While a group of community grid workers took a break to discuss their drinks, four college students who used to be regulars at the milk tea shop happened to stroll nearby.
They quickly noticed the shop’s eye-catching new signboard. To their surprise, the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop, which had been closed for a week, had mysteriously reopened.
After a brief discussion, the four of them pushed the door open and walked in. They were soon amazed to find that it wasn’t just the signboard outside that had changed—the interior of the shop seemed to have undergone quite a few modifications as well. A young man in a plaid T-shirt took out his phone to scan the QR code, discovering that the previously complicated menu had been noticeably streamlined. They briefly discussed what to get and quickly placed their respective orders.
Since this wasn’t their first time at the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop, the four of them assumed they would have to wait a long time for their drinks, just like before. However, they were completely caught off guard. The moment they placed their order on their phones, they saw the children skillfully operating the various new pieces of equipment.
In just a few moments, the four drinks were already placed in front of them.
The college students looked at each other in surprise. The young man in the plaid T-shirt who had placed the order only hesitated for a second before grabbing one of the cups. He poked his straw through the seal and took a sip.
The next moment, his eyes lit up. "This is delicious!"
The other three, who had been playing on their phones, immediately looked up at their companion.
They had visited this Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop many times in the past. However, their frequent visits weren’t because the drinks were actually good, but entirely out of sympathy for the intellectually disabled children. In their eyes, buying a drink here was basically a good deed in disguise, which felt like a very meaningful thing to do as college students. They figured that buying milk tea here meant the money went directly into these children’s hands, which was far better than donating to some sketchy foundations.
The other three exchanged glances and picked up their respective drinks to take a sip. A moment later, smiles broke out on all of their faces.
"Not bad at all. My Taro Paste Milk Pudding has such a rich and fragrant milky taste, and the taro paste is incredibly smooth!"
"This Boba Chocolate I’m holding is thick and fragrant. It’s not too sweet or too bitter. I’ve never had such good chocolate milk tea!"
"Mine is great too! This Hong Kong-style silk stocking milk tea tastes exactly like the ones I’ve had at a Hong Kong Island Tea Restaurant. The flavor is absolutely unreal!"
Hearing their praises, Huang Cuilian’s face lit up with joy. She eagerly asked, "Are the drinks really that good? You aren’t just saying that to make me happy, are you?"
The young man in the plaid T-shirt waved his hand emphatically. "Sister Huang, the drinks are genuinely delicious. They’re miles better than before. You guys must have changed the recipe, right?"
Huang Cuilian nodded repeatedly. "We did indeed change the recipe. If you all really think it tastes good, then I can finally put my mind at ease!"
The four college students chatted politely with Huang Cuilian for a while longer before leaving the milk tea shop.
As they walked, one of them shook his empty disposable cup. "What do you guys think about sharing the news about the milk tea shop in the freshmen group chats and on the school forum?"
Another person hesitated. "We posted about it once before, but it didn’t really make a splash. Is there any point in posting it again?"
The first student rolled his eyes. "How is this the same? The milk tea shop’s drinks used to taste awful. Buying a drink was purely an act of charity, and most people naturally weren’t willing to do that," he said, shaking the empty plastic cup in his hand.
"But now... the shop’s drinks are so good! We aren’t asking them to do charity this time; we’re just purely promoting how delicious the drinks are.
"We aren’t exaggerating either. Given how food-obsessed the people at our school are, I think the results will definitely be great."
Someone next to him immediately nodded in agreement. "I think Wei’s suggestion is pretty good.
"I looked at their receipt printer earlier, and including ours, they only had orders from two customers.
"It’s almost evening now. With business like this, the milk tea shop is definitely still operating at a loss. I feel like we have a need and an obligation to help promote them."
The group quickly divided up the tasks and began intentionally promoting the drinks from the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop on the school forum and in various freshmen group chats.
Because the milk tea shop’s previous ratings across various online platforms were incredibly poor, Li Xiao simply had Zhou Shishi help cancel the old business license and apply for a new one. With this new business license in hand, he directly contacted the managers of the food delivery platforms to delete the old store listing and put the new one up.
Since it was a newly opened store, the delivery platforms’ big data algorithms provided a certain degree of traffic promotion, though the volume wasn’t particularly large.
As time went on, some customers on the delivery platforms were drawn in by the slightly lower-than-market prices of the drinks and tentatively began placing orders.
Soon, the first five-star review appeared on a delivery platform.
[Saw this was a new store and decided to give it a try. The taste is actually quite good, and the price is very affordable. I just wonder what the prices will be like after their grand opening.]
Following the appearance of the first five-star review, more and more customers who had tasted the drinks from the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop began leaving their feedback in the comment section.
[Stunning! This silk stocking milk tea is the thickest and richest I’ve had in years!]
[Are they really not losing money selling such good drinks at this price?]
[I need to drink a few more cups while they still haven’t raised the prices!]
[A 9.9 yuan lemon tea without any delivery fee? Are they really not going bankrupt?]
[The drinks taste great, but the shop’s name is a bit weird.]
Although Li Xiao hadn’t made any major moves, he was constantly keeping an eye on the newly reopened milk tea shop. Seeing the daily revenue figures that Huang Cuilian reported to him steadily climbing, the slight worry in his heart completely vanished.
Today was the fourth day since the shop’s reopening, and its daily revenue had successfully broken past the 2,500-yuan mark. Looking at this data, Li Xiao smiled brightly.
A daily revenue of 2,500 yuan was actually not considered good for a milk tea shop with a full eight employees; in fact, it was very mediocre. Many people assumed that milk tea shops were highly profitable, but most ignored the fact that their operating costs were also exceptionally high. Water bills, electricity bills, rent, equipment depreciation, renovation depreciation, and employee wages—every single one of these was a massive expense that had to be averaged out into the drinks sold each day. Therefore, if a milk tea shop failed to hit a certain revenue threshold, it meant facing daily financial losses.
For the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop, 2,500 yuan was the exact breakeven point.
As long as the daily revenue could hit 2,500 yuan, the shop would remain in a state of breaking even. While it wasn’t making money, it also didn’t require Li Xiao to inject any more capital. The situation was much better than he had anticipated; he hadn’t even started throwing money into marketing to drive traffic yet, but the milk tea shop had already steadily gotten on the right track.
Many people said that in the internet age, even the aroma of good wine could get lost in a deep alley. However, a lot of people forgot that in this same internet age, everyone was a source of transmission with their own channel to speak out. As long as they encountered truly good wine, people would spontaneously spread the word, easily carrying that aroma out of the deep alley and into far-off places.
Only four days had passed since the reopening, and they had already managed to break even. This speed caught him a little by surprise. His original estimate was that it would take at least a week, or even half a month, for word of mouth to slowly ferment. However, the power of the internet was much stronger than he had expected.
Based on the current trend, the milk tea shop would start turning a profit tomorrow, which meant the business was officially on the right track.
Since things were on the right track, his originally scheduled plans could now be implemented step by step.
He immediately called Wenchu People and shared his plans. Hearing that Li Xiao intended to open more Xihan’er Milk Tea Shops, Wenchu People naturally agreed wholeheartedly.
However, since this matter involved a large number of Xihuan’Er, it required coordinating with many relevant departments. The two of them weren’t in a rush. Instead, they pulled the top-tier lawyer, Zhang Li, into a group chat and began discussing the relevant details in depth.
Although Wenchu People was just a grid worker and not an official civil servant, being a team leader still counted as being a grassroots government worker. As for Zhang Li, although he hadn’t handled matters related to disabled individuals before, he was still incredibly well-versed in various legal clauses and easily provided a plethora of useful advice.
Once the specific framework was nailed down, Li Xiao immediately contacted a headhunting firm to hire a professional to help him manage the entire milk tea shop business.
After all, while this milk tea shop would be more stable than other franchise stores, the subsequent operational issues still needed someone to resolve them. He couldn’t possibly waste too much of his own time here; a professional manager was still crucial.
After some screening, he quickly found his ideal candidate.
Lai Chunjiao was formerly a regional deputy manager at Yum! Brands. It was only because her marriage issues had affected her work that she had stepped down from her regional manager position. During the interview, her abilities and personality perfectly met his requirements.
He directly offered her an annual salary that was thirty-five percent higher than the market rate, along with the promise of stock options in the milk tea shop as a bonus. After understanding the specific situation of the milk tea shop, Lai Chunjiao agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Li Xiao didn’t need to worry about the follow-up matters anymore. Seeing that someone was willing to take in and help these children, the government would absolutely provide significant assistance. As for store operations and expansion, he didn’t need to fret either; he could entrust full authority to Lai Chunjiao and only needed to continuously inject capital on his end.
With the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop on the right track, Li Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He rubbed his somewhat deflated stomach. Lately, because he had been so busy with the milk tea shop, he had either been eating takeout or dining at the cafeteria. It had been a while since he had gone out for a proper meal.
Now that his work was done, he had to properly satisfy his appetite.