Planning All Things for the New Café

Morning, Black Bamboo Café Zhoumen University Branch

The processing for commercial building rent is finally completed. Now Ken can start preparing the café. He needs to decorate the café, look for staff, and then train them.

Ken is now sitting inside the café waiting for Yuan Liqin and Hu Zhishang. He wants to discuss all the preparation for the new café with both of them. But, he came too early.

Yuan Liqin usually comes to the cafe after lunchtime and then stays in the café until the closing time around 10 PM. Sometimes he comes in the morning to check the morning shift staff, but it is rare. Meanwhile, Hu Zhishang has said that he is already on the way.

~~~

"As usual, I want you to look for staff." Ken looks over to Yuan Liqin, "but this time, you are not the one to train them."

Looking over to Hu Zhishang, Ken said, "You are in charge of training the new staff. Don't worry I will be helping sometimes, Okay?"

Hu Zhishang nodded, "Okay"

"Now about the atmosphere of the café, what do you think is the best suit for the new café?

"Should we go with a bright and not distracting decoration like in this café? Or go with a relaxed atmosphere? Or maybe a fun and cheerful room with colorful decoration? I think we should go with the same theme as this shop, a place where you can focus. What do you two think?" Ken asked.

Hu Zhishang answered first, "I think the same, we already have an image for the brand. Black Bamboo Café is a place where you can focus on your work without any disturbance while enjoying a cup of coffee. It would be no good to change the image.

"Other than that, there is a bookshop in front of the café. We can get some of their customer to read their newly bought book in the café. And a good place to read is where there is little distraction. Hence I agree with using the existing image for the new café." Hu Zhishang finished his explanation.

"Okay, what do you think, Brother Yuan?"

"I mostly thought the same, but if I remember it right, there are 2 floors we can use right? We can make the first floor just a little bit more cheerful while the second floor is the same as here. Do remember that there is a shopping mall nearby, there will be people that come for just hanging around."

The rented place is a 7 floored building. The first and second floor is rented as commercial space, while the upper floor is used as an office.

The first and second floor is connected with a stair inside the café, while the third floor above can be accessed using different stair outside. This place is far from the center of the business area, but it is still inside the area. That is why there are still offices for rent here.

"That! That is a nice idea. Let's go with that." Ken continued while looking at Hu Zhishang, "Then, about the layout, both of us will go to the café later and decide the layout there."

Hu Zhishang suddenly asked, "How about all the coffee and espresso machines? Will we use the same machine like the one used here?"

"We will use the machine from the same maker, there are new machines for both the coffee and espresso machine. If they are from the same maker, there should not be any differences right?" Ken answered.

"Also for other things that we need, there is a refrigerator, freezer, toaster, water filter, shelf and many more... You will be in charge of this, just follow what we have in here You search for the equipment that will fit with the café layout" Ken point at Hu Zhisang, "For the coffee and espresso machine, I will be in charge for this one... Ah, also the bean grinder is in my charge."

"Then after the equipment, we need to talk about the ingredient. You already know from where we get our beans, milk, and bread right?"

"Ah yes, Yuan Liqin introduced the place to me a few weeks ago."

"The main ingredient is all right... For other ingredients, you should know where to look right? If you need some hard to get ingredients do tell me."

"Okay boss, is there anything else that I need to do?"

Thinking for a bit, Ken then answered "Hmm... I think that is all."

~~~

Hu Zhishang and Chen Qiu then go to the new café. Inside, they decided how the cafe will look, how many tables, how many chairs, what plant to use, what picture to use, and many more. It is late in the night when they finished all the planning.

"Okay that is all done, I will leave all of this to you. Remember that if there you need some help, don't hesitate to tell me or Brother Yuan."