That day, Shen Yun sent someone to say that a middle-aged man wanted to buy a recipe for braising spices. He seemed serious, so Meng Zhao went to the shop and invited him to the backyard to discuss the matter in detail.
Meng Zhao first poured him a cup of tea and gestured for him to enter.
The man picked up his teacup and said, "Boss Meng, my surname is Zhang. I've been doing the fabric business around here. A few days ago, I happened to try the braised meat at your shop. Tsk, the taste was absolutely delicious. I'm planning to open a food shop soon, so I'd like to ask if you could sell your braised meat recipe?"
"Mr. Zhang, it's like this, you may not be familiar with Mengji Braised Food. We don't sell our braising recipes; we only accept franchisees."
"Franchise?" Mr. Zhang frowned, clearly unfamiliar with the term.
Meng Zhao nodded, his tone steady: "Yes, simply put, after you pay the franchise fee, we will assist you in opening a Mengji braised pork shop just like mine. During this period, we will provide you with a unified signboard and operating methods, as well as necessary ingredient supplies, such as braising spice packets and potato noodles, to ensure that you can open smoothly."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhang frowned even more deeply. He thought to himself, "I've worked so hard to open this shop, only to have to hang up the 'Meng's' signboard. Isn't this just doing someone else's work for free?" So, with a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice, he said, "Mr. Meng, you may have misunderstood. I want to open my own shop and hang my own signboard."
Meng Zhao wasn't in a hurry and continued, "Mr. Zhang, we're all business people. We should understand that attracting customers to our store is the most important thing. Our Mengji has already established a reputation in the county. Customers recognize this brand. It's much easier for you to join us directly than to start from scratch. Besides, we're not just here to pick fruit."
As he spoke, Meng Zhao picked up a thick booklet from the table and handed it to Boss Zhang: "This is the franchise details of Mengji. You can take a look at it first."
Mr. Zhang took the booklet and patiently flipped through a few pages, but the more he read, the more overwhelmed he felt. It contained detailed regulations on everything from what style of signboard to choose for the storefront, the requirement for employees to wear uniforms, the strict adherence to standards in food preparation, and even the opening and closing times and how to handle unsold food.
Why are there so many rules? He's a head manager, and he has his own methods for doing things. Are you treating him like a child?
But he had some experience and knew he couldn't jump to conclusions so early, so he patiently continued reading, becoming more and more engrossed in it.
The first half of the booklet mainly discusses the requirements for franchisees, while the second half explains the support the brand can provide to franchisees.
What pleased Mr. Zhang the most was that the higher-ups said they could provide operational breakdowns for no fewer than five stores after a successful franchise agreement.
As a businessman, Mr. Zhang immediately realized that all those countless requirements weren't meant to cause him trouble, but rather to teach him how to avoid pitfalls. It was as if someone had already tested what could and couldn't be done, so he only needed to choose an easy and suitable path from those paths that others had already traversed many times.
The most unpredictable thing about doing business is the risk, especially for someone like him who has never run a food business before. Entering the market rashly will inevitably lead to many mistakes. But with these business opening tips, he only needs to follow the instructions to avoid all the problems he might encounter after opening.
In particular, the final information provided on the profits of several shops was like a meat pie hanging in front of him, making him increasingly eager to see it.
Mr. Zhang slammed his hand on the table and said excitedly, "Great! I'll join! But I have one condition."
"Please speak."
"I hope that once I join, you won't be able to recruit new franchisees in my vicinity." If there are too many shops in the same area, it will inevitably affect business.
Meng Zhao smiled and flipped to the first few pages of the booklet, pointing to a line and saying, "Don't worry, it's written very clearly here. After the store opens, we won't recruit any new franchisees within a certain distance."
Mr. Zhang looked down and saw that it was true. He smiled awkwardly, guessing that he had been too hasty and hadn't noticed. Then he saw the two franchise options listed in the brochure: single-store franchise and county-wide franchise.
Meng Zhao explained in a timely manner: "Single store franchising means opening only one store, while county-wide franchising means signing a franchise agreement for the entire county. You can choose any location within the county to open a store. Of course, the fees are also different."
"How much are they respectively?" Mr. Zhang asked.
"The franchise fee for a single store is fifty taels of silver, while the franchise fee for the entire county varies from one hundred and fifty to three hundred taels depending on the region. The term is three years. We will conduct three to four on-site inspections every year. If you operate strictly in accordance with the regulations, the franchise fee will be reduced accordingly when renewing the contract. In addition, if the number of goods purchased during the operation period reaches a certain quantity, there will be a franchise fee rebate."
Upon hearing this, Boss Zhang began to calculate in his mind. He looked down at the rebate details in the booklet. For every hundred taels of materials purchased, he could get back five taels of the franchise fee, until the rebate was exhausted.
In other words, if he purchases about one or two taels of silver worth of ingredients every day for three years, the franchise fee will be fully refunded after three years. This made him very happy, but then he thought that if he could really purchase that many ingredients, it meant that the business must be very good, and then this franchise fee would not be much.
But the franchise fee for the entire county is not a small amount. Add to that the shop rent, decoration, and staff wages... he couldn't help but gasp.
Seeing his hesitation, Meng Zhao smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, doing business always involves risks, but our Mengji brand and business model have already minimized those risks for you. You can go back and think it over again. Come find me anytime you've made up your mind."
Given the large sum of money involved, Boss Zhang couldn't make a decision so quickly. After returning home, he had someone keep an eye on the braised pork shop for a few more days. Based on the shop's foot traffic and transaction volume, he calculated that the shop's daily revenue should be around twelve to fifteen taels of silver. With the help of the ingredient purchase price list provided by Meng Zhao, he calculated that the shop's daily revenue was about six or seven taels.
If we could acquire the franchise rights for the entire county and open three or four stores, we could generate about twenty taels of revenue per day. If that were the case, then the franchise fee would be negligible.
"The bold get rich, the timid starve." After making his decision, Boss Zhang immediately went to find Meng Zhao and signed a franchise agreement for the entire county of Fuliang, which was also a large county. The franchise fee was two hundred taels of silver.
At the same time, Meng Zhao selected a single-store franchise partner, and the store was set up in Quyang County. After all, Quyang is a large area, and Meng Zhao's two stores are not enough to fully cover it. Opening another store will not affect the business of the first two stores.
When these franchisees had chosen their shops and signed their contracts, Gu Changwu also rushed over from Hongnong County, bringing her a surprise.
“Zhaozhao, look! These pigeons were sent by Young Master Xiao to that person who raised them. That person said that these pigeons have been raised and can recognize their home. If you have something to tell your parents, just release one of them. In less than two days, it will be able to fly to Qingshi County.”
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