Chapter 58: There are many tricks in this small food factory.

Wang Ying pulled out a list of companies that had offered benefits in previous years and said to the group, "Take a look at these companies first. You can prioritize placements based on your specific circumstances. For example, companies that are close to your home, or companies that have family, relatives, or friends working there, will be given priority."

"This is good, it can improve efficiency," said Zhou Qianjin.

"After you've chosen, check with each other and make a spreadsheet, arranging the units you'll be visiting, and planning your routes and time," Wang Ying said. "Would you like me to make a sample of the spreadsheet?"

"Yes!" Xu Lili quickly raised her hand.

Wang Ying took the small blackboard, drew a few boxes on it, and wrote: unit name, visit time, contact person, number of people who should receive benefits, etc., explaining everything in great detail.

"That's almost it. You can draw the table according to this." Wang Ying said to them while pointing at the table with chalk.

"This form is good," Zhou Qianjin said. "It's concise, clear, and saves time." He had already copied the form down on his scratch paper. Zhou Qianjin thought Wang Ying was quite capable. He wondered who had taught her all these things. He had an older brother who worked in a woodworking factory and had taught him a lot, but he still couldn't compare to Wang Ying.

"Team leader, you are so awesome! What would I do without you!" Xu Lili said exaggeratedly.

Wang Ying smiled and said, "This afternoon, you can draw up a spreadsheet and plan your routes, including which units you'll visit each day. Report them in advance. We'll officially start tomorrow. If you encounter any difficulties, we'll communicate promptly."

"Okay." Zhou Qianjin and the other three agreed together.

"Do you have any other questions?" Wang Ying asked.

"Not yet, let's see when we meet one." Luo Wenshu said.

"Then you can get started!" Wang Ying put the small blackboard aside.

Wu Haiyang then said, "Their work has been arranged, but what about ours? The task is to develop new products. We can't just create new products out of nothing. I originally thought that there would be some experienced employees to guide us, but now it's all up to us."

"We can learn, and we can also improve upon the original and create something new," Wang Ying said. "That leaves us with two approaches. Which one do you think you can do?"

Wu Haiyang stroked his chin and pondered for a moment. "I think it's feasible to add some twists to the original. Take the Yunpian Cake for example. On the one hand, it preserves the original shape and auspicious meaning of the 'cake', and on the other hand, it creates new flavors. I think this is a good idea! It's also very popular among the people..."

"Team leader, excuse me for interrupting you. I need a ruler..." said Xu Lili.

"Go to the logistics department to get it. I'll write you a note so you can ask who will be in charge of logistics in the future. If my note doesn't work, come back and I'll ask the leader to write another one." Wang Ying said.

"Okay." Xu Lili agreed. Zhou Qianjin and Luo Wenshu said, "We want one too."

Wang Ying wrote a note to Xu Lili, and Xu Lili went out with the note.

Wang Ying continued to talk to Wu Haiyang, "You said it very well. I think so too. First, we can try to change the taste, and we can also try to change the appearance and packaging."

"Yes, packaging is also very important. The candies my family brought back from Shanghai had beautiful wrappers. The children were reluctant to throw them away, so they made them into floral patterns. There was even a type of biscuit that was packed in an iron box!" Wu Haiyang said, "But this may increase costs."

"We'll think of a plan first, then calculate the budget and look for ways to save costs! If it's not approved, we'll revise it. But we definitely can't afford the iron box," Wang Ying said with a smile.

"Then what flavor should we make? We can't make it sour, salty, or spicy," Wu Haiyang said thoughtfully.

"We can go to the warehouse later," Wang Ying said. "The raw materials can't be too difficult to get, and we also need to keep costs under control."

"Okay, I have an idea for the cloud cake, and there's also the fried fruit. What can we do with it?" Wu Haiyang said, "It's just a matter of making it longer, shorter, thicker, or thinner. I don't think there's much we can do with it."

Wang Ying said, "Don't you think the fried fruit we give out every year is a bit too hard?"

Luo Wenshu interjected, "Yes, it's too hard. I even broke a tooth when I was a kid, so I don't like fried fruit. If you ask me, I think it would be better if fried fruit wasn't given out as a Lunar New Year gift."

Zhou Qianjin said: "It won't work if we don't have it. We are used to eating these during the Chinese New Year."

"It's a habit. If you want to eat more, you can buy it yourself. Wouldn't it be better to send something else?" Luo Wenshu said.

"Cost, cost, don't think about what you can get. You are a factory employee now, you have to look at the problem from the right perspective." Zhou Qianjin said, "I still want the factory to give me cream cakes."

"I didn't expect that you, a tall and strong man, like to eat cream cake." Luo Wenshu said.

Zhou Qianjin was speechless for a moment: "Let's discuss business!"

Luo Wenshu said, "I think it's better to make peach cakes."

"What's the cost of peach cakes and fried fruits? When giving out fried fruits, each person can be given a two-pound bag, but when giving out peach cakes, only two pieces can be given. Doesn't it look ugly?" Zhou Qianjin said.

"That's right. We can't let the people feel like they're getting less this year," Luo Wenshu said. "Even if we don't give out fried fruit, we should give out something of equal weight."

"It's a bit difficult." said Wu Haiyang.

"I'm wondering if there's a way to make fried fruit cakes softer," Wang Ying said. She actually wanted to make shaqi ma (steamed fruit cakes), a treat she'd loved in her past life. It's sweet and soft, truly suitable for all ages. In this day and age, people don't mind high sugar and high fat content; they just want to eat sugar and fat. The only problem is that it would be expensive, and she didn't have a recipe.

Wang Ying said, "Let's go back to the workshop and see if they can make the fried fruit more crispy, soft and chewy."

"Will they cooperate?" Wu Haiyang said.

"If they don't cooperate, I'll go to the leadership," Wang Ying said. "I think we can't just improve without innovating, so we still have to develop a new product. We produce fried fruit cakes every year, and besides the ones we give out as welfare gifts, we also sell them regularly. We can replace some of them, or let the comrades choose for themselves: new products or fried fruit cakes."

"Where do the new products come from? Should we ask the master craftsman? Or go somewhere else to investigate?" said Wu Haiyang.

"One is to find a master chef, and the other is to look for books that record various dim sum recipes." Wang Ying said.

"This is the only way. We will go to the workshop after lunch," said Wu Haiyang.

While they were talking here, Xu Lili came back with a ruler.

"I received it." Zhou Qianjin said.

"Well, it went pretty smoothly." Xu Lili said, "The person who is currently liaising with us in logistics is called Xie Qiuxia. We can always look for her if we need anything from now on."

Xu Lili gave each of them a ruler, and they started drawing tables after getting the rulers.

At lunch time, Wang Ying and the other five were still together.

After lunch, Wang Ying and Wu Haiyang went to the raw material warehouse first to see if there was anything in the warehouse that could be used for food improvement and innovation.

When we arrived at the raw material warehouse, the warehouse manager was a middle-aged man with a slight limp. He was a veteran. He looked very serious and never smiled.

Wang Ying and Wu Haiyang explained their purpose. He asked them to sign before letting them in, and then told them not to touch anything and could only look.

Wang Ying and his partner have raw materials in their warehouse mainly consisting of flour, oil, and sugar. In addition, there are some eggs, honey, and dried fruits and nuts such as sesame seeds, walnuts, and red dates, but not too many.

Now, the main products of the snack workshop of the non-staple food factory are peach cakes and sesame biscuits, and there are also seasonal foods, such as glutinous rice balls for Lantern Festival, moon cakes for Mid-Autumn Festival, cloud cakes and fried fruits for Chinese New Year.

Wang Ying noticed with a sharp eye that one batch of goods had no markings on them. The snakeskin bags were a bit worn, even a little dusty. The warehouse was a first-in-first-out system, so there shouldn't be such old stuff there.

"Wu Haiyang, go ask the warehouse manager what's in here," said Wang Ying.

"Okay." Wu Haiyang ran over and asked, and the warehouse manager limped over with him.

"Are you asking about what's inside?" the warehouse manager said. "These are walnuts, used to make mooncakes."

"Why does this look so old and there's no label on the bag?" Wang Ying asked.

The warehouse manager seemed reluctant to speak, but under Wang Ying's gaze, he still said: "I bought some before Mid-Autumn Festival last year to make mooncakes, and I didn't use it all."

Wang Ying asked, "This year's Mid-Autumn Festival has passed. Will it be useless next year? What do you usually do with this kind of thing?"

"Don't ask me, I don't know." The lame warehouse manager glanced at Wangying and limped away again.

Wang Ying and Wu Haiyang exchanged a glance, wondering if there was something fishy going on. The look in the eyes of this veteran with a broken leg seemed a little off.

Wang Ying did not question the lame comrade further, but went directly to see Director Zhao with Wu Haiyang.

This was the first time Wang Ying had visited Director Zhao at work. Director Zhao was a little surprised, but he quickly adjusted to his work state and asked, "Young comrades, what can I do for you?"

Wang Ying said, "Director Zhao, here's the thing. We just saw a batch of walnuts in the raw material warehouse. The warehouse manager said they were purchased before last year's Mid-Autumn Festival. These walnuts were used last year and haven't been used up this year. They will definitely expire by next year. How do you usually deal with them? Do you sell them directly as raw materials, or wait for them to be scrapped?"

Director Zhao looked at Wang Ying and said after a moment, "We usually don't sell it."

"So it's just waiting to be scrapped?" Wang Ying said, "What's the trick here?"

"We can't sell the raw materials that come in from the factory," Director Zhao said. "They're usually edible, so we bring them to the cafeteria and figure out how to eat them."

"I see. Our development team wants that batch of walnuts," Wang Ying said. "Let them realize their due value."

Director Zhao looked at Wang Ying and said, "I'll go down and talk to Director Qian."

"If you have other similar raw materials, give them to us!" Wang Ying said. "We can develop new products, turn waste into treasure, and save money."

Wang Ying's idea was acceptable, but it involved some interests. Director Zhao hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed.

"Okay, I'll talk to Director Qian later," said Director Zhao.

Wang Ying saw that Director Zhao seemed a little embarrassed and said, "How about I go with you and explain how far I am from these raw materials?"

Director Zhao said, "No, I'll do it." Director Zhao felt that some things were better left to him. He couldn't let Wang Ying offend everyone as soon as he arrived at the factory. He had always been annoyed by some people's behavior, and now was the perfect opportunity.

Wang Ying knew that these soon-to-be-wasted raw materials would definitely go to more than just the canteen. Even within this small food factory, there were many hidden dangers.