Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Although Zhang Yuan did not really understand these things, he at least had basic sense and judgment.

 To choose a shop, the location was crucial. Some so-called ‘golden streets’ could command rentals of six to seven yuan per square meter a day; why was that?

 The location was very good!

 If the location was good, the surroundings were upscale; and human traffic was high. Any shop that would definitely make a profit. Conversely, if the location was bad and human traffic was low, no matter how good one’s shop was; who would purposely go all the way to patronize it?

 Hence, the best location was definitely in some huge shopping spaces; especially big shopping malls.

 The area near a university was not bad either.

 This site was just within a normal shopping district; it was also one street away from the shopping mall. The surroundings were rather quiet and empty; one look, and Ma Yang knew that human traffic here was not high!

 The rental fee of three and fifty cents yuan per square meters a day was not considered expensive. However, the problem was it wasn’t that worth it for this location!

 While Zhang Yuan was thinking about this, he wondered if he should voice out his concerns. After all, he was a newcomer and if he abruptly spoke out, would that be inappropriate?

 However, if he didn’t say anything and this business collapsed… who would bear the blame?

 Zhang Yuan was very conflicted.

 “Alright, this place is not bad; I’ve decided!” Pei Qian made up his mind on the spot.

 Zhang Yuan, “…”

 He didn’t need to think further. Since Boss Pei had spoken, if Zhang Yuan continued to criticize this location, wasn’t that courting trouble for himself?

 Zhang Yuan could only keep mum.

 “Do you have the floor plan for this place?” Pei Qian asked.

 “I do, I do!” Ma Yang hurriedly clicked on his mouse and found the floor plan for this building, “Here you go.”

 Pei Qian took a look. This place was not small; it was three thousand square meters. This place was actually around the same size as Tengda’s current office space. However, this place was split into two floors; each floor was a thousand five hundred square meters.

 “I’ll explain the plan briefly; when this place is up, you two will be running it. The internet cafe would only be one of the services of this shop. I only want fifty computers. If there are more than fifty customers, ask them to queue and wait.”

 “As for the price… ten yuan an hour; would that be too much?

 “I want to have a bar counter, all sorts of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks as per a bar’s specifications. Zhang Yuan, you know how to mix drinks, right? Since there won’t be that many customers—if you have nothing to do, mix a couple of drinks for them, and display your skills. If not, you’d be bored anyway.

 “Create a space near the bar counter to entertain guests. It can be a cafe in the day with some soft and soothing music. People can come to drink tea and play board games. In the night, it would be a pub. Zhang Yuan, you can be a house singer, right? If you feel like it, you can go and sing a few songs.

 “Also, separate a space and put some books. Order some books from online or a bookstore. If customers have nothing to do while resting and drinking coffee, they could even take a book to peruse and cultivate their feelings.

 “Additionally, let’s offer three meals a day! Didn’t this place use to be a cafeteria? There should be a rather complete kitchen here, right? However, do not keep the kitchen equipment they had used; I want everything to be new!

 “Go online and hire a professional head chef. Don’t bother with French, Japanese, or other fancy types of cuisine; let’s do comfort food! Something like eggs and tomatoes, Yuxiang shredded pork¹, and shredded cabbage would be good.

 “Let’s not have too many dishes on the menu; around ten dishes every month would be good. If you guys think that the dishes are getting boring, you can change the menu monthly.

 “As for the price… it has to be more expensive than restaurants outside. After all, our head chef’s skills would be superb! Of course, we shouldn’t make it that expensive; thirty percent higher than normal would be good.

 “A space on the second floor should be reserved for sales. Let’s sell some peripherals like mouses, keyboards, joysticks, etc. I want all to be imported, branded items! I don’t expect to make money from this; as long as we can cover costs, I am happy.

 “Beside this space, let’s have a small-scale movie screening hall. It can serve as a private movie theater; ten-odd seats should be sufficient.

 “En, this should be more or less it.

 “Even though our place might be small, we’ll have everything that people would need; it’s perfect!

 Ma Yang hurriedly recorded everything down. However, Zhang Yuan was flabbergasted as he heard Pei Qian speaking.

 I hadn’t heard wrong, right?

 This place was only three thousand square meters, right? If someone wasn’t in the know, they would have thought that Boss Pei had bought an entire shopping mall!

 This was a major hotchpotch of ideas. Most importantly, who was the target clientele for all these different things? Was it people who were here to surf the net, here to eat, or here to drink coffee?

 Furthermore, the investment and yield were definitely not going to be in direct proportion! To do a private movie hall with only ten-odd seats? Was everyone else supposed to stand and watch?

 For a three thousand square feet building on its own, only fifty computers were going to be installed?

 Also, the idea of having a cafe in the day and a pub at night here was a little weird…

There was also going to be a books corner, and they were to purchase a huge collection of books?

 If people were coming to surf the net, who was going to be reading?

 Taking a superficial view of things, the more services offered, the better. However, it wasn’t like this in reality. As the saying went, biting off more than one could chew!

Young internet addicts nowadays were very poor; they were going online just to play games. They had no interest in eating and drinking. At most, they would go to the supermarket outside and buy a bottle of mineral water. They wouldn’t buy your alcoholic drinks!

 Furthermore, to set the price at ten yuan an hour; not many could afford that.

 This place was also more deserted. Even if some people came over here to drink coffee, that wouldn’t be enough to cover the overhead expenses. To provide traditional comfort food dishes; that was even more ridiculous.

 As for the pub…

Normal pubs would have all sorts of activities going on! For example, ladies night where ladies could enter for free, impressive band performances. In other words, pubs had to be run in a certain way in order to succeed! To squeeze out a few hundred square meters of space in such a poor location to start a pub; could it become something big?

 Furthermore, if one took the menu and saw all sorts of high-class western wines on one side, and eggs and tomatoes and Yuxiang shredded pork on the other side.

 How was that palatable!

 The more Zhang Yuan thought, the more he felt that this business was not going to go well.

 Within one or two months… things would die down!

 As if sensing Zhang Yuan’s apprehension, Pei Qian preempted him and said something that left Zhang Yuan speechless. “This shop is Tengda Corporation’s first step towards having a physical presence; don’t worry about short-term losses! It is a big-scale entertainment venue that encompasses entertainment, lifestyle, gaming, and all aspects of life. To not be accepted in the short-term would be very normal. The crux is to slowly change people’s minds!”

 Zhang Yuan opened his mouth; however, no words came out.

 Alright, since Boss Pei had said that short-term losses were fine, let’s do this.

 Anyway, I’ll have more than ten thousand yuan in wages a month.

 …

After sending Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan on their way, Pei Qian felt much more relaxed. Pei Qian was very pleased with this site. Especially after hearing it used to be a cafeteria that had gone bust, Pei Qian was even happier with it.

 If he created a hodgepodge here and did some flashy yet without substance things and spent more than he earned—sooner or later, this place would surely collapse!

As his gaming project and this physical shop were the main two pieces in Pei Qian’s aim of making a loss, he had to keep a close eye on these projects.

 As for Huang Sibo—even if he made a loss, that was at most one million yuan; it wasn’t worth Pei Qian focusing too much on him. As long as Huang Sibo didn’t make it seem likely of making money, Pei Qian couldn’t be bothered.

 A short video; even if it could receive a few influencers’ attention, how much money could it make?

 It was nothing to be feared!