Chapter 260: Choosing the City

The next day, just before noon.

Chen Mo was lounging in the living room watching TV when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Glancing at the time, he figured it must be Song Xia.

She had called him the night before, saying she wanted to report a few things.

Since the company hadn’t officially resumed work yet and he didn’t feel like going in, he just told her to come over to his place.

“President Chen, I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

At the door, Song Xia spoke cautiously.

“Not at all. Come in.”

Once inside, Chen Mo poured her a glass of water and asked casually, “So, what do you need to report?”

Song Xia took the glass, paused in thought, and then began slowly.

“President Chen, it’s about Nanhe Coffee.”

“What about Nanhe Coffee?”

Chen Mo’s expression turned serious. He had just done an inspection yesterday—everything seemed fine.

“It’s like this, President Chen. With the recent popularity of the Cat Café and Maid Café, other coffee shops have started copying the concept—especially the Cat Café. Teacher Su and I did some scouting over the past few days, and we found that five new Cat Cafés are currently under renovation. Two of them are nearly finished and will be opening soon.”

“Once those cafés open, they’ll definitely siphon off some of our customer traffic, which will reduce our revenue.”

Oh?

Now that’s good news.

Hearing Song Xia’s report, Chen Mo was secretly delighted.

The Cat Café and Maid Café were never meant to be profitable—they were happy accidents in his plan to lose money through coffee shops. If competition ended up reducing their income, all the better.

“President Chen, should we run some promotions before those new cafés open? Something to retain our customers.”

“Like a coupon system—if they bring it back next time, they get a discount. And maybe some other ideas…”

Song Xia suggested cautiously.

She, Teacher Su, and a few store managers had stayed up late brainstorming these ideas, hoping to retain customers once the competitors opened.

After all, their Cat Café had been operating for quite some time. With the right promotions, most customers would probably choose to stay loyal.

“No promotions.”

Chen Mo didn’t even hesitate before rejecting her proposal.

Trying to keep customers with promotions? Not a chance.

“But… if we don’t do anything, we might lose a big chunk of our customer base,” Song Xia said anxiously.

“No, even if you do run promotions, you’ll still lose customers. And those who stay because of promotions—are they really staying for the café?”

“They’re staying for the discounts. But can you keep running promotions forever?”

Chen Mo looked up at her.

Song Xia thought about it and shook her head. Of course they couldn’t keep the promotions going indefinitely.

“Exactly. Those customers who stay only because of the promotions will leave as soon as the deals stop.”

“So from the start, don’t offer any promotions. The ones who stay—those are our real customers.”

Listening to President Chen, Song Xia instinctively nodded. What he said made a lot of sense.

But then another concern came to mind.

“But President Chen, if the Cat Café and Maid Café bring in less revenue, Nanhe Coffee will lose even more money.”

“A lot of employees are worried that if Nanhe Coffee keeps losing money, you’ll eventually give up on it.”

She glanced at him nervously, trying to gauge his reaction.

But to her surprise, President Chen was smiling.

She had imagined all sorts of reactions from him—but not this.

“As long as Mingri Group is still standing, I’ll keep running this coffee shop,” Chen Mo said with a smile.

Looking at Song Xia, he felt reassured—he’d picked the right person.

This was the same woman who had once run a bubble tea shop into the ground. Under her management, Nanhe Coffee had consistently stayed in the red. Even with the unexpected success of two quirky coffee shops, the overall trajectory was still heading exactly where he wanted.

Give up Nanhe Coffee? Not a chance.

How could he possibly walk away from such a perfect money-losing venture?

If anything had to be abandoned, it should be Cangxue Games.

Out of all his businesses, Cangxue Games was the most rebellious. If the system didn’t forbid it, he would’ve kicked it out of the lineup long ago.

“Thank you, President Chen. Don’t worry, we’ll do our best to make Nanhe Coffee profitable,” Song Xia said, quickly standing up and bowing in gratitude at President Chen’s reassurance.

“Just don’t overdo it,” Chen Mo replied. “This profitability issue—it’s a long-term game.”

“So don’t stress over short-term results. Take your time. There’s no need to rush.”

Looking at Song Xia’s determined expression, Chen Mo felt a twinge of fear. If she actually managed to make Nanhe Coffee profitable…

He’d be heartbroken.

He hurried to soften his words, trying to ease her intensity, then continued speaking.

“Actually, it’s good you came today. I have a few things to arrange regarding Nanhe Coffee.”

“Please go ahead, President Chen,” Song Xia said seriously.

“Nanhe Coffee has already saturated the Jiang City market, but we can’t afford to slow down our expansion.”

“So we need to open new locations in other cities. That means setting up regional management, and having the Regional Offices report back to Jiang City Headquarters.”

“As for who’ll manage each region, I’ll leave that selection to you.”

Chen Mo spoke slowly and clearly.

“President Chen, Teacher Su and I have actually discussed this before. But we haven’t yet decided which city to target.”

She and Teacher Su had started planning the expansion before the New Year. They had a general strategy in place, but choosing the right city was proving difficult.

If they went for a high-consumption metropolis, their specialty coffee would definitely have a larger audience than in Jiang City.

After all, salaries in big cities were generally higher, and more people would be willing to pay 50 yuan for a cup of premium coffee.

But the problem with big cities was the cost—astronomical. Just the rent alone could be two or three times higher than in Jiang City.

And even though big cities had more potential customers for specialty coffee, they also had far more competition. Plus, Nanhe Coffee wasn’t exactly a household name.

Opening in a big city meant there was still a 90% chance they’d lose money.

Worse yet, with higher upfront costs, the losses could be even greater.

On the other hand, if they chose a lower-consumption city—like Jiang City, or one even less affluent—they’d face the same issue they were dealing with now: the high price of specialty coffee turning away customers.

Choosing the right city…

Chen Mo fell into thoughtful silence.