At the same time, the printer in the office hummed and spat out a freshly printed A4 sheet of paper with the title "Resignation Notice".
After filling out the resignation application form and confirming its submission, Li Zai Ren walked to the printer, picked up the "Resignation Notice," chuckled, and placed it in the center of his desk. He then turned on the shredder, and the thick stack of documents on the desk was fed into the shredder, turning into fine paper scraps.
It was such a close call, such a hard-won opportunity. What a pity. It really was just a tiny bit short.
After glancing around the office, Lee Jae-in picked up his suit jacket from the chair, grabbed the doorknob, and strode out of the office, bumping into an employee who was coming towards him.
"General Manager, there are several documents here that require your signature. They are proposals regarding the change of business direction for Shengli Supermarket."
"Ah," Lee Jae-in said, glancing at the time before looking up. "I have something urgent to take care of. Come see me again tomorrow."
"Okay." The employee turned around, looked at the documents in his hand, hesitated for a moment, then turned back and asked, "General Manager, should I take these documents to your office first?"
"Oh, I have a lot of documents on my desk. I'm afraid I'll get them mixed up if I send them over now. Can you bring them over when you come to see me tomorrow? Thank you for your help."
——————
"Strange. Very strange. Extremely strange. Utterly strange."
Xu An was walking towards the office when he heard Wang Fulong's sigh halfway there. He stopped and turned around to ask, "What's wrong? Did you run into a problem?"
When Wang Fulong looked up and saw that the person asking the question was Xu An, he immediately nodded and said, "I've encountered a small problem. I have several bids in progress, but either they were canceled at the last minute, or the negotiations were going well when suddenly they said it needed to be discussed, and then nothing happened."
"Hmm," Xu An said, feeling puzzled upon hearing this. He walked over to Wang Fulong and looked directly at the computer screen.
The screen displays a table, with the top section organized by company name, bidding start time, special notes, and other information.
Xu An's attention was not on the first three columns, but on the column marked in red. There were 34 rows in total, only three of which were green, and the remaining 31 rows were all red "No" characters!
"Thirty-one companies, that's quite a lot," Xu An remarked, stroking his newly grown stubble. He then asked, "How much has the success rate changed compared to before?"
“Before, we could win two or three out of ten bids, but now we’re lucky if we win once out of ten.” Wang Fulong sighed again as he spoke, “We’ve had no luck for three days in a row.”
“Give me a detailed explanation of the group meal cooperation for each city.” Xu An pulled up a chair behind him and sat down, waiting for Wang Fulong’s report.
"In Hai City, there are a total of 63 cooperating companies, including the 'Two Yuan Lunch' program, providing 56,000 lunches daily. In Zhuzhou City, there are 31 cooperating companies, providing 21,000 meals daily. In Jiangyuan City, there are 16 cooperating companies, providing 6,000 meals daily."
Xu An listened and nodded repeatedly, quite satisfied with the number of collaborations.
The decision to expand beyond Shanghai was made in mid-October, and within just over half a month, cooperation was secured with 378 companies in 13 cities, supplying a total of 165,000 boxed meals. This growth rate has met, and even exceeded, initial expectations.
"Not bad," Xu An nodded and smiled. "We still need to participate in the bidding. It would be best if we could win, but if we can't, then so be it. Our most important task now is to maintain good relationships with these existing clients and make them feel a sense of belonging to Xu's Catering."
After all, catering companies in various cities have already taken notice of us, and it will become increasingly difficult to obtain new orders. We must maintain good relationships with our existing customers.”
Listening to Xu An's words, Wang Fulong also recovered from the frenzy of the rapid increase in orders and his mind became clear again.
As the boss said, other group catering companies have realized what's happening and started to attack Xu's Catering. At this time, we must not panic. We must first hold onto our old customers and then develop new ones.
In the first half of the month of expansion, half of the clients were acquired through normal bidding, and the other half were introduced by the Disabled Persons' Federations of various cities. The process of reaching cooperation was too smooth, so smooth that everyone got a little cocky. It should be the normal phenomenon that now there is only one in ten chance!
"So, boss, should we still participate in the bidding for the remaining eight prefecture-level cities?"
"Hmm," Xu An stroked his stubble again, pondered for a moment, and nodded, "We still have to participate, but let's raise the threshold to three hundred people. We'll open a branch after securing a group meal order for three hundred people. Once the branch is open, we can consider orders for fewer than three hundred people."
After saying that, Xu An stood up, put the chair back in the workstation behind him, and went straight back to his office, where he lightly tapped Lu Shengnan's desk with his finger.
"Boss, what's wrong? Is there something you need me to handle?"
"Okay, could you do an analysis report on various provinces and cities in China, and select two or three suitable cities? Xu's Catering has already established a firm foothold in Haiyang City; it's time to expand beyond Haiyang Province and take a look around."
——————
On the high-speed train to Hezibao, an ordinary man of medium build stared intently at the scenery rushing past the window, his heart filled with unease.
The man was Lu Chuan, who included two beverage recipes in his tasting feedback. As he wished, he received an offer from Xu's Catering. Unfortunately, the work location was not in Haishi, but in the mountains of Qingyan Province, thousands of miles away.
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