Qian Shulan posted a recruitment notice outside the factory gate. She also told her employees at a meeting that if anyone had the recipe, she would buy it for a high price.
You know what, although this method is very low-level, it really works.
"You mean you have a relative who used to work in a candy factory and who knows how to make sugar?" Qian Shulan looked at the tall and thin young man in front of her with a little disbelief.
"Yes! His family used to run a century-old store, which was very famous before the founding of the People's Republic of China. Then a few years ago, during the movement, the deputy director of Youfu Candy Factory took away his recipe. My relative's father was angered to death by that man, and he was the only one who survived. Because of his bad legs and feet, he couldn't even go to work." Xu Siqiang's eyes became redder as he spoke.
Qian Shulan also sighed after hearing this. Shouldn't she be lucky that her background is strong enough, otherwise her secret recipe for raising chickens would have been targeted by those bad guys.
"Bring the man here. If his prescription is really feasible, I will give you a high price and will not treat you unfairly!" Qian Shulan patted his back.
Xu Siqiang nodded quickly, "Okay, okay, I'll go find him right away!"
That afternoon, Xu Siqiang brought the person over.
Maybe it was his first time working in such a large factory, he was very reserved, and while leaning on a cane, he kept pulling at the bottom of his shirt with his hands.
Qian Shulan looked at the man in front of her. He was about thirty years old, unshaven and unkempt. His face was deeply wrinkled and his eye sockets were sunken. He seemed to want to say something, but was afraid of angering her, so he was very nervous.
Qian Shulan politely invited everyone to the meeting area and said, "Please take a seat."
After the two of them sat down, Qian Shulan asked him his name.
The man's name is Xu Dayong, and he is Xu Siqiang's cousin.
Qian Shulan didn't waste any words, "Can you really make sugar?"
"Yes! I will!" Xu Dayong spoke hurriedly, fearing that she would change her mind and miss this opportunity.
"What type of candy?" Qian Shulan asked.
Xu Dayong mentioned a few of his best dishes, "I can make hard candy, beef tendon candy, peanut candy, and plum candy."
"Okay. As long as you can make it, I'll give you one thousand yuan for each recipe." Qian Shulan made the decision directly.
Xu Dayong opened his mouth wide and looked at her in disbelief, obviously stunned by the money.
"But once you sell the recipe to me, you can't sell it to anyone else. I will sign a contract with you, and if you breach the contract, you will be held legally responsible." Although the recipe is no longer top secret, the fewer people who know it, the better.
Xu Dayong nodded vigorously, "Of course!"
Qian Shulan asked her assistant to take him to prepare the materials. Xu Dayong followed the assistant in a daze.
Qian Shulan said to Xu Siqiang, "I will reward you 500 yuan this time."
Xu Siqiang immediately jumped up from his chair and bowed deeply to Qian Shulan, "Thank you, Director."
Qian Shulan pressed the button and asked him to continue sitting down. "Your cousin's story has given me an inspiration. I plan to set up a department and put you in charge. You arrange for your subordinates to search for delicious food all over the country. Especially those century-old shops, find their descendants and see if you can buy the recipes with money."
Xu Siqiang's eyes flashed with surprise, "Thank you for your trust, Director!"
Qian Shulan added, "I hope it's a deal that both parties are satisfied with. It must not be taken by force. And I must be the first one to see the recipe. If anyone leaks it, they will be held legally responsible."
In September this year, the country officially ended its lawlessness and promulgated its first criminal law, one of which is the crime of infringing on trade secrets. Because the law was just promulgated, loudspeakers on the streets were everywhere announcing the news.
Xu Siqiang naturally knew this too. When he heard the factory director say this, he immediately nodded, "Yes!"
Soon, Xu Dayong's recipe was proven to be effective. Qian Shulan asked Li Shirong to help her order the machine. If they wanted to quantify the amount of work, pure manual labor would not work.
When Li Shirong heard that she wanted to expand the product category, he also supported it, but said with a little regret, "Only braised eggs and egg jerky are really too little."
Qian Shulan smiled and handed him the braised meat series she had brought with her. "These are also our new products."
She had always wanted to make braised pork and braised dried tofu, and now she finally had the chance.
Li Shirong saw that the packaging was very exquisite and said, "It's convenient for you that this plastic factory is located in Shenzhen."
Li Shirong opened a plastic factory in Shenzhen, and the plastic used in Qian Shulan's food factory was directly supplied by his factory. The packaging was also made according to her requirements.
Qian Shulan heard the deep meaning behind his words, "Do you want to open more factories in Shenzhen?"
Li Shirong rubbed his forehead. He just said it casually, but she could guess it. She is really smart.
Qian Shulan didn't seem to notice his helplessness and continued, "What kind of factory are you going to open? I want to see if I can benefit from your business."
The Li family is so powerful in Hong Kong that even if Li Shirong shows off a little, he is still better than her.
Li Shirong was amused by her. Is it really okay to flatter someone so blatantly
However, after cooperating with her for such a long time, she has always delivered the goods on time and there has never been a problem with the quality. It is most reassuring to cooperate with such a person. Li Shirong did not hide it from her, because he could not hide this matter anyway.
He nodded and admitted directly, "Yes, we are planning to open Yongrun Supermarket in Shenzhen."
Qian Shulan opened her mouth in admiration, "You guys are really amazing."
Only Yongrun Group has the ability to copy the supermarket. She had thought about opening a supermarket before. But now is different from the future.
In later generations, brands would look for channels to sell their products, but now it is the opposite. She does not have a wide network of contacts. If she opens a supermarket but cannot find products to fill it, her business will still not be good. So it is better for her to run her food factory steadily. However, it does not prevent her from making more money.
Qian Shulan suddenly asked, "Does your supermarket only sell daily necessities?"
Li Shirong nodded and said, "Let's test the waters first. If sales are good, we'll add some others."
If all the products have to be shipped across the ocean, the tax alone would be a lot of money, so he didn't say no. Besides, the economy here is too bad, there are too many poor people, and I don't know if the supermarket can be opened.
Qian Shulan also agreed with his point of view, "Then our food factory's products will be able to be sold without having to go overseas."
Not long after this incident, Qian Shulan soon discovered that Yongrun supermarkets had opened on several streets in Shenzhen.
The variety of goods inside is more complete than that of a department store. As long as the goods are not imported, the prices are very cheap. On the opening day, it attracted a lot of people.
Jiang Yuying and Wang Shouzhi rushed into the supermarket with Qian Shulan early in the morning to pick things up.
"Mom, things here are very cheap." Jiang Yuying held up an exquisite poster with ridiculously low prices.
What made Qian Shulan speechless was that perhaps the products from her factory did not need to pay taxes, but were actually marked with the lowest price in history, and people could take them home for only one cent per pound.
Wang Shouzhi also knew the products of his mother's food factory. He pointed at the most eye-catching candy word on it and said, "Mom, is this a new product of your factory?"
He seemed to have heard her mother mention it before. The recipe for this candy was not cheap. Even if his mother wanted to go for the civilian route, it wouldn't be so cheap.
"It's from our factory. They buy it at 20 cents per pound, and they sell it at 10 cents per pound. So they lose 10 cents per pound all in all." This does not include store fees and labor costs.
"They are really trying their best to create a gimmick." Wang Shouzhi felt a little pained. In his opinion, he would never give up.
Jiang Yuying was very impressed and gave a thumbs up, "I think candy is the only non-essential item here, so people won't buy too much."
Except for weddings, who would buy candy like food
You know what, this really makes sense. Wang Shouzhi had nothing to say.
Qian Shulan propped up her chin and said, "Anyway, no matter what he does, it will be good for me. My candy will soon be able to compete with other brands."
Overnight, her brand became known throughout Shenzhen. Her candies were beautifully packaged and had a specially improved taste, making them tastier than those made by Xu Dayong.
As soon as Yongrun Supermarket opened, Qian Shulan’s fruit candies were sold out.
Yongrun Supermarket has become an affordable supermarket in the minds of Shenzhen residents, replacing department stores as the first choice for shopping.
The Wang Xiangrun food series also benefited from this and became the most popular food, truly a household name.
In the following months, the food factory developed new products one after another.
Items like ham, spicy strips, dried fruits, and candied fruits are also gradually being launched on the market.
Qian Shulan was not satisfied with the opening of the Shenzhen and overseas markets, and she began to sell her products all over the country.
The connections she had made while working in the food factory also came in handy at this time. She personally called the managers of those department stores.
Because she has always been in contact with these people, and Shenzhen is an economic development zone, although hers is a private factory, it is legal.
So everyone accepted her goods without any rejection, and the products began to be sold all over the country.
Compared with Qian Shulan's smooth sailing, Wang Shouzhi and Jiang Yuying's store is a bit out of place.
"You two were selling clothes some time ago, why do you want to change to selling candies?" Qian Shulan was a little speechless.
Even if it doesn't cost anything to get sugar from her factory, there's no need for it to change so quickly, right
"Mom, I don't think I'm suitable for selling clothes." Wang Shouzhi was a little embarrassed. His mother's career was so successful, but he was stagnant all the time, which was a bit useless.
"What do you mean?" Qian Shulan was busy with factory matters, so she didn't pay much attention to their store. She really didn't know how they were doing.
Wang Shouzhi scratched his head, glanced at Jiang Yuying who was helping his daughter with homework in the study, and lowered his voice and said, "Although the clothes I bought a few days ago were cheap, I can't sell them as well as others. I heard from the boss of the wholesale market that some people can sell goods worth tens of thousands of yuan a month, but I only have 6,000. If Yuying didn't have sales experience, I don't think I could even sell 6,000."
Qian Shulan suddenly realized that the development here was too fast, the types of clothes were changing too frequently, and Wang Shouzhi's vision was not very good, so the styles he brought were not as popular as others.
"I think you might as well sell home appliances?" Qian Shulan gave him a suggestion.
Wang Shouzhi opened his mouth in surprise, "I don't have that much money."
He and Jiang Yuying had only saved more than 20,000 yuan in total. Home appliances were so expensive that he couldn't buy much.
Qian Shulan tapped the table, also thinking this was a big deal.
"You go contact the store first, and I'll help you think of a solution." Qian Shulan thought about it for a moment and came up with an idea.