1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 249 A Little Panicked

Chen Jiazhi saw Curly Hair, and Curly Hair saw him too. He tried his best to keep his expression calm, while constantly telling himself not to be afraid, not to be afraid, this is just normal business, give and take is normal.

"5 pieces of bok choy, 20 jin of snow peas~"

"Three pieces of bok choy and 20 jin of snow peas."

"Three pieces of bok choy and 20 jin of snow peas."

Soon, shouts of orders rang out nearby, and Curly shouted, "15 packs of bok choy, 80 jin of snow peas!"

In that instant, he could feel the surprised looks around him, and he couldn't help but puff out his chest; his order volume was still quite large.

Big is the right word; Boss Mao didn't get ahead for nothing!
Collective bidding and order placement are rare in trading scenarios.

In wholesale markets, most of the time sellers wait quietly while buyers arrive one after another; it's rare to see such a concentrated period of activity.

But Chen Jiazhi was used to such transactions, and so were Li Cai, Chen Zhengxu, and Xue Jun.

"Each snow pea weighs a maximum of 20 jin (10 catties), we won't sell more than that." Chen Jiazhi's gaze fell on Curly Hair. "We'll provide plenty of bok choy."

The daily harvest is only about 300 jin (150 kg). If it were sold freely, given the current market shortage, one or two customers would be enough to buy it all.

Therefore, Chen Jiazhi limited the quantity that could be purchased and increased the unit price.

Currently, snow peas are priced at 4.5 yuan per jin (approximately 0.5 catties), which is 0.5 yuan lower than the price for peas supplied to Hong Kong.

Given the same price, since he could buy more at once, he had no reason not to sell to Curly.

As for who he sells it to, Chen Jiazhi has no say in it, and he doesn't necessarily have to make money from just any kind of transaction.

After understanding, Curly nodded slightly, ironically. He had to work hard to attract customers, and now these customers were waiting here to call on him. He was the same, as if he had become that little minion again.

Fortunately, that's how things developed. He wasn't too upset. He just felt that Chen the vegetable farmer was still Chen the vegetable farmer. Doing good business was only one aspect of him; growing vegetables was his true nature.

After quoting the price, Chen Jiazhi began directing the loading of vegetables according to the order of the vehicles. The four of them divided the work and it was easy for them.

Standardized harvesting and uniform packaging made the whole process appear very orderly.

After enjoying such high-quality service, no one could find fault with it. The only thing that bothered them was the deposit for the plastic crates.

However, due to the pressure of supply and demand, those who came to purchase were all mentally prepared.

Either return the plastic basket and get your deposit back, or keep the vegetable basket and don't need the deposit.

In fact, Chen Jiazhi would prefer to take the baskets and get a refund, but every day after selling vegetables, he counts the plastic baskets and the number is still decreasing by single digits. There are still quite a few people who can afford 20 yuan for a plastic basket.

After seeing off several groups of customers, stall number 56 finally calmed down a bit.

"Business is booming!" Xue Jun stood on the car, looking at the guardrail, his eyes scanning back and forth. "There are few businesses in the entire market that are doing better than ours."

Chen Zhengxu laughed and said, "I've noticed this while shopping for groceries these past few days: we're the only ones in the whole market that have snow peas. People with a real need for them can only come here to buy them, so business is bound to be good."

"But actually, bok choy is also good, and the demand is very stable," Li Cai said. "After the price of snow peas became too high, the demand also dropped significantly."

If the initial batch of snow peas were sold at current prices, it would be difficult to sell even 2,000 jin (1,000 kg) a day.

At 4.5 yuan per pound, snow peas were more expensive than meat; the three of them had never seen vegetables priced so high before.

How can ordinary people afford to consume these products?
Ultimately, most of them ended up in high-end restaurants and hotels, or in the homes of a few wealthy families.

When they have free time, the group of three would get together to think about the market. Chen Jiazhi was happy to see this and would share his tips to help the three of them quickly adapt to their roles.

However, such opportunities are rare, because most of the time one is too busy to attend to anything else.

He had only smoked half a cigarette when a new customer arrived, and he was busy again.

Old Wu stood outside stall number 33, while the workers inside skillfully moved vegetables around. Because of that threat, "If I buy your vegetables again, I'll be a dog," Old Wu still hasn't shown his face at stall number 56.

But then, there was that familiar vegetable basket in front of me…

"Mr. Mao, have you given in?"

Curly turned around and saw another delivery competitor in the market staring at him incredulously.

"There's no question of yielding or not, it's all business." Curly could only feign calmness: "How many dishes do you want today?"

Old Wu's eyes widened: "You took his vegetables and then resold them to me?!"

Curly took two steps, blocking Old Wu's view of the plastic basket. "Whether you buy it from him or from me, the price is the same. I can even round it down for you."

"Are you crazy, or am I crazy?" Old Wu muttered. "Aren't you losing out like this?"

"I also have other dishes, which I sell in combination with them." Curly pointed to the dazzling array of dishes at the stall. He was thinking about stability, but stability is a double-edged sword, and right now the blade was pointing inward.

"I give up!"

Old Wu sighed, thinking back to his experience of getting bok choy from Chen the vegetable farmer for several months in a row. It was really damn reliable!

He had never seen anyone do vegetable business like this before, but now there was another one.

"You deserve to make money!"

Curly-haired guy chuckled. "So, are you going to continue being a tough nut to crack, earning money while standing tall, or...?"

He didn't continue, but Old Wu picked up where he left off, "Go be a dog?"

"Uh……"

"Haha, just kidding. I already told you, I give up." Old Wu laughed. "You're right. With such a big market, there's bound to be business to be done. Let's pack the vegetables."

Old Wu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Curly hadn't sold the bok choy, he probably would have had to go to great lengths to buy good vegetables. Although he was prepared to go to stall number 56 to buy vegetables, a promise is a promise, and so many people still remembered it. It was definitely better to be a tough nut to crack than a spineless one.

After a busy day, Mao Liangcai took a break and realized that despite doing a lot of work, his profits had shrunk.

However, the current situation has met his expectations.

However, when I think of the bustling scene at stall number 56, I begin to doubt the concept of 'stability' again.

If he can't even ensure there are vegetables available when there's a market shortage, how can he talk about stability?

If you really think about it, stall number 56, which is often overgrown with weeds, is making more money. Chen Cai Nong's reputation for only selling high-priced vegetables is also becoming more and more well-known.

"Phew~ Sold out, that's a wrap!"

"These vegetables are selling like hotcakes!"

After a busy night, Chen Jiazhi successfully sold another seven or eight thousand catties of vegetables before dawn.

Daily sales reached approximately 1.65 yuan!

This marks the seventh consecutive day that Dongxiang Vegetable Market has achieved daily sales exceeding 10,000 yuan in the new year, with cumulative sales surpassing 100,000 yuan.

Chen Jiazhi mentally calculated that once the bok choy was sold out, he should have around 20 yuan in his account.

The subsequent gains from Dutch peas will be sustainable.

And Jiangxin Vegetable Market, if there's a profit-sharing this month, he should also get four or five hundred thousand.

After deducting wages for workers and other expenses, I have about 1.2 to 1.3 million yuan in cash on hand.

He unconsciously clenched his fist and took a few deep breaths to calm his excitement.

Chen Zhengxu went to buy breakfast and the four of them ate a quick bite. Then they parked the truck at the market, and Chen Jiazhi drove the van to make deliveries.

On the way, Chen Jiazhi first asked the three of them to share the results of their thinking over the past two days before he spoke of his own thoughts.

"Brother Jun, do you remember the time you crossed the city last time?"

Xue Jun nodded and said, "I remember, you mean, we'll go through them again?"

"That's roughly the idea," Chen Jiazhi analyzed. "Although this method is clumsy, it's also the most effective. Going directly to the restaurant makes it easier to run into the owner or manager."

If it's a procurement process, it might be very difficult to get this done.

“That makes sense,” Xue Jun said hesitantly. “I can go and do it, but I’m afraid it won’t be effective. You know, I have some difficulty communicating with the locals.”

"So are we."

All three of them have this problem, and there may also be factors such as timidity and thin skin.

“These are minor issues,” Chen Jiazhi said. “Zhengxu and Li Cai are learning Mandarin, so this is a good opportunity for them to practice more. It’s not that difficult to speak it, after all, you both graduated from junior high school.”

He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Moreover, you have an advantage: you're good-looking and young. Business owners usually won't give you a hard time. If you're lucky, you might even meet the boss's wife, and that deal might just go through."

Li Cai laughed, looking a little more relaxed: "Now that you mention it, it does seem to make sense."

Chen Zhengxu seemed a little embarrassed.

Xue Jun gestured to his arm, "What about me? What should I do? If I go there, I mustn't scare people."

"So I also brought this."

Chen Jiazhi pointed to the back of the van; the seven-seater had only had the last row of seats removed for the time being.

I packed up seven or eight bags of vegetables that a small restaurant needed.

In addition, there was a basket of bok choy and a basket of snow peas, each weighing more than ten kilograms after the delivery.

"The vegetables in those two baskets are for free. We bring some with us to every restaurant we visit, so they can taste them."

Chen Jiazhi is confident in the quality of his own vegetables. He believes that the vegetables are grown with plenty of organic fertilizer, the current climate is suitable, and they have just experienced a frost, so the flavor of the vegetables will be excellent.

Moreover, offering free food for trial purposes can also help to build rapport.

In addition, there is a cost advantage. Restaurants save on labor and management costs, and the prices are similar to, or even cheaper than, those of purchasing directly from the restaurant.

After considering quality, stability, and cost savings, Xue Jun and the other two relaxed a bit.

"Today's goal isn't high. Everyone will visit a restaurant to practice and then we'll call it a day and go back to rest."

Hearing that each person would only be able to practice at one house, everyone felt that it wasn't so difficult after all.

After chatting for a while, we arrived at the only restaurant that currently offers delivery.

This is a restaurant that specializes in wild game, which is still quite common nowadays. It is not very large and does not require a large amount of vegetables.

The purchasing agents were also family members of the boss and regular customers of Chen Jiazhi, which is why they were able to develop the delivery business.

Chen Jiazhi led his men inside, got the bill from the owner, chatted for a bit, and then left.

The accounts are settled weekly, there is no contract, and both parties need to adapt to this model.

After delivering the food, Chen Jiazhi drove to a restaurant to practice his skills. Not to mention Xue Jun and the other two, even he himself was a little flustered.

He also had no experience in door-to-door sales.

But with the atmosphere already built up to this point, we definitely can't back down!
(End of this chapter)