The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chapter 82 Beyond Expectations

Fei Yang Yang Hot Pot City opened more than ten days before the Lunar New Year.

Leveraging the mall's already high customer traffic, Fei Yang Yang launched three special packages upon opening.

Family portrait banquet.

There are 12 dishes in total: three hot pot dishes, six vegetarian dishes, and three small side dishes.

Suitable for family gatherings of 8 to 12 people, priced at 368.

That's right, it's 368.

It was so cheap that even people in Beijing couldn't believe they were eating a banquet meal at the Grand Beijing Department Store.

Another option is Carrefour, which offers two hot pots, three vegetable dishes, and a plate of peanuts.

198 yuan.

Hot pot isn't a fixed menu, nor are the vegetarian options; there are many choices to be made.

The last type is a friendship between two people, or a romantic partnership.

A hot pot, two vegetable dishes, a plate of peanuts, and a bottle of beer.

98 yuan.

All of these are discounted packages.

This marketing plan was finalized before Chen Pingsheng left Beijing.

People today live at a fast pace, and many people encounter difficulties in making choices when ordering food, or it takes up a lot of time.

Using the discounted package is different; it's obviously cheaper at first glance.

After all, this isn't one of those small alley shops, but a large store of over 500 square meters in a high-end shopping mall.

The store's annual rent is as high as 120 million.

We use high-end decor and huge storefronts to offer the best value for money.

It's clear that its business will be good.

It's understandable that Boiling Sheep's business picked up quickly after it opened.

Liu Fen came with her whole family.

She only recently discovered that she had been completely fooled; her son-in-law lent her a super cool Navigator, but didn't give her any gas.

This big guy is indeed stylish and imposing; every step he takes is a money-making opportunity.

It would be fine if she were the only one driving it, only when she needed to show it off. But when relatives asked to borrow it, wanting to use it as a wedding car, she got very upset.

Another point is that she actually moved into a big house in a high-end community with a wonderful environment.

The area is about 300 square meters, and it's fully furnished.

When her son-in-law first lent her the money, she was very happy for the first two days.

After a while, things changed; the property management fees became outrageous.

With her meager income, she could support a top-notch navigator, plus a 300-square-meter luxury mansion.

Aside from being flashy when treating others to meals, the rest of the time it just makes your wallet increasingly empty.

Her eldest son-in-law finally returned, and she was still wondering if she could borrow another gas card from him.

My requirements aren't high; I just need to top up 10,000 to 20,000 yuan each month.

I also paid the property management fee while I was at it.

His mother-in-law only has this little bit of a thought, he won't be dissatisfied.

Liu Fen, Song Wu, and Song Huamin arrived at Fei Yang Yang.

Business was really good; the place was packed with people.

The son-in-law was in a separate room, chatting with Gao Hu and several other managers of the store.

The other four stores are about to open at the same time, at which point Fei Yang Yang will be considered a chain in Shijingshan.

Initially, the focus was mainly on shopping mall stores.

Shopping mall stores have high foot traffic, which can also serve as a form of advertising.

"Old Chen, the flavor of our Boiling Sheep is still more Hunan-style, mainly spicy. But in Beijing, many people mainly eat noodles, such as steamed buns, cornbread, flower rolls, steamed cakes, rice cakes, dumplings, sugar triangles, cornmeal pancakes, as well as noodles, buns, dumplings, etc. These kinds of noodles are not popular in the southern provinces, but they are very popular here."

"Let's study fire! Don't we have the Boiling Sheep Training Headquarters?"

After putting down the menu, Chen Pingsheng said, "Every place has its own unique food culture. Hunan cuisine is mainly spicy, Cantonese cuisine is light and soupy, and people in the north prefer noodles."

"If Boiling Sheep wants to become the largest catering chain group in China in the future, it cannot just stick to one place. It must adapt to the tastes and characteristics of different places."

"If we don't adapt to the market and wait for the market to adapt to us, it's perfectly normal for us to be eliminated one day."

In the southern province, as long as you can perfect a dish like stir-fried pork with chili peppers, that restaurant will generally never lack customers.

In the north, if you don't know how to make noodles, you're really like a crippled arm.

He walks with a limp.

Boiling Sheep is a large investment, and a lot of work was done in the early stages of opening the store, which is something that a single store simply cannot do.

Now that he has discovered his shortcomings, he can adjust them in time. Chen Pingsheng said, "Learning northern pastry takes time. Why not spend a lot of money to hire a master pastry chef from the capital to specialize in pastry?"

How much do you think is appropriate?

Gao Hu also felt that hiring someone was more appropriate, as training takes time and cannot be done in a short period of time.

"Twenty or thirty thousand, with only one requirement: it must be top-tier."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Don't be afraid to spend a lot of money to hire people. As long as Fei Yangyang can break even within six months, it will be considered a success."

"But wouldn't doing this mean there's no profit, and it would be pointless for those who received store dividends?"

Gao Hu held 15% of the original shares, and Zhao Liying invested 10 million yuan, also holding 15%.

The remaining 70% belongs to him alone. It won't be until the Series A funding round is completed and the Series B funding round begins that everyone's shares will be diluted.

Therefore, his way of making money is the same as mine; neither of them relies on profits.

Only when everyone's interests are aligned will they avoid letting their self-interest dictate their thinking.

To put it bluntly, it's a conflict of interest.

For example, Gao Hu is responsible for the execution and operation of Boiling Sheep. If he only takes dividend shares, the store profit is his only way to make money.

It's quite clear that Chen Pingsheng's goal from the beginning was to cash out through the capital market.

At this point, he will have a huge conflict of interest with Gao Hu.

As a result, many things will not be carried out so smoothly.

Only when everyone makes money through the capital market can they keep pace with each other.

The main reason Gao Hu raised this question was because, at the beginning of its operation, Fei Yang Yang had stipulated that the store's management would own 30% of the dividend shares.

This is a reward for the store's management.

If business is booming but management still doesn't get a share of the profits, people will assume they've committed financial fraud.

This is more hurtful than not giving it to them at all.

Chen Pingsheng also thought of this problem. He thought for a moment and said, "This is indeed a problem. Then let's do this: cancel the bonus shares and give high salaries directly. We can't give the management something that doesn't exist and make empty promises. That would be a complete fraud."

"Cancel the stock options, and management will receive a direct salary increase of 25% to 50% as their year-end bonus. You can decide on the specifics."

The non-existent dividend shares will be replaced with year-end bonuses.

This is indeed a good idea.

According to what Fei Yangyang decided early on, the head chef's monthly salary is 1.8 yuan, and the annual salary is around 22 yuan.

The year-end bonus can be between 6 and 10 yuan.

That adds up to over 300,000 a year, which is definitely a top salary in the industry.

Top salaries are needed to attract top talent.

Chen Pingsheng himself would never spend 5,000 to have his employees do 10,000 worth of work, as that would only cause complaints.

They also frequently engage in brainwashing and motivational rhetoric.

It's a different story if you spend over 300,000 to hire someone to do something worth 200,000.

What I say goes, and the employees will be genuinely grateful.

Who doesn't come to Beijing to make money? Talking about good fortune is all fake.

The greatest blessing for a boss is enabling employees to earn more money than they expect.

He always stuck to this point.

Therefore, his employees' income must exceed expectations.

If you think you can only earn six thousand for this job, I'll give you nine thousand.

If you think living in a bare-bones apartment as a dormitory is fine, I'll arrange for it to be fully furnished.

Exceed employee expectations and provide customers with exceptional value.

Of course, there is also a big problem here: employee income is higher than expected.

This means that store operating costs will rise indefinitely, customer expectations will exceed expectations, and profit margins will be squeezed to extremely low levels.

With this two-way stretching, the boss is likely to have to pay extremely high operating costs in the early stages.

Chen Pingsheng felt it was perfectly acceptable.

Those internet companies are losing money like crazy, but they were still incredibly arrogant when they went public.

He puts all his effort into his employees and builds a good reputation with his customers.

There's no reason why they shouldn't do it well.

Once he completes the IPO process, he will most likely be able to initiate stochastic multiplication.

By then, they'll be rolling in money.

That's hundreds of millions of random multiplications.

If the beating were 12 times higher, even a prince's mansion in the capital could buy a set.

(End of this chapter)