Soon, an old lady started asking about the price, and more and more people gathered around to watch the fun.
As soon as Mingyue mentioned the price, some people turned around and left with a frown on their faces, some accused Mingyue of offering too high a price, and some even tried to bargain by cutting the price in half.
Mingyue was neither anxious nor annoyed, and explained to everyone openly: "Aunts and uncles, you can see with your own eyes that our vegetables are fresh and clean. We get up early to go to the market to buy them and cook them now. From buying vegetables to washing them to the finished products, every step is done by us with time and effort. In the end, we don't make much money."
"And if you think it's expensive, you can buy a little bit first and go back to try it. If you think it tastes good, you can buy more later. If it doesn't suit your taste, then it's not a loss for a few cents, right?"
Her words were well-reasoned and the dishes did look good, so an old lady was actually tempted and bought two kilograms of vegetarian dishes saying she wanted to try them first.
There were some ignorant children nearby who saw this and kept pestering the adults at home to buy them. The adults couldn't persuade them, so they bought some for the children as snacks.
Mingyue didn't mind that others bought less. When she saw the children were clamoring to eat immediately, she generously gave them more bags and told the children to put them on so as not to dirty their hands. This move also won the favor of many aunts and uncles.
Children like to compare and follow the crowd.
There were many children in the small square at that time. Some of them smelled the food and started crying and rolling on the ground, asking to buy it. Some just stared at it and didn't move. Some even stood aside and drooled.
Most of the people who bring children out nowadays are grandparents who love their children the most. How could they bear to see their own children in such a state? Basically, they will spend some money to buy something.
Some elderly people, seeing that the business was so good, also followed suit and ordered some to try.
For a while, the cold dish stall's business was so booming that Zhou Chengming felt excited too.
After the children ate the cold dishes, they felt they were too salty. Mingyue then calmly introduced brown sugar ice jelly at five cents a bowl. Unexpectedly, the ice jelly became more popular than the cold dishes, and a whole bucket was sold out in no time.
This cart of cold dishes sold out faster than Zhou Chengming had imagined. Before half past ten, when the sun had just risen overhead, all the vegetables were sold out, even the soup was gone, because Mingyue gave the soup to the aunties who came to buy vegetables. The aunties even praised her for her ability to do things!
After Mingyue picked up all the garbage bags that the children had thrown on the ground after eating, she called Zhou Chengming: "Let's go, Brother Chengming, let's go back first, take a nap after dinner, and then prepare the dishes for the afternoon show."
Zhou Chengming naturally nodded in agreement and trotted back on the tricycle just like he came.
They had plenty of time at noon, so they went home and cooked three dishes and a soup, two vegetarian dishes and one meat dish. In that era, it was simply the best life.
After agreeing on the start time for work in the afternoon, Zhou Chengming went back to his room to rest.
After Mingyue finished recording the account, she went out again in the hot sun. She talked to the car modification master about modifying the tricycle, and also went to find a master who specialized in custom-made plaques to customize a large wooden menu similar to a billboard.
The menu listed the specific cold dishes and the prices of the meat and vegetarian dishes, and in the most conspicuous place were two words: Zhou's.
That’s right, Mingyue has already thought of a brand for the cold dishes, it’s called Zhou’s Cold Dishes.
Regardless of whether she opens chain stores or not in the future, she plans to name all the businesses under her name Zhou, because Zhou is also her gift to the entire Zhou family.
It was 3:30 in the afternoon and Mingyue had just returned to the room and sat down when Zhou Chengming came over.
The two of them worked hard again, and after they finished preparing and plating the second batch of cold dishes, more than an hour had passed. Mingyue finally took a breath, and when she remembered Zhou Sanming's mention that the business of the garment factory next door had been slow recently, and the factory had finished work early, she perked up again and asked Zhou Chengming to go to the garment factory to set up a stall.
Not long after the two of them arrived, female workers came out in groups.
What a coincidence, it happened just in time.
However, after most of the female workers learned the price of the cold dishes, they were reluctant to buy them.
Women who take care of the housework are better at budgeting than men. They are the ones who often go to the vegetable market. Of course they know that the prices of Mingyue’s cold dishes are greatly inflated. With that money, they might as well make them themselves!
This was the first time that the cold dish failed to sell. Zhou Chengming was a little discouraged and even suspected that it was just luck that the good sales in the morning were so good.
But Mingyue still looked calm and composed. When someone asked about the price, she answered. When someone wanted to buy, she handed over the bag. She didn't show any sign of anxiety at all.
Although sales were slower than in the morning, the cold dishes in the car were indeed decreasing.
Zhou Chengming's anxiety dissipated unconsciously. He laughed at himself in his heart, thinking that he was not as strong-willed as Mingyue, a woman. No wonder he was not as successful as Mingyue.
However, Mingyue was not someone who was inflexible. Seeing that there were not many people in the garment factory, she took Zhou Chengming to the gates of other factories.
As time went by, the cold dishes in the car became fewer and fewer, and finally the plates were empty.
When they went back home and had dinner in the evening, Mingyue started to settle the accounts as soon as Zhou Chengming left.
Excluding the cost of vegetables, oil, seasonings, etc., today's net profit is 89 yuan, which is almost as much as the monthly salary of two senior technical workers in a state-owned factory.
Of course, this job is really hard. Not to mention other things, just staying by the boiler for such a long time in the hot summer and running around outside is torturous enough.
But compared to the money earned, this little bit of hard work is nothing.
However, Mingyue also knew that no one had done this business before, so she could reap the benefits alone.
But now that she has set a precedent, others have noticed the business opportunity. Soon, other people will discover the huge profits and imitate her in selling cold dishes. When there are more stalls to choose from, business will not be so easy to do.
Therefore, the most important thing for her now is to quickly build up her own brand reputation so that when others think of buying cold dishes in the future, the first thing they think of is Zhou's. Then she will be successful.
Mingyue has to wait a week to pick up the large sign she customized, but the business of selling cold dishes that she wants to learn from her is coming in faster and more people than she imagined.
On the fourth day of Mingyue's official stall, a middle-aged couple started selling cold dishes in the courtyard alone, and even the layout of the snack cart was the same as Mingyue's.
There is no such thing as copycat or genuine product these days, especially when it comes to selling snacks, if someone learns your creativity, then that’s it.
(End of this chapter)