1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 356 is quite popular.
The sky gradually turned pale.

Wearing a black coat, Chen Zhengxu took the styrofoam box containing Shui Dong mustard greens from the car and walked into the lobby of Donghu Restaurant.

"Xiao Chen, what dishes are you serving? Why did you have to bring them over personally?"

The owner, Ding Hong, was in the store. He was used to getting up early. In the morning, he received a call from Kaopu Fresh, informing him that a new product of excellent quality had been launched and that he would give away 10 jin of vegetables for free to try.

Having cooperated with Kaopu Fresh for so long, he has always been satisfied with their delivery service.

But apart from the initial gifting, no particular type of vegetable has ever been given away as a gift.

It also emphasized that the quality is excellent.

This piqued his interest.

Chen Zhengxu smiled and said, "The mustard greens produced by our company have a particularly good taste and no bitterness. I suggest that Boss Ding try them himself. The most recommended way to cook them is to stir-fry them with pork fat."

He opened the styrofoam box in front of him, revealing the thick stems of the water mustard greens, and easily broke off a piece with a gentle force.

"Look, it's so tender and crisp."

How much do you sell it for per pound?

Ding Hong cuts straight to the heart of the problem: can something that's supposed to be free really be free?
Just like the delivery price, the price difference between it and buying it yourself has changed subtly without you even realizing it.

The cost will ultimately be borne by the consumer; it may be free now, but in the end, they will likely still have to foot the bill.

Chen Zhengxu said, "Try it first. If you think it's okay, then we can talk about the price."

Ding Hong pursed his lips and said, "I think it's pretty good right now. I want to know the price. If it's about the same as the market price, I'll take this kind of mustard greens from now on. If the price isn't right, you can take it."

This old fox isn't easy to fool!
Chen Zhengxu pondered for a moment and said, "The price will definitely be different from that of ordinary mustard greens. Based on the current market, I should charge you at least 1.8 yuan per jin."

"Take it away, take it away!" Ding Hong waved his hands repeatedly. "Take it away quickly, I don't want it anymore. You can give it to whomever you want, just don't leave it with me."

"I put it in the kitchen for you."

Chen Zhengxu carried the styrofoam box to the kitchen with practiced ease, put it down, and left. No matter what Ding Hong said, he was determined to deliver the food today.

Ding Hong stared at the mustard greens in silence. He had seen forced buying and selling before, but this was the first time he had encountered forced delivery.

It was almost time for morning tea, and a chef asked, "Boss, what should we do with these vegetables? Should we throw them away?"

Ding Hong glared at the chef. "You think you can just throw away something that everyone else talks about so enthusiastically?"
"Let's make a stir-fried mustard green dish first and try it out."

Under the boss's watchful eye, the chef quickly separated the mustard greens from their stems and leaves, noticing their exceptional quality during the food preparation process.

"This dish is good."

"Okay, let's do it first."

Ding Hong trusted his chef, so even though he felt the chef was being nosy, he didn't say anything. He just stood by and watched a plate of stir-fried mustard greens being cooked, and then tasted the leaves and stems.

The crisp, tender texture with no residue caught his eye, making him realize that it was distinctly different from ordinary mustard greens.

Seeing that he was silent, the chef also took a bite, and soon a look of enjoyment appeared on his face.

"Boss, this dish is delicious!"

Ding Hong now regrets not listening to the chef and should have just thrown it away.

But the fact that the food was delicious is undeniable.

After taking another bite, the chef said, "Especially at banquets, this dish would be very popular as a palate cleanser, paired with oily dishes such as poached chicken and fried oysters."

Ding Hong thought for a moment and said, "Let's try it out today and see how it goes."

Now that we've already eaten, there's no way we can throw it away. It's also a good thing he tried the dish; if he had missed out on such a great opportunity, he would have really missed out.

...

Reliable Fresh's vehicles shuttled tirelessly through the city, and within a day, all of their regular restaurant customers received free Shuidong mustard greens.

Chen Zhengxu even divided his forces into several groups to deliver goods to restaurants and hotels that he had not yet secured delivery contracts with.

Then, they all went to try the dishes without prior arrangement.

In Lingnan culinary culture, the philosophy of "pursuing the original flavor" is highly valued.

Naturally, ingredients are a crucial part of this process.

Shui Dong mustard itself has a tender and smooth texture and fine fibers. After being stir-fried, it retains its original sweet and crisp flavor. When chewed, it has no gritty feeling and no stringy texture at the break. It has a crisp touch.

Once the dish was tested, it quickly won over the chefs of many restaurants and hotels, and after being served, it received high praise from many diners.

At this point, the price of 1.8 yuan per kilogram is completely irrelevant.

Wen Rong is a clerk at the Kaopu Fresh Delivery Center. One of her main jobs is answering phones and recording delivery orders. Every evening is her busiest time answering phones.

But today was busier than usual.

"125 jin of bok choy, 5 black-skinned winter melons... Okay, I've written them all down."

"Add another 30 jin of mustard greens, the kind delivered today. Okay, no problem!"

"Mustard greens, right? I know, I gave them to you for free today~"

"Hmm, just mustard greens?" Wen Rong realized there was a new customer. "Okay, please tell me your address and contact person."

The phone kept ringing, with calls coming in from both old and new customers, all of whom were there specifically for the mustard greens.

When the phone call ended, it was already late at night.

Chen Zhengxu, Li Cai, Zhou Xiaoxiong, Wang Lan and others also came down from their dormitories upstairs one after another.

Wen Rong exclaimed with delight, "President Xu, our mustard green orders have exploded today, and we've even gained a lot of new customers!"

Chen Zhengxu also showed a happy expression, "Shuidong mustard?" Wen Rong nodded and said, "Yes, almost all new customers specifically ask for Shuidong mustard. Some people are also willing to let us try delivering other vegetables, but we may need you to communicate with them."

"Okay, write down the order information and give it to me." Chen Zhengxu thought for a moment and then said, "Calculate the total amount of water mustard before leaving get off work. I need to ask the boss to ship it again."

Since it's effective, we should definitely press our advantage and send watercress to more restaurants and hotels, and to a wider range of places.

Chen Zhengxu has already seen the possibility of taking the delivery scale to another level, or even multiple levels!
Li Cai went downstairs to investigate the market at a vegetable distribution center in the suburbs. Hearing the news of the breakthrough in water mustard, he was both surprised and delighted.

He had expected the effect to be good, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly, almost immediately!

At the same time, she also quite admired Chen Zhengxu.

Because the purchase price is only 4 cents per kilogram, and multiple intermediate links are eliminated, the goods are directly delivered to high-end restaurants at a delivery price of 1.8 yuan per kilogram, resulting in a price difference of 1.2 yuan per kilogram.

Even after deducting costs such as transportation, processing, and packaging, there are still substantial profits, and there is clearly room for further growth.

It's far superior to the stalls!

When Chen Jiazhi saw the message and called Chen Zhengxu back, the stock of watercress in the small cold storage was no longer enough to support the free delivery of vegetables to other restaurants.

How could he tolerate this!
We still need to keep delivering this water mustard.

As a vegetable base for transporting produce from the south to the north, the village usually has plenty of landline phones. Chen Jiazhi first contacted the local freight station to find a vehicle.

After finding a car, they quickly contacted Liu Haitao using the phone number he had provided.

"Old Liu, go cut the vegetables. I'll go find a truck to haul them away. Save all your mustard greens for me, okay?"

"Mr. Chen, what's the price?"

“I’ll add 5 cents per pound for you, but you have to do a good job of cutting and packing the vegetables for me.”

Upon hearing that Liu Haitao had agreed to raise the price so decisively, he secretly thought he had asked for too low a price and wanted to ask for a higher one, but his integrity wouldn't allow him to do so.

Chen Jiazhi sensed Liu Haitao's hesitation on the other end of the phone, but he didn't really care.

During his inspection in Shuidong, he interacted with several vegetable farmers before finally choosing the younger Liu Haitao, who also had a more straightforward personality.

Even if he changes his mind, it won't matter, because Chen Jiazhi plans to build a base in Shuidong, and he can also invest in a small seedling farm nearby, so they can take care of each other.

But we need to finish the market research first.

After returning to Guangzhou, he focused his research on vegetable markets in the Pearl River Delta and leafy vegetable bases in the suburbs of major cities.

We need to conduct surveys and sampling in each of the following cities: Zhongshan, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, and Shenzhen.

This is a massive undertaking.

This was also the first time Chen Jiazhi had fully committed to market research and analysis.

In every city he visited, he was the one in charge of command.

Then Xue Jun, Tan Wangji from the marketing department, Huang Jun from the purchasing department, and Pan Dacheng, who was temporarily brought in from the vegetable market to provide support, would go to the city's wholesale markets, vegetable transfer stations in the suburbs, and leafy vegetable bases in the suburbs to collect basic information.

Finally, the results were collected and handed over to him.

It's very cumbersome, and much of the information is invalid or outdated; very little of it is truly valuable.

However, the consumption of leafy vegetables in the Pearl River Delta can be viewed as a whole.

Information on leafy vegetables from various cities was gathered together and combined with core price data from the Jiangnan market.

The price trend charts for major leafy vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, kale, mustard greens, Shanghai bok choy, lettuce, romaine lettuce, and baby bok choy over the past year have been drawn.

At the same time, on-site visits can also help us understand the changes in the area of ​​vegetable plots in various regions.

For example, in core cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, urbanization is progressing rapidly, and suburban vegetable plots are being continuously encroached upon, resulting in a decrease in their overall area.

Furthermore, as leafy vegetable production bases shift to the suburbs, the supporting infrastructure for small and medium-sized vegetable farmers has not kept pace, affecting both yield and quality.

All of these factors will help stabilize leafy vegetable prices and allow them to continue to rise. However, if there is a natural disaster or a sudden and significant reduction in the planting area of ​​any vegetable, leafy vegetable prices could very well take off.

Solanaceous vegetables, melons, and beans can be grown in suburban fields, in cities a little further away, and even in vegetables from the north that are transported south, so their prices will naturally remain low for a long time.

Therefore, Jiangxin Vegetable Market will no longer be involved in planting eggplant, melons, and beans, while the cooperative base in Lianzhou can refer to the research to make planting plans.

Moreover, based on existing statistical data, we can also infer farmers' planting psychology.

Aside from artificial speculation, there are three main factors that influence vegetable prices.

First, there are international political factors.

Second, natural factors such as natural disasters.

Thirdly, the planting area of ​​crops.

The first two factors are less likely to occur. The third factor is the most crucial and has the greatest impact on prices.

This is also the main reason why leafy vegetables will buck the trend and rise in price over the next decade, even as the overall vegetable market declines.

From the farmers' perspective, it's even simpler: prices soar - expand planting area - prices plummet, or prices plummet - reduce planting area - prices soar.

By using this mindset, combined with the data at hand, Chen Jiazhi can roughly deduce which vegetables should be emphasized in which batch of vegetables.

While ensuring basic supply, one should moderately speculate on market trends to seek higher returns.

Shenzhen, Buji Agricultural Wholesale Market.

This was also the last stop of this market research trip, and the data in Chen Jiazhi's hands became increasingly detailed.

A slight smile played on his lips; through this data, he had already seen many beautiful sights.

Suddenly, he felt that the figure in front of him looked familiar.

(End of this chapter)