Rise of the Commercial Empire

The next morning.

The Snow King Ice City in Beika Town 5-chome Tokyo, is not yet open for business.

In the small office of the beverage shop, Fujino was sitting on the sofa, looking at the four members of the Snow King Ice City family sitting around him.

"Yesterday's sales were 120,000 yen."

Akemi held a bill and muttered, "The net income after deducting water and electricity bills is about 90,000 yen."

Fujino closed his eyes and muttered, "The profit margin is roughly around 1.5..."

A profit margin of 1.5% is roughly the price that has been maintained since the start of Snow King Ice City.

We earn one and a half cups for every cup we sell.

This profit margin doesn't seem very high, but compared to other retail industries, such as Convenience Store, it's quite good.

"My daily income has been fluctuating around 90,000 yen for the past week."

Sitting next to him, Ai, wearing a white crew-neck short-sleeved shirt, bit the button on her marker and frowned as she scribbled on a report, "About a month ago, the growth rate of Snow King Ice City's daily revenue began to slow down..."

"Yes, that's right."

Akemi nodded. "That's why I called everyone over to think about what the problem is."

"Slower growth is normal."

Fujino reached out and patted the troubled little girl's head. "The market nearby must be saturated."

"Saturation... it seems like that's the case."

Ai Haibara pondered for a moment, put down her marker, skillfully and patiently tidied her messy brown short hair, and asked Akemi calmly, "Sister Akemi, haven't I seen many familiar unfamiliar faces lately?"

"Well, that's true."

Akemi recalled for a moment, "Thinking about it, I haven't seen many new regular customers lately."

"That's the problem."

Fujino crossed his Jiro and put his hands behind his head. "Our Snow King Ice City market is actually not very big, and our target customer group is not wide. It's basically the local children and young couples. Although we recently expanded into the middle-aged and elderly tea market, we still only have the beverage market. Even though our location is in a commercial area, the traffic is too unstable. We can only harvest traffic on holidays."

He paused, then continued, "If we want to continue developing, the only way is to increase advertising to attract people from further afield, or to develop new product categories to attract new customers... but neither of these is realistic."

"That's true."

Ai Haibara chimed in, "If it were just for a drink, no one would come from so far away. And as for new products, there are already many businesses around here."

She paused, then continued, "Our Snow King Ice City mainly focuses on light dining and leisure, and if we want to expand our product range, we can only offer this type of dine-in service..."

"In that case, it would definitely become a coffee shop."

Akemi sighed upon hearing this, "Besides, Miss Enomoto's Beetle Cafe across the street is this type of shop. If it expands further, it will overlap with the existing businesses and become competitors..."

Shimo-kasu Minaho: "..."

Shimo-kasu Honami: "..."

The two sisters, who were standing to the side and were wearing the same pale yellow T-shirts and jeans, listened for a while and then became invisible.

They stood there, stunned, their eyes filled with bewilderment.

I found that the topic of discussion was too advanced, and I couldn't understand a word of it.

Then, in sync, they brought over a pot of hot tea that had been brewed from the kitchen.

Honami prepared the plates and teacups, Minaho poured the tea.

The two worked together and quickly brought several cups of hot tea to the coffee table in front of the group.

"Thank you for your help."

"No trouble, Fujino."

The Shimo-Kasa Sisters smiled tactfully, "After all, this is all we can do."

"Don't underestimate yourselves. You are actually very important, you just haven't realized it..."

Fujino chuckled and offered a word of comfort, then picked up his teacup, took a sip to moisten his throat, and continued, "Beetle Cafe has been open for many years. In terms of customers, we simply can't compete with them. So, we can't really compete with them in terms of either advertising or opening up new avenues."

He then continued, "The current situation is pretty much like being checkmated; according to feng shui, we've stepped into a dead end."

"Actually, maintaining the status quo is fine too."

Akemi suddenly said, "The average daily net profit is 90,000 yen, and the monthly income is about 2 million yen, which is already very good."

"Sister Akemi, you still haven't grasped the true nature of the capital market..."

Fujino shook his head slightly. "The capitalist market is always about squeezing out others' space in order to survive. Right now, we are mainly focusing on emerging products and relatively low prices. Sooner or later, someone will catch up with us, and then we will be eliminated."

"Yes, if that's the case, our revenue will indeed decrease."

Akemi nodded slightly in agreement, understanding Fujino's words, and sighed, "If that's the case, even though our family doesn't have any extra expenses, we definitely won't be able to survive if we don't earn money..."

"This is an inevitable result of a market economy. Once there are profitable stores, there will definitely be others who want a piece of the pie. However, we do have other solutions now."

Fujino put his Jiro down and looked at Akemi: "By the Sister Akemi, how much money do we have left in our current business account?"

"The store needs two million yen to maintain operations."

Although Akemi didn't know why Fujino was asking now, she still answered truthfully, "We currently have ten million yen in our account, and about eight million yen is available for use."

"Eight million yen, I didn't expect to have so much capital in such a short time since opening..."

Fujino murmured to himself, then suggested, "Sister Akemi, what do you think about opening another branch?"

Akemi asked in confusion, "Open a branch?"

"That's right. Actually, I've had this plan for a long time. The ultimate outcome of the catering industry is to open up new markets and expand into new areas."

Fujino looked at Akemi seriously. "And the market for this new store will be left to you, Sister Akemi, to develop. It's all up to you to decide."

"Let me open a branch or something..."

Akemi hesitated for a moment, then said worriedly, "If Fujino opens it, there will definitely be no problem, but if it's me, the money will definitely be wasted."

"Sister Akemi, you can manage this Snow King Ice City so well, opening another one won't be a problem."

Fujino noticed that Akemi lacked confidence, so he first offered a word of encouragement, and then continued, "I think that in the future, Snow King Ice City will become a commercial beverage empire that is all over Japan and sells well overseas. And Sister Akemi, you are the store manager of Snow King Ice City, the future helmsman of Snow King Ice City, and the female president of a listed company. Of course, you should be the one to open the first branch of Snow King Ice City."