Losing Money to Be a Tycoon - Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Ming Yun Private Kitchen

Pei Qian felt a little faint.

I had done Hardcore Reviews to fool Lin Chang; why had this suddenly become the inspiration for Fei Huang Workspace?

Huang Sibo did not notice Boss Pei’s astonishment as he continued to talk about the ideas that had exploded in his and Zhu Xiaoce’s heads after they had watched Hardcore Reviews.

Digital reviews were up and coming now.

In the foreseeable future—as domestic consumption increased continuously with all sorts of digital products being developed, more ordinary consumers would start paying attention to reviews on such products.

Doing such reviews could attract the attention of fans as well as create possible sponsored partnerships with developers. As long as a balance could be sustained, viewership and material profits could both be garnered.

The inspiration Huang Sibo and his team had received from Hardcore Reviews was specifically regarding the format of reviews.

Presently, most review programs domestically were focusing their efforts on making serious videos where the product reviews and tests were done with increasing complexity with the usage of detailed specifications and figures. They were all trying to showcase their professionalism.

Previously, this was what Huang Sibo and company had thought of doing as well.

As Fei Huang Workspace lacked the professional expertise in this area, they had not thought of doing such product review shows; they couldn’t compete on these grounds with other reviewers.

However, after watching Hardcore Reviews, Huang Sibo suddenly realized something.

Even if a certain level of professionalism wasn’t reached, that was fine!

Hardcore Reviews seemed to have blazed its own trail. While everyone else was seriously reviewing digital products according to their specifications and using all sorts of data and figures, Hardcore Reviews had used a more unorthodox method to inform viewers of many other aspects of these products.

For example, a cell phone’s degree of waterproofing, whether it could withstand heavy impact or not, whether the internal mechanisms could be tampered with or not…

Although there wasn’t any professionalism involved, viewers were very happy with Hardcore Reviews; viewership was actually even higher than many professional reviews.

Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce realized something from this: professional reviews might not necessarily be the best reviews!

Of course, it didn’t hurt to be more professional. After all, the more professional a video was, the less the content of the video could be criticized. People would be impressed by it.

However, if professionalism was overemphasized, the videos might no longer be of interest to the average doe. Viewers would be confused and baffled just by watching them.

Many viewers actually weren’t particularly concerned with some specific figures or data; even if they knew about these, it would be hard for them to grasp what exactly these numbers meant.

Conversely, reviews that were more subjective and more emotive might be more readily acceptable by them.

Hardcore Reviews had adopted this direct presentation method. It had used a table knife to hack at the rear cover of phones; the harder it was to smash the cover, the better the phone. This was a much more direct and acceptable way of showing the durability of a cell phone rather than a truckload of technical information.

Hence, after Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce had done their research, they had decided to combine short videos with digital product reviews and for this to be the new direction for Fei Huang Workspace!

Two main reasons had led to this decision.

First, Fei Huang Workspace’s documentary filming experience had racked in significant losses. Boss Pei had to step in to cover the deficit. All Fei Huang Workspace employees had felt a little dejected and that they had let Boss Pei down.

Hence, Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce decided that they had to find a way to start generating profits.

Digital product reviews were one of the best ways to do so. Occasional sponsored partnerships that were not overdone and did not involve false advertisements or lying to people could work. Adding to that—if viewers could participate in lucky draws as well, this model would be feasible.

Second, short videos were a forte of Fei Huang Workspace. Boss Pei’s Daily Life had attained explosive success, and Zhu Xiaoce had already proved his mettle at persistently producing creative ideas for short videos as the director.

Compared to other platforms and companies, Fei Huang Workspace’s short videos were more professional and interesting; this was a core advantage.

Huang Sibo was very excited as he elaborated on Fei Huang Workspace’s future plans.

Pei Qian heard Huang Sibo talk as his heart suddenly grew cold.

Darn it; I knew that this call would not be anything good!

Pei Qian had not expected that a product review program he had casually created had given Huang Sibo and company such inspiration? Who could have predicted this?

However, Pei Qian calmed down and thought about this. He felt that things were not as bad as they seemed yet.

Digital products were being developed at such a fast pace while product review channels and programs abounded. Although it was still flourishing, all sorts of review programs were surfacing at lightning speed; the competition was extremely intense.

After all, since Huang Sibo and company could see prospects in digital product reviews, others could as well.

The barriers to entry for digital product reviews were not high.

Even an ordinary consumer could buy some digital equipment, play around with it, take a look at its specifications, and then speak about his real-life experiences using it. This could also become an episode on its own.

Furthermore, Huang Sibo and company’s rivals would have a wealth of experience and various review programs already.

Under these circumstances—while Fei Huang Workspace might be able to make a name for itself, whether it would be a persistent hit or not was unknown.

Moreover, Fei Huang Workspace embarking on the filming of digital product reviews in the form of short videos would be better than them taking on some other easy money-making opportunity. For example, by making another short film series like Boss Pei’s Daily Life.

All in all, the digital product reviews field was very deep and wide.

What’s more—for Pei Qian, the massive loss-making machine that was Upwind Logistics was almost going to start business. Even if Fei Huang Workspace made some minor profits, that would not affect his grand loss-making scheme.

Thinking about this, Pei Qian nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll support you guys. However, you all have to remember something: treasure Fei Huang Workspace’s reputation. Don’t force yourselves into taking unseemly sponsored partnerships, alright?

“Rest assured, Boss Pei, we understand!’ Huang Sibo happily hung up the call.

…

…

August 7th…

Lu Mingliang reported to Pei Qian the first major decision he had made as CEO of Upwind Logistics. He had changed the delivery shifts for Upwind Courier stations’ express deliverymen.

Considering that their customer base was mainly working adults who weren’t at home most of the day, each express deliveryman would be responsible for a separate shift. One would take the morning shift from 6am to 3pm while the other would take the night shift from 2pm to 11pm.

As the night shift might be more tiring, additional remuneration would be provided.

The two express deliverymen could also rotate the shifts to prevent any implications to their health from working the night shift for an extended time.

This way, working adults could choose to have their deliveries done either early in the morning or later at night; this would be better than the previous time slots available.

Besides this, Lin Canrong had also reported to Pei Qian that the high-end restaurant’s preparation works have basically been completed.

Pei Qian was very pleased by this high efficiency.

Lin Canrong had registered the name of the restaurant as Ming Yun Private Kitchen as the restaurant was in Ming Yun Villas while it was more like a private kitchen type of restaurant.

Pei Qian felt that the name was rather nice. As he didn’t intend for the restaurant to have a signboard or the sorts, he didn’t mind the name at all.

He just wanted to go and have a meal there!

After the selection of ‘best employee’ on August 1st, Pei Qian had long thought of the reason for this round’s company-paid gathering and meal.

The commendation of the outstanding employee as well as a send-off.

Bao Xu had already done up his visa applications with much regret and was about to embark on his overseas, fully-funded travels while Lu Mingliang had also started work at Upwind Logistics.

This gathering was a good chance to also signal that Tengda Games was moving into its third phase after Huang Sibo and then Lu Mingliang had been the chief planners.

…

…

Ming Yun Private Kitchen…

Lin Wan stood at the entrance and looked curiously inside. She had not expected that a quality private kitchen existed among the deserted and isolated villas here!

From the exterior, this place did not look extraordinary at all; it was just a normal villa within Ming Yun Villas. While its decorations might be slightly more lavish than other villas, it didn’t particularly stand out.

Although it was a private kitchen, it did not have a signboard at all; there didn’t seem to be other diners as well.

As she continued walking inside, the seven-meter-high hall had a huge long table decked out with exquisite cutlery and plating; it felt like a banquet dinner in some European palace.

The service staff looked sharp and were serving dish after dish of delicacies.

A total of fifty-seven people had come to Ming Yun Private Kitchen this time. This included the core employees from Tengda Games as well as from its subsidiaries Shang Yang Games, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Upwind Logistics, and Fei Huang Workspace.

In other words, all that had been invited by Boss Pei this time were all talents that he had high hopes for!

As Lin Wan was after all the director of Shang Yang Games now, she naturally was on the name list as well.

This villa had three floors with the largest space being the living room on the first floor. More than twenty people could sit at a long table. As the ceiling was seven meters high, the entire space did not feel cramped or pressurized at all.

The long table was custom-made and seemed to only be used for such special occasions. Normally, a few small tables lined the hall.

All the other rooms had been redesigned into private rooms. As for who sat in the main hall and who sat in the private rooms; it was all free and easy. Pei Qian only wanted everyone to eat more and spend more money. He wasn’t that particular about who sat where.

As everyone more or less knew each other, they didn’t need to stand on formalities and could just sit and eat. Some people had not met each other for a long time due to work. Huang Sibo and Bao Xu, for example, were using this opportunity to catch up.

Huang Sibo told Bao Xu about his plans for the new short videos on digital product reviews while Bao Xu was sharing his woes about having to go on another paid overseas trip again.

“Everyone, eat to your hearts’ delight; don’t stand on ceremony. Whoever doesn’t eat his fill today is saying that he has a work attitude problem!”

Pei Qian spoke as he watched the expensive dishes that were being served from the kitchen one by one; he was over the moon.

Many of these exorbitant dishes had been prepared according to the recipes of some celebrity chefs. Dishes such as ‘crocodile tail soup’ and ‘sake with abalone’, etc. cost four to five thousand a portion.

The black and white-grade caviar that everyone had was worth two thousand a portion. With fifty-seven people present, that was instantly more than a hundred thousand spent.

Of course, Pei Qian bringing his own employees to eat here was essentially like putting money from his left hand into his right. Nevertheless, the cost price of these ingredients was going to cost him.

These top-grade ingredients were sourced from all over the country; some even had to be ordered from overseas and transported with haste using special services. Boss Pei himself was going to fork out this money.

Furthermore, he also had to pay for many top-grade chefs and quality service staff. These together with the private kitchen’s daily expenses were all coming from Boss Pei.

Hence, although he was having a meal at his own restaurant, he had to fork out quite a bit.

The Swan Lake Restaurant company dinners in the past were incomparable to this place.

Pei Qian estimated that at the rate they were eating tonight, even the cost of the raw ingredients itself would be about four to five thousand per head; that would be around three hundred thousand for all those present.

Although that didn’t seem much at first glance, every little made a mickle while one’s fortune could be consumed if one just did nothing. As long as everyone continued to eat like this to their hearts’ content, they would someday make Boss Pei a poor man!

Lin Wan had thought that this was an ordinary gathering. After tasting a few dishes, she realized she was completely wrong!

Previously, all gatherings had been at Swan Lake Restaurant. That was already the highest-class buffet in the entire Jingzhou City and naturally had some pricier dishes.

However, that meal costs around four hundred per head.

Lin Wan thought that the dishes there weren’t considered poor; however, they also weren’t the best and at most could be said to be of standard.

The dishes in Ming Yun Private Kitchen, however, were of quality many times better than Swan Lake Restaurant’s!

Even Lin Wan herself seldom could taste such delicacies!

Beyond that, the restaurant’s decor and atmosphere were also very pleasing to Lin Wan. The dining table, cutlery, and decorations were all very exquisite and matched perfectly with the dishes served. The whole dining experience was elevated to its peak.

All the service staff were polite while the service was attentive and yet not intrusive. When she asked a few questions occasionally, they would also answer fluently; they evidently had been rigorously trained.

All in all, this place was better than Swan Lake Restaurant in all aspects!

“Jingzhou actually had such a restaurant? Why have I not known about this?” Lin Wan was a little curious.

Seated next to her, Assistant Xin held onto her red wine and answered, “Boss Pei had just opened this place himself. Putting Jingzhou aside, this type of restaurant is probably also rare in Beijing and Shanghai.”