God-Given Business Genius - Chapter 147

"Salad..."

"Specialty shop...?"

Everyone wore bewildered expressions. Hmm. I expected this reaction, but it's far more dismal than I anticipated.

"Without pasta, you mean?" 

Jo I-ruk was the first to hit the core issue. Yes. Western restaurants that serve salad as a side dish are common.

But a specialty shop that sells 'only' salad is an entirely different story.

"Ah, we'll have pasta."

At those words, Jo I-ruk looked relieved, but...

"Something like salad pasta."

Hearing my follow-up, his expression turned confused again.

"...CEO. I usually agree with your opinions, but this is too reckless."

Jo I-ruk said, pushing up his glasses.

"The reality is that there's a lack of absolute demand for salad. Our food culture doesn't consume salad frequently, does it? Most people think a meal isn't complete without meat side dishes. A salad?"

There's a famous saying. When you're feeling down, go for meat.

It means we're a people with high loyalty to meat side dishes. I nodded in agreement with this valid point.

"Moreover, there are already too many established health foods and diet foods. People who care about health tend to eat rice as usual and supplement with health foods like red ginseng, rather than replacing rice with salad. Those on diets prefer to reduce meal portions or eat things like chicken breast and boiled eggs."

Every word is correct.

As I nodded in agreement without much response, other employees began to chime in one by one.

Roh Se-hee expressed her concern first.

"Don't Koreans prefer warm and hearty food? Cold dishes aren't popular except in summer, and even then, we eat samgyetang for 'fight fire with fire'. Cold dishes like salad are much less preferred."

Park Sang-won added his thoughts.

"The price is also an issue! Fresh vegetables are the life of salad. This makes the ingredient costs high, making it difficult to achieve price competitiveness."

Yang Ji-a who had been gauging the atmosphere, cautiously spoke up.

"There might be some demand in the metropolitan area, but it, it would be difficult in the provinces."

Accurate observations. Unlike other franchise brands, salad specialty shops would struggle to find a proper consumer base unless concentrated in the metropolitan area.

And it will increasingly be so in the future.

"Wouldn't it be better to sell pasta together? There have been internal opinions that having a Western food franchise would be good too."

"That's right. Pasta has a relatively low unit cost. Wouldn't it be more suitable for a high-volume, low-margin strategy?"

"No. Western restaurants in our country still have a strong image of being upscale restaurants. It's common for people to order food and chat for a long time, making it difficult to increase turnover rate..."

Various ideas were thrown out and then quickly subsided.

"......"

"......"

Everyone seemed to have finished speaking, and all eyes turned to me. After a moment of silence, I clapped my hands to focus attention.

Clap!

"Well then. Is it my turn now?"

As I spoke with a smile, Park Sang-won audibly swallowed. He looked like someone facing a formidable enemy. We're on the same team, though.

"I'm sure you all know that interest in health has been increasing in our country recently. As Team Leader Roh mentioned, health foods and diet products are quite noticeable these days, right?"

I said, flipping through some documents.

"There's even a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey result showing that consumption of health-related foods has increased by more than 10%."

I distributed printouts I had prepared in advance. I brought only the most important excerpts.

"And the dining-out market is diversifying. Foreign foods we hadn't seen before, like pho or malatang, are now often spotted, aren't they?"

Ah, right. I added a comment.

"Although pho seems to be much more mainstream at the moment."

Malatang is still only popular among enthusiasts, so it's a bit difficult to compare with pho.

I shrugged.

Although the conversation had strayed a bit from the category of health food, it's certain that foreign foods that weren't seen before are now being introduced one by one. The salad I'm planning to put at the forefront won't remain just a side dish forever either.

"Moreover, the vegetarian and vegan population is steadily increasing. It's a global trend, and it's a natural phenomenon as environmental awareness rises."

And above all.

There was a reason to launch a salad specialty shop at this very moment.

"Team Leader Jo."

"Yes, CEO."

"What franchise brands does our <The Song> have?"

"We have <Hapjae Soup>, <Happy Snack>, <Bingwa>, <Shanghai Restaurant>, and <Song Cafe>. Although <Happy Snack> only operates the main store, I included it because of its public recognition. I excluded the test store as it's difficult to consider it a single franchise brand."

Fast and accurate. I nodded and continued.

"Among these, which ones target young people? Where the proportion of customers in their 20s and 30s is the highest?"

"Well, aside from <Bingwa> and <Song Cafe>... there aren't any others."

Even Happy Snack had seen a significant decrease in the proportion of students since starting evening business.

At this point, Jo I-ruk seemed to have immediately grasped what I was trying to say. His eyes widened as he muttered softly.

"No way..."

"Yes. That's right."

I grinned.

"This is also an investment for future customer base."

At my words, everyone except Jo I-ruk tilted their heads.

"Future... customer base?"

Park Sang-won was the first to raise his hand and exclaim.

"Ah! I get it! Since salad targets relatively younger people, you're considering this franchise for brand diversity, right?!"

"You're half right."

"Only half?"

His triumphant face turned glum.

"Half right is not bad. As you said, among our franchise brands, there aren't many young brands. While <Bingwa> has a relatively trendy feel, it's hard to call it a restaurant."

"Hmm. I suppose so."

"Even the churro specialty shop we're preparing is more of a snack, isn't it? We lack diversity. The more diverse our target demographics, the more solid <The Song> becomes."

At my words, everyone nodded readily. They seemed to agree with the significance.

The more age groups we target comprehensively, the larger the overall pie becomes.

"Moreover, the 20s and 30s age group accounts for 40% of dining-out consumption, making it a large pie. Young office workers especially find it difficult to cook at home due to lack of time."

Naturally, young office workers tend to consume more dining-out meals. Even if they only buy lunch outside, consider how large a consumption flow that creates.

"And above all, this 20s and 30s generation is likely to become the mainstream generation of dining-out consumption when they grow older."

"Ah...!"

Yang Ji-a also let out an exclamation, seemingly anticipating what I was about to say.

"Do you think the criteria for brand selection will drastically change when this 20s and 30s generation becomes 30s and 40s, and further 50s and 60s?"

I don't think so.

Tastes might change. Like how people might seek greasy and stimulating foods when young, but less so later.

But the 'image' of a brand rarely changes.

"I was saying we need a brand that can imprint <The Song> on the younger generation. Reliable, healthy, cost-effective, and tasty. A brand that can create such an image."

"...!"

"Perhaps that might be more important than whether we sell salad right now or not."

"......"

"......"

After I finished speaking, silence fell for a moment.

Oops. Did I get too caught up in my own world and rant? Sometimes failing to read the room and getting overly focused is my weakness.

Feeling awkward, I scratched the back of my neck and said,

"Well. I'm not saying we'll launch a franchise while bearing losses. It might be difficult at first, but I wanted to say that once it establishes itself, it will surely return greater profits later."

"......"

There's still no response even after I said this. Did I say something too far-fetched?

I suppose. In a world where sales figures proven by numbers are everything, talk of brand image might sound like a dream right now...

As I was thinking this,

Clap clap clap clap!

Jo I-ruk started applauding. The applause continued briefly, and with all eyes on him, Jo I-ruk spoke.

"I was wrong."

Jo I-ruk's face, as he said this, showed more relief and refreshment than defeat or inferiority.

"After listening to the CEO and thinking it through, I believe that's the right direction in the long term."

As soon as he finished speaking, conversations erupted from all around.

"I, I think so too! As expected, CEO, you have an excellent eye for promotion and planning. If we establish a long-term plan based on that direction..."

Yang Ji-a exclaimed with an excited voice.

"Moreover, since we already have suppliers for various vegetables, we can start with much more favorable unit costs for salads compared to individual stores."

Roh Se-hee nodded.

"Wow. As expected of our CEO!"

Park Sang-won sent sparkling gazes.

I involuntarily flinched at the explosive reactions. Then I burst into laughter.

"Alright. Then let's set our course for a salad specialty shop, and I'll work on the concept and menu. Set the prices at an appropriate level too."

"Yes, understood."

"I'll look into it~"

"Let's end today's meeting here."

Time had flown by. I gathered my coat, thinking about the chilly evening weather as the sun was setting.

Quitting time was fast approaching.

"Ah, and Jae-ha and Ye-won-ssi."

I pointed to Hyun Ye-won and Baek Jae-ha as I spoke.

"Can you two stay behind for a moment?"

At my words, they both opened their eyes wide.

"I'll treat you to dinner."

I needed to take care of Hyun Ye-won, who had been gloomy since our discussion about bubble tea earlier, and also ask Baek Jae-ha about how his studies with Jung Da-on were going lately.

'Of course, that's not all...'

I thought to myself, glancing at Hyun Ye-won.

'I hope I can get some hints about <Hyeonmu> movements.'