“Boss!”
“Hana!”
Kim Sehee spread her arms wide. Hana, who was sitting on the office sofa, immediately understood Kim Sehee’s gesture and ran over to her, jumping into her arms. Kim Sehee hugged Hana and said,
“Hana coming to the boss’s office~ What’s the matter?”
It wasn’t common for Hana to come to the boss’s office. Usually, Kim Sehee would go to Hana’s floor to see her. After all, Hana was a busy kid.
“Boss, can I ask you for a favor?”
Kim Sehee’s eyes sparkled at those words. It was a golden opportunity to show Hana her best side.
“Of course! If it’s Hana’s request, I’ll do anything.”
Kim Sehee was ready to pluck stars from the sky for Hana, even though she knew it was nearly impossible. She was pretty sure that even in a few thousand years, humanity wouldn’t develop the technology to pluck stars. After all, only a select few could even travel to space, and plucking stars light-years away might take tens of thousands of years. But of course, Kim Sehee didn’t say any of this to Hana. No need to crush her spirits.
“Boss, look at this!”
Hana pulled out her phone. Kim Sehee had no idea what Hana was about to ask, but after seeing the photo Hana showed her, she started to get an idea.
“Is this… a lunch tray?”
“Yes. This is today’s school lunch, and it’s so bad!”
“Really?”
If Hana was saying this, the quality of the lunch must have been truly terrible. The restaurant in this building, which had been newly constructed and modernized, was top-notch. Employee satisfaction with the cafeteria was through the roof. Some employees even had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the company building’s restaurant. That’s how excellent the food quality at Starlight Food’s building was. Kim Sehee had gone out of her way to hire chefs from high-end hotels with generous offers, and it had paid off. Even Hana rarely complained.
But they had forgotten to pay attention to the school lunches. That was Kim Sehee’s mistake. Looking at Hana, Kim Sehee said,
“If Hana is saying this, I really need to give a piece of my mind to whoever made this lunch.”
Kim Sehee picked up her phone. She was about to call her younger brother, the chairman of Starlight Elementary School. She figured scolding him might get some results. In situations like this, you had to start from the top. Going after the lower-level employees wouldn’t get you anywhere.
Kim Sehee called her youngest brother, Kim Semin.
*Ring ring*
After a few rings, Kim Semin answered.
“Hello?”
[What’s up, sis? You’re calling me first?]
“Semin, how have you been lately?”
[Same as always, doing the usual stuff.]
“Hey, don’t just focus on soccer. Pay attention to other things too.”
Kim Semin was in charge of Starlight Group’s schools, hospitals, non-profit foundations, and various sports teams. His main focus was soccer. At just 25 years old, he was already the head of the soccer association. Kim Semin had a lot on his plate, but Kim Sehee had also handed over other businesses and real estate to a figurehead boss, just like Kim Semin was now.
[Why? Something wrong?]
“Look at the photo I sent you. Is this really a lunch fit for elementary school students?”
Kim Sehee sent Kim Semin the photo she got from Hana. Kim Semin fell silent, clearly at a loss for words.
[This… I’ll look into it.]
“Fix it quickly.”
[Got it.]
Kim Sehee was about to scold Kim Semin but stopped herself. He was old enough now, and it wouldn’t look good to yell at him like she did when he was a kid. Kim Semin was the chairman, but he was more of a figurehead. He made sure the school ran smoothly but didn’t pay attention to the finer details.
“Boss, so we can have delicious meals now?”
“Of course, Hana. If they don’t listen after this, the boss will scold them.”
“Yay!”
Hana raised her hands in excitement. Kim Sehee hugged her tightly, burying her nose in Hana’s hair. The pleasant smell made her feel at ease. Maybe this was Hana’s special power.
———————————————————-
The domestic coffee market was simple. Starbucks was the overwhelming number one. The combined sales of all other coffee brands’ stores barely exceeded half of Starbucks’. It was an incredible…
There was a gap. But that gap was slowly narrowing.
Idaya was chasing with terrifying momentum. Of course, it was still lacking in many ways, but Idaya’s upward trend was dazzling. Just the fact that the stock price had doubled said it all. Most stocks tend to stagnate for decades, so a company whose stock value doubled like this was rare, unless it was some penny stock.
For a company as established as Idaya to see its stock price rise this much meant there was some major good news for the business. And that was the case now.
“Man, I live for Idaya’s Americano, seriously.”
“I think their Caramel Macchiato is delicious too.”
“It’s just that their coffee beans are different compared to other brands.”
“Which beans are they using to make it this tasty?”
“I heard they use Starlight Coffee Beans?”
“Oh, really? If it’s Starlight Coffee Beans, then it’s trustworthy. Starlight Food really knows how to make delicious stuff.”
It was very common to see college students carrying Idaya Coffee around. So much so that cafes around Idaya Cafe, which used Starlight Coffee Beans, were struggling to stay in business. That’s how powerful Idaya’s coffee beans were.
Starbucks was trying hard to ignore Starlight Coffee Beans. But now, they couldn’t ignore it anymore.
“What? Starlight Food signed contracts with other coffee brands?”
Son Jeong-yeon, the representative director of Starbucks Korea, slammed her hand on the desk as she spoke. The employee who delivered the news flinched but had to speak up. Lying now wouldn’t solve anything.
Currently, Starlight Food was only supplying coffee beans to Idaya. But the news the employee brought was like a bolt from the blue. Starlight Food had announced that they had signed supply contracts with other coffee brands as well.
For Starbucks, it was like a fire had just landed on their feet. Their sales had already dipped a bit since Idaya introduced Starlight Coffee Beans, and if other brands started using them too, they couldn’t even imagine how much their sales would drop. They had to prepare for at least a 30-40% loss.
“Can’t we also introduce Starlight Coffee Beans?”
Son Jeong-yeon found herself saying something that was absolutely impossible.
Starbucks Korea was just a subcontractor following orders from the headquarters in the U.S. They had to use coffee beans from the farms designated by the U.S. headquarters. Using other coffee beans wasn’t allowed.
“Should we try asking the headquarters on your behalf, Director?”
“No. The headquarters will never allow it. Do Americans even know the taste of Starlight Coffee Beans? They’ll just tell us to use the coffee farms they’ve chosen.”
Americans still didn’t know the true taste of Starlight Coffee Beans. They probably didn’t even know about the existence of Starlight Food. To Americans, Starlight Food was just a small company in a distant foreign country. Although, with the recent rise of Tangle, more people were starting to know the name Starlight Food, but that was about it.
In fact, many Americans thought Tangle was made by Amazon. They wouldn’t believe that a fruit that treats baldness was made in Korea, a small country in the East. Americans often think the U.S. is the center of everything.
There are even Americans who can’t tell the difference between North and South Korea.
“But I did try contacting Starlight Food…”
The employee wasn’t sitting idle either. They had tried reaching out to Starlight Food somehow. But the price Starlight Food proposed for their coffee beans was higher than what they were currently getting from the headquarters. If they accepted the offer, raising coffee prices would be inevitable.
The complexion of Starbucks Korea’s director, Son Jeong-yeon, grew darker by the minute. If things continued like this, Starbucks Korea might eventually go under. Losing competitiveness in Korea and pulling out entirely. It might seem like the industry leader was overreacting, but considering the taste of Starlight Coffee Beans they were selling now, it was definitely not an overreaction. The taste of Starlight Coffee Beans was just that exceptional.
