Chapter 91
"I'm in City S now. Today, we're exploring a legendary store. It's said that this store was originally just a company employee cafeteria, but later, because the food tasted so good and the supply couldn't keep up with the demand, it was spun out and gradually became a national chain of prepared food companies. Can you guess which one it is?"
"Yes, today I came to the headquarter of Qin's Braised Pork. It is said that only here can you have the opportunity to eat the delicious braised meat made by the proprietress herself. Are you looking forward to it? I am quite looking forward to it." A slightly plump round-faced man with a very friendly smile, who has many fans on the Internet, is standing at the door of Qin's Braised Pork with a camera and an assistant, shooting.
But today, he is not the only internet celebrity who came to visit the store. On the other side, there is another internet celebrity who is not very pretty, but has a sunny smile and a plump figure. She is also very charming in front of the camera. She is pointing at the West Wind Media across the street and saying to the camera: "The West Wind Media across the street looks like a very ordinary company, but it has been recognized as the most desirable place for entertainment practitioners. There are of course many reasons. Not long ago, this company seemed to be on the hot search because of its welfare benefits. But today, we are going to talk about another legend of this company - from a canteen restaurant to a nationally renowned chain Qin's Braised Pork!"
The camera turned and saw a long queue at the door.
Qin's Braised Pork now has hundreds of branches in China, but the one that is recognized to have the best taste is still the main store. It is said that this is because the proprietress personally supervises the food, so even if the same recipe is used, many people still feel that the taste of this store is always slightly different.
At the same time, Qin Fenglian was happily busy in the kitchen of the main store.
Although she was the nominal boss of Qin's Braised Pork, she basically left the management of that business to her daughter. She was only responsible for staying in the kitchen to season and test the fragrance and develop new recipes.
Sometimes my daughter feels that working in the kitchen is too tiring and advises her to take more rest, but she ignores her and says that if she doesn’t do more while she is young, she will age prematurely.
As for being in the spotlight and managing the company, she has no interest in it at all.
In her own words, she was just a country woman who had only read for two days and could barely read. She had earned such a large fortune today only because she had a good nose and a good tongue, met a good man, and had a capable daughter.
"I don't understand these things. I just need to take care of the things in the kitchen. I don't understand the things in front and I don't want to take care of them. You can discuss it with Manager Zhang." Qin Fenglian is very satisfied with her current life. She smiles all day long and has a regular and fulfilling life. She looks a few years younger than she was a few years ago.
After all, even five years ago, she could never have imagined that she would be able to earn so much money one day.
"Mom, a reporter from a TV station will come to interview you in a few days," her daughter said on the phone.
"Going to be on TV again?" Qin Fenglian frowned slightly.
She was extremely nervous when she first appeared on TV. She couldn't sleep the night before and even had a funny joke with dark circles under her eyes. But after so many times, even the most unusual things became commonplace. Her only headache now is memorizing the script.
After meeting more reporters, Qin Fenglian realized that many of the entrepreneurs who used to talk so eloquently on TV had prepared their manuscripts in advance. The more skilled ones had longer manuscripts, but someone as uneducated as her could hardly recite a manuscript of dozens or hundreds of words. It was even harder than when she was young and had to go to the construction site at six in the morning to cook a big pot of rice.
Qin Fenglian sighed and could only hold the manuscript and continue to recite. As she was reciting, she heard that two internet celebrities had come to the door of the store. She was said to be quite famous. She hurriedly stuffed the manuscript into her pocket and went out to watch the fun.
In fact, I have been to many Internet celebrity stores. Some of the people there are quite nice and interesting to talk and laugh with. However, some of them rely on their fame to act like big shots and ask for special treatment. If they are not satisfied with anything, they may even become a hot topic.
When the store was just starting out, it almost went out of business because of an internet celebrity who deliberately slandered their store. Later, the boss was so powerful that he dug out some dirty laundry on the internet celebrity from somewhere. As a result, the internet celebrity, who had been so arrogant and said he was going to expose the secrets the day before, stood in front of the camera with tears streaming down his face the next day and apologized sincerely. Unfortunately, the dirty laundry he revealed was so shocking that he not only frequently blackmailed the store, but also engaged in large-scale fundraising fraud. He was soon imprisoned and was not released for at least 10 years.
Although she is already the boss, Qin Fenglian still subconsciously calls Xue Mi "boss", and Xue Mi is still the major shareholder of Qin's Braised Pork and the strong backing of Qin's Braised Pork.
The most important thing is that although the boss is much younger than her, Qin Fenglian subconsciously feels at ease with such a person standing behind her for some reason.
Ever since the incident with the internet celebrity, Qin Fenglian has become even more determined in this regard.
Because of that incident, there were fewer internet celebrities who went too far when they came to visit the store later. Most of them just came to take advantage of the popularity of the main store and generally didn’t dare to make excessive demands - after all, the incident had already been spread out. Although it was not known whether the internet celebrity who had an accident was simply unlucky or had offended someone he shouldn’t have offended, if they still want to continue making a living from this business, it’s better to be careful.
Some internet celebrities even thought that Qin Fenglian was unfathomable after seeing her always cheerful face.
In fact, Qin Fenglian was already tired of seeing internet celebrities, but if she could use this excuse to avoid memorizing scripts, she would still be happy to do so.
The first person to notice the old lady was the male internet celebrity.
Qin Fenglian appeared on camera many times and many people knew her. It was a rare opportunity to see her boss on camera, so the male internet celebrity naturally would not miss this opportunity. He quickly pointed the camera at the old lady, and found an opening to squeeze over, wanting to chat with her.
Qin Fenglian was not a talkative person before, especially in the countryside. Most of the time, she was like a silent old mule, pulling the mill and going around in circles in the same place.
But later, her career went smoothly and she made a lot of money. Her mood suddenly became cheerful and she even talked more. Especially when she didn't have to memorize scripts, she could chat with those internet celebrities incessantly. She looked like a very happy old lady.
In addition to the internet celebrities, there were also guests chatting with the old lady. Some were regular customers who came here frequently, and some were tourists who came from afar after hearing about her fame. Qin Fenglian treated them all warmly and from time to time, she would ask the waiters to send out some cold dishes, which made them even more popular with everyone.
Later, the female internet celebrity also came over, because they both happened to be influential internet celebrities, and for a while they had a dream connection, which ended up putting both of their live broadcast rooms on the homepage, and accidentally caused another explosion.
At this time, someone else in the live broadcast room said that he was abroad and seemed to have seen Qin's braised meat shop, but he didn't know whether it was real or a knockoff.
Immediately, an internet celebrity asked the old lady about this.
Qin Fenglian was still smiling and good-tempered. She thought hard and seemed to remember that her daughter had mentioned this to her. She nodded and said, "It seems that my daughter said that she was going to open stores abroad, but I don't know exactly where or how many stores she would open."
People immediately started making jokes in the live broadcast room. Some laughed at the old lady for opening too many branches and she couldn’t even figure out how much business she had.
Some also said that Qin’s braised pork has finally set sail overseas, allowing foreigners to experience the power of this delicacy.
Anyway, it was full of laughter and making quite a noise.
At this time, Qin Fenglian's daughter and Manager Zhang were discussing the next steps with the business manager of the overseas department.
A multinational company was accidentally created, which surprised not only Qin Fenglian and her daughter, but also Manager Zhang.
Manager Zhang was a professional manager specially hired a few years ago because of the rapid expansion of Qin's Braised Meat. He was originally a senior executive of a foreign company in China. When he jumped here, he was worried that this was a typical family business and the food industry was the most tiring. He was used to working in foreign companies with better benefits and would not be able to adapt.
The headhunter didn't say anything long at the time, just told him: "You'll know when you go over there, this company... is quite different anyway."
At that time, Manager Zhang felt like laughing.
He had indeed heard of the brand Qin's Braised Pork, which was inexplicably popular and had caused a lot of buzz online.
He has seen a lot of cases like this. Aren’t they just so-called traffic companies that have hit a hot spot and grown rapidly?
Although they can be extremely popular when they are popular, they will also fade away quickly. Most of the time, they will take advantage of the time when traffic is the highest to cut off a wave of investment institutions, raise a wave of money, and then start passing the flower around. It all depends on who is the unlucky one who gets the flower last, and end up with a mess.
It is possible to become big and strong in the end, but to come across that extremely rare option, you probably need very strong luck.
Anyway, Manager Zhang felt that he probably didn't have such luck and didn't expect to encounter it.
When the company starts looking for a professional manager, it is usually when the company has passed its best dividend period and is looking for someone to clean up the mess.
Manager Zhang wants to change jobs in order to seek better development, not to clean up other people's messes.
So when he received the first inquiry from the headhunter, he politely declined the opportunity and didn't even bother to ask about the specific salary.
A month later, when competing for a better position, he lost to a foreign colleague with whom he did not get along well, and his upward path was almost half-closed.
Manager Zhang was already in a bad mood, and then he received another attempt from the headhunter. This time, he said frankly that it would be difficult for him to adapt to the atmosphere of domestic companies.
Then he heard the headhunter's vague words, advising him to go and take a look at the company.
Manager Zhang himself is not a particularly curious person, but he was in a bad mood during this period, so he simply took his annual leave and took his wife and daughter to spend a vacation there.
As for the delicatessen company, he just went there on the way. Before he went there, he actually didn't take it seriously at all.
Unexpectedly, his daughter, who he originally thought knew nothing about these things, became excited when she heard that her father was going to take her to try Qin's braised meat.
"Is it the Qin Group? This company is amazing, and it's an affiliated company of West Wind Media. Dad, you don't know West Wind Media? Then you must have heard of Wanxiang Interactive. These two companies have the same boss." According to her daughter, the things she said were all gossip she saw on the Internet.
There are still quite a few gossips related to these companies on the Internet, but most of them are positive news, the kind that make people particularly enviable when they talk about them.
Manager Zhang still didn't take it seriously on the surface, but because the name Wanxiang Interactive was so well-known, he still took the matter to heart.
Although the industry he is in has little to do with high technology, today's businessmen are really too slow if they have not yet sensed the changing times and realized that the next trend must be virtual reality technology.
It's a pity that the foreign company he works for now is like a giant creature with a huge body and extremely dull perception. It walks with unsteady steps and nibbles on the increasingly sparse grass, but it can't see the abundant fruits hanging on the branches at all.
Manager Zhang has long been fed up with this slow reaction pattern, but unfortunately he is in a low position and his words have little influence, so he can't change anything. In addition, the office environment is deteriorating, so he might as well quit early and look for new opportunities.
When Manager Zhang heard that this food company was actually related to the giant in the virtual reality industry, he had to admit that he was indeed a little tempted.
However, the specific situation still needs careful observation.
With this cautious attitude, he brought his wife and daughter to the restaurant as a diner and queued up.
The business of this store is even better than he had imagined.
Because he heard that the main store was always busy, Manager Zhang actually picked a store in a relatively remote location where the flow of people should not be that large. Unexpectedly, there were still a lot of people queuing up. He glanced at the number in his hand and realized that he would have to wait at least half an hour before he could get a first place.
Qin's Braised Pork mainly sells cooked food. You can dine in the store or take it away.
The categories of products sold are not complicated, with only about 10 items in total. Except for a few signature flagship items, the others will be replaced according to the season, which can be regarded as a very smart sales strategy.
But what surprised him the most was that even though there were so many people in the store, the waiters who came and went were able to maintain a very good mental state, as if they were not at all worn out by the hard work.
Manager Zhang also worked in the food-related field before, and he knows very well that in the catering industry, especially in such a busy industry, it is actually very difficult to maintain such a mental state.
Taking advantage of the opportunity when a waiter was clearing the table for him, Manager Zhang asked about his confusion.
"Tired? It's okay. I don't think the work is tiring. The workload is indeed heavy every time I go to work, but I also have plenty of rest time."
Manager Zhang was stunned at that time.
The catering industry is notoriously a tough job with long working hours and low wages, especially for waiters, who almost want to do the job of two. Even in foreign companies with generous benefits, they are considered external hires and have no guarantee of rest, let alone financial subsidies.
But from what the waiter just said, the waiters here can have guaranteed rest time?
This is completely beyond Manager Zhang's common sense.
"What's so strange about this?" Her daughter obviously knew more about this. "Both Wanxiang Interactive and Xifeng Media are doing the same thing. Many people in our class consider these two companies as their ideal companies for the future. If that doesn't work out, the related subsidiaries are also good. Anyway, their welfare policies are very good..."
Manager Zhang couldn't help but be stunned when he heard his daughter recounting the benefits one by one.
He had only heard that foreign companies had good benefits and that the work was not so competitive. Who would have thought that the working conditions here were even worse than those of his old employer, and the benefits were so good that he couldn't help but worry about whether this company could continue smoothly.
"What can't be maintained? These companies are doing well. They can easily beat your crappy company. Why do you need to worry about them?"
Manager Zhang's daughter is in adolescence, and every word she says is full of thorns, which hurts the old father's fragile heart.
Although Manager Zhang had to admit that what his daughter said seemed to make some sense...
He later visited a few more stores and found that each one was similar: business was good, the food was delicious, and the staff were in good working condition. It seemed... it was not just a short-lived internet celebrity company.
This slot really seems to be able to jump...
Manager Zhang was even more excited, but he still couldn't make up his mind and hadn't decided whether to jump over or not.
When he returned to the company after the New Year holiday, the first thing he heard was not good news.
His mortal enemy has now become his direct superior. The first thing he did after taking office was to transfer Manager Zhang to a not very important position, put him in the dark, and also reduced his salary a lot.
If he is willing to endure, he can retire in this position. If not, he can just resign and leave.
But now, Manager Zhang has a third option, which is to change jobs.
When the dust finally settled and he successfully resigned and signed an employment contract with Qin's Braised Pork, the talents of the original company finally knew that Manager Zhang was leaving.
Some people feel very sorry, while others feel quite envious.
It is normal to feel regretful. After all, Manager Zhang has worked here for so many years. Leaving this job means starting all over again. Many of the connections and networks he has worked so hard to build will no longer be of any use.
As for those who are envious, most of them are because of the treatment offered by the new company, which is almost known to everyone among the young people. Some people even heard that Manager Zhang had jumped to that company and came to him for internal investment. It can be seen that this company is more well-known among the younger generation than he imagined.
To be honest, Manager Zhang was quite happy.
Firstly, my choice was correct, and secondly, I feel that the times are changing a little too fast.
When he first started working, jumping from a foreign company to a domestic company was actually a very incredible thing.
At that time, who among the freshly graduated college students didn't want to work for a foreign company with better treatment and more holidays? When he was a college student, foreign companies had tea rooms with abundant snacks and gyms, which were like legends among students. Whenever he heard that someone had just graduated and got an offer from a foreign company, there would be a series of envy and amazement.
But now, it's completely different.
Who would have thought that one day I would jump from a management position in a multinational corporation to a small domestic company and actually arouse envy.
Anyway, if it happened to him back then, he would definitely find it incredible, but Manager Zhang also felt that he had indeed made the right decision.
Even though he had good expectations, Manager Zhang still didn't expect things to develop so smoothly.
Qin's Braised Meat expanded very quickly and soon opened stores in all large, medium and small cities in the country. At the same time, it also took into account the distribution and logistics business of the food cold chain. This area was originally Manager Zhang's bread and butter, but due to the business adjustments of his old employer, he had not used it for a long time. After switching jobs, he took advantage of the three major initiatives of a new official and took good care of this business. Sure enough, he successfully established a foothold and it was more conducive to the development of the company.
As a result, the domestic market was almost saturated, and we began to think about expanding overseas.
It is not impossible to open a store on your own, but the procedures are complicated and there are many things to pay attention to. It is better to directly acquire a foreign company with relatively mature and complete business, which is also more convenient for entering the market through a backdoor listing.
At this time, Manager Zhang's old employer began to sell off a large number of assets to save itself due to severe business decline. Unfortunately, he met his old rival again, and the relationship between the two reversed again, and he became his old rival's immediate superior.
However, this time, he was too lazy to learn those pretentious tricks, so he simply kicked out this former colleague who liked to pretend and had a strong odor, and replaced him with a subordinate he liked more.
The old rival kept nagging him for a long time, saying that he lacked grace and did not have the responsibility and accountability of a mature person in society - although Manager Zhang didn't understand at all that firing this guy had anything to do with responsibility and accountability.
But after kicking the guy out, he felt better. Who would care about those two words? If it weren't for this character who always liked to flatter others, he would not have made an enemy of this guy in the first place.
Now, having successfully kicked out the annoying and useless guy and taken over the framework of the former multinational company, Qin's Braised Pork can finally go overseas and venture abroad.
Manager Zhang and General Manager Qin, Qin Fenglian's daughter, discussed for a while and finally selected three relatively well-known locations in Asia, Europe and North America as three important overseas flagship stores. It was just that the time was different, so both of them decided to complete one first and then start the next one.
After all, overseas flagship stores require huge investments, so there is no need to open them everywhere and take on excessive risks.
The investment here is much greater than in China, and development is more difficult. They have already prepared themselves that it will be difficult to make a profit, at least within this year.
After all, the global economy is still in a recession. For example, Manager Zhang's former employer could not withstand the economic winter and had to cut off its arms to survive. At this time, those who dare to expand overseas are truly brave warriors.
Especially in the area of food, there are huge differences between China and foreign countries. Food that is popular in China may not be able to easily open up the market abroad - this is also something they had expected long ago.
Unexpectedly, on the first day of the flagship store’s opening, someone complained about it because of a strong strange fragrance…
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
