July 12, Tuesday.

Four days had passed since the official opening of Fearful Lodge, and the weekend peak flow of visitors had also passed.

Until now, Pei Qian hadn’t mustered the courage to go see it for himself, and could only grasp the situation through Manager Guan’s reports.

The biggest bad news during the opening period was that Qiao Liang, ignoring all dissuasion, had still gone to complete “Ultimate Terror.” But regarding this point, Pei Qian was helpless.

After all, hiring an assassin was out of the question.

At times like these, he could only console himself that Qiao Liang was just a game section content creator. Even if he made a video recommending Fearful Lodge, there shouldn’t be too many people watching… right?

Pei Qian sat in Slackin’ Internet Café, sipping coffee while checking the visitor experience reports for Fearful Lodge from the past three days.

Although it was only three days of data, some clues could be discerned.

Overall, it seemed… acceptable?

The visitor flow was slightly higher than Pei Qian had estimated, but still within an acceptable range, because the actual income compared to the estimate met Pei Qian’s expectations.

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

Most of the visitor flow was concentrated in the first attraction, “Escape from Desperation,” but this attraction had limited capacity—it could only accommodate so many people per day, and beyond that, people would have to queue.

As for “Haunted House Nightmare” and “Ultimate Terror,” the number of visitors so far was not even in the same league as “Escape from Desperation.”

The reason was simple—these two attractions were too scary!

Moreover, “Haunted House Nightmare” directly eliminated ninety percent of those wanting to challenge it. They tried once and gave up, unable to obtain the entry credentials for “Ultimate Terror.”

According to Pei Qian’s initial design, “Escape from Desperation” was priced dirt cheap. Even running at full capacity, it wouldn’t make much money.

“Haunted House Nightmare” was moderately priced, but novices would be scared witless after one try and wouldn’t return, while experts who completed it also wouldn’t come back.

As for “Ultimate Terror,” novices couldn’t even get admission qualifications, and experts who completed it would receive partial refunds based on difficulty level and number of checkpoint entries.

In other words, Fearful Lodge did indeed have a theoretical possibility of profit as required by the system, but only if “Haunted House Nightmare” and “Ultimate Terror” also had sufficient visitor flow.

If these two attractions were also packed, plus 50% of the income from all merchandise in the Golden Maze, the Fearful Lodge project could make quite a bit of money. But from the current data, that seemed unrealistic.

The Golden Maze was in an awkward position. This maze didn’t seem to have the effect of deterring players, but not many products were sold either, especially the various props in the golden section. Since few people went to experience “Ultimate Terror,” these items had no added value for most visitors, so they didn’t sell well.

Moreover, even if profitable, recouping the costs would still be a long way off.

In any case, the current situation was completely acceptable!

Pei Qian’s mood improved.

Fearful Lodge, a project that almost collapsed in publicity for various reasons right from the start, was developing well so far?

Hmm, this should be attributed to my far-sighted judgment!

Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling a little proud.

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

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

“Mr. Pei, Slackin’ Delivery’s new high-end brand ‘Food·Harmony’ is ready to officially launch. Could you taste it at noon today and provide some feedback?”

Hmm?

They moved pretty fast!

Regarding this high-end brand of Slackin’ Delivery, Pei Qian had been watching its every move, from the beginning when Rui Yuchen and Lin Canrong started their secret meetings and quietly developed it. Pei Qian had already grasped their movements and was closely observing.

And the result of his observation was… this approach seemed to have a very low success rate?

So, Pei Qian had not intervened too much, but silently paid attention, waiting for this new high-end brand to launch.

Pei Qian replied: “Alright, send it to the Slackin’ Internet Café at Handong University.”

Because it had just launched, the high-end brand “Food·Harmony” was only available at Slackin’ Delivery store #1, which was the Food Experiment Lab.

They needed to test the waters a bit, see most consumers’ feedback, and then decide whether to promote it to other Slackin’ Delivery locations.

Since “Food·Harmony” had different recipes from regular Slackin’ Internet Café dishes and a different delivery method, promoting it widely would mean retraining each Slackin’ Delivery chef, stocking different ingredients, and purchasing a large number of food boxes and other delivery supplies.

In short, it would cost another large sum of money, and Rui Yuchen didn’t dare promote it rashly.

Pei Qian’s thoughts were exactly the opposite. He would taste it today first, and if he felt there was no possibility of profit, then he needed to hurry and promote it, spreading it to all current Slackin’ Delivery stores!

Near noon, the delivery person arrived.

He wore the same uniform as other Slackin’ Delivery couriers, but instead of carrying a thermal box on his back, he was holding an elegant, understated food box.

“Mr. Pei, please enjoy your meal.”

The delivery person placed the food box in front of Mr. Pei and turned to leave.

Eating Slackin’ Delivery food in a Slackin’ Internet Café was a bit strange, since Slackin’ Internet Café itself served all Slackin’ Delivery dishes.

However, Pei Qian didn’t mind this. After a brief examination, he successfully opened the food box and saw the dishes inside.

This food box was custom-made. Its principle was that of a thermal lunch box, though it didn’t have the shiny stainless steel appearance, but was covered with a special skin-friendly material.

At first glance, the food box’s appearance resembled a traditional wooden food box in color, adorned with some traditional, classical patterns. But touching it felt completely different—very comfortable.

Considerable effort had gone into designing the food box.

Stainless steel thermal containers, while good at maintaining temperature, would give a cheap impression and couldn’t express the concept of the “Food·Harmony” brand. But traditional wooden food boxes couldn’t solve the heat preservation issue and couldn’t guarantee the dining experience.

So, Slackin’ Delivery had comprehensively considered these factors: functionally, it needed to keep food warm; visually, it needed to be distinctive; and cost-wise, it needed to be controlled as much as possible.

Mass-producing such a food box would cost twenty to thirty yuan, but this price was still ten times higher than the ceramic bowls originally used by Slackin’ Internet Café.

In other words, Slackin’ Delivery could bear the loss of a ceramic bowl going missing, but they couldn’t afford to lose the food boxes.

These things were like shared bicycles—if there was no accountability for loss, many people would hide them for private use.

Pei Qian didn’t mind losing a few more, but the system definitely wouldn’t agree.

So, the specific operation of the “Food·Harmony” brand would have to differ from Slackin’ Internet Café in detail.

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

The dishes in the food box looked good and showed no signs of violent shaking, indicating stricter requirements for “Food·Harmony” delivery personnel.

A more high-end brand naturally required better service, along with higher added value.

The dishes included an appetizer and preserved fruit platter, Dragon Well shrimp, superior soup with two vegetables, mixed vegetable fried rice, and matsutake mushroom soup.

Each layer of the food box had a different shape and function. For example, the platter layer was divided into fan-shaped small grids, while the soup layer had a lid to prevent splashing.

None of these dishes was large, and altogether they made up a regular single portion, just with more variety, striving for nutritional balance.

These dishes were all from the Mingyun Private Kitchen menu, but the preparation methods were different.

“Food·Harmony” couldn’t possibly follow the same level of recipes as Mingyun Private Kitchen—neither time, investment, nor price would allow it. They could only selectively eliminate some time-consuming steps that provided minimal improvement, balancing the overall experience and price while ensuring the taste exceeded ordinary dishes.

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

After finishing, he savored the taste, which was quite good.

It certainly couldn’t compare with the original dishes from Mingyun Private Kitchen, but compared to regular Slackin’ Delivery, the taste and experience were improved.

Pei Qian considered this and felt that it couldn’t be said there was absolutely no possibility of profit; the key would be the price and specific marketing strategy.

Thinking of this, Pei Qian called Rui Yuchen.

“Mr. Pei? You’ve tried it? How did you find the taste?” Rui Yuchen’s voice seemed a little nervous, yet somewhat expectant.

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

Pei Qian pondered for a moment: “How much is this set?”

Rui Yuchen answered: “Currently… 58 yuan, though the exact price depends on different meal combinations.”

His voice unconsciously lowered, clearly lacking confidence in this price.

Compared to previous Slackin’ Delivery meals, the price was two to three times higher.

Pei Qian was delighted inwardly, though he didn’t show it too obviously, and continued asking: “What happens if the food box is lost?”

“Also, I see these dishes are one-third the regular portion, so one dish is split into three portions to sell? How do you ensure timing and taste?”

To ensure nutritional balance, the entire set meal was composed of several dishes, each not very large. Chefs couldn’t possibly cook each small portion separately, so they would cook one dish and divide it among three customers.

But customers ordered at different times, and even with thermal containers, keeping food too long would affect the taste.

Rui Yuchen said, “For the food boxes, we require customers to pay a deposit first to prevent loss or private use, though the deposit can be refunded anytime.”

“As for timing, we’re currently considering unified delivery times, but one issue is that some customers might wait longer…”

Pei Qian: “How can we make customers wait long? That’s not appropriate!”

“I think we should do it like Mingyun Private Kitchen—all by reservation. Only accept bookings made two hours in advance. We’ll cook, package, and deliver according to everyone’s orders.”

Rui Yuchen was stunned: “Only reservations? Mr. Pei, isn’t that too unfriendly for new users? To try the food, they not only have to pay a deposit first but also reserve two hours in advance?”

Pei Qian chuckled: “We want long-term loyal customers. If this small setback deters them, it shows they have no affinity with this brand.”

“Moreover, even paying a deposit isn’t appropriate. Let’s make these meals available only to Slackin’ Delivery and Tenda’s old users with good credit. If they lose the food box, they either pay compensation or lose credit points.”

“Since it’s a high-end brand, let’s 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 proposal he put forward, Mr. Pei could always propose an even more radical one…

Only old users with high credit scores could taste the “Food·Harmony” brand, and they must book two hours in advance, with prices 2-3 times higher than ordinary Slackin’ Delivery…

Although Rui Yuchen’s initial goal was to create a more high-end delivery brand, being high-end to this degree made him feel the step was a bit too big.

One misstep could be disastrous.

But since Mr. Pei had already given instructions, not following them would be inappropriate.

Rui Yuchen said: “Alright, Mr. Pei, we’ll proceed as you said. I’ll pilot it at several main Slackin’ Delivery locations first, check the situation after a week, and then report back to you.”

Pei Qian nodded with a smile: “Good, go ahead. Next week we’ll decide whether to promote the ‘Food·Harmony’ model to all other Slackin’ Delivery stores.”