Chapter 77

Chapter 71: Drawing a Pie in the Sky

Wen Liang took another look, then pulled Li Shengli to one side and asked in a low voice, "I remember on the opening day, there was a middle-aged man in his forties among the group from the agricultural machinery factory. He was hiding behind Wei Gang, looking like a lackey, and his words were quite harsh. What's that man's name? Where does he live?"

Li Shengli, not understanding the reason, replied, "That man is called Xia Fugui. He has a very close relationship with Wei Gang and is considered his confidant at the agricultural machinery factory. He lives in..."

Wen Liang noted it down, scanned the operation room, and smiled, "How has business been these past two weeks?"

Li Shengli immediately perked up, took out a ledger from under the cash register, and showed it to Wen Liang. He explained the parts that were messy or detailed. Wen Liang glanced through it briefly. Excluding various costs, the average daily revenue was over 1,000 yuan, with a net profit of about 500 yuan, which was almost 45% pure profit. Considering it was 1995, the average monthly salary for a worker was only around 300 yuan. Li Shengli's face glowed with happiness, "I never thought selling soy milk and fried dough sticks could be so profitable..."

Wen Liang threw the ledger on the table and shook his head, "The profit margins of street vendors are all over 100%, so our profit rate is still too low. We need to find a way to reduce costs. Uncle Li, I've been thinking about Qinghe's future development and have a general plan. When we have time, let's sit down and talk about it in detail. It's hard to grow just by operating this way. Franchising is a good path, but we need to wait. Without funds, nothing can move quickly..."

Li Shengli, eager to know, pulled Wen Liang to a table in the outer room and said, "Don't wait for a time, tell me today. Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep tonight."

Wen Liang glanced at Ning Xiaoning, who had quietly followed them, and knew he couldn't avoid it. Otherwise, this little girl would think he was deliberately avoiding her. He said somewhat helplessly, "This requires a detailed planning and design proposal, which can't be explained in a few words. Simply put, we need to expand rapidly, leveraging the advantage of scale to reduce costs and create substantial profits. In the broader sense, we need to first establish a company, register the Qinghe Soy Milk trademark, and set up direct-operated stores in major cities and first-tier cities to establish a solid foundation. Then, we can open the market in second- and third-tier cities through franchising, using a point-to-surface approach to connect the entire market and secure our existing territory, firmly occupying the leading position in the industry and ultimately achieving a monopoly in the high-end market..."

Ning Xiaoning suddenly asked, "What is a direct-operated store, and what is a franchise?"

Wen Liang looked at her in surprise, thinking that Coach Ning was just there to pass the time, but she was actually listening seriously: "A direct-operated store is one where the headquarters directly invests, operates, and is responsible for profits and losses. A franchise, on the other hand, is where the company provides the Qinghe Soy Milk trademark, food, overall store design, and operational experience and techniques. We can collect various fees from franchisees, such as franchise fees, royalty fees, contract fees, and guidance fees. To put it vividly, a direct-operated store is like our own child, while a franchise is like an adopted child..."

Ning Xiaoning, thinking about the difference, suddenly glared, "Pah, you pervert, trying to take advantage of me!"

Well, after being called a silly boy by Xu Yao and a stinky boy by Zuo Yuxi, now there's another nickname, "pervert." Wen Liang, puzzled by the glare, laughed after a moment, "Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. I meant the company, not us."

"Ah, you still said it?"

Li Shengli was moved by the future Wen Liang described and fell into deep thought, not noticing the bickering between the two. He was a bold person; otherwise, he wouldn't have resigned and ventured into business in the early 1990s. After the greatest trials and tribulations of his life, he realized that following this young man might lead to great opportunities.

"These sound good, but they are extremely difficult to implement. Not to mention other things, just the funding is a huge problem! Although we can recover some funds from franchisees, our current reputation is not great, and this model has no successful precedent, making it hard to convince others to join."

Wen Liang nodded, acknowledging that Li Shengli had some insight. He had chosen the right partner, "That's why I said we shouldn't rush. By the end of this month, we should have a few thousand yuan in profit. We can find a place and open the second store. Have you heard the saying, 'One begets two, two beget three, three beget all things'? It means that as long as we can open a third store, opening ten thousand stores will be much easier."

Li Shengli and Ning Xiaoning were both defeated, lowering their heads in frustration. If you didn't talk so much, would you die?

Wen Liang, seeing the morale drop, tried to boost it, "Actually, the franchise model has long been proven to be the fastest way for the fast-food industry to develop. In developed countries, this type of business accounts for 60% of daily consumption, while in our country, it's less than 1%. You might not have heard of it, but there's a fast-food chain called McDonald's abroad, with annual revenues in the billions of dollars. It's expected that in ten years, it could reach tens of billions of dollars—this is our future model." McDonald's opened its first store in Shenzhen in 1990, entered Beijing in 1992, and by 1995, there were only a dozen stores nationwide, with none in Qingzhou. Many people in the country didn't know about this world-renowned company that had become a Fortune 500 company through fried food. It was a world apart from the generation that grew up eating Uncle McDonald's.

Ning Xiaoning said, "Ah, I know McDonald's. There's one in Wangfujing, Beijing, and I've been there. The business is booming, and they say it's the largest McDonald's in the world."

Li Shengli was shocked by Wen Liang's words, "Billions, in dollars?"

Wen Liang laughed, "I'm just saying. Chinese fast food is different from Western fast food and can't reach the scale of McDonald's. But if we do well, we can achieve annual revenues of a few billion yuan. We should set our sights high, and even if we don't reach that, a discount would still be good."

Li Shengli breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Wen Liang wasn't just boasting. Ning Xiaoning frowned, "But I think it's hard to imitate. McDonald's food can be preserved and can make anyone happy at any time. We mainly operate breakfast, and after noon, there are few customers. If we open many stores in the future, the taste and freshness of soy milk and fried dough sticks won't keep up."

Wen Liang was greatly surprised. He didn't expect Ning Xiaoning to be so perceptive about the core issue of Chinese fast food after hearing just a little. Especially since she hadn't systematically thought about the problem, her intuitive first impression was truly remarkable.

This little girl might have a bit of business talent!

"Right, Coach, you're really insightful! So the next step depends on Master Li. We need to find a way to solve the processing problem. Through mature techniques, we need to establish a standardized and consistent system, breaking down complex cooking processes into simple steps so that new employees can quickly master them after training. For example, with fried dough sticks, we can pre-process them at headquarters according to strict procedures, making them semi-finished products, and then distribute them to each store. Each store should also have a standardized operating procedure, specifying the weight of a fried dough stick, its shape, the oil temperature, how long to flip it, and how many seconds to flip it. All these details need to be clearly defined. Uncle Li, you need to focus on this. Whether we succeed or not depends entirely on you."

Li Shengli, hearing this, felt as if a light had been turned on in his head. The fog that had long clouded his mind suddenly cleared, and a golden path seemed to lead to the gates of heaven, beckoning him. Excited, his voice trembled, "I'll do my best... No, I will definitely do it!"

Wen Liang patted his shoulder and smiled, "Don't feel pressured. If it doesn't work, we can hire technical experts or invest in research at universities to develop semi-mechanized processing. It's not a big problem. What you need to do is create a standardized procedure to ensure the best taste for soy milk and fried dough sticks. I'll handle the rest."

Just then, Li Siqing pushed the door open, threw her schoolbag, and ran over, stopping in front of Wen Liang. Her smooth little face, with a healthy pink hue, made her look more and more like a budding beauty.

"Brother Wen, you're here."

It had been a week since they last met, and Li Siqing seemed to have grown taller, almost reaching Wen Liang's chest. Her clothes were a bit thin, and Wen Liang, holding her small hand, felt it was cold. He smiled warmly and turned to Li Shengli, "Uncle Li, it's so cold. Remember to buy some warm clothes for Siqing..."

Li Siqing had lost her mother and had endured much hardship, needing her father's care. Wen Liang thought Li Shengli was careless and his tone carried a hint of blame.

Li Shengli looked awkward and didn't speak. Li Siqing, however, said hurriedly, "Brother, I'm not cold. I was just blown by the wind. Look, I'm warm now." She quickly rubbed her hands, blew on them, and then placed them in Wen Liang's hand. Her bright, innocent eyes shone like the most beautiful jewels in the world, radiating a captivating light.

Ning Xiaoning's heart ached. For some reason, she liked this little girl very much, finding her cute, well-behaved, and understanding. There seemed to be a unique charm about her that could touch those around her.

"Siqing, be good. Sister Ning will take you to see the bad guys, okay?"

"Which bad guys? The ones from yesterday?" Li Siqing was very close to Ning Xiaoning, rubbing her face against her arm.

Ning Xiaoning lovingly patted her head and smiled, "Your Brother Wen is so amazing. To help Siqing, he beat up those bad guys and now they're kneeling and slapping themselves."

Li Siqing exclaimed, "Ah!" She turned to look at Wen Liang, her face flushed with excitement. Her admiring gaze made Wen Liang a bit embarrassed, and he cleared his throat, "Don't listen to her. I'm a cultured person, not that violent..."