In fact, Ning Weimin was a little over-cautious in his exchange of favors with Song Huagui.
You know, at the beginning of reform and opening up, there were no manufacturers in Beijing that actually produced Western tableware.
Maxim Restaurant is a pioneer in introducing the elegant style and romantic feelings of French cuisine into the Republic.
It was a big bet, and it was clear that the business strategy was not to simply pursue profits, but rather to bear long-term losses, but also to maintain the style of the Paris head office, and not to quit easily.
So since the signing ceremony for the official Maxim Restaurant project, Song Huagui has been worrying about how to ensure the supply of tableware.
The simple truth is that if imported goods are used forever for such continuous consumables, the cost will be too high, and efforts must be made to localize them.
However, in this era, information circulation is very limited, so it is not easy to find a manufacturer capable of supplying it.
The actual situation is that several people at the head office are wandering around the capital like headless flies with a set of tableware flown in from Paris as a sample all day long.
But because no one understands the situation of the arts and crafts industry, it runs into obstacles everywhere.
If nothing else, it’s hard to pass the plate level.
No matter the ceramics factory or ceramics shop they found, they all claimed that they couldn't make the plate because the tire was too thick.
Finally, someone managed to find the Hunan Liling Ceramics Store in Zhushikou, and the manufacturer agreed to try to take over.
It was even more difficult to find a home for the knives and forks. Everyone shook their heads when asked where they were, and everyone was at a loss.
It was thanks to her acting as a model that she entered Zhongnanhai, and Song Huagui had the opportunity to complain to her superiors.
Only then were three tons of nickel-nickel copper specially approved and handed over to the Shanghai Mint for production.
As for the most difficult problem to solve, it is the glass.
It sounds like nothing, but the problem is that there are many kinds of foreign drinks, and they all have corresponding cups.
Especially French cuisine, they are very particular about the cups.
Red wine glasses, white wine glasses, champagne glasses, water glasses, highball glasses, classical glasses, spirit glasses, aperitif glasses, long drinking glasses, cocktail glasses, punch glasses, Irish coffee glasses...
There are dozens of subdivisions.
However, these cups, which are not difficult to buy in foreign countries, are simply not made by domestic manufacturers.
What's more, the demand is not too high, at most a few hundred of each type, and even a hundred and eighty for uncommon ones. Mass production is not cost-effective.
So currently, the head office is negotiating with a Chengde glass cup factory found at the glassware exhibition.
The other party is also reluctant and very reluctant to take over, even if it is the settlement of foreign exchange certificates.
In short, this matter is actually a bit ridiculous.
Just because no one in Song Huagui knew that Chongwen District was home to almost all the handicraft manufacturers in the capital, they looked far away and had to negotiate supply contracts with foreign manufacturers.
It is conceivable that considering the domestic logistics conditions at this time, even if cooperation is reached, it will be time-consuming, laborious and expensive.
But it's different if Ning Weimin wants to help.
By handling the procurement for the "Tan Palace" restaurant, he had long been familiar with the situation of various handicraft factories in the district.
Like porcelain, he can go to the Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory that specializes in antique porcelain.
Although this factory does not have a ceramic name, it specializes in antique porcelain and is engaged in customization business.
For them, it's a piece of cake, and they have far more advantages than most civilian ceramic factories that rely on machines for mass production.
As for the knife and fork matter, the badge factory in Beijing can actually handle it.
Although due to the face of the top management, this matter is not good for the Shanghai Mint.
But once the cutlery and forks are produced, it will not be a problem to take over the silver plating processing business three times a year.
This also avoids the trouble of returning to Shanghai for maintenance every year to ensure that the cutlery is as good as new.
As for the dozens of types of glasses, it was actually like Ning Weimin looking for a tailoring agency to take over Pierre Carton's scattered clothing-making tasks.
For major glassware manufacturers, it may be a troublesome and tasteless business, but for handicraft workshops, it has become a completely sweet business.
Don’t forget, grapes are blown out one by one by workers using traditional techniques.
It’s not easy to blow some glass!
Didn't this just happen to be delivered to Ning Weimin?
In short, if Ning Weimin takes over, this is an absolute win-win, not to mention how cost-effective it is!
Not only can it help Song Huagui completely solve the supply problem of localized tableware, it can also completely solve this troublesome headache for her.
Moreover, Ning Weimin himself could enrich his own pockets openly and at the same time use these orders to sell favors to antique porcelain factories and badge factories.
Therefore, when Ning Weimin truly understood the actual situation, he calculated that he had actually saved the head office nearly half of the cost.
He felt calm instantly and happily became the middleman.
And I thought about how to use the tickets for this "PC" international exhibition to bring goods for myself.
In fact, what to do is very simple.
The smaller the technical content and the easier it is to mass-produce, the more it should be “OEM” for export.
On the contrary, the more technology is required and the lower the output, the less suitable it is to do this.
In view of this principle, Ning Weimin retains his own brands of silk figures, material utensils, bionic porcelain and stone carvings.
The items most promoted at the exhibition were the brocade boxes from the Brocade Box Factory, the insect straw weavings from the street sewing club, the antique porcelain tableware, and even the first batch of temporarily blown wine glasses from the Donghuashi Street Production Co.
Not to mention, there are really quite a few gains.
An agent from the UK took a fancy to the hat box and gave Ning Weimin several styles of hat boxes on the spot.
Ning Weimin needs to use the brocade box production method and give a quotation of 1,000 pieces of each type according to the styles he provides.
Finally, an agreement was reached on the spot with the exchange coupon of 22,000 yuan.
Ningwei Minhui will provide 3,000 brocade hat boxes with qualified quality and "PC" nameplate trademark to Marks and Spencer, a long-established British brand, within two months.
There are also several Italian agents who value antique Chinese porcelain and inquire about the price of making "PC" brand Western tableware.
However, because Ning Weimin was unable to give a detailed quotation on the spot, there was only a preliminary intention to cooperate in this matter.
He could only reply after discussing with Liu Yongqing and the antique porcelain manufacturer and continue to negotiate the matter.
The most unexpected thing is the wine glass from Donghuashi Street Production Co., Ltd.
Because they were all temporarily blown in a hurry, the colors of the sticks of two cups were accidentally mixed.
The final blown cup is not pure and transparent.
Instead, it is a gradient effect from top to bottom, from mixed colors of red, yellow, blue and green to colorless and transparent.
On the contrary, this was a mistake, and it became more popular with foreign businessmen.
Someone wanted to order two thousand red and white wine glasses with this effect.
Some people also asked for products in other colors and detailed quotations.
Ning Weimin, who was surrounded by several people, was so frightened by the enthusiastic response from the agents that he did not dare to respond.
He could only find an excuse to escape, and urgently contacted Chang Yuling to ask if he could create a product with constant effects.
Just like that, after getting a positive reply from Chang Yuling.
After the three-day international trade fair, Donghuashi Subdistrict Production Co., Ltd. not only became the "originator" of producing Western glass wine sets in the Republic.
And unexpectedly, we got a gradient-colored Western wine set as the main product for foreign exchange earning, and received overseas orders worth about 130,000 yuan in foreign exchange coupons and 7,500 wine glasses of various colors.
This small workshop, which once had only a dozen people and once closed down, became more and more prosperous and began to expand to a production scale of 80 people under the hands of Ning Weimin.
However, in comparison, Ning Weimin is actually the biggest beneficiary.
Because judging from the current situation, the deal negotiated at this exhibition, if the 10% OEM fee is paid to the head office, can still earn him at least 100,000 yuan in foreign exchange coupons.
So how could he not love Pierre Carton, respect his boss, and cherish his position?
To be honest, there is really no need for promotion, no need...