pjbooks Chapter 91 [Not That Powerful]
Chapter 91 [Not That Powerful]
Chapter 91 [Not That Powerful]
"Your father needs to rest now, and he can't be left alone at the nursing home. You should help out more at home."
At the factory gate, Chen Youyin stopped and changed the subject, his tone both concerned and pressured, "Look at your brothers, they've been helping the factory a lot lately, running around, contacting clients, and handling miscellaneous tasks. They've picked it up very quickly."
He paused, then brought the topic back: "Your father and I both think the branding idea that Boss Liu mentioned before makes sense."
"Otherwise, like our family, we've been working diligently for decades, and our reputation is limited to a few long-term customers and some local gourmets."
"Who else knows what makes our meatballs so good? We can't get our reputation out there."
,
Chen Min understood the implication in her uncle's words, and her brows furrowed slightly.
"Uncle, we're just discussing a business partnership right now." She sounded a little hesitant. "Besides, he did well this time, but some things can't be compensated for by good performance on the spot."
She carefully chose her words: "For example, his perspective and understanding—he never went to university."
"He probably hasn't even left the province more than a few times. He just stays in this small city, and the information he receives and the social circles he comes into contact with are completely different from those in first-tier cities."
"Oh, right, he has some fans on that website, but I've never heard of it before. The two people who came today said they were from Shanghai, but from what I saw—their speech and behavior—they didn't have the air of big-city elites at all."
The more she spoke, the clearer the resentment she felt due to her family's arrangements became, and her tone hardened slightly: "There's also the gap in education and knowledge. Does he even know what diminishing marginal costs are?"
Do you understand the application potential of the long tail theory in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, such as food?
"Can he build a simple financial model to estimate the return on investment for different cooperation plans? These are things that street vending or making videos probably can't teach him. To make a business grow, relying solely on street smarts and clever tricks is probably not going to take you far."
Chen Youyin was stunned: "What? What boundary what what?"
"Diminishing marginal costs!"
Chen Min explained, "Simply put, if you want to open a breakfast stall, on the first day your costs will include buying a food cart, the ingredients for the pancakes, and gas —"
"Your cost may be three thousand, but by the next day, the food cart, cooking utensils, and gas are all readily available. All you need to do is prepare the ingredients for the pancakes."
"After that, your daily costs will likely only be raw materials, and the average cost of the entire stall will be spread down to just a few dollars, or even a few cents. Once the stall business stabilizes, it will become more and more successful. This is the diminishing marginal cost, and its opposite is the increasing marginal cost, for example—"
Chen Youyin listened in a daze and suddenly interrupted: "What nonsense is this? It's just that everything is difficult at the beginning. After that, you save on unnecessary costs and then you naturally start to make a profit. Why did you explain it in such a complicated way, calling it diminishing marginal cost?"
Chen Min sighed and said, "It's precisely because you don't understand that it's complicated for me to explain."
"But if someone in the know understands, I only need to say the six words 'diminishing marginal costs.'"
"For example, when I explain to my dad that we need to introduce a more advanced machine, I can clearly tell him that introducing this machine has a clear characteristic of diminishing marginal costs. At first glance, the cost is very high, but as the machine is put into use, the revenue generated by the remaining manpower and material costs each month will quickly amortize this cost."
She then rambled on about a lot of nonsensical things, making Chen Youyin shake his head.
"I don't understand these things, but I do know one thing: adding flowers to brocade and providing charcoal in the snow are different."
He looked at his niece, who was highly educated and seemed to know a lot, and said, "Boss Liu is too young. He has achieved so much at such a young age. It's really hard to say how far he will go in the future."
"Getting in touch early on, and then getting in touch with them after they've actually built a successful career, makes a completely different difference."
"Although I've only met him a few times, every time I saw him, I was deeply impressed. I really think highly of him."
Chen Min muttered, "I know that without you saying it."
As she spoke, she took a few steps forward. "Anyway, let's check the news tonight. Didn't they say he'd be on the news? Let's see how he performs."
She didn't seem to care much.
Looking at it now, it certainly seems quite glamorous.
Ultimately, Liu Zhuohao was just a high school graduate who never went to university. He came from a poor family in a small city and was just a street stall owner.
Whether he can actually open this shop is still uncertain!
Opening a store and doing business involves significantly different costs and risks compared to setting up a street stall. One wrong step could cost you at least tens of thousands of yuan!
Even worse, if this Mr. Liu, having been on the news once and having some followers online, were to think he could just throw in hundreds of thousands of yuan, he might lose even more!
"The boss is the boss, his mind works so fast, he actually thought that far ahead!"
"Even dogs wouldn't go to the school cafeteria—cough, I'm too lazy to go! I used to sneak out to the back alley to eat noodles."
"Yes, yes, yes! We even called to order fried rice, and the owner carried it over the wall on a bamboo pole—"
Liu Zhuohao returned home from the beef ball processing factory in Chenjia. Before he could even take out his keys, he heard Huang Weixiong and his group laughing and talking loudly inside, interspersed with the end credits music from a television news program.
The focus of the discussion is no longer on the whistleblower incident itself.
They already knew the outcome of that matter.
-
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They were talking about their idea, which they had mentioned in a previous interview, that "they will definitely take on social responsibility in the future, and may contract to run school cafeterias."
Pushing open the door, Huang Weixiong saw the living room TV was on, playing the final weather forecast. He was the first to stand up from the bench, his face flushed with excitement: "Boss! You're back just in time! Are we really going to take over the cafeteria?"
"How about starting with the vocational school? Our cafeteria—tsk, when I was in school, not only were we unfamiliar with the food, but when you scooped a spoonful of soup into that huge pot, you had no idea what you'd get out. It was no place for a human to eat!"
Li Zekai also chimed in, reminding him, "Boss, the waters in the school cafeteria are pretty murky, aren't they?"
"When I was in school, I heard that those who could run a school cafeteria all had connections with the school leaders, and the contract was not easy to obtain."
He was calmer and raised the question.
Liu Zhuohao put down the keys, changed into slippers, and his face remained expressionless.
He walked to the coffee table, poured himself a glass of water, took a sip, and said, "Don't get excited, everyone. Go do what you were doing."
He took out his phone and waved it, "The video hasn't been posted yet, we need to focus on important matters."
As he spoke, Liu Zhuohao went inside, sat down at his desk, and continued speaking while turning on his computer: "There's not even a hint of the cafeteria thing right now."
"It was just that the camera was pointed at me, the atmosphere was right, so I casually mentioned it, leaving something to look forward to in the future."
The computer screen lights up.
"but----"
Liu Zhuohao typed on the keyboard, his tone becoming more serious, "If I really have that ability in the future, I will definitely be willing to do it."
"It's not about making a name for myself in history, it's just that I feel that if I can make the place where I grew up even a little bit better, then all this effort won't have been in vain."
These words were honest and straightforward, without any grand pronouncements, which silenced the young people nearby for a moment.
"Brother Cong just urged us in the group chat," Huang Weixiong said quickly, remembering the important matter. "He asked if you were back yet, saying they need the news material so they can edit it quickly and release the video on time tomorrow."
"I know, I was looking at my phone on the way." Liu Zhuohao opened QQ and logged into his email.
Sure enough, there was a new email in his inbox, from the reporter who had interviewed him that afternoon.
The email body was very brief, consisting of a polite greeting and explanation, with a rather large compressed file attached below.
He downloaded and unzipped it.
The folder contained two neatly arranged subfolders.
"Wow! The footage was sent directly?" Huang Weixiong leaned closer to the screen, his eyes wide. "I thought we'd have to screen record it ourselves! The picture quality—it's so much clearer than on TV!"
The first folder contains the original footage shot that afternoon during the interview in the regulatory bureau's conference room. It includes footage from multiple camera angles, with clear visuals and clean audio.
The second folder contains the TV program that just aired, a complete 30-minute program.
"Huh?" Li Zekai pointed to a clip in the original footage, "Why did the news only show one of these people bowing their heads and apologizing? I thought they were just selecting a representative on TV just now."
He was referring to the footage of the whistleblowers lining up to apologize. The original footage contained close-ups of several people, but the final cut only included the shot of the fresh produce wholesaler apologizing.
"Of course, news programs are only 30 minutes long, they can't possibly include the whole thing," Cheng Bing chimed in. "To be able to cut out even this much, and give the boss so many close-up shots and speaking time, is already quite impressive."
O
Yang Boran joked with a smile, "If we put them all in, tonight's news will be our boss's column."
There's definitely no way they have that kind of prestige.
Even if I were to become a famous entrepreneur in some place, donate a lot of money, do a lot of good deeds, and repair ancestral halls, it wouldn't be enough to get me on the news for thirty minutes.
"They also asked for some of our materials."
Liu Zhuohao used the mouse to upload the entire compressed file to the team's cloud drive, and then posted a link and a reminder in the collaboration group where Zhuang Zicong and Liu Honghao were both present.
"For example, the records from the day we were inspected, and comparison footage of our usual stall operations."
"When the media called me this afternoon, they said that some content couldn't be used in its entirety due to program length and broadcast regulations."
"so----"
Two concise replies quickly appeared in the group chat:
Zhuang Zicong: 1.
Liu Honghao: Received.
It was concise and to the point, without even a superfluous expression.
Looking at the brief replies on the screen, Liu Zhuohao could sense their exhaustion.
Zhuang Zicong and Liu Honghao are both still students.
She had to juggle her studies with her demanding part-time job.
In particular, Liu Honghao, in addition to editing, also has to keep a close eye on several growing fan groups and social media accounts, filter sensitive information, and deal with possible provocations.
When their account had only tens of thousands of followers, they could manage. But now that the number of followers is approaching 220,000, all sorts of miscellaneous tasks and potential risks are increasing exponentially. Their little spare time has long been completely squeezed out.
"You guys tomorrow—" Liu Zhuohao raised his head and looked at Huang Weixiong and the others, trying to bring his thoughts back to the present.
"I'll keep visiting stores!" Huang Weixiong immediately chimed in, full of enthusiasm.
"I'm keeping an eye on the renovations," Li Zekai reported.
Cheng Bing and Yang Boran exchanged a glance, then hesitantly asked, "Shall we—continue contacting chefs and hiring?"
"You brat, you're still hiring, still hiring."
Liu Zhuohao glared at them. "How many times have I told you? It's about hiring people, hiring people!"
"Neither of you are new to the industry, yet you go there to recruit, acting like seasoned veterans. You're there to hire people, to seek advice, and to build connections!"
He rubbed his temples, softened his tone, and said more clearly, "Or, you could try contacting the local chefs' association through the school's teachers."
"Let's find out if there are any experienced masters in the industry who are well-connected, have high moral character, and whose words carry weight."
"Let's set a time, and I'll visit you in person then."
This is the most difficult thing.
The storefront, decoration, equipment, and even initial customer traffic can all be solved with money or ideas.
The only thing that matters most is "having a master chef oversee things," which is related to skill, reputation, industry rules, and even more so to the stability of the kitchen staff and the inheritance of traditions. It cannot be rushed or forced, and it is the thing that needs to be done with the most care and sincerity.
After briefly listening to their plans for tomorrow, Liu Zhuohao waved his hand and shooed them out of the room: "Alright, go and get some rest and recharge your energy."
The door closed, and the room suddenly became quiet.
Liu Zhuohao leaned back in his chair, staring at the cloud drive transfer progress bar on the computer screen, which was still lit up, and let out a long, silent breath.
too fast.
The speed of development in the past six months has far exceeded his initial estimates.
Four months ago, I was a breakfast stall owner with only three or four thousand yuan in operating costs, relying entirely on the support of students.
Now, however, he is preparing to open a proper restaurant, and even reserving space for it to potentially develop into a brand in the future.
He was able to sit down and discuss business revenue sharing with Bilibili and negotiate cooperation details with local manufacturers, which made him a highly influential top blogger in this niche circle.
Less than six months.
14 is not over yet; it's only early November, and there are still more than two months until the Chinese New Year.
It's only been a little over four months since the college entrance exams ended in June.
Wealth, social status, prestige —
Liu Zhuohao can truly feel the changes in himself.
In this state of rapid progress, manpower has become a problem that arises almost every month.
Every time my business expands a little, I feel like I'm running out of manpower.
Currently, video production, business coordination, and store preparation are all proceeding simultaneously, and the four people in front of us, plus the two online, are managing to keep things going.
Even the daily work of setting up a stall has been temporarily suspended.
Clearly, they're hiring again.