During the National Day holiday, Chen Pingjiang wasn't idle either.
He had a long discussion at the billiards room next door to his BBQ restaurant, and finally negotiated to take over the storefront.
The decision to take over the billiards room was also carefully considered.
First, as the weather gradually turns colder after the National Day holiday, fewer and fewer people will dine outdoors, so there must be enough indoor tables available for customers.
Second, as the BBQ restaurant's business improves, he needs a larger space to accommodate the traffic.
Finally, with such a dense and large flow of people as endorsement, the billiards hall's business cannot be bad.
The billiards room was quite large.
Chen Pingjiang divided it into two; one half would continue to operate as a billiards room, and the other half would be partitioned into private rooms.
During the seven-day National Day holiday, although many students went home, there were still many students remaining on campus, and Xiao Chen BBQ's business was still able to cover costs and make a small profit.
After settling matters at Dongcai, Chen Pingjiang took Zhou Guanghan to scout out the Tiyuan Commercial Street.
Yes, he planned to drain all cash flow and launch a branch during the National Day mini-holiday.
Now was the best time; if he missed this point, winter would come soon after the holiday, and the off-season would also arrive.
Xiao Chen BBQ's revenue for half a month was over one hundred thousand yuan, which included various payables such as staff salaries and supplier payments.
All of it was invested by Chen Pingjiang into the establishment of the branch.
The situation at Tiyuan was more complex.
Directly opposite the main gate was a new residential complex under construction by Evergrande, where the foundations had just been laid.
To the right was a mature residential community called Huamao Garden, which did not have a proper commercial area.
The first-floor storefronts from the west gate leading to Huamao Garden collectively formed Tiyuan's temporary commercial street.
Tiyuan students would come directly from the west gate for gatherings, and some even climbed over the wall.
The storefronts directly opposite the west gate had the largest foot traffic, with almost no shops willing to transfer ownership, all of them small restaurants and inns.
The two walked around for a long time, eventually following the street inwards into a small shop selling Jihongbao.
The shop area was about eighty square meters, which was not really suitable for a large BBQ restaurant; otherwise, once business got good, it would face the embarrassment of insufficient indoor seating.
But the good thing was that there was also a large open space available at the entrance.
"Boss, one medium Jihongbao, with lettuce, potatoes, and qianzhang, and four beers,"
Chen Pingjiang ordered, then turned to look around.
At dinnertime, there were only two tables of guests in the entire shop, eerily quiet.
Although students were on holiday now, it was next to Huamao Garden, so even serving residents of the community, business should be decent, but he didn't expect it to be so bad.
Chen Pingjiang thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out.
Could it be that this place really wasn't suitable for a restaurant? But this location shouldn't be so bad.
"Sigh, don't even mention it. Business was alright for the first six months after opening, but now competition is getting tougher and business is harder to do."
"Even if Huamao Garden residents eat out, they usually go to proper restaurants. If there are more than three people, they definitely wouldn't consider Jihongbao."
"My place is also a bit far from the Tiyuan school gate, students don't want to walk that far."
"If the price is slightly higher, students can't afford it."
...
Chen Pingjiang was initially comforting the owner sympathetically, but until the Jihongbao was served and he took a bite, he realized that there was a reason for such poor business.
The taste could only be described as very average.
Local Dongjiang residents' acceptance of Jihongbao was not yet very high.
The most crucial thing was that the portion size was ridiculously small.
A 58-yuan Jihongbao had only a pitiful amount of chicken; it was all side dishes, potatoes with potatoes, barely filling.
Extremely low value for money!
58 yuan just for side dishes like potatoes, lettuce, and tofu skin.
Chen Pingjiang finished a glass of iced beer, and after getting rid of the heat, continued chatting with the owner:
"Business is so bad, why don't you transfer it out?"
"Didn't I put up a 'for transfer' ad at the door? But people came, saw how bad my business was, and left without much discussion."
This explained Chen Pingjiang's second question: why couldn't such a good location be transferred?
Chen Pingjiang thought, isn't that right?
If he hadn't been hungry and just eaten a meal on the side, he would have also thought there was a problem with the shop's location.
In reality?
To the right of the Jihongbao shop was a medium-sized supermarket, and further down, a milk tea shop.
Ten meters to the left was the side gate of Huamao Garden residential community.
To run a business so poorly in such a location, Chen Pingjiang really wanted to advise the owner to stop doing business and just go to a factory and honestly work.
Occupying the high-density population of Huamao Garden and Tiyuan, and with a supermarket next door, it was a perfectly good starting hand, but unfortunately, he played it poorly.
Business was so bad that even those considering taking over thought it was cursed.
"Big brother, I'll take over your shop."
"Huh? I'm serious, don't kid with me."
Chen Pingjiang replied,
"Why would I kid you?"
After the meal, Chen Pingjiang had almost finished negotiating the details.
The owner, having suffered enough, was grinning from ear to ear when he heard Chen Pingjiang was willing to take over.
The transfer fee for all the tables, chairs, air conditioning, and kitchenware in the shop was a total of twenty thousand yuan, plus five months of rent, making it fifty thousand yuan in total.
The process was unbelievably smooth; Chen Pingjiang had truly stumbled upon a great deal.
Even more surprising was that inside the supermarket entrance were several storefronts, currently vacant.
If they could be rented later and connected to the Jihongbao shop, it would add another 40-50 square meters of business area.
Returning to the Dongcai main store with Zhou Guanghan, Chen Pingjiang announced the plans for a branch.
Everyone was excited; they hadn't expected that in less than half a month, a formerly struggling BBQ restaurant would even have a branch.
"Yuanlan, I plan to transfer you to the new store. You'll handle all the preliminary preparation work, including opening promotions, to train your abilities."
Chen Pingjiang thought highly of Zhu Yuanlan and was consciously nurturing her.
Zhu Yuanlan was also full of enthusiasm, without any dissatisfaction: "Okay, Boss, I'll report tomorrow."
Any fool would know that staying at the main store and enjoying ready-made benefits would mean a higher salary, but Zhu Yuanlan loved challenges.
The Dongcai store currently had four chefs, two assistants, and four waiters.
Chen Pingjiang had arranged them with the highest configuration precisely to facilitate opening a branch.
Now, they only needed to add two more people to the Dongcai store and transfer a few experienced staff from the Dongcai store to the Tiyuan store.
"These two days, teach Xiao Qing how to keep and reconcile accounts. Afterward, Xiao Qing will temporarily take on the role of store manager at the Dongcai store,"
Chen Pingjiang continued to announce new appointments.
Wei Xiaoqing was stunned, never expecting the boss would make her the manager of the Dongcai store.
She said somewhat nervously,
"Boss, can I do it?"
Chen Pingjiang gave her a look of confident encouragement:
"If I say you can do it, you can. Besides, the Dongcai store is under my watchful eye, and I'll be here to support you. Plus, you and Yuanlan live together, so take the time to ask her for more guidance."
Zhu Yuanlan also encouraged her friend:
"Xiao Qing, you're much smarter than me, you'll definitely be fine."
"Okay, then I will definitely work hard and live up to the trust of the boss and Sister Lan!"
Wei Xiaoqing nodded emphatically.
(End of Chapter)
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