1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 446 Stella's First Business Challenge

The black truffle experimental forest was a business Ronan and Lucas ran together, and Lucas specifically instructed Ronan to inform him of any news before leaving Lourmaran.

After hanging up with Juliet, Ronan immediately contacted Lucas, who was in Nice at the time.

Lucas and Ronan would contact each other every now and then, and Ronan knew Lucas's phone number at his lodging in Nice.

Although he replied that he would meet with Juliet in three days, Lucas drove back to Lourmaran early the next morning.

Ronan waited for him at the village entrance, not expecting that he hadn't returned alone.

Margaret was the first to jump out of the car.

The 'Queen' recognized Ronan as her 'boyfriend's' father, and they were exceptionally warm upon meeting again.

She used to be reluctant when Ronan touched her.

This time, it proactively leaned its head in and kept nudging Ronan with its body, seemingly asking him to lead the way.

"If I had known you were back, I would have brought Little Black along." Ronan had wanted to stroke Margaret's fur for a long time; it felt so good, just like a girl's hair.

This time I finally got to touch it to my heart's content.

Lucas then got out of the driver's seat, carrying a little one in his arms.

It has a similar bone structure to Margaret, but its fur is much lighter than Margaret's, and it looks to be about 4 or 5 months old.

The Wirehaired dog is a medium to large breed. Although it was only 4 or 5 months old, it was already quite big and heavy. But Lucas still held it like a baby.

"God, you bought another dog?" Ronan was like someone who was eating what he had but eyeing what he wanted.

Although she was touching Margaret, her eyes were on the one in Lucas's arms.

Lucas tightened his grip on the 'big baby' in his arms and introduced him to Ronan:
"This is Sophie, Margaret's 'sister,' who also comes from the same kennel that bred Margaret."

Sophie and her sister have completely opposite personalities.

Seeing Ronan looking at it, it eagerly moved closer, its rear end drooping towards him, acting incredibly proactive.

Lucas, supporting Sophie's wiggling bottom, laughed and said to Ronan:

“You need to book your dog at Margaret’s kennel several months in advance. I booked mine a few months ago. When I went to pick up my dog ​​this time, I also booked one for you. It should be ready by the end of the year.”

Ronan never hid his 'envy' of Margaret, and told Lucas many times that he wanted a truffle ring hound to keep him company during the winter.

"Can I choose?" Ronan reached out a hand to tease Sophie.

Lucas nodded:
"Of course, Sophie and Margaret were both chosen by me."

"That's fantastic!" Ronan exclaimed, hugging Margaret excitedly.

The system has a feature that can identify which smells an animal is sensitive to.

He could take the truffles to select the little guys from that batch of dogs who were most sensitive to the smell of truffles.

If all goes well, Ronan will no longer be a lone wolf during the truffle season at the end of this year!

After a brief encounter at the village entrance, Lucas helped Sophie back into the car.
Where is Xiao Hei?

He knew Margaret was eager to see Blackie.

Ronan pointed to the center of the village:
"At the restaurant, Zoe is meeting friends there today and brought her two dogs with her."

Lucas nodded and beckoned Margaret, who was next to Ronan, to return to the car as well.
"Get in the car, we'll drive there."

After saying that, Lucas returned to his car.

But Ronan stopped him:
"Don't drive in, you'll have to drive out again if you do."

Lucas looked at Ronan, puzzled:
"why?"

In the past, when he went to deliver truffles to Ronan in the shopping district, he would park his car at the intersection of the shopping district or in the open space behind Ronan's restaurant.

Ronan said, both amused and exasperated:

“All the parking spaces in the village are full, so I came out to pick you up to find you a parking space.”

After saying that, Ronan jogged to the parking lot at the edge of the village.

"Don't move yet, let me go see if there are any empty spaces. If there aren't any, just drive home and then walk to the shopping street. Hey, you don't know how hard it is to find a parking spot these days."

Lucas had only been away from Lourmaran for a month, but he felt that his hometown had undergone tremendous changes.

Lourmaran felt unfamiliar to him once again.

Ronan went to the parking lot at the village entrance and found that there were no spaces available. Left with no other choice, Lucas had to park the car back at home.

The place where Lucas lived in Lourmaran used to be described as 'desolate'.

In order to build a super big house, the location was chosen on the edge of a sparsely populated forest, so remote that it was within hunting grounds.

In the past, people would only appear in that area when visiting Lucas's house.

So Lucas always drives to the village, because his house is quite a distance from the village center.

But when Lucas returned home this time, he found several cars parked in front of his house, as well as several groups of people having picnics.

Even more surprisingly, a group of strangers were also sitting on the steps in front of the gate, having a meal.

A family of five sitting on the steps saw Lucas get out of the car with two dogs and asked in French with a strange accent:
"You couldn't find a parking spot in Lourmaran either?"

Lucas's eyebrows furrowed together.

Judging from their accents, they were Belgians, whom he disliked the most.

Sure enough, the annoying Belgians, seeing Lucas approaching their position, shooed him away with displeasure:

"We found this location first, and there's no room left for you here."

Several pleasant-sounding French voices rang out from not far away:

"Come on, buddy, come here. We can rest here. Damn, if I had known there were so many tourists in Lourmaran, I would have come sooner."

Lucas stood in front of his own front door, sighing several times in silence.

Has his remote and impoverished place become a popular tourist attraction?

How many people live in the village of Lourmaran now?

After parking the car, Lucas took his two daughters to Ronan's restaurant.

He stared at her intently the whole way.

Ronan just told him that Lormaran had many tourists this Easter, but he didn't mention that Lormaran also has many new facilities.

The visitor center, which had been closed for many years, has reopened. There are benches every few steps along both sides of the street, newly built restrooms, flower beds that have sprung up, countless new shops, graffiti on the streets, and countless food stalls.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that I thought this was Mena village.” Lucas’s weathered face was filled with disbelief. “I’ve only been gone for a little over a month, not half a year, but the changes in Lourmaran in this month are more unbelievable than the changes in the previous six months.” Lucas’s appearance attracted many farmers in Lourmaran.

When the eldest brother returned, everyone naturally gathered around.

Several tables were put together to form a 'long table meeting'.

Pierre said in a clearly joking tone:

"You're speaking too soon. In another week, no, in another three days, you'll find that Lourmaran has changed again. Believe me, every day in Lourmaran is different from the day before."

"Can you believe it? The renovation of Lourmaran Castle is almost halfway done. When I last visited it, the scaffolding hadn't even been put up yet."

"I heard that many people in the village have recently converted their bedrooms into guesthouses, and as soon as they put up the sign, they get bookings very quickly. It makes me want to join in too! There are so many business opportunities around here!"

The waiter placed many glasses on the long table, and Ronan followed closely behind with four bottles of rosé wine.

"The drinks are on me today, everyone please drink as much as you like." Ronan, without any airs, squeezed in with the farmers to sit down.

Lucas asked Ronan with a smile:
"Are you afraid I'll keep insisting on treating everyone to drinks?"

After the plenary session, Lucas treated everyone to drinks for several days in a row to help Ronan promote his rosé wine in Lourmarin.

Ronan told him countless times not to waste money.

"Of course not, I'm happy you're back." Ronan handed out cups to everyone.

Lucas pointed out the floor-to-ceiling window and joked:

“I won’t compete with you. Your restaurant is doing so well. I heard from Theo that tourism in Stella is booming, and even he’s going to help out as a tour guide.”

Ronan laughed and said:
"You know what, he's a pretty good tour guide for the Special Olympics. I've noticed that he's good at anything that involves his mouth."

Lucas suddenly brought up a new topic:

How many employees does Stersgaard have now?

Ronan knew all this data by heart:

"There are 17 people including me and Zoe, and 18 if you include you."

Lucas pressed on:
"Are all these people currently working on tourism projects? Will they continue to hire people after they start brewing wine?"

Ronan had already thought about this problem:

"Once the grapes are harvested, the tourism projects will stop. Tourists certainly won't be interested in bare vineyards. After that, the people who worked in tourism will go to various stages of winemaking. We'll decide whether to add more people then, depending on the situation, but it won't be by much."

Lucas took a sip of rosé and said in a complicated tone:
"I'm afraid we'll need to add more manpower, and quite a few at that."

Ronan smacked his lips:

“Stesga previously had 15 employees, including the owner and his wife. Although craft brewing increases labor costs, it only affects one aspect. We now have 18 people, which should be about right.”

Winemaking mainly involves five steps, the details of which may differ, but the order will definitely not change.

These are harvesting and sorting, breaking and maceration, fermentation, aging and blending, and final clarification and bottling.

The biggest difference between handcrafted and machine-made winemaking lies in the crushing and maceration steps; the other steps are not significantly different.

“But our scale is much larger,” Lucas said, unable to hide his joy. “Your friend played a very important role. With his help, Stellar’s ​​supply in Nice may increase by 5000 to 10000 bottles next month. I rushed back this time to tell you this news and to let you contact your original boss to prepare the goods in advance.”

“You mean Cherno?” Ronan blurted out.

“Yes, it’s him.” Lucas shrugged. “I really can’t believe that a magazine editor can know so many people. In the past two weeks in Nice, he introduced me to thirty or forty people. I met two or three people almost every day.”

Also drinking with them were two guys who worked in St. Texas; they had finished their work for the day ahead of schedule.

These two people were more familiar with Stersgaard's business and said with surprise:
"Market penetration in Marseille has increased, and sales in Nice have also improved. God, this is fantastic news!"

Before going to Nice, Lucas had already successfully explored the market in Marseille.

Lucas tapped his glass, and even the usually composed man couldn't help but burst into laughter:
"Not Marseille and Nice, but the entire coastal region. Ronan's friend named Cerno is very familiar with the whole coastal area and knows many people in the catering and retail industries. After I finish meeting everyone in Nice, I will visit them all the way west along the French Riviera."

Before anyone else could react, Lucas looked at Ronan and asked:
How should we thank him?

Ronan suppressed his excitement, thought for a few seconds, and then spoke:
"After we finish dealing with Capontra, I'll go back to Nice with you, and we'll thank him in person. You don't need to worry about anything else."

"What else do you want to do?" Lucas asked Ronan.

Ronan said in a 'mysterious' way:
"Find a way to give him a raise and a promotion."

Ronan intended to give the honest Cherno a similarly honest thank you.

Next month, Ines will take Ronan and Zoe to watch F1, and they will have a lot of time together.

Ronan decided to give Ines a good compliment to the editor of The Coast!

That evening, Ronan called Jerome.

Inform him that the supply to Nice may increase next month, so that he can prepare in advance.

Upon hearing the news, Jerome was both happy and disappointed, saying:

"Why, why do I keep hearing good news in the last few months of my 'retirement'? Is this proving to me that handing over Strasbourg was the right decision?"

First, the tourism project under the name 'Stales' was a great success, and then good news came from the markets in Marseille and Nice.

Under Ronan's leadership, the old company that had been in business for decades became incredibly vibrant.

“Look, as soon as you mentioned retiring, good news keeps coming in. If you ask me, you shouldn’t retire,” Ronan joked. “That way, good news will keep coming from Stella.”

Jerome also said in a joking tone:

“But I have to retire. At this rate, last year’s inventory might not last until the next harvest season. My cellar is getting emptier and emptier.”

The core basis for a winery's production output is historical sales and market trend predictions.

Over the past three years, Stellar's sales figures have been flat, and its channel inventory turnover rate has remained within a stable range.

Meanwhile, there has been no major positive news in the Provence rosé wine market, and Stellaco's production this year is not significantly different from last year's.

Who would have thought that Ronan would give Stella Artois a second spring?
Ronan gripped the microphone tightly:

"What should I do if we don't have enough to sell?"

The two previous leaders of Stella had reached an agreement that if Ronan encountered any problems during the management process, he could consult Jerome at any time.

Jerome's somewhat disappointed and inferior heart finally felt a little better:

"Have you encountered your first operational challenge so quickly?"

He was about to make a few sarcastic remarks when he realized he felt even more disappointed and inferior.

He had never encountered such a business problem in his entire life: supply falling short of demand. It was heartbreaking!
(End of this chapter)