In addition, the owner realized that he couldn't set a low price at the beginning, lest customers wouldn't accept it if the price was adjusted up later. So he deliberately told customers, "We're giving everyone a discount since it's just opened," to make it easier to adjust the price later.
However, having no background in consumer psychology, he didn't realize that this tactic wasn't very effective. New customers don't care if there's a discount today; they only accept the current price. When the discount ends, they won't come back, so the final result isn't much different from a price increase.
—Unless the food at this restaurant is so delicious that it's irreplaceable and there are no competing products to replace it, or the restaurant has a strong brand reputation so that people already know the original price and are mentally prepared.
But his family didn't occupy any of these spots, so tragedy was inevitable.
At the same price, why would anyone choose your restaurant? You have a history of raising prices, while other restaurants consistently offer free dishes. What advantage do you have?
Nowadays, the prices of ingredients across the street have dropped to wholesale prices, leaving no profit margin. The more customers come to eat, the more money we lose. For every skewer sold, we lose the labor cost for that skewer, and the bamboo skewers are also an expense.
Ye Xu was eager for him to entertain more guests and lose all his savings.
If we had simply chosen a more distant location instead of opening a shop nearby, we definitely wouldn't have these problems. Setting higher prices in a more remote location means there's less competition, and new customers, unaware of the pricing structure, are more likely to simply go in and eat there without objection.
What's the point of just riding the coattails of popularity by opening across the street? You also need to have top-notch quality to beat the competition. If you open a bit further away, there will always be customers who don't want to queue up in the dead of winter at Ye Xu's place, and everyone can eat nearby. It's better to keep to your own business; if a real fight breaks out, whoever has the weakest foundation will be embarrassed, okay?
Shuangshuang was overjoyed after finishing the accounts. She was happy as long as the shop across the street was losing money, and she didn't care about the customers being taken away. She excitedly asked Ye Xu, "If other shops come to open and compete with us in the future, will we do the same thing?"
"Of course not." But Ye Xu shook his head. "The first one is enough to make an example of them. Others will be more restrained and won't provoke our retaliation."
Shuangshuang thought about it and agreed.
It's unlikely that any more shops will open open so openly on this street, but opening one on the next street wouldn't make a big difference; the customer base in this area is limited. However, this isn't Ye Xu's territory, so they can't prohibit shops from opening on the next street either, can they?
"So we're just going to leave it alone?" Shuangshuang was a little conflicted.
Ye Xu smiled and said, "How could that be? Once there are more hot pot restaurants in this area, we'll have to run away."
"Right, by then we might have enough energy to leave the plane." Shuangshuang calculated that at the current efficiency, she could accumulate 100 million points in at most one quarter.
To everyone's surprise, Ye Xu said, "How can we accumulate enough points so quickly? By the time we open five hot pot restaurants here, we'll still be a long way from our goal."
"Then why did you say you wanted to run away?" Shuangshuang asked, puzzled.
"It means exactly what it says! I'll sell the shop to someone else and then take the dimensional shop to another city to reopen it." Ye Xu said confidently, "While the shop is thriving and the competition is increasing, I'll sell it at a high price and go to another place where there are no competitors to make money in peace. When their goodwill towards each other is damaged and they go bankrupt, maybe I can come back and buy the shop back at a low price."
However, it's highly unlikely he'll come back; he might as well go to another city with less competition to make quick money.
Shuangshuang's pupils dilated in shock: "Buy low and sell high?!"
Many business people insist on jumping headfirst into this market without considering market saturation. No matter how much you try to persuade them, you can't stop them from falling into the trap, so you can only respect their decision and wish them well.
Ye Xu wasn't really ripping people off. The Dimensional Hot Pot restaurant already had a good reputation among regular customers. Taking over his shop and continuing to run it was much easier than finding a place to start from scratch. Who knows, while other copycat shops might go out of business, this one might still be able to stand firm.
As long as you outlast your competitors, you've won and can make money in peace for a while. Then, the next wave of fearless people will recklessly throw themselves into the hot pot restaurant industry, and another round of fierce competition will begin, and the cycle will repeat itself.
By then, Ye Xu should have already successfully retired and left the current plane with enough points. These people wouldn't be able to get involved with him; they could only compete with the other followers.
Shuangshuang was still shocked: "How did the store manager come up with the idea of transferring the store?"
"Hmm? Is that hard to think of?" Ye Xu asked doubtfully. "I studied finance in college and I can study all kinds of economic cases."
As an orphan, Ye Xu spent most of his spare time working part-time. He had some work experience and longed to start his own business, which was one of the reasons he readily accepted the dimensional system. However, having interest and being able to do well are two different things; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so nervous and flustered when he first opened the shop.
To better prepare for starting his own business after graduation, Ye Xu specifically chose economics as his major. While taking his courses, he discovered that the information about Amway in the textbooks was too broad and unsuitable for small-scale entrepreneurship, so he had to search for relevant information online himself.
So, naturally, Ye Xu learned about many ways to make money. For example, some specialized teams would deliberately open shops in small towns, choosing shops that weren't available nearby. Once the business became popular and copycats appeared, they would quickly transfer the shops at a high price and use the money to open the next shop in the next place.
When Ye Xu heard that a hot pot restaurant had opened across the street, his first thought was to sell the shop and run away. His own shop was strong enough that moving to another city wouldn't affect business much; in fact, it would save him a lot of trouble and allow him to earn a transfer fee—why not?
Seeing how angry Shuangshuang was, Ye Xu thought he could retaliate before transferring the business and make the other party lose some money. After all, once he left, the new owner wouldn't be willing to give away free dishes to reduce his profits, and then the neighboring shop could raise its prices back up.
"I didn't expect our neighbor to be so restless, so eager to crush our shop," Ye Xu sighed. "Well, I can't blame them; they lowered their prices on their own initiative."
Shuangshuang asked, "So, are the dishes still being served free?"
"Whatever you want, I think it's fine either way," Ye Xu said indifferently.
In reality, the shop across the street can't steal much of his business; the city's foot traffic is more than enough. The two shops can clearly coexist peacefully; there's no need to fight over it. They can wait until they have more enemies before clashing. Even a little investigation would have prevented the shop across the street from making such foolish moves.
Ye Xucai ignored him and continued selling hot pot and base ingredients as usual.
The business of the soup base was not affected at all. Many of the customers who came to buy the soup base were ordinary people who would bring their own jars, buy a jar of soup to take home, and add a little to their stews every day, enough to last them a long time.
Hot pot is even less affected; the restaurant across the street doesn't have unlimited supply of monster meat and top-grade seafood, so they can't steal from the wealthy people who want a taste. As for the remaining middle and lower-level adventurers, there are a huge number of them, so how many can the restaurant across the street steal?
Some regular customers were worried about Ye Xu, but seeing that Boss Ye was calm and composed, they calmed down. After all, the boss was here to do charity, so he probably didn't care whether business was good or not. And the young master of that noble family probably didn't care about the little money he earned either.
Han Yingchen arrived a little late today; by the time he got there, the shop across the street had already started lowering prices to do business. He glanced at it, then coldly looked away and entered Ye Xu's shop.
Although the prices across the street were cheaper, he had received Ye Xu's kindness several times, so he certainly wouldn't go and support other shops for a little money. He was already in a bad mood that morning due to the unexpected incident, and seeing this new shop made him even worse.
"Why are you late today?" Ye Xu greeted him.
The queue in the store had shortened considerably, and Han Yingchen was quickly seated. Ye Xu happened to be in the lobby on the first floor, so he offered to serve him.
Han Yingchen wasn't good at lying. Even though he didn't really want to let his troubles affect others, he still honestly answered, "It's just a small matter, and it's already been resolved."
For the past few days, Han Yingchen has spent most of his days keeping watch near the hot pot restaurant. He only has time to go out hunting after the restaurant closes at night, then he exchanges monsters for currency. For him, the monsters are barely enough to fill his stomach, but they can be exchanged for cheap and filling ingredients that can at least provide a meal.
It just so happened that he hadn't found any other prey during that period, only a nest of magical beasts that only came out at night, so hunting them at night was perfect. Han Yingchen maintained this regular routine, and as usual last night, he brought the magical beasts he killed back to his residence, intending to exchange them for money the next morning.
But today, the person who often traded with Han Yingchen suddenly tried to lower the price. Han Yingchen disagreed, and a conflict ensued. In the end, Han Yingchen used his strength to get the full amount of money he deserved, but he also offended the merchant, who threatened to kick him out of the almshouse.
The almshouse was run by a nobleman and provided housing for the homeless. Han Yingchen had been staying there ever since he returned to Biyue City. If the merchant insisted on causing him trouble, he would have to find another place to stay to avoid implicating others.
The reason Han Yingchen was late in the morning was because of his entanglement with the businessman. He didn't want to talk about it, and Ye Xu didn't press him for details. When he heard that it had been "resolved," he felt relieved and greeted him with a smile as he ordered food.
The shop's business wasn't affected much; it was still packed. Seeing this, Han Yingchen felt relieved and ate his meal in peace.
However, Ye Xu's indifference seemed to be misunderstood by the shop owner across the street. He thought that Ye Xu was afraid to compete with him, and he was very pleased. He couldn't help but pace at the door and peek over from time to time.
Ye Xu ignored him completely and continued operating at his original pace. Seeing this, the regular customers also became more laid-back, no longer caring about those unpleasant things, coming happily and leaving happily after their meal.
The shop owner across the street frowned upon seeing this, sensing something was amiss. After thinking for a moment without noticing anything unusual, he snorted and went into his shop.
—That Mr. Ye must be putting on a brave face, he must be really anxious behind the scenes!
Even into the evening, the restaurant remained fully occupied despite the presence of multiple competitors. Ye Xu, in a good mood, finished his shower and lay in bed, beginning to ponder when to sell the restaurant.
Transferring a shop doesn't necessarily mean transferring everything in the shop to the new owner. Special items from the interdimensional shop aren't suitable to be left unused, and the procurement channels can't be shared. Therefore, Ye Xu's plan is to only transfer the shop premises, leaving nothing else for the new owner. After all, the new owner is only buying the location and the shop's signboard; everything else can be handled independently.
Because they offer less, they can charge a lower price. After all, the payment is made in currency, not the points or energy that Ye Xu wanted.
As Ye Xu was pondering this, a huge lump of jelly suddenly fell from the sky, crushing him. He coughed a few times and struggled to crawl out from under Tangtang's bottom.
"Kid, how did you suddenly appear?" Ye Xu said helplessly.
Actually, although it was said to have fallen from the sky, it only fell from a position ten centimeters above the bed. Ye Xu was just caught off guard by the sudden impact and wasn't injured at all. The bouncy, juicy creature was very easy to climb out of without any deliberate pressure.
Tangtang chirped excitedly, looking rather smug.
The shop owner has been busy with work these days and hasn't had much time to play with it, so it's been bored for a long time. Before, when it was locked out of the room, it was thinking about how to successfully get inside.
Later, it confided its troubles to Xiaoyu, who gave it a suggestion: wait until the little elf returned to rest before going out. At that time, Xiaoxu Zaizai would definitely be resting in its room, and as soon as it left the pet park, it would immediately appear beside the elf.
As a responsible parent, how could I not sleep with my child? That's why this scene just happened.
However, pets cannot freely enter or leave the space, unless they are special pets like Xiaoyu who have spatial abilities.
To make it easier for Luna and Shuangshuang to come and go, Ye Xu specially made a small exit, which was placed in the treehouse in the living room. The exit was very small, and only elves could come and go freely.
Tangtang obviously couldn't get out by himself, so he probably asked Xiaoyu for help. Those two kids are really something, they know how to give him "surprises".
Ye Xu: "..."
Ye Xu shouldn't have been able to understand the slime's language, but Tangtang's pride was so obvious that he could easily guess its thought process. Ye Xu rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, wondering if he would ever be able to sleep if this happened every night.
"Xiaoyu, come out." Ye Xu put on a stern face and pulled out the little furball who was secretly watching the commotion in the space to give her a lecture. "You can't do this again. If Tangtang wants to come out, she has to call me in advance, just like before. You're not allowed to act on your own, understand?"
Tangtang came out at the right time this time, and Ye Xu was lucky enough not to fall asleep yet. If he had gone to bed earlier, being hit like that would have really given him a nervous breakdown and scared him half to death.
Xiaoyu buried herself in the blankets and pretended to be dead.
Tangtang, feeling dejected after being criticized, lay down listlessly and obediently admitted her mistake with a "Chirp."
It has changed from a uniform cone with a diameter of 2 meters and a height of 2 meters to a series of short, droopy cones with a longer diameter and half the height, making it look even cuter.
Ye Xu poked it: "No whining." Then she poked the little furball: "No naughtiness."
"Chirp chirp." "Meow meow." The two cubs responded in unison.
Since Tangtang had done something wrong, the plan to sleep with him tonight naturally failed again. Ye Xu felt that he couldn't spoil Tangtang; only if it behaved well would he reward it with the opportunity to sleep with him. If he gave in to his heart and agreed, Tangtang would definitely become even more naughty in the future.
As for Xiaoyu, she will also be punished for helping Tangtang escape from prison. So Xiaoyu can't stay in bed with the blankets today; she has to go back to her cat bed to sleep.
Having chased away the two clingy kids, Ye Xu could finally sleep peacefully. But after this ordeal, how could he possibly fall asleep? Ye Xu painfully turned off the TV and lay in bed trying to drift off to sleep.
After the last light went out, the entire building was plunged into darkness.
Meanwhile, the owner across the street was excitedly tallying up his accounts, preparing to calculate how much he had earned that day. He had heard that running this hot pot restaurant was extremely profitable; otherwise, why would he risk offending the seemingly aristocratic manager, Mr. Ye, and come here to steal his business?
The boss had already lost all his savings over the years for this business. He felt it was a golden goose that could provide him with a continuous stream of copper coins, so there was no need to hesitate to enter the business.
The owner selectively ignored the claim that "Boss Ye opened the restaurant as a charity and didn't intend to make money," and naively assumed that the hot pot restaurant was a money-making machine. With such a large daily customer flow, how could it not be profitable?
However, after calculating the expenses and income, the boss was dumbfounded. Forget making a profit, he actually lost a lot of money today!
The boss, refusing to believe it, calculated it several times. After finishing, he concluded that the problem must lie in his price reduction; he figured raising the price would solve it. Then he calculated it again at the original price and found he was still losing money.
At this point, the owner finally realized the problem with the pricing of the broth. With the price set so low, the skewers wouldn't be profitable unless the price was raised. Plus, he had already spent a considerable sum to buy the shop across the street, so he was now suffering a huge loss.
The owner clearly didn't study middle school math, which is why he stumbled so badly on this. If he had done his calculations beforehand instead of blindly being fooled by customer traffic, he wouldn't be in this predicament now.
But the shop owner wouldn't reflect on the problem; he only felt cheated. He blamed Ye Xu's shop for having so many customers, making him mistakenly believe it was very profitable. He blamed Ye Xu for deliberately setting low prices to be a good person, thus ripping him off and leaving him with nothing.
Raising prices now would be unacceptable to customers, and the owner knows this very well. Besides, this isn't something that can be solved by simply increasing the price of the skewers; the root cause is the broth. He needs to raise the price of the broth, but Ye Xu's broth is cheap, while his is expensive—who would still come to eat at his place?!
The boss was only a little clever and became completely helpless when faced with difficulties. In a moment of impulsiveness, he pulled out something, wanting to teach Boss Ye a lesson about losing everything.
The shopkeeper turned off the magic lamps in his shop and began to wait silently. He waited until the last light in the dimensional shop went out, and until the surrounding houses were all fast asleep.
The streets returned to quiet, with only the magical streetlights still emitting a soft glow. It was unusual that it didn't snow today; the snow on the roads had been trampled away by pedestrians, and without the reflection of the white snow, visibility on the streets was significantly reduced.
The dim night gave the boss the illusion that he could do something, so he quietly pushed open the side door hidden in the alley, leaving a crack in the door.
The shopkeeper was very vigilant, hiding by the door for a good fifteen minutes to observe, making sure there was really no one on the street before he widened the door a little. He wrapped his black robe tighter around himself and tiptoed across the street.
Unbeknownst to the owner, there was another person hiding in the narrow gap between the detached hot pot restaurant and the building next door. This person was also dressed in black, concealing their presence perfectly, their skill in hiding far surpassing that of others.
The man in black leaned against the wall, feigning sleep. One hand was on a protrusion on the opposite wall, while the other rested on the dagger at his waist. He was asleep, but also alert. If anything unexpected happened, this position would allow him to quickly use the wall's gaps to deliver a fatal blow to any malicious assailant.
The man had already sensed something amiss when the shop owner across the hall slyly opened the door a crack, but he hadn't made a move. He opened his eyes and silently watched the direction from which the faint sound came from, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
The man was an extremely patient hunter, holding back his attack until the shopkeeper's hand touched the door, and he took out some alchemical tool, intending to do something, before suddenly striking.
In the blink of an eye, the boss was subdued, with no chance to resist. His rudimentary skills were simply not up to par; he couldn't even muster the strength to struggle and was quickly captured by the hunter.