Episode 24: Sweet Stella Strategy Meeting!
“Alright, so — starting the ‘Sweet Stella’ Sales Improvement Meeting.”
The first to applaud at Möbius-san’s words was Miyuki-san.
Today’s Sweet Stella’s regular day off, which makes it Sweet Stella Strategy Meeting day.
“Like I mentioned earlier, Ruri needs money, for various reasons. And as the shop manager, I’m happy to see sales go up too — same goes for you two, right?”
“Yeah. I’m happy about more pay too.”
“Same here.”
“Alright, so, strategy meeting time.”
Möbius-san pulled out a whiteboard from somewhere and wrote “FOR HIGHER SALES” across it in big letters.
Her handwriting was surprisingly neat.
“Anyone with ideas, raise your hand!”
Sora-san’s hand shot up first.
“Hayashi-chan, go ahead!”
“What about trying different costumes than usual? With a rare outfit, customers who normally only buy one cheki might buy two, or take one with a cast member they don’t usually pick.”
“Makes sense. Yeah, big maid cafés do run costume-change events like that.”
Nodding, Möbius-san wrote Sora-san’s idea on the whiteboard.
Miyuki-san, noticing I’m not exactly well-versed in maid café stuff, leaned in and whispered quickly.
“Nurse outfits, shrine maiden outfits, school uniforms — running themed cosplay events like that is pretty common.”
“I see…! Different clothes than usual really does sound good…”
Still, there’s a catch. Möbius-san pointed out the problem: “costume cost.” Buying new outfits means money spent, whether the shop covers it or the cast does.
If the sales boost ends up smaller than the cost of the costumes, it’s not much of a strategy.
“So, combining it with Cosmo-chan’s idea — what if we just did a whole ‘event’? Not just costumes, but doing something different from usual overall. That way we could sell special menu items too.”
“An event, huh…”
“Yeah. What do you think?”
“…Could work. But the question’s what we’d actually do.”
“That’s the tricky part, right…”
Miyuki-san went quiet for a moment too, thinking it over.
I want to say something here too, contribute to the discussion somehow…!
“U-um! Vi—video! What if we allowed video recording!? I mean, right now it’s only chekis, so video would be pretty rare, I’d think…”
“…Video, huh. Not a bad idea, but managing it would be a real headache. Setting time limits, banning certain words, enforcing all that one-on-one with a customer — that’d be tough, right?”
“Th-that’s true…”
Now that she mentioned it, chekis really do seem like a product that fits a maid café pretty naturally.
If a customer tried to keep filming past the rules, it’d be hard to stop them. And if we ended up getting caught on camera while trying to enforce it, and that clip spread around in some ugly way, that’d be a real problem.
If we had staff besides the cast, it’d be different, but we don’t have anyone like that right now…
“Möbius-san. About Ruri’s ‘video’ idea — what if it were a ‘dance video’? We build a small stage and do idol-style performances. Filming’s free during the dance… like, only people wearing a ‘filming permitted’ tag around their neck are allowed to record.”
Miyuki-san was the first to react to Sora-san’s idea — that could work!
“What if we combine it with the earlier event idea and turn it into a whole ‘idol event’? Dance videos are easy to post on social media, so there’s probably demand for that too. And actually, why not post rehearsal footage on the official account too? Right now Sweet Stella’s account is honestly a little dry.”
Currently, Sweet Stella’s official account only posts opening/closing hours and the names of the cast working each shift.
Each of us has our own personal accounts, but they’re not clearly linked to the official Sweet Stella account yet.
“…Social media could work, but if we start posting all kinds of stuff on the shop’s official account, the chances go way up that people around us find out we work here. If we’re doing this, I want to actually go for real virality on social media too.”
Saying that, Möbius-san checked each of our faces in turn.
“I’m fine with it, but… what about you two?”
“I’m okay with it. I’d actually been thinking we should do that anyway.”
“Same here. It’s not like I’m hiding that I work here or anything.”
Miyuki-san and Sora-san were both fine with it. Which left just me.
Maria already knows I work at Sweet Stella.
I don’t have any other friends, and even if the shop’s official account posts face photos, there’s no one who’d recognize me from them. At school, thanks to the glasses and mask, I basically look like a different person.
“I’m okay with it too! Let’s work hard on social media and bring in a ton of new customers…!”
“Alright! Then it’s decided.”
A one-day-only “idol” event, plus a stronger push on the official social media account.
That’s what got decided at the Sweet Stella Strategy Meeting.