On August 15th, the sky was clear and cloudless. The chirping of birds in the early morning was a sound that people had long been accustomed to. People hurried to work on the road, leaving early and returning late, living the same repetitive days every day.
On this day, the employees trained by Nanguang Catering Company were graduating and were being assigned to various stores. Therefore, the store signs all read "Nanguang Roast Goose" in large characters, with a slightly smaller line of text below that read "Chain Store".
Chen Ze wanted to open this shop all over the streets and alleys, just like the Shaxian snacks of later generations.
On the first day of opening, all the stores had a sign at the entrance that said half price and free drinks.
The performance of the twenty stores varied. Ten of them were booming with long queues, while the others performed only so-so. Perhaps it was because they had just opened and people were still unsure whether the food would be good or not, so they adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
Thanks to Liu's roast goose shop, both businesses here are booming. Liu Dayong's own business is in dire straits, and he is furious to see Nanguang roast goose stealing his business.
Chen Ze, who was watching from a distance with binoculars, had a slight smile on his lips. He had specially bought a pair of binoculars today just to see Liu Dayong get angry.
As expected, he was satisfied with what he saw and divided the two shops next to Liu's Roast Goose into Shop No. 1 and Shop No. 2.
Chen Ze took out his phone and called Yun Ruoxi, "Hey, Sister Ruoxi, set the price of the menus for Store No. 1 and Store No. 2 at nine yuan per serving."
On the other end of the phone, someone asked, "Boss, is the roast goose ordered separately for nine yuan?"
"Sister Ruoxi isn't doing this alone; all the dishes are priced at nine yuan, until Liu's Roast Goose goes out of business."
"Okay, I understand."
"..."
The next day, Liu Dayong thought that the price of Nanguang Roast Goose would return to normal after the restaurant opened. But to his surprise, he only raised the price by a few yuan. The roast duck and char siu were one yuan cheaper than his, and the roast goose was six yuan cheaper.
Liu's roast goose starts at 15 yuan, while Nanguang roast goose, with the same taste, only costs 9 yuan.
A couple who had just finished get off work saw Nan Guang Roast Goose, which was clearly priced at nine yuan. They happily went in and ordered.
The nine-yuan roast goose was particularly eye-catching, and the shop was quickly packed with office workers.
Who wouldn't eat at a cheaper restaurant if it tasted the same? That day, Liu's Roast Goose Restaurant was deserted, and Liu Dayong kept smoking.
"Dad, why don't we lower our prices and start a price war with them?" Liu Haijun suggested.
“Okay, you make a sign. From now on, we’ll sell all of our roast goose for nine yuan. At the same price, we believe customers will prefer the taste of our roast goose, after all, we’ve been here for so many years.”
Lowering prices is equivalent to losing money; it all comes down to who has more money and can hold out until the end.
Just like the later battle between Meituan and Ele.me, a large chicken leg could sell for one yuan.
In the manager's office of Nanguang Company, Yun Ruoxi was reviewing the sales data of various stores from yesterday.
Just then, her phone rang. She picked it up and saw it was Yang Yimin from Yihaodian calling. She answered, "Hello, has Liu's Roast Goose lowered its price too?"
On the other end of the phone, "Mr. Yun, you guessed it before I even said anything. What's next? Should we continue to lower the price?"
"You have to lower the price. Lower it by another dollar and see if they follow suit tomorrow."
Then, the first and second roast goose shops also lowered their prices.
At 3 p.m., after all the customers had left Liu's Roast Goose Shop, Liu Dayong angrily smashed a plate on the ground.
"Clang."
Liu Haijun stepped forward to comfort him, saying, "Dad, calm down."
Although Liu Dayong lowered prices and attracted more customers, the more people ate there, the more he lost.
I lost more than three thousand yuan in just one day.
Then, the next day they lost another five thousand.
When the price dropped to seven yuan, people who usually eat rice noodles also came to eat roast goose, not for any other reason than to save a few yuan. The main selling point of Nanguang roast goose is that it is cheap and delicious.
At nine o'clock in the evening, the roast goose shop had already closed. Liu Haijun was constantly tapping away on a calculator, carefully calculating the accounts. When he stopped...
Liu Dayong asked, "Son, how much did we lose today?"
"Dad, one store lost 12,000 yuan today, and the two stores together lost more than 20,000 yuan."
By August 20th, Liu's Roast Goose had already lost more than 300,000 yuan, and Liu Dayong borrowed money from relatives and friends everywhere.
In contrast, although Nanguang Roast Goose also lost more than 300,000 yuan, only their first and second stores lost money. The other eighteen stores were booming, and after deducting costs and employee expenses, they could earn more than 1,000 yuan in profit every day.
On August 23, Liu Dayong and his family of three were at home discussing countermeasures.
Liu Haijun analyzed, "Dad, Nanguang Roast Goose is a chain store company with abundant funds. On the other hand, we are just individual business owners. When I lose money, I can only borrow money from all over the place, while they have other stores that keep injecting funds into them. We simply can't compete with them."
Liu Dayong asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "Son, what do you think we should do?"
After a moment of contemplation, Liu Haijun said, "We have no choice but to close these two stores and reopen them in other cities."
"But we already owe our relatives and friends more than 200,000 yuan. Who would be willing to lend us money?"
At this point, Liu Haijun's mother interjected, "If all else fails, we can use this house to get a mortgage loan from the bank."
Liu Dayong covered his head with his hands, "Let me think about it some more."
"Ding," Liu Haijun's phone rang with a QQ message. He opened it and saw that it was a message from Liang Xiaoman. The message read: "Honey, I saw a white lotus brand floral dress on Taobao today. It only costs 520 yuan and has a nice meaning: 520 I love you. Can you buy one for me?"
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