Chapter 127 Opening Branch Stores

April 30th, Saturday.

Pei Qian finished lunch and strolled towards the Managed Fitness Gym.

He had mentioned to Zhang Yuan that he needed help finding a coach for the club, but where exactly should he look? Pei Qian really didn't have a clue.

A professional esports coach was definitely out of the question.

Because currently, *GOG* was still a relatively new game. Although Pei Qian had heard that some established clubs were planning to set up *GOG* divisions, the overall popularity wasn't high enough, and formality was even further off.

In other words, at this initial stage, everyone's level was still very low.

Before a club decided to open a division for a particular game, they definitely needed to investigate whether that game could remain popular in the country for a long time.

If they opened a division, invested resources, and started training, only for the game to die out, forcing them to disband the division, wouldn't that be a complete waste of effort?

Currently, *GOG* and *IOI* were locked in a fierce battle, and many clubs believed it would be best to choose the victor between these two games. One division for either of these emerging *MOBA*-style games would be enough.

Therefore, even the teams that had formed *GOG* divisions were just rookies fighting among themselves.

At this point, even a not-so-outstanding professional coach could bring transformative improvements to the team.

Although Zhang Yuan didn't know much about esports, he wasn't stupid. The coach he found probably wouldn't be too bad.

If he added President Pei's consistently mysterious luck on top of that, and someone with SSR (super super rare) potential accidentally popped up among the players or coaches…

The consequences would be unimaginable.

Therefore, Pei Qian had to find a way to find a coach that would satisfy him while also leaving Zhang Yuan with nothing to say.

Hmm…

This was too difficult!

Pei Qian's brain hurt a little from thinking about it, but fortunately, he had agreed with Zhang Yuan that he had two weeks to find someone, so there was no need to rush too much.

Arriving at the entrance of the Managed Fitness Gym, Pei Qian stepped inside.

Even though it was a weekend, the gym was noticeably less crowded than the last time he had come.

Pei Qian was taken aback for a moment, then immediately understood what was going on, and couldn't help but feel ecstatic.

Quite a few of last week's customers had already been persuaded to quit!

Due to the Managed Fitness Gym's special fee model, many people didn't hesitate to sign up for a membership, since the balance could be refunded.

However, these people might not be able to strictly adhere to the planned training schedule and persevere.

Once these people couldn't stick with it, they would "be refunded" and unable to rejoin in the short term.

Thus, a group of customers had been successfully persuaded to quit!

Although the notice board had indeed attracted some customers and some people had signed up for memberships, what was the point if they couldn't persevere in the face of the Managed Fitness Gym's rules?

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel a little proud of his brilliance.

In addition to that, some subtle changes had occurred in the Managed Fitness Gym compared to last week.

The number of permanent service staff in the gym had reached three.

Originally, there was only one receptionist in charge of handing out wristbands and welcoming customers. The coaches would also occasionally act as receptionists and guides when they were idle.

Now, the service staff had also been expanded. Three service staff were permanently stationed at the gym, also working in shifts.

One receptionist, mainly responsible for reception work, such as registering customer information and distributing towels, wristbands, and water.

One administrator, responsible for daily company business, such as scheduling coaches and coordinating with Moyu Takeaway.

One planner, responsible for arranging schedules, creating training plans, and analyzing the gym's current customer information.

Of course, the division of labor among these three positions wasn't so clear-cut, and they would sometimes help each other out.

"President Pei." The receptionist was the first to see Pei Qian.

"Hello, President Pei." At noon, the administrator was arranging today's fitness meals with two coaches.

"President Pei." The planner was diligently typing on a laptop in the rest area. After seeing Pei Qian, they stood up and nodded in greeting.

Pei Qian smiled slightly and nodded.

The reason why he showed more expression to this planner was because… the planner's true identity was an undercover agent, one of the eighteen Expense Management Trainees!

In private, the Expense Management Trainees called Pei Qian "Senior."

In public, they still had to call him "President Pei."

Otherwise, wouldn't that expose everything, hinting to everyone that there was such a mysterious department in existence…

The gym's positions were all rotating. This Expense Management Trainee, although still a student, didn't have many classes, and Handong University was only a short walk from the Managed Fitness Gym, so they were still able to handle their part of the work.

The planner position at the Managed Fitness Gym didn't exist in other gyms. This was because the Managed Fitness Gym's mechanism was different from other gyms.

In order to reduce customer traffic during peak hours, Guo Licheng suggested to Pei Qian that he should create an app to allow customers to book their own time slots, controlling the number of people in the gym at the same time. At the same time, he should make initial arrangements for each customer's time at the very beginning. For example, if he found that there were particularly many customers on Thursdays, then customers who wanted to come on Thursdays in the future would not be able to be accommodated unless they changed their time.

Currently, the app was still some time away from being developed, so these times could only be completed manually by the planner.

However, since the number of people in the gym was relatively small now, far from the gym's maximum capacity, it wouldn't delay anything.

At most, the planner position was only making a preliminary arrangement, not needing to be specific to a certain time slot on a certain day.

Pei Qian arranged for this Expense Management Trainee to serve as the planner, mainly to let them grasp the most accurate information about the gym, and to always know how far the gym's current number of people was from profitability.

The first Expense Management Trainee meeting wouldn't be held until next Saturday, but Pei Qian was already a little impatient.

He pretended to greet everyone casually and sat down next to the Expense Management Trainee.

There were too many Expense Management Trainees, and Pei Qian forgot what they were called, but it didn't matter, as long as he remembered which department they were an undercover agent from.

"How far is the gym from profitability now?" Pei Qian asked casually in a conversational tone.

The Expense Management Trainee answered seriously, "President Pei, in terms of the gym's current daily expenses, not considering the profits of Moyu Takeaway, an average of about 200 visits per day is required to recover costs."

"If we consider equipment depreciation, daily maintenance, and the need to obtain a certain profit and recover the initial investment in fitness equipment as soon as possible, then 300 visits per day would be a better number."

"Our current number is… twenty-something."

"Even during peak hours, the utilization rate of the entire gym is still less than a quarter."

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this answer.

See, this is worthy of being the Expense Management Trainee that I trained. Reporting work is clean and neat, without any extra information.

Pei Qian nodded approvingly, "Not bad, keep up the good work."

The current situation was still far from profitability, which was good news. Pei Qian thought that he could consider opening a branch store.

He continued to stroll inside, and saw Guo Licheng, who was frantically pumping iron in the strength training area.

He didn't know if it was his imagination, but compared to when he came last week, Guo Licheng seemed to have grown a circle larger.

Pei Qian was very satisfied with this.

This Guo Licheng was very obedient!

He told him to work hard to train and strive to be bigger than all the coaches, so that he wouldn't have the energy to engage in any fancy marketing activities, and the gym wouldn't make money.

Guo Licheng was indeed working hard in training. Muscles don't lie.

Seeing that President Pei had arrived, Guo Licheng quickly put down the barbell and stood up.

"President Pei! I was just…"

Guo Licheng just wanted to explain, but Pei Qian had already raised his hand to stop him.

"You're doing great. As the store manager and signboard of the entire gym, your physique must be the best in order to attract customers! So, you must not relax, and you must continue to persevere!"

"I came here today to ask if you know of any similar gyms with good decoration and large spaces? Especially near Muyo Cyber Cafe or the office locations of various Tengda departments."

"Oh right, there must also be one near Mingyun Villas."

Guo Licheng was stunned for a moment, "President Pei, do you want to investigate and learn, or…"

Pei Qian smiled slightly, "Of course, it's to open a branch store!"

Guo Licheng was at a loss.

Huh?

There were only a few members in this gym, and the money earned wasn't even a fraction of the losses. And with this, he still wanted to open a branch store?

And seeing what President Pei meant, it wasn't just opening one?

Guo Licheng quickly said, "President Pei, please think twice!"

Pei Qian raised his hand, signaling him to stop, "I've already thought twice. Just give me the list of these suitable gyms, and I'll arrange for someone to talk to them to see how many are willing to transfer."

"Then, I'll have to trouble you to continue preparing fitness equipment and recruiting people for the branch stores."

Guo Licheng opened his mouth, wanting to persuade him again, but seeing that President Pei's attitude was so firm, he had no choice but to nod, "Okay, President Pei, I understand."

"Uh… President Pei, what were the rules you just said for selecting a location?"

Pei Qian repeated, "This batch will open three to five branch stores. Some gyms will definitely not be willing to transfer, so please give me ten addresses as much as possible. One of them must be near Mingyun Villas, and the others must also be near Muyo Cyber Cafe or other Tengda business departments' office locations."

The reason for choosing these locations was, on the one hand, to better guarantee the supply of fitness meals, and on the other hand, to provide benefits to employees.

Pei Qian had never forgotten that the Managed Fitness Gym and Sloth Apartments projects were, on the one hand, to lose money, and on the other hand, to provide more benefits to employees.

It didn't make money in the first place, and then used employee benefits to fleece himself, which was double the happiness.

The observation period for this flagship store had come to an end. From the current situation, it was still relatively optimistic, although there were some customers, it was still too far from profitability.

Since this was the case, it was about time to gradually put his employees in.

As for why it had to be gradual, in stages and in batches?

Because the system had restrictions in this regard. Whether it was Sloth Apartments or shared gyms, providing benefits to employees had to be controlled within a certain range.

For example, Sloth Apartments, if there were 100 rooms, only 30 of them could be used as employee dormitories.

Restaurants and gyms were the same. They could be used as employee benefits, but there was a prerequisite, which was that it must be guaranteed that other consumers could also use them. They could not be completely occupied by employee benefits, and this proportion was strictly limited.

Therefore, if Pei Qian wanted to develop fitness plans for all employees, he would have to open many gyms.

Fortunately, as long as this thing could lose money, President Pei would have enough motivation!