Chapter 241: No Explanation
The phone was quickly connected. Lin Canrong, clearly not expecting a call from President Pei, sounded slightly uneasy as he answered, "President Pei! Do you have any instructions for me?"
Pei Qian replied casually, "Nothing major, I just wanted to ask—how's business lately at Mingyun Private Kitchen? Are there many customers?"
Lin Canrong didn't answer right away, looking a bit embarrassed.
It wasn't a question of many or few customers—it was a question of whether there were any at all.
From the day it opened until now, Mingyun Private Kitchen had only hosted a few internal Tenda staff gatherings and that one meal for Zhang Zuting. Other than that, not a single outside guest had come.
That was perfectly normal. With no advertising and no publicity, of course no one would show up.
Some Tenda employees had mentioned the restaurant to their friends, but first, the location was remote and hard to find without guidance; most people didn't want the hassle. Second, the employees themselves had just eaten there not long ago and weren't eager to pay out of pocket for another round so soon.
So, recently—no customers at all.
Even though it would make him look incompetent, Lin Canrong thought about it and decided to tell the truth. He couldn't lie to President Pei.
President Pei's foresight was uncanny. Lying to him would only end badly.
"President Pei," he said honestly, "we haven't had any outside guests lately. I should reflect on that—it must be due to insufficient promotion. I'll immediately arrange for someone to strengthen the publicity—" Lin Canrong volunteered to take the blame.
Pei Qian quickly cut him off. "No, no, no, that's not what I meant."
"You're doing just fine. Your top priority is to provide the best food and service possible. Promotion isn't something you should be worrying about in the first place."
"The reason I called today was just to emphasize a few things."
"In the near future, there may be a small number of customers visiting Mingyun Private Kitchen. You must make sure all staff understand the following rules clearly."
"First—no photos allowed."
"Second—don't over-explain."
"Third—no exceptions for anyone."
"Understood?"
"Uh…" Lin Canrong hesitated.
He clearly didn't fully understand.
Pei Qian elaborated briefly. What he meant by "don't over-explain" was this:
If a customer asks, "Why don't you have many ingredients available?" or "Why do we have to book in advance?", the staff should simply answer, "Because these ingredients are rare and need to be transported from elsewhere."
No need to go into detail about why the ingredients are rare, or where they come from.
If someone asks, "Why are your dishes so much more expensive than elsewhere?", the staff should just reply, "Because we use higher-quality ingredients and offer a better dining environment and service."
Again—no need to elaborate on what exactly makes the ingredients better or how the service is superior.
In short: don't show off.
As for "no exceptions for anyone," it meant that even if some big shot came and offered to pay a premium to skip the line, they'd still have to make a reservation like everyone else. And again, the staff shouldn't explain too much about why.
Of course, that didn't mean they should be rude.
Service should still be professional and courteous—just without excessive explanations about abstract things.
"Got it?" Pei Qian asked again.
"Uh… got it, President Pei. I'll strictly enforce these rules," Lin Canrong replied.
Since Lin Canrong didn't ask any unnecessary questions, Pei Qian was satisfied.
After reminding him to report immediately if anything unusual happened, Pei Qian hung up.
On the other end of the line, Lin Canrong didn't say anything, but he was left deep in thought.
What exactly did President Pei mean by all that?
Could this be that legendary 'No Explanation Marketing'?
So basically, no matter what a customer asks, they're not supposed to explain anything?
The attitude was like: "Just eat. Why so many questions?"
Of course, it couldn't actually sound that blunt. What President Pei meant was that the servers should still treat customers like gods—but not the kind of god whose every question must be answered in detail.
This went completely against Lin Canrong's usual understanding of customer service.
Something about it just didn't feel right.
Misunderstandings between people are supposed to be cleared up through communication. If a customer is dissatisfied, the staff should explain thoroughly so the customer can fully understand.
If they just smile awkwardly and brush things off, it might make the misunderstanding worse instead.
But… President Pei's instructions were crystal clear, and he'd even taken the trouble to call personally to emphasize them. That alone showed how important this was.
"Forget it. President Pei must have his reasons. No need to overthink."
"Just follow his instructions exactly."
"Wait a minute—how does President Pei know there'll be customers coming soon?"
"Oh, he must've come up with another way to promote the restaurant. No wonder he told me not to worry about publicity."
Although he couldn't begin to guess what Pei Qian was planning, Lin Canrong felt that President Pei carried himself with absolute confidence—as if he already had every step of the future planned out.
Having a leader like that really was something to be grateful for.
Relaxed, Lin Canrong went off to fire up his staff and give them a motivational pep talk.
. . .
That evening, Pei Qian had already returned home.
After tidying up the dismantled remains of his camera from the desk and doing a bit of quick editing, he got ready to upload the new video.
The Hardcore Review account was steadily gaining followers. The growth wasn't explosive, but the results were already far beyond Pei Qian's expectations.
In short—mission accomplished!
Now even if Lin Chang thought about it later, he wouldn't be able to say that President Pei took the money and did nothing.
Pei Qian glanced through the silly barrage of comments on his past videos and started mapping out his next steps.
The highest priority was, of course, the two games.
The development of Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition was progressing much faster. The commercial was already shot, and by early next month—in about ten days—it would be ready for advertising and testing.
Turn Back Before It's Too Late, on the other hand, would need at least another month.
Aside from that, he had to keep an eye on Mingyun Private Kitchen—just to make sure it didn't blow up unexpectedly.
As for Terminal Chinese Web, Against the Wind Logistic, and Feihuang Studio, those could be safely ignored for now. The first two were stable money sinks, and the last one would turn out the same no matter what he did.
Thankfully, his business empire had expanded wide enough that his spending speed had noticeably increased.
All the Against the Wind Logistics Stations were now running smoothly. In the areas where Pei Qian was most active, deliveries could even be made straight to customers' doors.
Of course, if someone didn't want home delivery and insisted on picking up the package themselves, that was fine too. Each station only served a small neighborhood, so if a customer requested not to have the delivery brought to their home, the couriers would simply wait for them to pick it up in person.
Pei Qian mused to himself that whether he could lose money this time still hinged on Against the Wind Logistic.
Even though the other ventures seemed stable now, who knew when one of them might suddenly turn profitable out of nowhere?
If he could just keep the logistics company unprofitable, then whenever something else accidentally started making money, he could offset it easily—by opening more courier stations and hiring more delivery staff. That way, he could keep the profits under control.
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