one can slow down. To let those customers who truly love coffee and appreciate quiet have a place to rest. To let them truly savor the taste of coffee."

After spending some effort, he finally managed to talk this professional barista into it.

"Alright, General Manager Chen." Su Dan hesitated for a moment, nodded, and then asked.

"General Manager Chen, since our new shop is opening, should we prepare an opening ceremony and set up some discount promotions to attract customers?"

"Not necessary. What a coffee shop needs most is quiet. An opening ceremony would be too grand and noisy, which doesn't fit the vibe of the coffee shop. As for discounts, those are even less necessary. Since we've already positioned ourselves as high-end coffee, wouldn't offering discounts be a slap in our own face?"

Chen Mo directly rejected Su Dan's suggestion.

Just kidding—how could he possibly allow such activities that attract customers to happen?

Su Dan was a bit confused for a moment; she felt that what General Manager Chen said made some sense, but it also felt like something was wrong.

After a while, she snapped out of it and asked her last question.

"Then General Manager Chen, when will we officially open for business?"

"If everything is ready, let's open tomorrow. The staff uniforms have already been prepared, along with name tags and other items; I will have someone deliver them to you shortly."

Chen Mo said. He had previously had the workers at the Garment factory make the uniforms, and he had prepared plenty of them, so he would just have someone deliver them later.

"I understand, General Manager Chen." Su Dan nodded, then immediately thought of the coffee bean issue and spoke up hurriedly.

"General Manager Chen, currently the coffee shop only has two types of the most basic coffee beans. As a specialty coffee shop, we need to purchase more varieties of beans from different estates."

Chen Mo's eyes lit up upon hearing this—wasn't this just spending money?

Furthermore, he thought of another point: since this coffee shop only had the positions of staff and store manager, future tasks like hiring, procurement, and payroll couldn't possibly be handled by the Garment factory.

Moreover, if the coffee shop were to open branches, a department would be needed to handle things centrally.

Therefore, this coffee shop needed a headquarters; in the future, all matters regarding the coffee shop would be managed and deployed through this headquarters.

And he would only need to issue orders to the headquarters. After all, having already developed four industries, he was spread too thin; he couldn't possibly consider every single thing as he did with the Garment factory.

He only needed to provide direction and command each company to lose money.

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

"I've been thinking, our coffee shop needs a coordinating department, which is the coffee shop headquarters. I'll leave this matter to the two of you to handle."

"As for where to set up the headquarters, what positions are needed, and how many people to hire, you can discuss that yourselves. Regarding employee compensation, you can ask Assistant Shen; she will provide you with the initial salaries for various positions in the company."

"Next is the change in positions. Since we are establishing a headquarters, we need leaders. So, Song Xia, you will serve as the General Manager of the Nanhe Coffee headquarters, and Teacher Su will serve as the Deputy General Manager."

"Since your positions have been promoted, your salary and benefits will naturally be adjusted upward. Let's tentatively set the base salary at 20,000, plus a 3% commission on the coffee shop's net profit."

Chen Mo secretly did some calculations. Establishing a headquarters would definitely require renting office space. Just taking a 300-square-meter office, the annual rent would be around 300,000; renting it for two years would be 600,000.

Then, adding in the configuration of various office desks, chairs, computers, and other things, it would need a budget of at least around 500,000.

That's a base expenditure of over 1 million gone right there. This doesn't even count the salaries of the office staff; if calculated in detail, it would definitely be even more.

Song Xia was a bit stunned upon hearing Chen Mo's words. She had just signed the contract as store manager, and she hadn't even been store manager for a day—no, she hadn't even been one for an hour.

Not to mention not even having warmed the seat, she hadn't even sat down yet, and she was promoted just like that? This was too casual.

The salary was the same; from the initial 8,000, it rose to 10,000 after training, and now it had jumped directly to 20,000. This speed of salary increase was something she had never seen before.

Su Dan was a bit calmer. After all, when she was a training instructor, she also made over 10,000, and if there were many students, she could earn 20,000 a month.

So she didn't have much of a reaction to this salary, and she didn't come here to be any kind of manager, but to realize her dream of running a coffee shop.

Thinking of this, she looked at Chen Mo with some hesitation. "General Manager Chen, I still prefer running the coffee shop. As for this manager position…"

"It doesn't matter. Being a manager doesn't stop you from running the coffee shop, does it?"

Chen Mo waved his hand dismissively. He thought to himself, "If I give you this position, but you go off to run the coffee shop instead, isn't that indirect dereliction of duty? This is simply too perfect for my intentions."

Plus, with Song Xia's experience of running a milk tea shop into the ground, the coffee shop's future of losing money was guaranteed!