Chapter 71 New High-End Brand

Tuesday, July 12th.

It had been four days since Thriller Hostel officially opened, and the peak weekend period of visitor traffic had passed.

To this day, Pei Qian still hadn't mustered the courage to go and see it for himself, relying solely on Guan Peisheng's reports to keep abreast of the situation.

The biggest piece of bad news during the opening period was that Qiao Liang, against all advice, had gone and cleared the "Ultimate Horror" challenge, but Pei Qian was powerless to do anything about it.

After all, hiring a hitman was out of the question.

At times like these, he could only console himself that Qiao Liang was just a gaming area upgrader; even if he made a video recommending Thriller Hostel, it probably wouldn't get many views… would it?

Pei Qian sat in Mo Yu Internet Cafe, sipping his coffee while reviewing the visitor experience reports from Thriller Hostel over the past three days.

Although it was only three days' worth of data, certain trends were already emerging.

Overall, it seemed… acceptable?

The foot traffic was slightly higher than Pei Qian had anticipated, but still within an acceptable range, as the actual revenue was basically in line with his expectations.

In short, they were still losing quite a bit of money.

Most of the foot traffic was concentrated in the first project, "Escape from Despair," which had limited capacity, able to accommodate only a certain number of people each day; any more than that and they'd have to wait in line.

Compared to "Escape from Despair," the number of people who experienced "Haunted House Nightmare" and "Ultimate Horror" was on a completely different scale.

The reason was simple: those two projects were too scary!

Moreover, "Haunted House Nightmare" directly weeded out ninety percent of those who wanted to court death; they tried it once and gave up, never getting the entry voucher for "Ultimate Horror."

According to Pei Qian's initial design, "Escape from Despair" was priced like cabbage, and even operating at full capacity wouldn't make much money.

"Haunted House Nightmare" was moderately priced, but newbies would be scared out of their wits after one try and wouldn't go again, while experienced players wouldn't go again after clearing it.

Not to mention "Ultimate Horror," where newbies couldn't even get the qualification, and experienced players would get partial refunds based on the difficulty and number of saves used.

In other words, Thriller Hostel did indeed have the potential for theoretical profitability, as required by the system, but only if the foot traffic for "Haunted House Nightmare" and "Ultimate Horror" was high enough.

If those two projects were also packed, plus 50% of the revenue from all merchandise sales in the Golden Maze, the Thriller Hostel project could make a lot of money. However, judging from the current data, that was clearly unrealistic.

The Golden Maze was a bit awkward; the maze didn't seem to be deterring players effectively, but not many goods were being sold either, especially the various items in the gold zone, because nobody was going to experience "Ultimate Horror," so they had no added value for most tourists, and therefore didn't sell well.

What's more, even if they were profitable, it would still be a long time before they recouped their costs.

In short, the current situation was perfectly acceptable!

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel cheered.

Thriller Hostel, a project that nearly collapsed in terms of publicity right from the start for various reasons, was actually developing well so far?

Yes, this was clearly due to my far-sighted judgment!

Pei Qian couldn't help feeling a little proud.

As he was looking at the reports, the phone on the table gently vibrated twice, receiving a message.

Pei Qian picked up his phone and saw that it was from Rui Yuchen.

"President Pei, Mo Yu Takeaway's new high-end brand, 'Shi He' (Food Harmony), is ready to be officially launched. Would you be able to taste it at noon today and give your opinion?"

Huh?

They were moving pretty fast!

Pei Qian had actually been monitoring the movements of this high-end Mo Yu Takeaway brand for a long time. From the very beginning, when Rui Yuchen and Lin Canrong started secretly meeting and secretly developing it, Pei Qian had already grasped their movements and was closely observing them.

And the result of his observation was… it seemed like the success rate of this approach was very low?

Therefore, Pei Qian had not interfered too much, but had quietly followed it, waiting for this new high-end brand to be launched.

Pei Qian replied, "Okay, send it to the Mo Yu Internet Cafe near Handong University."

Because it was a new launch, the "Shi He" high-end brand was only available at Mo Yu Takeaway Store No. 1, which was the food lab.

They needed to test the waters a bit, see what the feedback was from most consumers, and then decide whether to promote it to other Mo Yu Takeaways.

Because the "Shi He" menu was different from the regular Mo Yu Internet Cafe meals, and the delivery method was also different, if they wanted to promote it, it would mean that the chefs at each Mo Yu Takeaway would have to be retrained, and some ingredients and a large number of food boxes and other delivery supplies would have to be prepared separately.

In short, it would cost a lot of money again, and Rui Yuchen didn't dare to promote it rashly.

Pei Qian's idea was exactly the opposite. He would try a meal today, and if he felt that there was no possibility of making a profit, then he would have to seize the time to promote it and popularize it to all the current Mo Yu Takeaway stores!

Near noon, the delivery guy arrived.

He was wearing the same uniform as the other Mo Yu Takeaway guys, but instead of carrying an insulated box on his back, he was carrying a simple, low-key food box.

"President Pei, enjoy your meal."

The delivery guy placed the food box in front of President Pei and turned to leave.

It was a little strange to be eating Mo Yu Takeaway at a Mo Yu Internet Cafe, since Mo Yu Internet Cafe itself supplied all of Mo Yu Takeaway's meals.

However, Pei Qian didn't care about this. After a brief examination, he successfully opened the food box and saw the meals inside.

The food box was clearly custom-made. Its principle was that of an insulated lunch box, but the exterior wasn't the shiny stainless steel type, but was wrapped in a layer of special skin-friendly material.

At first glance, the appearance of the food box was a bit like a traditional wooden food box in terms of color, and it was also dotted with some traditional and classical patterns, but it felt completely different to the touch and was very comfortable.

It was clear that a lot of effort had gone into the customization of the food box.

Although stainless steel insulated containers had a good insulation effect, their appearance would give people a sense of cheapness and couldn't express the concept of the "Shi He" brand. But if traditional wooden food boxes were used, there would be no way to solve the insulation problem and ensure the dining experience.

Therefore, Mo Yu Takeaway had made a comprehensive consideration in this regard: the function had to be insulation, the appearance had to be distinctive, and the cost had to be kept as low as possible.

The cost of mass-producing a food box like this could be reduced to twenty or thirty yuan, but this price was still ten times higher than the porcelain bowls originally used by Mo Yu Internet Cafe.

In other words, if the porcelain bowls were lost, Mo Yu Takeaway could bear the loss, but if the food boxes were lost, they couldn't afford it.

This thing was like a shared bicycle. If it was lost and no one was held accountable, then many people would definitely hide it for private use.

Pei Qian didn't mind losing a few more, but the system would definitely not agree.

Therefore, the specific operating methods of the "Shi He" brand would definitely be different from those of Mo Yu Internet Cafe in the details.

Pei Qian opened the food box, which had several layers that could be pulled out separately and placed on the table.

The dishes in the food box looked good and didn't seem to have been shaken violently, which showed that stricter requirements had been placed on the "Shi He" delivery personnel.

A more high-end brand naturally had to have better service, and it would also have a higher added value.

The meals inside included an appetizer and candied fruit platter, Longjing shrimp, double vegetables in broth, vegetarian fried rice, and matsutake mushroom soup.

The shape and function of each layer of the food box were different. For example, the platter layer was divided into fan-shaped compartments, while the layer with soup had a lid to prevent splashing.

The portions of these dishes were not large, and all together, they were just for an ordinary person, but there were many varieties, and they tried their best to achieve a balanced diet.

These dishes were basically from the Ming Yun Private Kitchen menu, but the preparation methods must be different.

It was impossible for "Shi He" to prepare food according to the Ming Yun Private Kitchen level of recipes. Whether it was in terms of time, investment, or price, it was not allowed. They could only selectively remove some time-consuming steps that didn't improve the taste much, and balance the overall experience and price while ensuring that the taste exceeded that of ordinary meals.

Pei Qian took out the matching tableware from the food box and quickly ate most of the dishes.

After eating, he smacked his lips and tasted the flavor; it was okay.

It definitely couldn't compare with the original dishes from Ming Yun Private Kitchen, but compared with the regular Mo Yu Takeaway, the taste and experience were definitely improved.

Pei Qian considered it and felt that this thing couldn't be said to have no possibility of making a profit at all. The key was the price and the specific marketing strategy.

Thinking of this, Pei Qian called Rui Yuchen.

"President Pei? Have you tasted it? How does it taste?" Rui Yuchen's voice seemed a little nervous and a little expectant.

After all, this was a new brand and a new model that he and Lin Canrong had researched, and President Pei's approval was very important.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and said, "How much does this set cost?"

Rui Yuchen replied, "Currently... it's 58 yuan. The specific price will depend on the different meal combinations."

His voice involuntarily lowered a little, and he was obviously not very confident about this price.

Compared with the previous Mo Yu Takeaway, the price had doubled or tripled.

Pei Qian was delighted in his heart, but he didn't show it so obviously. He continued to ask, "What happens if the food box is lost?"

"Also, I see that the amount of food in these meals is basically about one-third of the regular portion. In other words, one dish has to be divided into three portions and sold? How do you ensure the time and taste?"

In order to make the nutrition balanced, the entire set meal was made up of several dishes, and each portion was not large. The chef couldn't possibly cook each small portion at a time; he could only cook a plate at a time and distribute it to three customers.

However, customers ordered at different times. Even if there was insulation, the taste would definitely deteriorate if it was left in the insulated container for too long.

Rui Yuchen said, "For the food box, we need customers to pay a deposit first to prevent the food box from being lost or used privately. Of course, the deposit can be refunded at any time."

"As for the time issue, our current idea is to have a unified delivery time, but there's a problem that some customers may have to wait a long time..."

Pei Qian: "How can we make customers wait for a long time? That's definitely not appropriate!"

"I think we should do it like Ming Yun Private Kitchen and make everything by reservation. We only accept reservations two hours in advance, and we'll cook, divide, and deliver according to everyone's orders."

Rui Yuchen was stunned for a moment: "Only accept reservations in advance? President Pei, isn't that a bit unfriendly to new users? If they want to order a meal to try, they have to pay a deposit first and make a reservation two hours in advance?"

Pei Qian smiled and said, "What we want are long-term old customers. If they're dissuaded by this little setback, then it means they're not destined for this brand."

"Moreover, it's not appropriate to pay a deposit. We should only open this meal to old Mo Yu Takeaway and Tengda users, and they must have good credit. If the lunch box is lost, they either have to pay for it or have their credit score deducted."

"Since it's a high-end brand, why not make it even more high-end?"

On the other end of the phone, Rui Yuchen fell silent.

It seemed that no matter how radical a plan he came up with, President Pei could always come up with an even more radical one...

Only old users with high credit scores could taste the "Shi He" brand, and they had to make a reservation two hours in advance, and the price was 2 to 3 times more expensive than regular Mo Yu Takeaway...

Although Rui Yuchen's initial goal was to create a more high-end takeaway brand, he still felt that he was taking too big of a step to be this high-end.

He might accidentally get his balls caught.

But since President Pei had already given instructions, it wouldn't be appropriate not to listen.

Rui Yuchen said, "Okay, President Pei, I'll do as you said. I'll do a pilot project at a few major Mo Yu Takeaways first and report back to you in a week."

Pei Qian smiled and nodded: "Okay, go ahead. We'll decide next week whether to promote the 'Shi He' model to all other Mo Yu Takeaway stores."