The next day.
As Wang Tao had a class in the morning, the tasks of sourcing, inventorying, and stocking had to be delegated to Miao Renyi, the assistant store manager hired from outside the university.
While Miao Renyi was checking the day's ingredients, he suddenly noticed something unusual about the Yunyun Drink shop across the street.
Before the opening training, he had heard from several student employees that the owner of Yunyun Drink had a grudge against the major shareholder behind the milk tea shop.
Having drifted in society for a long time, Miao Renyi paid close attention to the gossip mentioned by the employees, especially when it involved the major shareholder behind the milk tea shop.
Initially, while checking the prepped inventory, Miao Renyi hadn't sensed anything abnormal about Yunyun Drink.
It was only when he stepped outside for a cigarette that he discovered the shop across the street had put up a sign.
And on the sign, written in colored pens, was a line of text.
"Starting today, all drinks at Yunyun Drink are half price! The promotion lasts for two days!"
Upon reading the sign, Miao Renyi immediately contacted Wang Tao.
Upon hearing the news, Wang Tao's first reaction was that Hao Yun was preparing to engage in a price war with Mingyuan Milk Tea, but he did not inform Gao Fei.
He was aware of Yunyun Drink's capabilities, which were not on the same level as Mingyuan Milk Tea.
This was because Hao Yun's drinks were mostly common, with only a small portion being his own creations.
In contrast, Mingyuan Milk Tea's drinks not only had novel names but also unique flavors unmatched in the market.
Therefore, Wang Tao was confident that even with a half-price sale, Hao Yun would not be able to defeat Mingyuan Milk Tea.
At noon, the milk tea shop opened, and Yunyun Drink also opened simultaneously.
As soon as Mingyuan Milk Tea opened, customers holding flyers formed a long queue stretching from inside the shop to the outside.
Among the long line, there were also some customers who didn't hold flyers; these were repeat customers from the previous day.
Inside the shop, Wang Tao introduced the milk tea varieties to new customers while constantly monitoring the competitor across the street.
Yunyun Drink.
Apart from the staff, there were no customers in the shop.
Meanwhile, Mingyuan Milk Tea, which had just opened, already had customers queuing from inside to outside.
Seeing the continued popularity of the milk tea shop, Hao Yun couldn't help but frown.
He glanced at the sign outside the shop and said to the assistant manager, "Old Lu, this sign of yours isn't doing much. They're already lined up around the block, and we don't have a single customer!"
"Don't rush it, there are no customers now, but they'll come later," Lu Fan replied from behind the counter.
"No, even if we're in a price war, we can't be too passive."
Hao Yun muttered to himself, standing in place.
Watching the queue at Mingyuan Milk Tea grow longer, a flash of inspiration struck him. He then whispered a few words into Lu Fan's ear.
Ten minutes later.
"Good news, good news! To celebrate our half-year anniversary, the boss is making a huge sacrifice.
Every drink purchased is half price! And there are more prizes to be won during the promotion."
"Good news, good news..."
Outside Yunyun Drink, a large loudspeaker was placed on a stool, its mouth facing the street, continuously broadcasting the recorded promotional offers to passersby.
Soon, the loudspeaker's announcement attracted the attention of people on the street.
Initially, no one entered the shop.
But as the queue at Mingyuan Milk Tea continued to grow, some people were getting thirsty from waiting. Coupled with the loudspeaker's promotion, customers simply decided to head to Yunyun Drink.
After all, everyone was there for the discount; half price plus prizes sounded like a good deal.
Seeing customers gradually entering the shop, Hao Yun, Lu Fan, and the others immediately perked up.
"Colorful Ice Apple Juice, half price is three yuan a cup, that's cheap!"
A man standing at the ordering counter muttered, pointing at the menu, "I want this, this, and that!"
"Certainly, sir. That will be nine yuan. Please wait over there!"
As the staff member finished speaking, Hao Yun immediately stepped forward and said, "Sir, anyone who makes a purchase can participate in a lucky draw. Please come this way."
He led the man to a wooden box nearby, gestured to it, and let him draw.
The man casually reached into the box and pulled out a slip of paper that read 'Third Prize,' with the prize being another free drink.
At the same time, Hao Yun explained all the prizes to the customers.
The first prize was fifty yuan in cash, the second prize was a dessert, and the third prize was a free drink.
Anyone who bought a drink could participate in the draw.
This promotional activity was conceived by Hao Yun and Lu Fan last night.
Lu Fan first proposed the half-price promotion, and then Hao Yun helped expand it by adding a lucky draw.
After hearing the explanation, the customers, who were already inclined to take advantage of discounts, became excited.
They immediately crowded around the ordering counter and lined up to draw prizes.
Customers who won prizes through the draw spread the word, and Yunyun Drink's promotion quickly became known.
The queue at Mingyuan Milk Tea was gradually shrinking.
Meanwhile, at Yunyun Drink, customers were lining up from inside to outside the shop.
Although the shop's promotional activities were operating at a loss, with customers now returning, Hao Yun finally stopped frowning.
He only needed to persist for two days to fully stabilize the customer base, and the money lost would eventually be earned back.
He was very confident in the shop's drinks and their taste.
Mingyuan Milk Tea's long queue had halved, and the news of Yunyun Drink's promotional activities soon reached Wang Tao.
Miao Renyi asked him if he needed to come up with any countermeasures to compete, but Wang Tao refused.
Wang Tao's reason for refusal was simple.
Although Yunyun Drink was currently attracting customers with its promotional activities, it was actually operating at a loss.
Furthermore, before opening Mingyuan Milk Tea, he had tasted all of Yunyun Drink's offerings.
Compared to the flavors, Mingyuan Milk Tea was superior.
After all, Mingyuan Milk Tea's ingredients and recipes were all created by Gao Fei, a culinary master, and were impossible for outsiders to imitate.
Wang Tao knew very well that Hao Yun's price war could not last long, and if he continued, he would only go bankrupt.
Not everyone had a rich benefactor supporting them from behind.
After the price war ended, the competition would be based on the actual strength of the drink shops.
Yunyun Drink's juices and teas were too traditional and were sold in many places.
Therefore, with milk tea's unique flavors, the winner would only be Mingyuan.
Wang Tao was very confident because Mingyuan Milk Tea's uniqueness gave him the confidence.
In the face of absolute strength, any discount or shortcut would eventually become mere foam.
After hearing the explanation, Miao Renyi gave Wang Tao a thumbs-up.
Although he had been navigating society for nearly three years and had more life experience than Wang Tao, he was genuinely impressed to see a university student analyze a competitor so thoroughly. He deeply admired this scholar.
By the end of the day,
Yunyun Drink and Mingyuan Milk Tea were neck and neck in terms of customer traffic.
However, in terms of revenue, Mingyuan Milk Tea far surpassed Yunyun Drink.
....
In the evening.
After Zhang Cheng revealed Yunyun Drink's promotional activities to Gao Fei, the latter did not offer any advice.
The reason he didn't offer advice was the same as Wang Tao's explanation.
After the price war, it would be a battle of true strength.
He had absolute confidence in the milk tea he had concocted.
"Old Gao, you trust Wang Tao too much!" Zhang Cheng said, scratching his nose.
Gao Fei explained to him, "If I had to guide him in everything, what would be the point of investing? I might as well do it myself.
Old Zhang, you must remember, you are an investor now, and you need to give the investee room to showcase their abilities. As an investor, you invest not only in the project but also in the investor.
Since you believe in Wang Tao and have invested in him, you should also believe in his capabilities.
What you need to do is, if his abilities are lacking and he can't even solve this small problem, you can remove him directly and find someone else to take over."
Gao Fei was imparting knowledge about being an investor to Zhang Cheng.
As he would have more investment projects in the future, he didn't want to solve everything by himself. If Old Zhang wanted to make money with him, he had to train him beforehand.
Li Shuishui and Xu Mingyang in the dormitory exchanged helpless glances as they watched the two talking, then returned to their books.
If their academic workload wasn't so much heavier than Zhang Cheng's, they too would have joined Old Gao's investment team.
After imparting investment knowledge to Zhang Cheng, Gao Fei began to have a phone call with Jin Qiqi.
Tomorrow is April 15th, and the final results for the eleven films selected for the International Day promotional video will be announced after twelve o'clock.
Regarding the International Day, to prevent film companies from creating public opinion chaos, the General Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film and Television had closed all data viewing channels after April 10th.
Now, apart from the data before the 10th, the data for the eleven films during the subsequent period is unknown.
Although Gao Fei was confident that "Black and White Edge" would rank in the top three, or even take the top spot,
he still felt a little bit of anticipation and excitement facing the unknown data.
As time passed, midnight finally arrived.
Gao Fei opened social media, waiting for the General Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film and Television to release the final results.
The page refreshed, and the final results appeared.
"Black and White Edge"'s final performance.
Box office: Two hundred and thirty-five million six hundred and eighty thousand.
Number of video website sales: fifty-six million five hundred and seventy-three thousand two hundred and forty-one (times).
With both scores added together, "Black and White Edge" ranked first.
As for who took second and third place, Gao Fei didn't even bother to look. Since he had taken the top spot, who cared about the subsequent rankings?
He simply closed his computer and lay down on the bed, drifting off to sleep with a satisfied smile.
The next day.
Because the results of the eleven films were announced, and "Black and White Edge" was selected and ranked first, Gao Fei needed to return to the city for a meeting.
Therefore, all matters concerning the school recently were handled by Zhang Cheng.
April 19th.
The price war between Mingyuan Milk Tea and Yunyun Drink had ended on the 16th.
Mingyuan Milk Tea retained many customers due to its taste.
As for Yunyun Drink, after the promotional activities ended, the customer flow became weaker day by day.
Hao Yun looked at the still booming Mingyuan Milk Tea with intense envy.
When Lu Fan complained about how to compete for business, Hao Yun's eyes narrowed, a flicker of ruthlessness crossed his face, and he took out his phone to make a call.