Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and looked at Zhang Yuan. "What's the financial situation for these internet cafes?"

Zhang Yuan immediately answered proudly, "They're looking good!

"The flagship store's getting about seven hundred thousand yuan per month in revenue. After deducting our expenses, we're making about two to three hundred thousand yuan per month. The other shops are doing slightly worse, but we're more or less balanced out.

"Our Ming Yun Villas branch was incurring the most losses among all the branches. However, its revenue has increased recently. I think we can generate an overall profit soon."

Hearing this, Pei Qian felt his heart begin to bleed.

However, this also gave his thoughts validation.

Again, Pei Qian asked, "Our main source of income in the internet cafes is the sale of alcohol, right?"

Zhang Yuan nodded. "That's right. The internet cafes' main sources of income are the sale of alcohol and coffee, as well as tips for the resident singers. Another important source of revenue is the internet-surfing fee. However, while more people are paying to surf the net at our internet cafes, there still aren't that many of them overall."

Pei Qian roughly understood the situation now.

"We do have to expand. We'll open a new branch in a location where the rent is the most expensive!"

Ma Yang's suggestion to expand the business reminded Pei Qian of something.

Pei Qian had not intended to throw money into a failed project like Fish-Catching Internet Cafe anymore.

Now, both the flagship store and the Ming Yun Villas branch have become popular. Fish-Catching Internet Cafe also had pretty good ratings on Quanmin Reviews. The internet cafes were now considered very famous in Jingzhou.

Once paying customers formed an impression of such high-end brands, they would remain forever. Even if Boss Pei opened a new branch, people would likely visit it as well.

Thus, opening a new branch would have been disadvantageous to Boss Pei.

Why would he open new branches if they could not incur losses?

However, after some thought, Pei Qian thought of another problem.

Among all the businesses, Upwind Logistics was probably the best at losing money.

Still, Ma Yang was the CEO of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe after all. Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was now doing so well; it was now well-reputed and making profits. How could they just stop now?

How would Pei Qian explain this to Ma Yang?

Of course, Boss Pei did not need to explain anything to anyone. He could choose to cast Fish-Catching Internet Cafe aside if he wanted. After all, allowing it to earn hundreds of thousands of yuan a month was a small burden which Boss Pei could afford to carry.

However, would people grow suspicious?

After all, something would be off.

Thus, Pei Qian thought of another idea.

Making some profit would not be a problem for now. There was still more than a month until settlement. He could spend all the money on Upwind Logistics and a new branch for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, right?

Even if all of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's branches generated profits, it would be fine as long as the new branch didn't earn money, right?

Those two Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches were making profits, but that was due to two main reasons.

First, most of the revenue was coming from the sale of alcohol and customers' tips for the resident singers. At the moment, most customers preferred to take Fish-Catching Internet Cafe as a coffee shop or a bar, and not a place to surf the net.

Pei Qian had nothing to say about this.

His original intention was to create a complete hodgepodge. He wanted to confuse everyone about what Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was in order to minimize the chances of the internet cafe becoming famous.

He would never have expected that the bar and coffee area would become more popular than the internet cafe area!

He could only say 'man proposes, God disposes'.

Apart from that, the few Fish-Catching Internet Cafes were located in deserted areas, and the rent was cheap.

Pei Qian had picked these locations out in order to keep the internet cafes hidden and traffic low. He hoped word about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would not spread, and rich customers would not be satisfied. That would have ensured that they would not recover the cost of daily operations.

However, the situation was completely different now.

Since Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had become famous, there was no point in keeping the branches in inconspicuous locations. Pei Qian would be better off looking for a busier location and spending more on rent!

To Pei Qian, as long as he could resolve both of these problems, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would be able to continue incurring losses.

That was why it was important for people to think in reverse.

The resident singers are bringing in money? Get rid of them!

The rent is too cheap? Find a more expensive place!

Pei Qian considered for a while and immediately decided on a perfect solution.

"Since that's the case, we can enter the second stage of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's plan," said Pei Qian in a serious tone.

Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan immediately perked up and listened closely.

The second stage! It looks like our hard work on Fish-Catching Internet Cafe has paid off. Boss Pei is validating us!

Pei Qian continued, "Once we enter the second stage, we will improve Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's reputation. At the same time, we will do as much as we can to emphasize the true nature of the business—the internet cafe."

Ma Yang became confused. Zhang Yuan was stunned as well. What did he mean by the internet cafe area being the true nature of the business? Wasn't diversification the advantage of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe?

They were earning the most from the sale of coffee and alcohol now!

Zhang Yuan continued to hear Pei Qian out despite the questions in his head.

Pei Qian pulled out his phone and opened the map application inside it. After scanning it for a while, he locked in on a few big shopping centers in Jingzhou.

"In the second stage, we will open a new branch to test waters. Location-wise… we'll pick a location in one of these shopping centers.

"We might not have as much space as we do now so we can forget about selling alcohol and coffee. We'll use up all the space for computers instead."

Pei Qian's thinking was quite clear.

Many branches were now breaking even in terms of finances. Even the flagship store, which was generating the most revenue, was earning only two to three hundred thousand yuan a month.

What if he could spend another three to four hundred thousand yuan a month on rent?

Wouldn't he turn the profits back into losses?

What's more, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was mainly earning revenue from the sale of alcohol and coffee, as well as a cut of the tips offered to singers. Getting rid of singers in the new branch meant that customers would not be able to tip them. That also meant that the internet cafe would not get a cut of the tips.

Of course, there was no need to make changes to the five existing branches. He would leave them as they were.

Only the new branch in the shopping center would purely be an internet cafe.

Zhang Yuan looked at the map, feeling perplexed. "Boss Pei, are we really opening a branch here?"

Opening a branch in the shopping center would ensure high traffic flow, but the rent would be too expensive!

They were now paying about three to four yuan per square meter for most of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's branches. An area of three thousand square meters cost about three hundred thousand yuan a month.

However, the rent in a big shopping center like that would not be as cheap! It could cost at least seven or eight yuan per square meter, and perhaps even more. The rent would be doubled just like that.

These shopping centers mostly contained international clothing, jewelry, bags, and cosmetics brands. Ordinary businesses would not be able to afford such high rent.

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was not even earning that much money at the moment. They would surely incur loss if they spent so much money on rent now.

What's more, the new Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branch would go down a different path from the existing ones. Their existing branches were diversified. Each branch contained an internet cafe, a coffee shop, and a bar.

If the new branch followed this model, they would at least be able to generate revenue from the sale of alcohol and drinks in the shopping center.

However, Boss Pei was introducing the second stage of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's plan. He wanted to 'emphasize the true nature of the business—the internet cafe'. That meant the new branch would only allow people to surf the net.

It sounded unfeasible!

Who would travel all the way to a high-end shopping center in Jingzhou City, just to play games by themselves in an internet cafe?

Wasn't that akin to burning money?

Of course, Zhang Yuan knew some men might feel frustrated while shopping in the shopping center. They might have the need to vent their frustrations by playing games.

However, that was not considered the norm at the moment.

Even if their girlfriends were so benevolent as to allow their boyfriends to play games while they shopped on their own, how long could the boyfriends play for?

They could play for an hour in the morning before it would be time for lunch. If the girlfriends continued to shop after a movie in the afternoon, they could only shop for a maximum of an hour before they would have to return home for dinner.

At most, these men would only be able to play games for about two hours. What's more, that was on the pretext that their girlfriends were benevolent people.

People like that would probably have poor gaming experience. What's more, the internet cafe would not earn much money from them.

Based on these considerations, the chances of the internet cafe recouping its capital were negligible.

That was unless… they raised the price!

Zhang Yuan quickly asked, "Boss Pei, shouldn't we raise the prices for this new branch as well? We could charge twenty yuan per hour."

Pei Qian shook his head at once. "No, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's official guiding price is ten yuan. We shouldn't raise the price as and when we want to."

Zhang Yuan, "…"

Ma Yang was silent the entire time, but at that moment, he raised up his thumb. "Good! Brother Qian, that's a good idea. Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is making a name for itself. We cannot keep renting such deserted locations. In order to become famous, we have to move into shopping centers like that!

"Then, we would be lumped together with international cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry brands. The effect would be significant!"

Pei Qian and Ma Yang high-fived. "Great minds think alike!"

Zhang Yuan, "…"

As if noticing Zhang Yuan's confusion, Ma Yang smiled. "It doesn't matter even if we incur losses in the short term. Our long-term goal is to build a good name for ourselves.

"Look at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store. Didn't it incur significant losses in the beginning? Slowly, we started to generate revenue and make profits. Now, it's doing so well!

"Look at everyone's comments about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe on Quanmin Reviews. They're all positive. What do you call this? These are the fruits of our labor. We persisted in building a name for ourselves and are now reaping the rewards!

"Do you understand?"

Pei Qian, "…"

This Old Ma—he's stealing all of my lines!

However, on second thought, it seemed natural. Pei Qian had said these words to Old Ma four or five times now. The constant brainwashing ensured that Old Ma would remember these words, no matter how forgetful he was.

Although his lines had been stolen and his wounds had been exposed, Pei Qian did not feel upset. Instead, he felt comforted.

Old Ma understands me more and more! If all my employees could understand me the way Old Ma does, I would not have to suffer so much worry and anxiety as the boss.

After leaving a few more instructions, Pei Qian entrusted the preparations for the new branch to Ma Yang.

As he thought about the new branch incurring losses, Pei Qian felt less upset.

Ming Yun Private Kitchen had gone awry. However, the situation was still under control. As long as Pei Qian lost more money through the new Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branch and opened more Upwind Courier stations, he would still be able to incur losses in the end. There should be no problem.