1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 376 Just give it a try

At the entrance of Buji Market, the sky was just before dawn.

"Old Liu, are you going to sell vegetables again today? If you're free, let's find a place to have breakfast together."

"I'm not selling anymore. I happen to know a pretty good breakfast shop, I'll take you guys to try it."

Actually, it's still not too late to go to the market to buy goods at this time. You might even be able to pick up some cheap leftover stock, and if you're lucky, you could earn an extra ten or twenty yuan.

Before meeting Chen Jiazhi again, Liu Minghua would have thought that this kind of life was pretty good.

However, his repeated encounters made him realize even more clearly that the other party had considerable ambitions.

And those who followed him are now becoming more and more capable than the last.

He didn't want to be a small vegetable vendor forever, working from dawn till dusk every day, braving wind and rain, only to earn a few dozen yuan.

Soon, they arrived at a noodle stall.

After ordering a few dishes, Chen Jiazhi casually asked, "Old Liu, are you planning to order anything else?"

"Yes," Liu Minghua said directly, "I want to come and help you with your work."

"..."

Who said I asked you to do things for me?

Chen Jiazhi originally wanted to recommend Liu Minghua to work as a vegetable broker at the market.

Since Liu Minghua had helped him run errands twice, he wanted to point out a better way for him.

While retailing vegetables can be profitable, it's incredibly tough.

Who would have thought he would immediately bow down in worship?
Chen Jiazhi thought it wasn't impossible to agree, since the Shenzhen distribution center was also short-staffed.

Just as he was about to agree, his mobile phone rang again.

"Hello, who is it?"

"Mr. Chen, this is Ye Xingwen from No. 77 Buji."

Chen Jiazhi remembered the first customer who gave away watercress for free that morning.

"Mr. Ye, what's the matter?"

Ye Xingwen smiled and said, "Your mustard greens are good. I'd like to ask about the price. If it's reasonable, I'll give you some more tomorrow... Oh, and tonight, bring me another thousand catties."

Chen Jiazhi was somewhat surprised; how could the feedback come so quickly?!

After thinking it over, he decided he couldn't quote too high a price and would rather wait until the market opened up before raising it.

"2.5 yuan per jin (0.5 catties)"

"Deal! Send me another 1,000 jin tonight, the same quality!"

Chen Jiazhi was pleased with such a prompt agreement. "Remember our name, Reliable Fresh."

"Haha, okay, Mr. Chen, you're reliable."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Jiazhi smiled at Zhou Xiaoxiong and Xue Jun, who were eating rice noodles, and said, "The free vegetable delivery is working very well; we've already received an order for a thousand kilograms!"

Xue Jun exclaimed in surprise, "That's too fast! I haven't even finished a single bite of noodles!"

Zhou Xiaoxiong's eyes widened as well. "So, Shenzhen has also had a great start!"

Liu Minghua: "Congratulations!"

Chen Jiazhi raised the mobile phone in his hand, "I hope it will ring a few more times today."

He guessed it was also related to Chen Zhengxu's selection of target customers, as there are many wealthy people in Shenzhen with strong spending power.

Once you've identified your target customers, it's perfectly normal for them to be interested in the vegetables, provided the quality is high.

Distracted by this, Chen Jiazhi took the opportunity to have Liu Minghua join the Shenzhen distribution center.

After eating the noodles, dawn was a little closer.

Chen Jiazhi went to check out the distribution center on a street outside the market. It consisted of a spacious room, a small cold storage, a van, and two people. That was all there was to the Shenzhen distribution center.

It's very basic, but with a little renovation, the distribution center will be sufficient.

After all, we don't have a single delivery customer yet; we rely entirely on market channels.

"Little Bear, Old Liu, you two go back to the market during the day and follow up with some customers."

Zhou Xiaoxiong added, "Let's try to get a few more orders back."

"Haha, that's exactly what I think."

After saying goodbye to the two, Chen Jiazhi and Xue Jun drove back to Huacheng.

The journey is not short, taking about three hours, but fortunately the two took turns driving and resting on their way back from Maoming, and they are in good condition now.

Moreover, they kept on the phone the whole way, and remained excited. They arrived in Baiyun before 10 o'clock.

Chen Zhengxu and Li Cai also returned to their offices.

Upon meeting, the three of them asked in unison, "How was it?"

Chen Jiazhi smiled, still holding his mobile phone, and said, "I received several phone calls on my way back."

After building up the anticipation, he added, "The five merchants who received the free goods last night all ordered them today, totaling 6000 jin!"

"Amazing, amazing."

"Awesome! Awesome!"

"With President Chen in charge, things are really different!"

After enjoying a round of compliments, Chen Jiazhi laughed and scolded, "Stop it, tell me your situation, Zhengxu, you go first."

He was also very curious about the situation in Zhongshan.

Chen Zhengxu suppressed his smile for a moment and said, "Last night I visited the wholesale markets in Zhongshan and Zhuhai. The purchasing power in both places is quite strong, and high-quality vegetables also have the ability to command a premium."

He took a sip of water, paused, and then found a map of the Pearl River Delta.

“I plan to replicate the experience in Shenzhen and leave a mark in both places in the same way.”

"In addition, Dongguan will also be included in my next plan."

"We're short-handed right now!"

Chen Jiazhi said in a deep voice: "We need to recruit people! This time, we're not just limited to internal promotions, but we also need to bring in fresh blood from outside, especially people with academic qualifications and diplomas."

One advantage of Chen Zhengxu's method of setting up distribution points is that it allows for unified collection of payments.

This avoids many funding problems.

Even though it might lead to payment terms that Chen Jiazhi dislikes, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

A company cannot rely solely on personal relationships and trust to continue its development indefinitely.

Chen Zhengxu nodded and said, "I will draft a list of needs as soon as possible." Chen Jiazhi nodded and then asked, "What about Li Cai? How is the situation at his stall?"

"Hey, why couldn't I speak first? Now it's so awkward." Li Cai scratched his head. "I just got back too, and I barely sold all 1.1 jin of water mustard greens."

"What about the price?"

"The price has never dropped; it's been 2.5 yuan per jin the whole time!" Li Cai said. "It's just that the stall's reputation is holding up well. If you want to switch to another stall, it's really hard to sell out if it's 3 mao per jin more expensive than the market price."

"So what does this mean?"

The people in the office all looked at Chen Jiazhi.

"This shows that our commitment to quality and service is the right one. Over time, customers have developed a certain dependence on our stall!"

"This will help us quickly promote high-quality vegetables with strong pricing power, and once the promotion is successful, it will also benefit the stalls."

"In this way, a virtuous cycle is formed."

"As long as we continue to develop high-quality vegetables, the company's growth will only accelerate!"

Chen Zhengxu blurted out, "Zengcheng late-season cabbage!"

Li Cai's gaze sharpened.

Xue Jun said, "The stir-fried cured pork is good."

"..."

Zengcheng late-season cabbage is definitely the focus going forward, but somehow all I remember is stir-fried cured pork!
However, Zengcheng late-season cabbage can indeed perfectly replicate the style of Shui Dong Jie (a type of mustard green).

After rambling for a while, Chen Zhengxu started calculating the totals again.

Shuidongjie's daily sales reached 4.5 yuan, but the important thing is to determine today's shipment volume.

Ao Deliang is probably still waiting.

"Today's delivery to Huacheng and Foshan is estimated at 7 jin, Shenzhen will sell 6 jin to merchants, Xiaoxiong applied for 600 jin to be delivered for free, and I promised 3 jin to Zhongshan and Zhuhai."

So I have 16,600 jin (approximately 8,830 kg) here.

Several pairs of eyes then turned to Li Cai, who felt somewhat guilty under their gaze.

"The number of stalls can be increased slightly compared to yesterday."

"Xu~"

"I really only dare to add a tiny bit more..."

In the end, feeling guilty, Li Cai only dared to accept 1.2 jin, for a total of 2.86 jin.

"Not bad, you gained 5600 jin compared to yesterday, that's progress." Chen Jiazhi smiled. "Call Deliang back."

Chen Zhengxu then slapped his forehead, "I almost forgot, Ao Deliang called the office last night to ask how to price the mustard greens purchased from the local villagers?"

Chen Jiazhi first asked Li Cai for his opinion before setting the price at 1 yuan.

At this time, the cost of transporting a truckload of vegetables from Maoming to Huacheng varies from approximately 1200 to 3000 yuan, depending on the type of vehicle.

Including losses, the cost per kilogram is about 2 to 3 cents, and the company has reserved a high profit margin.

A price of 1 yuan is quite high for vegetable farmers, ensuring that they produce according to high standards and guaranteeing the quality of their vegetables.

However, it is still somewhat cruel compared to the final price.

However, this is the law of the market.

He wasn't doing charity work; he made Shuidong Mustard famous in the wholesale market seven or eight years in advance, so he deserves a generous reward.

Moreover, competition will inevitably follow sooner or later.

Once the price was confirmed, Chen Jiazhi called Ao Deliang.

After waiting a while, the person came back to answer the phone and informed me of the purchase price and the amount of vegetables harvested that day.

As soon as he finished his work, Chen Jiazhi felt exhausted.

"Alright, that's all, go back and rest."

"Zhengxu, when you go to Zhongshan again tonight, find another driver for you."

"I brought someone with me."

"Ouk, get some rest."

To promote the market launch of Shui Dong Jie (a type of mustard seed), a group of people went through a lot of trouble, traveling back and forth between various cities and regions.

But buying and selling vegetables involves traveling all over the country, and even growing vegetables requires the same.

...

Pengcun Base.

Ao Deliang walked from the base to the vegetable field and shouted, "Go back and have a few more people carry out vegetable baskets; we still need to keep harvesting!"

"We need to harvest over 28,000 jin today!"

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

The vegetable workers were instantly excited; they had harvested over 20,000 jin yesterday, and today they had harvested even more.

Who said it wouldn't sell well?

They're cutting more and more every day!

Ao Deliang found a vegetable worker in the crowd and said, "Old Zhao, when are you going to harvest your mustard greens? If you harvest them according to the company's standards, you can get 1 yuan per jin now."

Before Lao Zhao could recover from his daze, the surrounding crowd exploded like a drop of water in a hot oil pan!
At one yuan per kilogram, an acre of land can yield at least two to three thousand yuan!
"Damn, Lao Zhao, you've struck it rich!"

Those who grew mustard greens were overjoyed, while those who didn't were extremely envious.

Liu Haitao sat on the ground smoking, feeling somewhat depressed. He had once had a great opportunity presented to him, but he had turned it down.

His wife, Yang Huan, forced a smile and said, "Look on the bright side, your job is more stable now."

This might be considered a small consolation.

Meanwhile, Xia Youche finally had time to deal with the two extra boxes of vegetables, which were a gift from someone.

He lit a cigarette with a somewhat complicated expression.

Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he opened the package and took out two vegetables to examine them.

The plant has a neat shape, bright green leaves, and small curls, making it look very attractive.

It also came with a handwritten recipe.

He hesitated, afraid that tasting it would lead him into a trap.

But another voice kept telling me, "It's just mustard greens, what's so special about it? Let's give it a try."

(End of this chapter)