Lunch at a roadside stall costs one yuan per person, which is quite cheap. But even many farmers who come to the market can't afford it.
Xiao Jinlang paid the money and planned to take Chen Chu on foot to see the 'Harmony Supermarket' store in the county town.
The county seat of Andong County is two parallel streets built in the mountains and river valleys. The area is quite small, and you can walk around the whole city in one hour.
After completing the layout in Tianyang City, the ‘Harmonious Supermarket’ was gradually moved down in accordance with Zhou Qingfeng’s requirements. After all, the city has a population of less than one million, but the total population of Tianyang area is nearly ten million.
Different from stores in the city, rents are cheaper in the county. One supermarket rented four or five stores in a row. They included second-hand home appliances, furniture, clothing, daily necessities, and even a fast food restaurant.
Xiao Jinlang had never seen a fast food restaurant, but there were many people at the door. Director Chen stood and took a few glances, and said in surprise: "This is a bit like McDonald's abroad. I have eaten there in the United States."
The store covers an area of more than 20 square meters and uses a lot of bright-colored decoration materials. The "Holy Light" logo is very shiny. The ceiling is suspended in the store, the walls are freshly painted, and professional cooking stoves are placed behind the counter.
But this scene is still different from McDonald's.
The current domestic production of edible oil is insufficient, and fried food cannot be promoted. However, machine-wrapped dumplings are on the market on a large scale. Once cooked in a large pot, each dumpling floats in the boiling hot soup.
A big problem with the current catering industry in China is that they don’t pay much attention to appearance, and they even joke to themselves, “If you eat dirty, you won’t get sick”. The kitchen is full of black oil smoke, and the stove is full of dust.
When visiting Zhou Qingfeng's fast food restaurant, all tables, chairs, counters, tableware and kitchen utensils must be cleaned every day. All waiters and chefs must be cleanly dressed, with their hair covered and hats on.
In short, it is necessary to achieve differentiated management, give customers a sense of freshness and high-end, and make them appetizing when they walk by.
Xiao Jinlang glanced at the menu posted on the wall. They were all steamed buns, dumplings, sesame seed pancakes and other easily processed foods. Any dishes that were too troublesome were not visible.
In addition, there are freezers in the store that specialize in selling ready-made snacks, as well as drinks and ice cream. It is only the beginning of May and the weather is not hot, so there are still many children coming to buy soda.
After standing in front of the store for a while, Lao Xiao and Xiao suddenly felt that it would be better to eat lunch here instead of at a roadside stall. Director Chen touched his belly and sighed: "Let's buy a bottle of drink."
The price of Coca-Cola has remained unchanged for a long time, at two yuan and a half a bottle. Jianlibao is not cheap now, and ordinary families cannot afford it. But localities often have their own beverage factories, so they sell it much cheaper.
'Harmony Supermarket' asked Tianyang Soda Factory to do OEM work, and the soda produced was sold under its own brand. It costs 50 cents a bottle, and you can get 10 cents off if you recycle the glass bottles.
Once the beverage industry gets a reputation, it will be extremely profitable. Director Chen bought two bottles for one yuan, opened the bottle, took a sip, and sprayed it out.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Jinlang was holding the bottle in his hand and was about to drink when he was frightened. "It tastes too bad?"
It's not bad to drink, but the director from the imperial capital has never seen a bold person like Zhou Qingfeng. He pointed at the sticker on the bottle and said, "How can this be painted like this..."
As for the 'Holy Light' brand soda, the logo is naturally the Holy Light shining through the bottom of the girl's skirt.
"This is too bad for teaching children." The director scolded angrily.
"I thought you were going to say something?" Xiao Jinlang said calmly, raised the bottle and took a sip, "I heard from people in the company that this trademark was designed by President Zhou himself."
Pfft..., Director Chen squirted again, feeling Zhou Qingfeng's bad taste deeply.
The cold soda is delicious, and the sweetness of caramel brings a sense of satisfaction. The carbon dioxide rushes out of the mouth, which is very comfortable. No wonder children like it.
In order to attract people, a NTU color TV was set up outside the fast food restaurant to play videos. This trick has been used in Nantou Township, and the effect is particularly good. Passers-by outside the store inevitably come to take a look, especially children.
The film shown today is 'Rodin's Lovers', Isabella Adjani's famous work. Maybe the hormones are too strong, French films are always so exciting..., ready to move
.
In short, Adjani is as beautiful as a fairy now.
Zhou Qingfeng wanted to show some domestic movies and TV series, but he couldn't find any good ones. He couldn't show "Journey to the West" every day.
The large color TV was surrounded by three floors inside and three outside, and there were a lot of people watching the fun. Many students did not attend class and secretly squeezed into the crowd to watch, and they were inevitably scolded by adults.
Lao Xiao took a look and walked to several other stores. He was very keen to find that the second-hand goods sold in the county were obviously lower-end, with prices often below 500 yuan. There were many daily necessities for a few yuan.
These were nothing, but it was a sign at the door of the store that caught Lao Xiao's attention. It was a notice of recruitment and training, and there was actually a word about free training and employment.
Director Chen asked in confusion: "What on earth is Zhou Qingfeng doing? He doesn't do smuggling business well, he just does some mess."
"You can't treat that guy as a normal person. He might just be idle and bored." Xiao Jinlang had no other explanation. After half a month of investigation, he knew very well how many things Uncle Zhou had done.
There are also many people around the recruitment notice, and from time to time people come into the store to ask questions. Salary, type of work, work location, training content, everything in detail needs to be asked.
Xiao Jinlang entered the store and came out with a poorly printed flyer. It contained detailed descriptions of different recruitment positions, most of which were being recruited by the 'Harmony Trading Company'.
Director Chen squeezed his head over, took a few glances and exclaimed: "Is this wrong? The salary is so high?"
In fact, it is not high at all. It is just a monthly salary of 100 for brick-moving coolies working on construction sites, including food and accommodation. The requirements are to be hard-working, willing to work without complaint, obey orders, and not to be greedy or lazy.
There are also cooks who cook for construction sites. There is no age limit for men or women, but they are required to undergo a physical examination.
The strangest thing is that even the most ordinary coolies must undergo military training for three days. It does not matter whether you are forty or fifty years old or twenty or thirty years old, this is the same.
"This is probably not a regulation made by Zhou Qingfeng, but a certain engineer battalion commander of the 'Harmonious Construction' who couldn't stand the freedom of migrant workers." Xiao Jinlang explained.
"Is there such a thing?" Director Chen felt that his horizons had been opened. Since arriving in Tianyang, what he saw and heard were new tricks. He went into the store to ask about it in person, and sighed repeatedly when he came out.
"It is said that more than a thousand people have been employed, and this month's salary will cost at least more than 100,000 yuan. It is really rare for a company to still employ so many people. No wonder Tianyang is trying its best to protect him."
Looking at the crowded crowds in front of several shops, Xiao Jinlang whispered and sighed: "Don't look at how much Zhou Qingfeng spends, but he actually earns more.
In the past, I could only see the surface in my investigations. But after I became the liaison director, I was able to see many internal reports of the company.
Don’t look at the smuggled goods produced by ‘Holy Light’. In fact, the stores this company has opened below the city level are also making money.”
Director Chen glanced at the pots and pans sold for cheap outside the store and asked in disbelief: "You think these things that cost just a few cents each can make money?"
"Yes." Xiao Jinlang nodded, "It's just small profits but quick turnover. Zhou Qingfeng likes to make physical loans, and can easily get hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands out in a month.
It looked like all the money was wasted. But who were the people who took out the loan? They were poor people who usually didn’t have much money, and they bought the cheapest things.
Note that "Shengguang" is engaged in physical loans. Zhou Qingfeng collects daily necessities that cannot be sold in the city at very low prices and sells them to farmers as loans.
The loaned money and goods are circulated outside, and will eventually be turned into funds and physical objects and returned to the account of the Holy Light.
‘Holy Light’ allows loan holders to repay their loans with labor force and production in kind. This kind of capital flow is very fast, and some towns can make a full circle in half a month.
Think about the millions of people in Tianyang, and the business at the bottom is going to be monopolized by the ‘Holy Light’. Do you think Zhou Qingfeng really loses money? He is very smart.”
According to Zhou Qingfeng, this is called forcefully promoting consumption.