Chapter 500: On-Site Teaching
Chapter 500: On-Site Teaching
To be honest, Albert didn't have much of an impression of his uncle Charlie, whom he could count on one hand the number of times he had visited.
At ten in the morning, Charlie arrived at the Anderson's doorstep in a car that looked rather ordinary.
Days earlier, Charlie had learned from Daisy that Albert enjoyed reading, so he bought him some of the latest bestsellers as a gift, while Nia received a beautiful music box.
In fact, when Charlie received the call from his sister, asking him to discuss this matter with her nephew, he found it utterly absurd.
Nevertheless, he came.
He had no choice.
If he didn't, he wouldn't get the £20,000 in startup funds from Daisy.
Years ago, Charlie had heard that his nephew was a genius, but the boy before him now, holding a rather chubby cat, seemed perfectly ordinary.
Even if he truly were a genius, he was still just a thirteen or fourteen-year-old kid. How could he possibly know how to run a shop?
It was ridiculous.
As he sat down, Charlie's gaze met Albert's, and in that moment, he felt uncomfortable all over, as if the boy had seen right through him.
Charlie quickly averted his eyes, not daring to hold Albert's gaze.
He felt like a child who had done something wrong.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
"Do you think bubble tea will suit the British palate?" Albert lowered his gaze to stroke Tom's fur. "Is it good?"
"Well, of course, it's good. I think bubble tea will appeal to our tastes. At least, I find the flavor pleasant."
"You think so?" Albert suddenly understood why the other man's shop had failed.
While bubble tea was indeed popular in many countries, including Britain, his own opinion was that it was rather odd.
Nia, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, suddenly felt that Daisy's approach was spot on. Her Uncle Charlie truly knew nothing about bubble tea.
The only thing he knew was that it tasted good and could be a lucrative business.
In the ensuing conversation, almost all the talking was done by Albert, while Charlie listened quietly like a student, giving the impression that their ages ought to be reversed for it to be more fitting.
Albert didn't know much about bubble tea himself, but he had drunk a lot of it and understood its operation. He discussed the potential issues they might face, the possibilities of various combinations of pearls, milk tea, and fruit tea, and estimated what its so-called ultimate form might be, along with the prospect of a franchise chain model.
Albert's theories, which were ahead of their time by several decades, left Charlie bewildered. Anyone who wasn't a fool could hear the brilliant business tactics in his words.
Charlie sadly realized that he was no match for a thirteen or fourteen-year-old.
Forget Charlie, even Daisy and Herb were a little dazed, while Nia sat quietly by, playing with Tom and occasionally stealing glances at Charlie's changing expressions.
"Shows what you know, underestimating Albert," Nia thought. She knew that many adults wouldn't take a child's words seriously, and her Uncle Charlie was no exception, but he had quickly found himself at a loss for words in front of Albert, like a student listening to a lecture, which she found amusing.
Her Albert was as impressive as ever.
By the time Albert finished presenting his prepared ideas, it was already nearing noon. After an hour and a half of continuous information bombardment and confidence-shaking, Charlie's mind was in disarray. He politely declined Daisy's invitation to stay for lunch and left in a daze, clutching the notes that Daisy had given him, which contained Albert's ideas.
"What do you think? Will your Uncle Charlie succeed?" Daisy asked after seeing Charlie off.
"I don't know, but I don't think he has much business sense."
This was Albert's final assessment of Charlie.
If Charlie were a business prodigy, he would have been excitedly discussing Albert's ideas with him, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. Instead, he had just sat there, listening to Albert talk, eventually turning into a nodding machine.
"I'm not expecting him to be some business prodigy," Daisy said. "As long as the shop doesn't lose money and can maintain a profit, that's enough. If Charlie can really make bubble tea a success, he can always hire someone to manage the company's affairs."
Even if it did lose money, it wouldn't be much, and it would mainly depend on how much effort he put into it.
"He'll need to spend a lot of time and energy on improving the product," Albert said, popping a pearl into his mouth and chewing slowly. "If it stays at this level, the shop will eventually fail."
Albert didn't really care what happened to Uncle Charlie in the end. He had already shared a lot of forward-thinking ideas with him and even given him his notes.
If Charlie made good use of them, he should be able to quickly establish a brand and become the first bubble tea shop in Britain, gaining popularity in a short time.
In some ways, bubble tea was even more popular than Coke.
For example, a cup of bubble tea went well with lunch items like fried potato chips and fish fillets.
Just as they were eating and chatting, the phone rang, and Herb answered it. Charlie had been in a car accident on his way back—a rear-end collision, it seemed—which left the family a little dazed.
In the end, it was Herb who went to help sort out the matter.
A week later, Herb mysteriously announced that he was taking the family out to London for a meal.
Albert and Nia had expected to go to a restaurant, but instead, they found themselves in front of a bubble tea shop.
Charlie had opened the shop faster than Albert had anticipated—in just a few days, the bubble tea shop was up and running.
"Not bad, huh? A lot of people like bubble tea."
How should he put it?
British food was indeed peculiar, and Albert even spotted something called "vegetable milk tea" on the menu, which seemed rather odd.
By the way, this shop also sold hot dogs.
It didn't look like a bubble tea shop at all, but rather a fast-food joint specializing in hot dogs.
"We're eating this?"
Albert looked at the hot dog and bubble tea in front of him with a resentful gaze, his face falling.
The milk tea tasted rather average, only slightly better than the ones he made himself.
"I think he still needs to work on the milk tea. This level of quality is easy to imitate. If he doesn't establish a brand advantage before the novelty wears off, this shop won't amount to much."
After all, people would flock to whatever was popular, and making bubble tea wasn't exactly rocket science. Albert believed that a bunch of bubble tea shops would soon spring up like mushrooms after rain.
Without the monopoly, sales would quickly decline.
The outcome was, of course, self-evident.
(End of Chapter)
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