Chapter 29: A Cooperative Condition Filled with Ambition
Yeh Hao-dong: "After signing the contract, I will show you the plan, and at that time everything will be clear. In addition, I can add one more condition: within three years, if the newly established group cannot reach a total asset scale of over 1 billion, all my investment will be in vain, and I will unconditionally withdraw from the new group."
Song Hao hesitated for a while before finally making up his mind: "Alright, it's settled then. I'll arrange for the lawyer to draft the contract."
Yeh Hao Dong burst out laughing: "Great! Such a big deal and you're not going back to discuss it with your family? I know you're different from me, here is the real 'one word decides everything', but behind you is the entire family."
Song Hao said with certainty: "Tianyi Building is my own creation, not a family business. You have this ambition, and as your elder, I cannot let you look down on me. This matter I can decide now. Besides, as long as the contract is drafted according to the conditions you proposed, even if we really lose money, I won't suffer much loss. If I still dare not sign such a contract after careful consideration, then these more than ten years in the business world would be in vain."
Ye Haodong and Song Hao shake hands: A word is a promise!
Five days later, in Gangcheng, Zhu Saniu accompanied Wang Lin and Jiang Lan, the three of them took away a 200 million yuan check from a farmer with Ye Haodong's handwritten authorization. Five days later, at the Xuesong Hotel in Gangcheng, Jiang Lan signed an agreement with Song Hao on behalf of Ye Haodong to invest in the establishment of the New Tianyi Pavilion Catering and Accommodation Chain Group. The main content of the agreement was basically consistent with what Ye Haodong had said. Zhu Saniu finally took out the strategic plan book drafted by Ye Haodong, which detailed the specific business methods and direction of the new group's future operations, as well as many details including daily management, logistics, advertising planning, and more. The most important point was that he clearly stated the strategy for the new group's future expansion, which was to take the route of mergers and acquisitions.
Actually, most of the content Song Hao can think of, but there is a saying: good scriptures can be read crookedly by a crooked-mouthed monk, and good methods and ideas are not necessarily successful. The most important thing is to see who is executing it. He actually values Ye Haodong's ability and courage more. Of course, the most important thing is the entire plan, whether it succeeds or fails, he has almost no loss. Tianyi Pavilion's current resources and business strategy have already brought Tianyi Pavilion's development to a bottleneck period, and he is also eager to change.
In May 1998, the first store of Xingroup officially started trial operation. On May 18th, the first store to start trial operation was Gangcheng Store, which was carefully built by the high-level leaders of Xingroup. The first two departments to start operation were fast food and hotel industries.
Before that, Zhu Saner represented Ye Haodong to host a large number of specific work. After the new group was established, most of the chain stores under Tianyi Pavilion will be closed, and only five stores in major cities within the province that have occupied the highest point of the catering industry and have outstanding profitability will be retained. The other seven nine-story building stores in the province are all divided by floor, with the first and second floors renamed as Xiangliu Guest Mass Catering Chain Store, focusing on customers such as grassroots merchants, migrant workers, and white-collar workers who are busy during meal times, mainly operating mass fast food.
The third floor was renamed Xiang Ke Liu Su Shi Restaurant, mainly operating high-end vegetarian dishes, inviting famous vegetarian masters in the province to preside over and hosting various Buddhist and Taoist academic conferences, striving to make Xiang Ke Liu a provincial authority on traditional vegetarian cuisine.
Above the third floor, all will be changed to Guest House accommodation department, mainly serving those who cannot afford big hotels but are not willing to stay in small inns. The goal is to become the first choice for this class of people when staying away from home. Must ensure that customers live comfortably, eat conveniently and cheaply. The 200 million invested by Ye Haodong focused on interior decoration renovation, new employee recruitment training and advertising investment, all of which were carried out quickly and smoothly under Song's strong energy. Among the most notable are several promotional planning activities organized by Ye Haodong.
To make a name for itself, Ye Haodong organized a mass cooking competition in the catering department of Xiang Liu Ke, with participants mainly consisting of new students from various culinary schools. These young and creative individuals had relatively low salaries and were more easily attracted by the opportunity to become famous, making them easier to manage later on. The judges for the competition were mostly long-term residents of the lower classes living near the new store. During the event, employees shouted out the slogan: "Three yuan to eat full, five yuan to eat well, ten yuan can't be eaten, three districts to finish with a fragrant mouthful of Xiang Liu Ke." The cooking competition was just the first step in selecting suitable chefs; next came three consecutive days of free trials. During these three days, customers would verify Xiang Liu Ke's promise to introduce new dishes every day and serve hot meals within two minutes of entering the store.
A series of bold and fresh moves made Xiang Liu Ke a household name in the days leading up to its opening, with news of the new restaurant spreading like wildfire through the main commercial streets of Gangcheng. Ye Haodong's innovative promotional plan, inspired by a foreign fast-food chain, quickly went viral in Gangcheng. On May 18th, the day of the grand opening, Song Hao and his son, as well as Zhu San'er, all attended the ceremony with bated breath. After three to four months of preparation, renovations to seven stores, and an investment of over 100 million yuan, it all came down to this first day's results.
It's not an exaggeration to describe the scene on the opening day as "people mountain people sea". The Steel City, which gathered a large number of grassroots people, had such a strong need for this kind of cheap, convenient, fast and delicious catering service. Ye Haodong's idea was so in line with the needs of the times.
From 11:08 when the first fast food was sold, the entire first and second floors of Xiang Liu Ke Fast Food Department were never idle. From three-yuan noodles to ten-yuan dumplings, from the three-yuan zone with home-style dishes as the main course to the ten-yuan zone with medium-to-high-end meat dishes as the main course, from noodle makers to stir-fry chefs, every counter was packed with people waiting to dine. This made Song Hao feel both happy and worried. Fortunately, this dining method is indeed fast and convenient, with crowds gathering quickly and dispersing just as quickly. People who finished eating left, and before the service staff could push their carts to clear the tables, new customers had already sat down. The situation of people coming and going continued until 2 pm, and at dinner time, it started again from 5 pm and didn't calm down until 8 pm.
Song Hao nervously arrived at the finance department to review the profit and loss statement for the day. After 10 o'clock in the evening, the accountant finally tallied up the day's income and expenses. The total consumption of meat, egg, fish, and other raw materials was 29,000 yuan, vegetables were 13,000 yuan, oil consumption was 2,800 yuan, condiments were nearly 1,000 yuan, flour and rice were approximately 20,000 yuan, and the expenses for 112 employees and various taxes were approximately 16,000 yuan. Since the property is owned by the company, there is no rent cost. The total main operating cost for the day was approximately 82,000 yuan, while the total daily revenue was 197,800 yuan. In other words, within the two-story, 2,000-square-meter business hall, a net profit of over 100,000 yuan was generated in just one day. This is still not the result of achieving unified procurement and reducing raw material costs across multiple provinces as Ye Haodong said.
As the first store in Gang City was successful, six other stores in the province also opened one after another. Among them, the two stores in Liancheng and Fengcheng performed even better than those in Gang City. The highest daily profit of the Fengcheng store reached 180,000 yuan.
After a month of trial operation, new problems arose quickly. The supply of raw materials began to become tense, and many dishes could not be made due to insufficient ingredients. In response, Song Hao himself came up with a solution. He personally led the team to He City, Shandong Province, known as the "Vegetable Capital", where he signed a series of procurement contracts. With this, the first constraint on the development of Xiangliu Guest Fast Food Chain was easily overcome, and in the following three months, Xiangliu Guest entered a period of rapid development.
By the end of August, the long-prepared Xiangke Liusu Food Chain finally lifted its mysterious veil. Seven stores across the province started business on August 22nd, the Buddha's birthday.
Vegetarian cuisine is different from general catering projects, its customer base is too strong, it can't be done too high-end with prices set too high, nor can it take the low-end mass route, its positioning must be within this mid-to-high level. Ye Haodong's idea is to make Xiang Ke Liu a top brand in the domestic vegetarian catering industry, making it a symbol of promoting Buddhist culture, so that people, whether they are long-term vegetarians or not, as soon as they think of eating vegetarian food, they will first think of Xiang Ke Liu.
On the opening day, a grand Buddhist Dharma Assembly was held, inviting Buddhist masters and monks from all over the province to give lectures. At the same time, the seven statues of Buddha, all carved out of whole pieces of jade, were also officially consecrated on this day, which became one of the important reasons for the popularity of Su Shi Zhai.
The most attractive event for many vegetarians is the Vegetarian Food Festival. Through a nationwide search of famous temples and ancient vegetarian restaurants, 130 delicious vegetarian dishes were collected and compiled into a detailed cookbook with ingredients and cooking methods. A large jade carving of the cookbook was created using the local specialty of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, and placed in the main hall of the Shenyang store. At the same time, 130 small jade cookbooks were hung on each display stand, detailing the cooking method, ingredients, origin, and even which master chef personally prepared each dish. Vegetarians can freely choose their favorite dishes to taste according to their personal preferences.
The recruitment of chefs is one of the most difficult links, but Ye Haodong came up with a brilliant idea. He told Song Hao that when sorting out vegetarian recipes, he should pay attention to the skilled monks and Taoist masters in various temples, and turn the promotion of vegetarian restaurants into a grand event for both Buddhist and Taoist circles, attracting them to come and do it well. To this end, Ye Haodong's final move was to donate 20% of the daily business profits from Xiang Ke Liu to Project Hope. Every month, 20% of the remaining profits would be used to repair a dilapidated ancient temple. It was this idea that made these superstitious masters, who believed in the cycle of cause and effect in this life and the next, willing to set foot in this secular world and lend a helping hand to Xiang Ke Liu.
Xiang Ke stayed at the Steel City flagship store for a day after the opening.
Song Hao stared in surprise at the profit statement of this business, which he had originally thought was the least profitable. The seven stores' operating income was 4.1 million, a mediocre performance compared to Xiang Liu's fast food chain. What surprised Song Hao even more was the income from customers' donations. In one day, the seven stores received a total of over 43.58 million yuan in donations! After deducting the promised donation portion, the seven stores' single-day operating profit was already close to 3 million! Even if this prosperous situation cannot be sustained, Song Hao believes that with frequent worship activities in the Buddhist and Taoist communities, there will be several days each month worth celebrating. As long as they catch these days, the vegetarian restaurant business won't be bad. This is simply a double-win treasure that gathers both popularity and wealth!
