Chapter 174: Let Me Lose Money, and Lose It Big

In the past, he didn’t have this ability. When he saw such situations, he could only feel a little sympathy but couldn’t do anything about it.

But now, with the system in place and the available Charity Funds, he could actually make a difference.

If he could do something for these people, it would make him feel better.

These past few days, he had been collecting information and preparing to identify a target location. Then, he would find the time to go and inspect it in person. After all, the system had set a rule that when starting a new charity project, he had to personally investigate it first.

……….

A few days passed in the blink of an eye,

South Harmony Coffee.(Nanhe Coffee)

A few Coffee Shop employees sat bored at their seats, staring longingly at the pedestrians outside, but not a single person came in to buy coffee.

Song Xia and Su Dan sat in a corner of the Coffee Shop.

“Teacher Su, what should we do? It’s been ten days, and our daily sales haven’t even hit a thousand.”

Song Xia’s face was full of worry.

In these ten days, the Coffee Shop’s peak performance was on opening day. Since then, no more than a dozen people had come in to buy coffee on any given day.

Su Dan fell silent upon hearing Song Xia’s words.

She had calculated the Coffee Shop’s costs over the past couple of days. The staff salaries alone amounted to about 200,000 yuan each month.

Then, adding the costs for utilities and supplies…

To make a profit, they would need at least 10,000 yuan in daily sales.

And that didn’t even include the rent for the store, the renovations, or the office space and coffee machine costs.

If all those were accounted for, the Coffee Shop had no hope of breaking even.

Sigh…

She let out a long breath.

“Hello, President Chen!”

At that moment, the voice of a staff member came from the door.

Looking up, they saw President Chen walking into the Coffee Shop, heading toward them.

The two quickly stood up.

“President Chen.”

“Sit down.”

Chen Mo nodded slightly and sat down across from the two of them.

“How’s the Coffee Shop doing these days?”

Both of them lowered their heads in shame when they heard President Chen’s question.

The Coffee Shop had been doing so poorly that they didn’t know how to face President Chen anymore.

Chen Mo smiled when he saw their expressions. He had been keeping an eye on the Coffee Shop these days, and he already knew exactly how things were going.

He was here today to execute the second step of his plan to lose money—opening a new branch to increase the losses.

Song Xia sighed deeply and spoke slowly.

“The business at the Coffee Shop has been really bad these past few days. Our daily sales haven’t even reached 1,000.”

“President Chen, maybe we should try some advertising and promotional events to attract more customers.”

“If we don’t do something, the Coffee Shop will keep losing more and more money!”

Chen Mo listened to Song Xia’s words, and his heart filled with joy. This was exactly what he wanted.

Lose money.

Give me lots of losses!

Promotions and events? That’s out of the question.

“You’re too anxious. Since we’ve chosen the high-end route, this result in the early stages was to be expected.”

“We need to take a long-term view and not focus on short-term gains or losses.”

“You have to be patient, understand?”

“But… won’t some discounts and promotions help increase the Coffee Shop’s visibility?” Song Xia mumbled, though her voice had weakened.

“No, the fame gained through discounts and promotions is nothing but an illusion. It’s like building castles in the air.”

“There’s an old saying—what doesn’t sell is a business. When you attract customers through discounts, what are they looking for? They’re looking for cheap prices!”

“But what does our Specialty Coffee Shop sell? We sell taste, we sell service, we sell a comfortable and quiet environment.”

“Discounts are absolutely out of the question. They completely contradict the purpose and philosophy of opening a Specialty Coffee Shop.”

“…”

“As they say, good wine doesn’t fear the alley being too deep. One day, our South Harmony Coffee will surpass Starbucks and become the largest domestic coffee brand!”

Chen Mo went on and on, and by the end, even he started to believe it himself.

But seeing the longing expressions on the faces of the two women, he knew he hadn’t been wasting his breath.

These two were much easier to fool than that rebellious Wu Yu. Just thinking about Wu Yu made him gnash his teeth. He kept complaining about the high franchise fees, but then a few days later, he brought in an agent.

Well, at least he only brought in one. It didn’t affect the big picture.

Su Dan seemed to be in thought. What Chen Mo had just said did make sense, theoretically.

But the most crucial issue was, if they didn’t do any promotions, how could they increase the Coffee Shop’s visibility?

Relying solely on the taste and environment of the coffee?

But right now, very few customers were coming in every day. How long would it take to build visibility with just a handful of customers?

Su Dan looked troubled and glanced up at Chen Mo.

“President Chen, if we don’t do any promotions, it’s going to be really hard to build the Coffee Shop’s reputation.”

Chen Mo shook his head slightly.

“No, you don’t need promotions to build reputation.”

“Then… what should we do?”

Su Dan was truly confused.

“Do you know why Starbucks became so famous?” Chen Mo asked, looking at Su Dan.

Su Dan thought for a moment. “Starbucks entered the Chinese market earlier than others. At that time, the domestic coffee market hadn’t opened up. Starbucks, with its specialty coffee concept, instantly attracted many consumers. It even became a symbol of a higher lifestyle.”

“Back in the day, many people went to Starbucks not just for coffee, but to post on social media.”

Chen Mo froze for a moment upon hearing Su Dan’s answer. He hadn’t expected her to be so professional, but quickly recovered.

“You’re right, but there’s one more key issue—Starbucks has so many stores.”

“Why is it so popular? That’s because they have stores all over the country. Think about it, you can go anywhere and just casually walk around, and you’ll see a Starbucks. How could it not be popular?”

“So, if we want to make South Harmony Coffee Shop well-known, we have to follow their example and open more branches.”

“But our Coffee Shop has only been open for a short time, and we’re not even profitable yet. Isn’t it a bit too early to open another branch?”

Su Dan was slightly startled when she heard this. From President Chen’s words, it seemed like he was planning to open a branch.

This was a big risk!

Chen Mo smiled slightly as he listened to Su Dan’s words.

It’s precisely because we’re not profitable that I’m choosing to open more branches. If we were making a profit, why would I need to open more branches?