That's right, Meng Zhao wants to open a branch. Through her conversations with customers over this period of time, she has gradually figured out a pattern: those who come to their shop more than three times a month are residents living within half an hour's walk of the shop, or employees who run shops or work around the shop.
It is clear that the closer the customer is to the shop, the more frequently they make purchases.
Take her neighbor, Aunt Qian, for example. She comes over about every two or three days now, usually buying seven or eight coins' worth of braised meat just to add a dish to her family's menu and have a taste of something new. If she's in a good mood on a particular day, she'll buy more, spending ten or twenty coins to buy some pork hocks or pork intestines to take home.
Aunt Qian often said that since the family was going to buy meat anyway, they might as well buy Meng Zhao's braised meat. It would save them the trouble of cooking, and the taste would be better than what they made themselves. Their son would also enjoy eating it.
Many of the shop assistants in the vicinity do the same; occasionally, when they finish work and go home, they are willing to bring a piece of braised meat so that their families can have a change of pace and improve their meals.
Therefore, location is very important when opening a shop. Most ancient cities were built in a relatively square shape. Meng Zhao tested it and found that it took about two hours to walk from the south gate to the north gate of Qingshi County, and about two hours to walk from the east gate to the west gate.
To cover the entire Qingshi County, four shops would be needed so that everyone in the county could buy her braised meat within a half-hour walk.
In practice, however, the location selection is not so precise. Moreover, not every place in Qingshi County has so many residents. Even if there are, if it is in a place with low purchasing power, even if you open a shop, the profit may not be very high.
After calculation, Meng Zhao felt that opening 2 to 3 shops in Qingshi County would maximize her profits. However, she currently only has one shop, and there is a large potential market that she has not yet seized.
She originally planned to wait until next spring, when the weather was warm and flowers were in bloom, before researching the branch store project, so she could gain more experience. However, plans can't keep up with changes, and circumstances forced her to accelerate her pace and put the branch store preparations on the agenda ahead of schedule.
Moreover, the end of the year is an excellent opportunity. If we were to say when people spend money the least and most generously throughout the year, it would probably be during the Lunar New Year. Even relatively poor families are willing to grit their teeth and buy some meat and stock up on New Year's goods.
Moreover, Meng Zhao had also calculated that most of the customers who bought more than sixty coins from her shop were either visiting guests at home or going to visit someone else's home to give gifts.
The end of the year is the time when families reunite and visit relatives and friends most frequently, so this is a great opportunity that should not be missed.
Upon hearing Meng Zhao's plan to open a branch, Shen Qinghe expressed his support.
“There’s nothing my sister-in-law can’t do. If she needs any help, just tell me.”
Meng Zhao nodded slightly; she naturally wouldn't stand on ceremony.
The next day, Shen Qinghe, as usual, took the lunchbox he brought from home to the canteen to heat it up, and then returned to the school to prepare to eat.
A boy dressed in gorgeous brocade clothes approached, carrying his lunchbox.
"Brother Chen, what kind of food are you eating? It smells delicious."
As the boy spoke, he pressed his face close to Shen Qinghe's lunchbox. Seeing that the boy was almost touching his own lunchbox, Shen Qinghe frowned slightly, feeling disgusted, but he didn't push him away. Instead, he used his chopsticks to pick up a few plump fish balls from his own lunchbox and gave two of them to the boy.
"These are fish balls made by my mother and sister-in-law. They're very delicious. Please try them." Shen Qinghe said in a flat tone, trying to get him to leave quickly.
Seeing Shen Qinghe being so generous, the man was extremely surprised and stared at him, saying, "Really? Brother Shen, why have you suddenly been so nice to me lately? Before, when I wanted to eat your food, you wouldn't give it to me."
Shen Qinghe's lips curled up slightly, "Because you always provide me with material."
Song Kun is young, just turned thirteen this year. His family runs a business locally and is quite well-off.
At the beginning of the year, the weather was cold. Boss Song distributed porridge and grain at the city gate. He was a kind merchant in the county and thus obtained a place to study at the county school. He sent his youngest son to the school.
Unfortunately, Song Kun had no interest in studying and spent his days eating, drinking, and socializing. For some reason, he seemed to be plagued by bad luck. So, in the past two days, in order to make his mother and sister-in-law happy, they told him a lot of embarrassing stories about Song Kun.
Now even his sister-in-law knows him, and jokingly says that he is her source of inspiration.
Song Kun scratched his head, looking puzzled. "Vegetarian dishes? I don't have any vegetarian dishes, only meat dishes. Would Brother Shen like to try some?"
Song Kun doesn't like vegetarian food, so the lunchboxes his family prepares for him are full of meat and vegetables. He pushed the lunchbox forward a bit. Although his food wasn't as good as Brother Shen's, Brother Shen was generous to him, so he couldn't be stingy. He could choose whatever he wanted to eat.
Shen Qinghe took a deep breath, wanting to say something, but then shut up. She made a mental note of it, thinking that she would tell her sister-in-law if she was ever unhappy.
The day after talking with Shen Qinghe, Meng Zhao went to the brokerage firm to inquire about the shop.
Her requirements were that the street should be relatively bustling, preferably with an adjacent backyard, surrounded by a cluster of residential areas, and about an hour's walk from her shop on Tongfu Street, so that the customers of the two shops would not overlap.
The rest of the time was spent waiting for the broker to give her the results. During this time, Meng Zhao took Shen Yun back to Shenjia Village to check on her potato noodles and to hurry up and build the drying room.
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