Chapter 184 – Customers

“Yes, I’ve thought about it a lot.”

“Since it’s a maid café, it can’t just be about having the staff wear maid outfits. And we can’t rely solely on selling coffee. We need to add some fun activities.”

“For example, playing board games with customers, video games, Werewolf, putting on performances… things like that. Of course, this would mean the target customer group would be quite different from that of a traditional café.”

Zhou Mei spoke quickly and confidently.

Song Xia nodded subtly as she listened. It was clear that Zhou Mei had really done her homework.

“Then how do we solve the issue of staff? Many people still have a hard time accepting cosplay. It might be difficult to hire employees willing to wear those outfits.”

“And also, if most of the customers come for the maids and games, not the coffee, some games could eat up a lot of time. What if someone just orders a single cup of coffee but stays for hours playing games—how do we deal with that?”

Song Xia voiced the questions on her mind.

“The staff issue is easy to solve. I’m in a bunch of cosplay groups. Once I post about it and mention the benefits of working at our café, I’m sure many people will be interested.”

“As for the time issue, we can fix that by setting an entry fee. For example, buying a ticket could come with a free coffee and one hour of in-store gaming time. After that, we can start charging extra based on time.”

“And it’d be best to have a two-story setup. The first floor can be a regular café for customers who just want to enjoy a cup of coffee.”

“Then the second floor can be the maid café. That way, we can cater to both types of customers.”

Zhou Mei explained earnestly—she had clearly planned all of this in advance.

Listening to her, Song Xia couldn’t help but be impressed. Zhou Mei had thought things through very thoroughly. She had considered pretty much every operational challenge. And the two-floor setup wouldn’t inconvenience customers who just wanted a simple coffee experience.

The maid café idea really did seem feasible.

“Alright, I understand your idea. I’ll discuss it with Ms. Su.”

“Okay!”

Zhou Mei nodded and left the table.

Song Xia then got up and went over to Su Dan to talk about the maid café plan.

“If we can’t think of a better solution, we might have to give the maid café a try,” Su Dan said softly after thinking it over.

In truth, she still preferred a traditional café model. After all, a maid café didn’t attract customers based on the quality of the coffee.

But since the café hadn’t been making a profit, there wasn’t much else they could do for now. At the very least, they needed to make it profitable first—then they could think about the future.

…

The next day,

Song Xia and Su Dan arrived at the café early to begin the day’s business.

As for the storefront,

After searching all day yesterday, Su Dan still hadn’t found a property that met their criteria and was also for sale.

So she had decided to contact the customer Wu Yu had spoken with yesterday and discuss the possibility of renting their space.

Since they were planning to rent, they might as well save as much as they could.

But just as she was about to make the call, the café’s front door suddenly opened.

In walked Pang Tao, carrying two pet cages.

“I’ve picked out the cats. Take a look and choose the ones you want. I brought four in total—once you’ve chosen, I’ll take the other two back.”

He found Song Xia and Lin Zhu, placing the two cages in front of them.

These four cats had been carefully selected by him. He had planned to bring them over yesterday, but couldn’t find suitable cages. So he went out to buy some and, while he was at it, took the cats to a pet hospital for a checkup, which delayed him a day.

Now that he had confirmed all four cats were healthy, he brought them over this morning.

“Wow, such adorable kittens!”

“This one is so sweet!”

“…”

Before Song Xia and Lin Zhu could even pick, several employees had already been drawn in by the cats and gathered around excitedly.

Song Xia carefully examined the four cats inside the cages. They weren’t of any particularly rare breed—two orange tabbies and two not-so-pure silver shaded cats.

But each one was undeniably cute.

After a serious look, she chose one of the orange tabbies.

Lin Zhu quickly picked a silver shaded one.

“Alright, then I’ll take the other two back,” Pang Tao said, transferring the two chosen cats into one cage and preparing to leave with the remaining two.

But just as he moved, the other staff stopped him.

One of them asked, “Um… can we adopt the other two?”

“Of course. Which one do you want?” Pang Tao replied with a nod.

Before long, all four cats had found owners, and Pang Tao left the café empty-handed.

“Sister Song Xia, where should we put the cats?” Lin Zhu asked, looking around.

Since they were on duty, they couldn’t exactly take the cats home during work hours.

Song Xia glanced around the café, then pointed to a spot beside the window next to a potted plant.

“Put them over there for now. We’ll take them home after work.”

Lin Zhu carried the cage over and placed the cats beside the plant.

The café resumed normal business operations.

Before long,

Two young women walked in.

Song Xia glanced over and didn’t think much of it. Normally, once customers looked at the price list, they would quietly leave.

This sort of thing happened every day—she was used to it.

Even so, the café staff still warmly greeted the two and asked what kind of coffee they wanted.

But this time, things took a different turn.

The two women looked around upon entering—which was normal. The café had a pleasant interior, and most visitors instinctively looked around a bit.

But then something changed. The moment they spotted the four cats by the potted plant, they couldn’t take their eyes off them.

After a while,

They turned to the nearby staff member and asked, “Can we pet the cats?”

From behind the counter, Song Xia overheard and responded, “Yes, you can.”

Judging by how excited the girls looked, they seemed to really love cats. Letting them pet them wouldn’t hurt.

With permission granted, the two immediately rushed over to the potted plant and began playing with the cats.

After petting them for a while, perhaps out of courtesy—or something else—they each ordered a cup of coffee and sat down next to the cats, occasionally reaching over to play with them again.