Chapter 360: Chapter 284: Who is Worthy to Challenge Starbucks? Chapter 360: Chapter 284: Who is Worthy to Challenge Starbucks? In the underground parking lot of Star City, Cheng Zhu parked his car and led his three underlings upstairs.
The three roommates from dorm 309 really crowded around him like eunuchs around the emperor, even on the escalator, Cheng Zhu stood on a step by himself, while the three of them insisted on squeezing onto the sa step.
Cheng Zhu turned his head to look at them and asked, “You seem very nervous.”
“Yeah, doesn’t this unknown feeling make you nervous and excited?” Dong Dong retorted.
Liu Feng then asked, “Brother Zhu, did any staff update you on the business in real-ti? Is that why you’re so calm now?”
“No,” Cheng Zhu shook his head. “They’re not that idle.”
The three of them did not fully understand the aning of Cheng Zhu’s words at the mont.
However, as everyone walked towards Youu Tea, they hadn’t even gotten close when they saw the long line at the entrance from a distance!
“Damn!”
“So many people!” Dong Dong and the others were shocked.
The entrance to Youu Tea was particularly intimidating, with people queuing up to buy milk tea forming a long dragon.
Many people, after buying their milk tea, lingered outside the store.
They held their phones, found a suitable spot to take photos, and then snapped pictures of the milk tea in their hands.
This made the area outside the entrance to Youu Tea, you could say, overcrowded.
Keep in mind that the milk tea shop was located at the entrance of the mall.
So many people, if order wasn’t maintained, would affect others trying to enter the mall.
Fortunately, at the entrance of the high-end mall, there was staff and security.
Cheng Zhu had greeted these people before the opening, handing each of them a couple of packs of cigarettes as a way of celebrating the opening.
Of course, he also hinted that there might be… quite a few more people than usual during the grand opening.
So they were also helping to maintain order at the scene.
Admittedly, this was the staff’s job in the first place.
But people are always like this, even though it is their duty, they still feel annoyed if their workload suddenly increases.
There had never been such a thing before the shop opened!
The cigarettes were just a way to soothe their emotions, to make them a little more pleasant while maintaining order.
To be honest, these workers didn’t take it seriously at first.
“There will be quite a few people on the grand opening?”
“You’re just a milk tea shop, how busy can you get?”
“Have you seen that Apple store in the mall? We’ve been through the queues for the iPhone launch! What kind of big event haven’t we seen?”
Then they witnessed it today!
Damn, how could there be so many people!
What’s with the milk tea, is drinking it supposed to make you immortal or what?
One of the security staff even secretly took a photo of the huge queue with his phone and sent it to a girl he was pursuing.
“Look at this milk tea shop in our mall, the queue is crazy! Don’t even know why.”
“Do you want to try it? If you do, I’ll buy it for you when I get a day off.”
If the girl replied that she wanted it or said sure, he would stand in line for an hour, then ride his e-bike for twenty minutes in the winter to deliver it to her doorstep.
As for whether he would order one for himself?
Order what, damn it, my entire month’s salary is just peanuts.
At the mont, not far from Youu Tea, Cheng Zhu stopped in his tracks, and his three minion-like roommates stopped with him.
They looked at Brother Zhu and finally saw a complex expression on his face, not the usual image of nonchalance.
“I just knew it! Brother Zhu can’t be completely calm inside!” they thought.
Little did they know Cheng Zhu was cursing inside.
“Damn it! The scene is even crazier than I expected; motherfucker, I hired too many stand-ins!”
…
…
Cheng Zhu was grumbling, feeling that he had spent so unjustified money.
“Indeed, I still underestimated the consur group in the big city,” he thought.
He had seen a joke online before:
“The white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen,
Are like the maidservants and eunuchs in the palace, having seen a lot of the world,
But they have no future, and no children.”
Why are there so many petty bourgeoisie in big cities?
Perhaps it’s related to them having seen a lot of the world, seen a corner of this glimring world.
Many high-end milk tea stores choose to open in big cities at the beginning, and this is one of the reasons.
For so ordinary people who have seen the world, high-end wine, I can’t afford. High-end restaurants, I also can’t afford. Even so high-end afternoon tea, I can’t enjoy…
But fucking high-end milk tea, can’t I indulge a little?
Milk tea, buy buy buy! Photos, snap snap snap! Share on social dia, post post post!
“It seems that the influence and promotional effectiveness of those two local Hang City WeChat accounts were even better than I estimated,” he thought.
Cheng Zhu was feeling a bit morose about this.
The three sworn brothers, in perfect unison, took out their phones and started snapping photos, then sharing them in the class group chat.
Even though they had no connection to the shop, for so reason, seeing the business doing so well and then sharing the photos felt exhilarating, like they were pretending perfectly!
The more literary way to express it would be to bask in the reflected glory.
To put it bluntly, this ntality was like “this is my roommate’s shop,” which is just like showing off to others about being good buddies with soone, using their na to add shine to one’s own.
On our way here, we were worried about Brother Zhu’s shop.
Worried about him? Are we even worthy?
He’s making a killing! That guy is going to start filling sacks with money again!
And no joke, with what these three were up to, the computer science class two’s chat group really blew up.
It suddenly got rambunctious.
“You guys went to Star City? Say sothing, I wanted to check it out too!”
“So many people queuing up, Cheng Zhu’s going to make a fortune again!”
“I want one, can you get one, class president?”
“What are you talking about! Show so respect! Ask President Class to treat you to one!”
“Brother Zhu is aweso! How about sending a red packet in the group!”
“Yeah, that’s what I plan on doing, I’ll use it to slap those trolls on the forum in the face!”
“Am I the only one who noticed the queue is full of beauties?”
“Where? Where?”
“Damn, it’s all beauties indeed! Is it still worth heading out now?”
The computer science departnt is really full of hungry wolves…
And a lot of them aren’t picky eaters either.
In fact, females do make up a significant portion of those queuing at Youu Tea.
And when beautiful girls are in line, the turn-back rate actually goes up.
Now, anyone walking into Star City from this entrance would be attracted by Youu Tea, a hundred percent.
No help for it, the queue was just too big, hard not to take note.
So passersby would join in on the action, and so would take pictures of the scene as well.
Of course, many others, even if curious or wanting a drink, would be deterred by the long line.
But no matter what, at least Youu Tea as a brand would leave an impression in their minds.
This was definitely beneficial for building brand recognition and helped with word of mouth.
Actually, inside the milk tea shop, there was a bit of “craftiness” on the part of Cheng Zhu.
Under normal circumstances, for a new store opening, friends and family would send flower baskets.
Then, there would also be so decorations inside the shop for the opening.
But Cheng Zhu didn’t do any of that.
He even refused when Shen Minglang and the rest in the chat group said they would all send flower baskets together.
The reason was simple, so people might know that this was a new shop, having noticed previous renovation work at this location, but others passing by wouldn’t have a clue.
It’s normal for a new shop to be busy when it first opens, like having promotions or support from friends and family, extensive advertising, or distributing coupons and the like.
He just wanted so passersby to think that Youu Tea was just an ordinary milk tea shop that was already in business.
Not a new shop.
So, those who didn’t know the truth, would be even more shocked when passing by!
They might really wonder, “Is it really that good?”
At this mont, like Dong Dong and the others, they finally understood why Cheng Zhu said that the staff hadn’t contacted him, why he said they must be really busy.
With this flow of custors, they must be slaving away making milk tea all day long!
That’s also why Cheng Zhu, after initially hiring a few female employees, started preferring to hire male ones.
If you carefully observe so popular milk tea shops, you’ll find that the staff may indeed be mostly male.
Because the workload is truly massive, making several dozen cups of milk tea a day isn’t much, but making several hundred cups, now that’s so backbreaking labor!
At this mont, Dong Dong couldn’t help urging, “Brother Zhu, go take a look at your empire!”
He saw several good-looking girls in the line, so with that minor Internet celebrity vibe, dressed very fashionably.
Cheng Zhu smiled and no longer just stood from afar, he walked towards his milk tea shop’s entrance.
He didn’t rush in, but also took out his phone and snapped a picture.
These photos of the queue were all material, useful for later.
“The angle isn’t that great,” Cheng Zhu stepped back a few paces.
As he stepped back, he happened to see a female staff mber inside Starbucks.
Clearly, she saw Cheng Zhu too.
This Starbucks girl was cleaning up coffee cups and waste paper on the tables near the window.
During this process, she couldn’t help but look at the milk tea shop across the way.
For so reason, she was also becoming curious about the taste of Youu Tea.
And usually, these kind of milk tea shops would even have a small screen or several screens, displaying images of new products and videos of milk tea making processes and the like.
The products from Youu Tea looked different from your ordinary milk tea shop; more appealing, more upscale, and very tempting.
In comparison, Starbucks’ products were either pitch-black coffee or Starbucks Frappuccinos with strong colorants, overall still sticking to a style from years or even a decade ago.
Today, she went through advertisents for Youu Tea’s three main products repeatedly, wanting to try each one, especially that heated Black Sugar Boba Milk Tea!
Previously, the staff at this coffee shop had discussed and figured that the milk tea shop across the street was just looking for trouble.
What kind of drink in China dares to challenge Starbucks at the sa price level?
Who could possibly compete?
But today’s display screen advertisents showed that this shop at least had sothing to offer, at least there was so innovation involved.
The female employee had been wondering earlier, “Why haven’t I seen that cute guy?”
The handso boss didn’t show up on the very first day of business!
It didn’t even seem a question of keeping a low profile anymore, right?
Now, here he was, and their eyes t.
This Starbucks female employee, nad Wang Bingqing, watched through the store’s glass as this young boss’s face revealed a very familiar smile.
She had seen that smile too many tis; whenever he ca into the store to buy coffee, he would always ask with a smile, “How’s the business lately?”
Super polite, even a bit formal!
But today, there was only a smile on Cheng Zhu’s face.
How could he possibly ask that question?
After all…
— Your business today isn’t as good as mine.
…
(ps: Second update, we’re already fourth on the monthly ticket chart, keep those monthly tickets coming!)
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