After Becoming Financially Free, They Offered Their Loyalty - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Interview

TL: YYang

The next day was Sunday. In the afternoon, Shen Yuan arranged to meet Li Yuhang at the lounge bar he had taken over.

The lounge bar was on Yudai Street, not far from Wuyi Square. This was also Star City’s famous lounge bar street, and Shen Yuan had been here a few times.

But before, he had come as a customer. Now, he was here to inspect as a boss himself, so his perspective was inevitably different.

At 2:30, Shen Yuan got out of a taxi on Yudai Street and took a stroll around.

He found that the lounge bars here were all very similar, mostly small tavern types with basically the same offerings. Just looking at the exterior, there was nothing particularly attractive.

At least, you couldn’t tell much during the day. He didn’t know what it would be like at night.

On one street, almost all the stores were in the same business. Naturally, some would do well, but there would definitely be some that were poorly managed.

It was obvious that Li Yuhang had taken over the latter.

Shen Yuan walked in and saw that the decoration style was indeed unremarkable, with mostly wooden tables and chairs and a retro bar counter.

Behind the bar was a large wooden wine cabinet, but it was completely empty because the original owner had moved everything out.

However, the store was indeed quite large. Shen Yuan scanned the area and estimated it to be at least two hundred square meters.

No wonder the original owner had left. A store of this size would have high rent and expenses.

Without enough revenue to support it, the daily costs would flow away like water.

Moreover, if a lounge bar was too large and the customer flow was not high, it would look too deserted and lack that drinking atmosphere.

Although the word “qing” (clear/quiet) was in the name of a “qingba” (lounge bar), it wasn’t the “qing” of quietness.

When Shen Yuan arrived, Li Yuhang had already been waiting in the store for about ten minutes. He immediately complained, “Why the hell are you so late?”

Although this guy was a bit playful usually, he was serious when it came to work.

But being serious was one thing; the outcome was another, as the bloody examples from before had shown.

Sometimes, success couldn’t be achieved just by attitude and effort. Direction and choices were equally important.

However, Shen Yuan wouldn’t be polite to Li Yuhang for this reason and directly interrupted his tirade: “Stop your yapping. I’m only a dozen minutes late. I was just taking a look outside.”

“By the way, have you contacted the original manager?”

When Shen Yuan and Li Yuhang were chatting yesterday, he had learned that the manager hired by the original owner was currently looking for a job.

And there were several employees who had followed her. If they could be recruited, that would be even better.

He and Li Yuhang were both outsiders, so Shen Yuan felt they really needed an insider with some experience.

Li Yuhang nodded. “I’ve contacted her. She should be here soon. I just don’t know if she’ll be willing to come back to work here.”

Shen Yuan replied, “Let’s talk to her. The main thing is that she’s familiar with this place, and she has people under her. If her character and work attitude are good, we can offer her a higher salary.”

“Okay. Do you have any ideas for the decoration style?”

Li Yuhang wanted to make major changes but couldn’t decide on a style.

“What do you think of an industrial style?”

Shen Yuan looked around the lounge bar. “The lounge bars here are all retro or British style. If we do something similar, it won’t be very attractive. The key is that an industrial style is cheaper to renovate. We can repaint the walls and then focus on the soft furnishings.”

“Of course, the style is secondary. The main thing is the atmosphere and popularity. Even though it’s a lounge bar, it has to have that drinking atmosphere. But that involves marketing and operation.”

“I think that’s great!”

Li Yuhang listened to Shen Yuan talk so knowledgeably, but he didn’t quite understand the latter part. However, he had always trusted his childhood friend.

“Can’t you have some of your own ideas?”

Shen Yuan couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Actually, he was also a novice, completely in the dark.

These were all things he had summarized based on his past experience of clubbing, combined with what Old Shen had taught him.

But he had never put them into practice and had no confidence.

He was just afraid that when the “two great strategists” got together, it would be a real disaster!

However, Shen Yuan’s expectations weren’t high. If they could break even, plus the two-fold rebate from the System Father, the returns would be very substantial.

As for Li Yuhang, this son of a bitch would probably be overjoyed if he could just maintain the business. After all, compared to his previous painful failures, it was already much better.

“Hello, are you Mr. Li?”

Just then, a lifeless female voice interrupted their conversation.

Shen Yuan turned his head and saw a woman who was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. She was quite petite, about 160 cm tall.

But her style of dress was very bold, like something you’d see in a nightclub.

She was wearing a tight black tank top that showed off her full chest, and below it, her flat, firm abs were exposed, a clear sign that she exercised regularly.

On her lower body, she wore a pair of light blue skinny jeans that accentuated her full hips.

That waist-to-hip ratio was truly impressive!

Shen Yuan thought this must be the original manager, but he hadn’t expected her to be so young.

“You’re Xiao Siyao, right?” Li Yuhang asked.

“Yes, hello.”

Xiao Siyao’s expression was blank as she gave them a slight nod.

The original owner had treated her quite well and had given her severance pay when the business closed. So, when he recommended this, Xiao Siyao had wanted to come and take a look.

But after seeing the two of them, Xiao Siyao was slightly disappointed.

Although she didn’t know which of the two was the boss, they were both too young, and it was clear they had no experience in business.

They didn’t look like bosses, but more like the young people who came to the bar to have fun.

They were probably pampered second-generation rich kids whose parents had given them money to open a bar.

But when people like this opened a bar, it was highly likely that it wouldn’t last long.

One reason was that they had no experience and would easily lose money, and another was that their enthusiasm would only last for three minutes.

But Xiao Siyao wasn’t about to turn around and leave. Basic courtesy was still necessary.

“Let’s sit down and talk.”

Shen Yuan walked to a table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Li Yuhang also made a gesture of invitation.

“Okay.”

After Xiao Siyao sat down, Shen Yuan introduced himself and then got straight to the point:

“I won’t waste time with pleasantries. You can probably tell that we’re about the same age, so let’s not bother with the superficial stuff.”

“We want to hear your thoughts on the original lounge bar. Were there any problems with your original boss’s management, or why do you think he couldn’t stay in business?”

Shen Yuan was treating this meeting as an interview, wanting to see what Xiao Siyao’s abilities were like.

He didn’t want to be stuck in the store every day. Anyway, he had the System Father and more channels to make money. This lounge bar was just a small investment for him.

As for Li Yuhang, with his personality, he probably wanted to be a hands-off boss even more.

Hearing this, Xiao Siyao was slightly taken aback. She hadn’t expected this to be the first question of the interview.

She had interviewed at many places these past few days and felt that the questions they asked were all nonsense.

For example, “Why did you apply for this position?” “What are your strengths?” “Do you think you can excel in this position?” “Do you think there will be any difficulties in this job?”

In her opinion, these were all bullshit questions, especially “Why did you apply?”

Of course, it was because she was unemployed and needed to find a job to make a living!

But she was quite interested in the question he had just asked, and she did have some thoughts on it.

She had even talked to her boss about it before, but at that time, the boss had already been losing money for several months and his mind was no longer on it, so he hadn’t taken it seriously.

“I’ve been at this store since it opened. I personally think there were quite a few problems. First is the location. There are too many lounge bars in this area, giving customers too many choices, so it’s hard for a new store to attract customers.”

“Secondly, the development of repeat business from new customers was also poor. The prices here are not cheap, and there’s nothing special about it, so people don’t really want to come back after one visit…”