Xu Zijiang also felt that given how busy the business had been these past two days, he didn't actually need to take care of things; Yu Jiu and Sun Haohao could manage on their own.
"It's time to put the pastry shop on the agenda as well."
Yu Jiu nodded and then briefly discussed the future plan with Xu Zijiang. The plan was to set up a stall first and then open a shop. However, this time, they would definitely have to rent a shop first. Once they had enough money in hand, they would buy another shop.
The two weren't the type to procrastinate, so they started preparing desserts that evening after returning home. First, they soaked red beans to make layered red bean cakes. Then they went to buy crabs to make crab roe pastries, but crabs were harder to find here than back home, and there was nowhere to catch them. They were also more expensive, so after buying them, they decided it wouldn't work.
"The cost of making this crab roe pastry is too high. Let's make it our signature dish, raise the price, and sell it in limited quantities every day. Then we can add an egg yolk pastry, which is cheaper to make."
Yu Jiu has a lot of dessert recipes, and of course she will choose the ones that are delicious, easy to make, and low in cost to sell.
"Okay, let's try making these first. I'll find someone to order another batch of packaging. This time, let's get a more upscale packaging box and sell it for a higher price."
When setting up a street stall, we won't bother with packaging. We can sell them cheaper, purely to let people try the taste and see if locals like the snacks. If they do, we can start packaging and have people buy them as gifts. 8 yuan a box, 10 yuan a box—as long as the packaging is attractive and the snacks taste good, people will buy them even if they're a bit more expensive.
“Selling snacks alone might not work. That’s what I’m thinking. How about we look for another way to get a batch of liquor and sell it together? Since it’s a gift, giving snacks alone won’t work. Giving some liquor along with it would be a much safer option.”
Yu Jiu seemed lost in thought.
Of course, if we could get cigarettes to sell alongside it, it would probably sell even better, but cigarettes are probably harder to find than alcohol, so we'll leave that for now.
“Okay, we can sell snacks in boxes or in bulk. Selling both will broaden our customer base.”
Xu Zijiang quickly offered his own insights, and the two hit it off immediately. So, on the 8th day after their Perfect Clothing Store opened, Xu Zijiang went back to setting up a stall.
This time, we set up a stall to sell snacks. It turns out that delicious snacks are popular everywhere, and there is no problem with taste at all. After all, they are not strongly regional. Ordinary and delicious snacks like douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) and zhe'ergen (a type of herb) sell well everywhere.
After confirming that everyone could accept it, they would start preparing for the location selection of the pastry shop, according to Yu Jiu.
"I think it would be better to open the pastry shop near the clothing store. Being close by means we can look after each other if anything happens. You can watch one store and I can watch the other. If one of us has to watch the store, we can patrol both stores together. After all, it's not good to entrust the entire store to the employees unless you've trained them to be completely trustworthy."
If it's too far away, it's inconvenient and a waste of time to go back and forth, and we wouldn't be able to detect if employees were trying to do something underhanded.
"Most importantly, our street has a good flow of people and good spending power. You can tell by looking at our clothing sales; we sell out every day. So, the business of our pastry shop won't be bad either."
That's true. The reason this street has such a high foot traffic is because it has always had the potential to develop into a commercial street, with supply and marketing cooperatives, department stores, and restaurants. Moreover, it is surrounded by residential areas with many people living here, and it is also close to middle schools and universities.
Let's leave the middle schools aside for now and talk about the universities. Many of the students come from other places, which means the flow of people has doubled. They not only do business with people in the neighborhood, but also with people from other places.
There are many people coming and going here, so opening another pastry shop would be perfectly feasible.
Xu Zijiang originally didn't intend to open his shop here. He wanted to open it on another street, about half an hour away. There's no direct bus route by bicycle. Business would be slightly better there, but not by much compared to here.
Furthermore, since they no longer plan to just run a pastry shop, but will also add alcohol sales, it doesn't matter where they open it. Alcohol is a hot-selling and in-demand commodity, so as long as they can get the stock, they won't have to worry about selling it, and it will at least boost pastry sales.
Most importantly, it's convenient and saves effort, which is the best choice for them right now.
"Okay, then I'll first look for any other houses nearby that can be used as shops. Once I find a house, I'll look for channels to buy the wine."
Xu Zijiang agreed. As for finding a way to buy the wine, he was confident he could do it himself, or at least ask someone for help. Besides, Lin Zheng's father owed him a huge favor, so asking him to find a channel was just a small favor, hardly even a matter of repaying the debt.
It's quite a coincidence that because Yu Jiu opened a shop here and the business is so booming, everyone has seen the business opportunity. So recently, some landlords in the vicinity who used the houses to rent out their homes have also started to think about converting them into shops.
This made it much easier for Xu Zi to find a store. After searching around, he finally found the house across the street, right across from the clothing store, just a minute's walk away.
They were so close they couldn't be closer, and Xu Zijiang and Yu Jiu were very satisfied.
Moreover, the size of the shop suited their needs perfectly; half could be used to display pastries, and the other half to display liquor. The moment they entered the shop, they even had a plan for the displays in mind. The only problem was that the house here didn't have a backyard, so it couldn't be used as a warehouse or a place to live.
Clothing stores need someone to watch over them, so this store definitely needs someone to watch over it even more.
So if people want to sleep here, they can only put a folding bed in the middle after closing the door at night, which is a bit more basic.
It doesn't matter. As long as the wages are high and the living conditions are simple, plenty of people will be willing to work there. Besides, they don't plan to hire anyone to guard the shop for the time being. They might have Xu Zijiang come and guard it later.
So let's not think about anything else for now, let's just rent the shop first.
"How much would you like to rent this house for per month? Since we're planning to sell things, we'll naturally be doing long-term business, so the rental period will need to be longer. We'll start with a three-year lease, and there can be no breach of contract. We'll set a high penalty for breach of contract, so whoever breaks the contract will have to pay compensation."
Yu Jiu looked at the landlord and offered a high penalty for breach of contract. They weren't planning on doing business at a loss; the business was bound to be good. They had good products, good planning, and experience; it was impossible for them not to make money. Her only fear was that once they made money, the landlord would come and raise the rent.
If you don't raise the price, she'll break the contract and make you move out. If that happens, you'll lose a lot of customers because you've worked so hard to build the shop. You'll also waste time and money choosing a new location and renovating.
"Okay, a three-year contract is fine, but I have to raise the rent every year, otherwise it's off the table."
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