Chapter 167: Promoted Again

“Since the prices are unstable, let’s set a minimum consumption. For the simplest Americano Coffee, let’s price it at 50 yuan. Anything above that will be priced accordingly,” Chen Mo said with a smile.

This price would deter a large portion of potential customers right away. After all, a cup of Americano at Starbucks costs about 30 yuan, and he was directly setting it at 50 yuan, which is 20 yuan higher.

What normal customer would be willing to spend an extra 20 yuan for an Americano, especially without the fame of Starbucks?

“President Chen, some plantation beans don’t have such high costs, and selling at 30 yuan would still be profitable,” Su Dan quickly responded upon hearing his pricing.

Although it’s Specialty Coffee, there should still be a few more affordable options to attract regular customers. If the minimum consumption is 50 yuan, this price would likely only attract office workers for afternoon tea or meetings—people who need the Coffee Shop environment. However, the frequency and volume of such demand would not be enough to keep a Coffee Shop profitable.

“Since it’s Specialty Coffee, we shouldn’t buy bad coffee beans. Only beans from good plantations should be purchased,” Chen Mo waved his hand dismissively.

“But President Chen, doing that will discourage many low-spending customers,” Su Dan argued.

“No, I’m not deterring customers, I’m improving the reputation of the Coffee Shop. You should understand that if we price things too low, we will attract low-spending customers,” Chen Mo explained.

“However, this will increase the workload of the staff. When the staff get busy, they may neglect the taste and texture of the coffee. At that point, what’s the difference between us and commercial coffee shops?”

“My goal for opening this Specialty Coffee Shop was to create a place in the fast-paced city where people can slow down. A place where real coffee lovers and those who enjoy quiet environments can rest and savor the flavor of coffee.”

After some persuasion, Su Dan was finally convinced.

“Alright, President Chen,” Su Dan nodded hesitantly before asking, “President Chen, should we prepare an opening ceremony for the new store and hold some discount events to attract customers?”

“No need. What a Coffee Shop needs most is quiet. An opening ceremony would be too grand and noisy, which doesn’t match the Coffee Shop’s vibe. As for discounts, that’s unnecessary. Since we’re positioning ourselves as a high-end coffee shop, offering discounts would be like slapping ourselves in the face,” Chen Mo firmly rejected Su Dan’s suggestion.

He was not joking. He would never allow such customer-attracting activities to take place.

Su Dan was momentarily confused. She felt like Chen Mo had a point, but at the same time, something felt off.

After a while, she regained her thoughts and asked her final question.

“Then, President Chen, when will we officially open for business?”

“If everything is ready, we can open tomorrow. The staff uniforms are already prepared, along with name tags and other items. I’ll have someone deliver them to you shortly,” Chen Mo replied. He had asked the Clothing Factory to prepare everything in advance, and there were plenty of uniforms available, so he could have them delivered right away.

“I understand, President Chen,” Su Dan nodded, but then remembered the coffee beans issue and quickly spoke up again. “President Chen, right now there are only two types of basic coffee beans in the Coffee Shop. As a Specialty Coffee Shop, we need to purchase more varieties from different plantations.”

Chen Mo’s eyes lit up upon hearing this. Wasn’t this just an opportunity to spend more money?

Moreover, he realized something: the Coffee Shop only had two positions—staff and store manager. In the future, tasks like recruitment, purchasing, and payroll couldn’t be handled by the Clothing Factory.

If the Coffee Shop were to open more branches, they would also need a department to handle these tasks centrally.

So, the Coffee Shop needed a headquarters. From now on, all matters regarding the Coffee Shop would be coordinated through this headquarters.

All he needed to do was issue commands to the headquarters, as he was already managing four industries and couldn’t handle everything like he did with the Clothing Factory. He only needed to guide the companies in the right direction.

With that in mind, Chen Mo looked at Su Dan and Song Xia.

“I’ve thought about it, and our Coffee Shop will need a coordinating department—this will be the Coffee Shop headquarters. You two will be responsible for handling this matter.”

“As for where to set up the headquarters, what positions are required, and how many people to hire, you can discuss it among yourselves. As for the staff’s compensation, you can ask Assistant Shen; she’ll provide you with the initial salaries for all the positions.”

“Then, with the headquarters established, we’ll need leadership. Song Xia, you’ll be the General Manager of Nanhe Coffee Headquarters, and Teacher Su, you’ll be the Deputy General Manager.”

“Since the positions are elevated, the salary will naturally go up as well. The base salary will be set at 20,000 yuan, plus a 3% commission on the Coffee Shop’s net profit.”

Chen Mo calculated in his mind. Establishing a headquarters would require renting office space. A 300-square-meter office would cost around 300,000 yuan per year, so renting for two years would amount to 600,000 yuan.

Add in the cost for office furniture and equipment, and the total budget would be about 500,000 yuan.

That was already over a million in initial expenses.

This didn’t even include staff salaries, and when everything was counted, the costs would definitely be even higher.

Song Xia was stunned when she heard Chen Mo’s words. She had just signed the store manager contract, and now, less than an hour later, she was… promoted?

She hadn’t even sat down properly in the manager’s seat, and here she was, getting a promotion?

This was too casual.

The salary increase was just as rapid. From 8,000 yuan at the beginning to 10,000 yuan after training, and now it had jumped directly to 20,000 yuan.

Such a speed of salary increase was unprecedented for her.

Su Dan was relatively calm. After all, when she was a training instructor, she also earned over 10,000 yuan, and if there were more students, she could make up to 20,000 yuan a month.

So, she didn’t feel strongly about this salary. Moreover, she wasn’t here to be a manager; her goal was to fulfill her dream of running a Coffee Shop.

Thinking of this, she hesitated for a moment and looked at Chen Mo.

“President Chen, I still prefer running the Coffee Shop. This manager position…”

“It’s fine. Being the manager won’t affect your ability to run the Coffee Shop,” Chen Mo waved his hand dismissively, secretly thinking to himself that giving her this position while she still wants to run the Coffee Shop was, in a way, a form of neglecting responsibility, but it was exactly what he wanted.

Moreover, with Song Xia’s experience of mismanaging a milk tea shop, he wasn’t worried about the Coffee Shop losing money in the future!