Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

Fei Yangyang Hotpot City opened more than ten days before the New Year.

With the benefit of the original high traffic within the mall, Fei Yangyang launched three meal packages upon opening.

The Full House Banquet.

A total of 12 dishes, three hot pots, six vegetarian dishes, plus three side dishes.

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

Yes, just 368.

So cheap that people of Capital City couldn't believe they were getting this banquet meal in a capital city mall.

Another one was the Carrefour, two hot pots, three vegetarian dishes, plus a dish of peanuts.

198 yuan.

The hot pot was not fixed, nor were the vegetarian dishes; they came with a variety of options.

The last one was a meal for two, called Old Friends or Lovers' Combo.

One hot pot, two vegetarian dishes, plus a dish of peanuts and a bottle of beer.

98 yuan.

All were discounted meal packages.

This marketing campaign was decided before Chen Pingsheng left Capital City.

Nowadays, with the fast pace of life, many people experience difficulty choosing when ordering, or you could say it wastes some time.

Choosing a discounted meal package is different; you look at it and immediately see it's cheap.

After all, this isn't some small back alley shop, but a large establishment over 500 square meters in a high-end mall.

A store with a yearly rent of 1.2 million.

With high-end decor and a huge storefront, they were providing extreme value for money.

It was evident their business wouldn't be bad.

It was understandable that the business at Fei Yangyang was doing well not long after opening.

Liu Fen arrived with her family.

Only recently, she had realized she had been majorly duped; her son-in-law had lent her a supremely imposing Navigator but hadn't offered to pay for the gas.

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This big fellow was certainly impressive and truly imposing, but driving it even a short distance was like burning money.

If she were the only one driving it, it would not be too bad—she'd only take it out to show off occasionally. But when relatives asked to borrow it, intending to use it as a wedding car, she was quite annoyed.

Another matter was the large house that she indeed had ended up living in, in a high-end estate with such nice surroundings.

The area was almost 300 square meters, and it was fully furnished.

She was quite happy for the first couple of days after her son-in-law had lent it to her.

But after a little while, that happiness turned sour—the property management fees were extortionate.

With her meager income, maintaining a big Navigator and a luxurious three-hundred-square-meter house,

Aside from the times when she needed to flaunt her wealth, her wallet was just getting emptier and emptier.

Her eldest son-in-law had finally come back, and she was thinking about whether she could ask him to lend her a fuel card.

She wasn't asking for much, just a top-up of ten or eight thousand yuan each month would do.

And to pay the property fees while he was at it.

Her mother-in-law's little schemes, he wouldn't deny her.

When Liu Fen, Song Wu, and Song Huamin arrived at Fei Yangyang,

The business was indeed quite good; the place was full.

Her son-in-law was in a private booth, chatting with Gao Hu and a few other people in charge of the restaurant.

Four other restaurants were about to open simultaneously soon, and then Fei Yangyang in Shijingshan would be considered a chain.

Initially, they would mainly focus on mall stores.

Mall stores have high foot traffic and can also have a certain promotional effect.

"Old Chen, our Fei Yangyang's flavor profile is still primarily Hunan-style, with a focus on spicy tastes, but many in Capital City prefer wheat-based food, like steamed buns, cornbread, flower rolls, steamed cakes, silk cakes, dumplings, sugar triangles, stick-on pancakes, as well as noodles, baozi, and jiaozi, etc., which are not popular in Southern Province but are very popular here."

"Well, research it then. Don't we have the Fei Yangyang training headquarters?"

After putting down the menu in his hand, Chen Ping said, "Every place has its different food culture; Hunan cuisine is mainly spicy, Cantonese cuisine is light with a preference for soup, and the north likes wheat-based food."

"If Fei Yangyang wants to become the largest catering chain in the country, it can't just stick to one region; adapting to the taste preferences of various places is a must."

"If we don't adapt to the market and wait for the market to adapt to us, it wouldn't be surprising if we got eliminated all of a sudden."

In Southern Province, as long as you excel at making spicy stir-fried pork, that restaurant generally won't lack business.

In the north, if you can't make wheat-based food, that really is a huge disadvantage,

Like limping along with each step.

Fei Yangyang was a massive investment, and they did a lot of work before opening the restaurant, something a single store simply cannot do.

Having discovered his own shortcomings, he was able to adjust promptly.

Chen Pingsheng said, "Learning northern pastries takes time, so it's better to spend a hefty sum to hire a pastry chef from Capital City and have him take charge of the pastries."

"How much do you think is appropriate to spend?"

Gao Hu also thought that hiring someone was more suitable, as training takes time and can't be done in a short while.

"Twenty to thirty thousand should be enough, but I only have one requirement: they must be top-notch."

Chen Pingsheng said, "Don't be afraid to spend a high price on hiring. If Fei Yangyang can break even within half a year, then it would be considered a success."

"But if we do this, doesn't it mean there's no profit, making the share dividends for those who received store shares meaningless?"

Gao Hu had a 15% original share, and Zhao Liying also had 15% for her ten million investment.

The remaining 70% was all his, and the shareholders would only start to dilute their shares after Series A funding, moving into Series B.

Hence, his way of making money was the same as his own, not dependent on profits.

It's only when the direction of interests is aligned that there won't be cases of interests dictating decisions.

Put simply, it's a conflict of interest.

Take Gao Hu for example; he's responsible for executing and operating Fei Yangyang. If he only gets dividend shares, then the store profit would be his only way to make money.

Whereas for Chen Pingsheng, what he always wanted was to cash out through the capital market.

At this point, a significant conflict of interest would arise between him and Gao Hu.

Consequently, many things wouldn't be carried out smoothly.

When everyone makes money through the capital market, they can then move in lockstep.

The main reason why Gao Hu raised this question was that Fei Yangyang had established a policy in its early days for the store's management team to have 30% in dividend shares.

This was a reward for the management team.

If business picks up and the management team still doesn't get any money, everyone would suspect financial foul play.

This would be even more hurtful than giving nothing at all.

Chen Pingsheng had also thought about this issue and after pondering, he said, "Indeed, there's a problem here. Let's do it this way then; cancel the dividend shares and offer high salaries instead. We can't be offering empty promises to the management team; that would be pure fraud."

"We'll cancel the dividend shares. Increase the management's salary by 25% to 50% as an annual bonus, and you can decide on the specifics."

Replacing nonexistent dividend shares with a year-end bonus was indeed a good idea.

According to the initial salary structure of Fei Yangyang, a head chef's monthly salary was 18,000, amounting to about 220,000 annually.

They could even get a year-end bonus of 60,000 to 100,000.

Add it all up, and it's more than three hundred thousand a year, which is definitely top pay in the industry.

Top pay attracts top talent.

Chen Pingsheng himself would absolutely not agree to pay 5,000 for an employee to do a job worth 10,000, as that only leads to complaints.

And it often necessitates brainwashing sessions and success coaching.

Paying more than 300,000 to hire someone to do a 200,000 job, now that's a different story.

My word is law, and the employees would truly be grateful.

Who drifts to the capital city without the aim of making money? All that talk about karmic reward is nonsense.

Genuinely letting employees earn beyond their expectations is the greatest karmic reward for a boss.

He always adhered to this principle.

Therefore, his employees' income must involve an element of exceeding expectations.

If you think your job only deserves 6,000, I'll give you 9,000.

If you think it's decent to live in a rough-sleeper apartment, I'll arrange fully furnished accommodations.

Exceeding expectations for employees and offering customers more value than they anticipate.

Of course, there's a significant issue here: when employees' incomes exceed expectations,

it means that the operational costs of the store could skyrocket, and if customers' expectations are exceeded, it could mean that profit margins are squeezed to the limit.

Stretching in both directions, he as the boss might have to bear an exceedingly high operational cost in the early stages.

Chen Pingsheng thought it was completely acceptable.

Those internet companies lose money like it's nothing, and yet they are still full of arrogance when they go public.

His expenses were entirely on his employees and in building a good reputation with his customers.

There was no way he could fail.

Once he could accomplish an IPO, there was a high probability he could trigger a substantial multiplier effect.

It would result in a windfall.

We are talking about a multiplier effect worth hundreds of millions.

If a twelvefold increase happens, he could even buy a suite at the Capital City Prince's Mansion.