Qi Yan sipped her coffee, her expression not looking very good.
The location of this branch was personally decided by Mr. Pei, so what did this indicate?
In competition, Cold Noodle Girl would obviously be crushed to smithereens by Slackin’ Delivery, and Mr. Pei must certainly be well aware of this.
Qi Yan felt that the only explanation was that Mr. Pei wanted Cold Noodle Girl to go under, and specifically wanted it to die at the hands of Slackin’ Delivery!
This way, all the remaining popularity from Cold Noodle Girl would transfer to Slackin’ Delivery!
By sacrificing Cold Noodle Girl, this continuously money-losing liability, Slackin’ Delivery would gain firm footing in the capital and accelerate its development. This trade seemed like quite a bargain.
If this was truly the case, then Qi Yan faced a battle she had absolutely no chance of winning. How could she not be worried?
Qi Yan felt deeply disappointed. Clearly, Mr. Pei had gone through great lengths to kick out Meng Chang and hinted at her to organize the street food competition, helping Cold Noodle Girl gain new life. Didn’t all this show that Mr. Pei valued Cold Noodle Girl greatly?
So how to explain this now?
Qi Yan originally didn’t want to ask more, but she truly couldn’t figure out this question herself. After much hesitation, she finally said to Rui Yuchen: “Manager Rui, I’ll be frank – do you think Mr. Pei wants to sacrifice Cold Noodle Girl and concentrate all the popularity on Slackin’ Delivery? If that’s the case, I have no complaints and will fully cooperate.”
Rui Yuchen was startled, immediately shaking his head: “No, no, no, you might have misunderstood.”
“Although Mr. Pei only selected the store location without explaining the reasoning to me, I’ve been by Mr. Pei’s side for quite some time, so I can still guess his intentions to some degree.”
“Mr. Pei never abandons any business under his control. Even businesses that seem impossible to succeed or lose massive amounts of money, Mr. Pei always finds ways to turn them profitable.”
“Slackin’ Internet Café, Slackin’ Delivery, Shared Phone Booths, Tuoguan Fitness… Countless examples have proven this point.”
“So, since Mr. Pei has already acquired Cold Noodle Girl, he absolutely won’t abandon it. You can rest assured about this.”
Hearing Rui Yuchen say this, Qi Yan felt much more at ease.
Thinking about it carefully, this was indeed the case. She’d never heard of Tenda Group abandoning any business. Take Slackin’ Delivery, for example – after its establishment, it lost pure money for at least a year, but Mr. Pei never gave up. Finally, they seized the opportunity with Handong Province’s waste sorting policy, achieving remarkable success.
Compared to these formerly huge money-losing businesses, what was the current Cold Noodle Girl?
But though Qi Yan felt much more at ease, her confusion hadn’t lessened at all.
“But then, if Mr. Pei doesn’t plan to abandon Cold Noodle Girl, why did he specifically request Slackin’ Delivery open a store across from Cold Noodle Girl? And specifically emphasizing it must be a flagship store?”
Rui Yuchen fell silent for a moment: “Mr. Pei’s planning is very far-reaching. Even us department heads find it difficult to fully understand. However, I can probably guess some of it.”
“I believe Mr. Pei’s location choice has at least three considerations!”
“First, a guiding role.”
“From its founding until now, Cold Noodle Girl has never achieved real profitability. Even Cold Noodle Girl’s food flavors haven’t truly won over customers.”
“In other words, Cold Noodle Girl is still far from turning profitable and achieving success. If left to explore freely, how long would that take? Too slow.”
“Slackin’ Delivery, as a similar restaurant brand, has rich experience in this area. Whether it’s staff training, internal management, new menu development, or marketing promotion, it can provide much guidance to Cold Noodle Girl.”
“Slackin’ Delivery also faced continuous losses. The detours we took, Cold Noodle Girl doesn’t need to take again.”
“With the two stores so close, you can frequently organize staff to visit Slackin’ Delivery for learning, communication, and observation. This will definitely help you get on the right track faster.”
“Second, a competitive role.”
“Mr. Pei has always believed that good products must be unafraid of market competition. He always chooses the most challenging fields to compete head-to-head with mature players. Because he knows that flowers in greenhouses can never grow strong and healthy.”
“Cold Noodle Girl’s location was originally chosen for a good area, with few nearby fast food restaurants and weak competition. In such an environment, with a fixed customer base, Cold Noodle Girl naturally lacks motivation.”
“Having Slackin’ Delivery provide pressure benefits both parties.”
“Finally, a clustering effect.”
“Suppose Cold Noodle Girl withstands the pressure and introduces many new dishes with good flavors, attracting more and more customers. Then, Slackin’ Delivery and Cold Noodle Girl won’t just be competitors – they’ll create a clustering effect!”
“For customers, when they get tired of Slackin’ Delivery, they can come to Cold Noodle Girl for a change of taste. And vice versa.”
“The restaurant industry is naturally full of competition. Even if Slackin’ Delivery didn’t come, other restaurants would. If Cold Noodle Girl loses in competition then, wouldn’t that be more embarrassing?”
“Think about it differently – Cold Noodle Girl and Slackin’ Delivery can join forces to eliminate other nearby fast food restaurants and delivery services. This way, regardless of internal competition, money flows into Tenda Group. It’s all the same for us!”
After hearing Rui Yuchen’s analysis, Qi Yan’s furrowed brow gradually relaxed.
“I see…”
“It seems I was too short-sighted. So Mr. Pei not only doesn’t want to sacrifice Cold Noodle Girl, but has actually gone to great lengths to motivate its progress?”
Rui Yuchen nodded: “Based on my understanding of Mr. Pei, yes.”
“Coincidentally, Slackin’ Delivery’s strategic focus is also shifting from Jingzhou to these super-tier-1 cities. I’ll stay in the capital until all the branches are operating smoothly before returning to Jingzhou. If Cold Noodle Girl encounters any problems, feel free to contact me anytime.”
Qi Yan was delighted: “That’s wonderful!”
“Actually, Cold Noodle Girl has been wanting to establish a food laboratory like Slackin’ Delivery’s. I have many questions I’d like to ask about.”
“However, this would surely affect Slackin’ Delivery’s normal operations, which feels somewhat inappropriate.”
Rui Yuchen smiled: “That’s unnecessary.”
“Almost every department at Tenda has experienced losses. Other departments always extend helping hands without hesitation. This is Tenda’s internal tradition. Slackin’ Delivery has received much help from other departments too.”
“After all, everyone works for Mr. Pei. There’s no competition between Tenda’s internal departments, no KPI pressure. Helping each other and growing the pie aligns with each department’s long-term interests.”
“Although Cold Noodle Girl just joined Tenda Group recently, you must adapt to this environment quickly.”
Qi Yan quickly nodded: “Yes! I understand!”
Rui Yuchen took a sip of coffee and casually asked: “So, Cold Noodle Girl’s current work is just preparing a food laboratory? Is there anything else I can help with?”
Qi Yan thought for a moment: “Uh… Actually, we’re also planning a promotional video recently. We want to document the daily lives of street vendors and show our viewers their hardships. It’s still being filmed…”
The two continued drinking coffee, thoroughly discussing future development plans for Cold Noodle Girl and Slackin’ Delivery, both gaining much inspiration.
…
Meanwhile, in Jingzhou.
“Achoo!”
Pei Qian sneezed in his office, feeling somewhat puzzled since the room was quite warm.
Before the Spring Festival, Pei Qian had widely deployed physical industry advertisements in super-tier-1 cities like the capital and Magic City, thinking these cities had fewer Tenda physical businesses, and with Meng Chang’s relatively simple promotional plan, the advertising effect should be relatively poor.
He never expected the subsequent developments to be completely contrary to his wishes!
Meng Chang’s minimalist poster design, due to the massive advertising volume, became popular and achieved excellent promotional effects. And when Rui Yuchen, Xiao Peng and others saw such good promotional results, they thought it was a hint, so the next batch of branches all opened in these super-tier-1 cities!
Pei Qian was quite exasperated, but since he’d already decided never to interfere with Slackin’ Delivery and Slackin’ Internet Café’s location choices, he let them proceed.
However, Pei Qian specifically instructed Rui Yuchen to open a Slackin’ Delivery flagship store directly across from Cold Noodle Girl’s store in the capital.
This way, Slackin’ Delivery would drain Cold Noodle Girl’s already limited customer flow, making Cold Noodle Girl’s situation worse, perhaps never to recover.
Thus, Pei Qian could keep supporting Cold Noodle Girl, continuously burning money!
As Pei Qian was happily contemplating this, a knock came from outside his office.
Looking up, it was Meng Chang.
“Mr. Pei, Rabbit Tail Live Streaming’s promotional video is complete. The first version has been edited. Please review it.”
Meng Chang’s mood was quite uneasy.
He clearly understood that since Mr. Pei had set such an unusual commission structure for him, he must have already anticipated that he would use every means to create terrible promotional plans for higher commissions.
Yet Mr. Pei remained nonchalant, seemingly unconcerned about where Tenda Group’s promotional budget went. This always gave Meng Chang an unsettling feeling.
Meng Chang was caught in a dilemma: making promotional plans too good would cost him, making them too poor would risk Mr. Pei’s criticism.
This time was no exception. Although Meng Chang’s subordinates rushed off work faster than each other, their work efficiency was incredibly high, completing the promotional video in just one week.
Without confidence, Meng Chang immediately brought it to Mr. Pei for review.
Pei Qian had no interest: “Just show it to Ma Yang directly. I won’t watch it.”
But then he reconsidered: “Never mind, since you’re already here, I’ll take a look.”
Meng Chang quickly stepped forward, handing over his tablet.
Pei Qian clicked to view the video.
…
This promotional video wasn’t very long, about three minutes, featuring common life scenarios with few characters, so it was completed in less than a week.
The video begins in a university dormitory.
Two students appear on screen: one with messy hair and a dispirited appearance looking lifeless, while the other wears glasses and appears much more energetic.
Their appearances immediately establish their identities: a scholastically struggling student and a top student.
Scene one: Nighttime in the dorm. The struggling student wears headphones, eating fruit while watching gaming live streams, occasionally laughing; meanwhile, the top student wears earplugs, studying seriously under his desk lamp.
Scene two: Lights-out. The struggling student lies in bed continuing to watch streams on his phone, even tipping gifts to a late-night streamer; while the top student immediately goes to sleep after setting his morning alarm.
Scene three: The struggling student sleeps until nearly noon, orders takeout, then continues watching streams on his computer. With fewer streamers during midday, he browses over a dozen channels before finding one relatively satisfactory, eating while watching; meanwhile, the top student is in the library, earnestly reading, reviewing, and preparing for exams.
Scene four: Both students graduate and start working. The struggling student becomes an ordinary office worker, still secretly watching streams while supposed to be working; while the top student works diligently, making the most of every minute.
Scene five: The struggling student gets fired for poor performance. Standing outside the company gate, he falls into deep confusion with a pained expression. Yet on the bus ride home, he habitually opens his streaming app again; the camera shifts to the top student just being hired as management at the same company, warmly welcomed by the executives in the conference room…
Finally, the Rabbit Tail Live Streaming logo appears on screen with the slogan: “Everyone has the same amount of time. The difference lies in how you spend it.”
…
This promotional video had slight modifications from Meng Chang’s original plan, but nothing major.
Originally, Meng Chang wanted four characters – two students, two office workers – but later decided it was unnecessary. Instead, he chose just two people, having the video follow their academic and professional journeys.
This improved the video’s continuity but also intensified its sarcastic tone.
Meng Chang was extremely nervous.
Wasn’t this promotional video too blatant?
Would Mr. Pei lose his temper?
However, Meng Chang only saw Mr. Pei nod slightly: “Good, this promotional plan is much better than that previous poster! Seems you’re gradually finding your rhythm. Keep it up!”