1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 415 Generosity
After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather became unpredictable again, with rain showers falling from time to time to tease the farmers.

Vegetable prices have also fallen somewhat, but the market turnover rate remains fast.

Around noon that day, Ye Canjiang waited quietly at the entrance of a restaurant. It was very hot outside, and sweat was dripping from his forehead, but he showed no impatience whatsoever.

Only after a square-headed Jetta stopped in front of the restaurant did he slowly move forward a few steps.

When the car stopped, Chen Jiazhi saw Ye Canjiang; his small, round face was easy to recognize.

Li Cai also got out of the car and saw Ye Canjiang, the chairman of Jiangnan Market, warmly shaking hands with his brother-in-law in front of the restaurant, and then shaking hands with him as well.

Chen Jiazhi followed Ye Canjiang into the restaurant and sat down in the tea room, where Ye Canjiang began to brew tea.

"It's really not easy to get a chance to exchange ideas with Mr. Chen."

“There’s been a lot going on at the base lately, and Li Cai has been in charge of things at the stalls. He knows everything about the stalls.”

Chen Jiazhi tapped the table lightly with his index and middle fingers before picking up the teacup and blowing on it.

Ye Canjiang said, "I've heard a lot about Cai Shenye (the God of Wealth), and I've even had tea with Cai Zong before, but I'm actually more interested in Kaopu Fresh's vegetable base."

Ye Canjiang had met with Li Cai a few days ago and had a preliminary understanding of the distribution of goods in stall number 63.

But that made me even more interested.

Besides his own vegetable market, Ye Canjiang is even more concerned about the cooperative base of Kaopu Fresh in Lianzhou.

Chen Jiazhi had also learned this from Li Cai beforehand.

Ye Canjiang said, "Jiangnan Market is also seeking to support and build stable vegetable bases in production areas, but has not found a good entry point. Kaopu Fresh has provided me with a good learning case."

Chen Jiazhi said, "We are happy to share any experience we have."

The model of the cooperative base is not special. You can understand everything by looking, asking, and investigating. There is no need to hide anything.

Moreover, Ye Canjiang's attitude was very good. From inviting Li Cai for tea to inviting Chen Jiazhi, he showed sufficient respect.

Reliable Fresh also needs to rely on the Jiangnan market for continued development.

Chen Jiazhi and Li Cai then provided another detailed explanation of Ye Canjiang's case.

Ye Canjiang listened attentively, asking questions from time to time. After they had talked for a while, he asked again, "President Chen, are you interested in building a cooperative base with the merchants in the market?"

Chen Jiazhi shook his head. "Kaopu Fresh is out of resources. The company is under a lot of pressure in the construction of the base."

"understand."

Ye Canjiang knew about the Zengcheng base, which was registered in the city and was quite large, so he didn't insist further.

After lunch, Chen Jiazhi and Li Cai were slightly tipsy.

Xue Jun drove to pick them up and asked, "If the market organizes merchants to build bases in the production area, will our competitive pressure increase?"

Chen Jiazhi said, "Even if we don't say anything, the market will take the same action, so we might as well do them a favor."

"Moreover, we are also merchants in the Jiangnan Market, and there are also Yuexiu and Dongwang Markets nearby. Only if Jiangnan gains an advantage in the competition can Kaopu Fresh develop better."

Xue Jun analyzed: "In other words, we now face both internal and external threats. However, given the current situation, we must work together to address external threats while simultaneously maintaining our advantage in internal competition?"

"That's about it."

"This is too difficult to do."

"Therefore, it relies on micro-management."

Chen Jiazhi recalled a bald micro-management master from decades ago who proposed that to repel external aggression, internal stability must be maintained.

The situation is somewhat similar now, except that the Jiangnan market also holds an advantage over external markets.

Meanwhile, in the Jiangnan Market, stall number 63 is currently in the top tier.

However, if the Jiangnan Market organizes merchants to build bases in the production area, it may very well erase the source advantage of stall number 63.

Ye Canjiang was the first to contact Li Cai, and Li Cai was also aware of the pressure involved.

"Now we are counting on the Zengcheng base to play its role as soon as possible. If we can also promote the Zengcheng late-season cabbage and combine it with chicken heart mustard, the stalls will still have an advantage in terms of the quality of the goods."

Xue Jun suddenly realized, "I see. As long as we get the late-season cabbage business going, we'll be one step ahead again."

Chen Jiazhi listened to their discussion and simply smiled.

He still has many cards to play; Chi Caixin is just one of his most recent cards.

He's fast at one step, and he'll be fast at every step. In the future, he'll be able to develop and build production areas in Yunnan, Ningxia, and other regions even faster than his competitors.

Looking out the car window at the bustling city traffic, Li Cai said, "Brother Jun, I'm planning to go to Zengcheng in a few days, and I'll need you to keep an eye on the stall for a few more days."

"Sure, no problem." Xue Jun joked, "Have you made plans with your fishing buddy?"

Li Cai retorted, dissatisfied, "Can't I just go and take a look at the base?"

Xue Jun said, "What's there to see? It's all rice paddies right now, and the land hasn't even been acquired yet. What else can you do besides fishing?"

Chen Jiazhi then spoke up, "Go if you want, but it's best to wait until you've received your share of the profits. Otherwise, you won't feel confident taking your female companion out."

Li Cai curled his lip and said, "I can rely on this face."

Chen Jiazhi: "I can share some insights with you on this."

When Li returned to the office building of Kaopu Fresh, it was already past 2 p.m., and he went back to catch up on sleep.

When Chen Jiazhi arrived at the office, he saw Chen Zhengxu sitting in front of the computer, with a computer operation book next to him.

Chen Jiazhi sat down beside him, watching him clumsily type in characters and numbers.

Chen Zhengxu turned around and said, "I just happened to have some free time right now, so I thought I'd learn it."

Chen Jiazhi nodded. "That's good. With more and more customers to deliver to in the future, using a computer will be much more convenient." As for how convenient it would be, Chen Jiazhi didn't actually have much personal experience with it.

But learning more about this subject will definitely not be a problem.

It's a good thing that Chen Zhengxu is willing to learn.

The office was crowded; besides Chen Zhengxu, Li Cai, Jiang Xiaoyan, and Wen Rong all had their workstations together.

There was also a small cubicle inside, containing a safe, which served as Chen Jiazhi's office space, and it was also very cramped.

Chen Jiazhi made himself a cup of tea before taking out the recent accounts to sort out the matters concerning profit sharing and bonuses.

Prices of fruits and vegetables from Lianzhou have fallen, resulting in a decrease in profit margins.

However, as the production season gradually approaches and output increases, the overall profit for the stall remains above 3 yuan, and has already provided 40 yuan in profit for the stall in the past half month.

After a month of adjustments, the supply of vegetables at the Fanrong Vegetable Market has been restored, and the daily output of leafy vegetables is now stable at 20 to 30 tons.

The water spinach at Jiangxin Market also brought in more than 100 million yuan in revenue.

In addition to reserving 1400 million yuan for Zengcheng and Shuidong, and covering necessary operating expenses for each base, Kaopu Fresh has more than 500 million yuan available for dividends.

"There are still 5 days left until the end of the month, let's say 600 million."

Chen Jiazhi took out a pen, pulled out a notebook of letter paper, and wrote down 600 million.

Then they started discussing how to divide the spoils.

Since it's a dividend distribution, shareholders should definitely receive a return. Lao Huang and Xu Wenxiang have been helping out a lot recently.

Secondly, it's about motivating management and key employees.

Yi Dinggan, Ao Dehai, Ao Deliang, Chen Zhengxu, Li Cai, Qi Yongfeng, and Li Mingkun are all eligible to participate in profit sharing.

The remaining key employees will receive bonuses for the time being, including ordinary vegetable cooks who will also receive an additional bonus of 300 to 800 yuan, which is estimated to amount to 50 yuan.

Core management personnel will receive bonuses based on their management performance, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan per person.

However, this is only the current profit-sharing plan; a more suitable incentive plan will be needed in the future.

In one afternoon, Chen Jiazhi outlined the framework, and then had the various responsible persons break it down into smaller parts.

After sitting for an afternoon, Chen Jiazhi stood up and stretched.

In the outer office, only Chen Zhengxu remained, still fiddling with the computer.

Chen Jiazhi told him about the profit sharing, and Chen Zhengxu then began distributing it.

The distribution center currently has a large number of staff, as well as personnel dispatched to Shenzhen, Zhongshan, and other places.

But Chen Zhengxu only took half an hour to prepare the list and the amount.

Chen Jiazhi was surprised when he received the list. "They've been assigned so quickly?"

Chen Zhengxu said, "Writing down a name and amount is something we do every month. This time it's just that the amount is a bit larger. It's that simple."

After a pause, Chen Zhengxu said, "Uncle, take a look first. I'll go upstairs and cook noodles. You can come up and eat later."

"okay."

Chen Jiazhi sat on the sofa and looked at the list and prize money drafted by Chen Zhengxu.

It sounds simple, but Chen Zhengxu actually thought it through quite thoroughly, adding some small annotations after each person's name.

After thinking about it for a while, Chen Jiazhi realized that it was all about what each person did and how much revenue they generated.

Chen Zhengxu wrote this list and the amounts very quickly and in great detail.

As July approaches, it gets dark later and later in Guangzhou.

Chen Jiazhi carried the oil-splashed noodles cooked by Chen Zhengxu, garnished with a few green vegetable leaves, which looked very appetizing, and he ate it with great relish.

Chen Zhengxu finished eating quickly and said, "Uncle, I'll go to the market first."

Chen Jiazhi asked in confusion, "Aren't you going to rest for a while? You don't need to go to the procurement yourself."

Chen Zhengxu said, "The market has been changing rapidly in recent days, with large price fluctuations. You have to check the prices every day, otherwise you can easily be fooled."

If market prices have fallen but procurement prices haven't, there's probably something fishy going on.

Chen Jiazhi recalled that day; apart from sleeping, Chen Zhengxu spent most of his time dealing with work, showing a much stronger work ethic than Li Cai.

A few days later, Chen Jiazhi finalized the profit-sharing and bonus distribution plan and called Huang Jianyuan and Xu Wenxiang together again.

The two originally held 10% of the shares in Jiangxin Vegetable Market, and had previously been unwilling to let Kaopu Fresh take control of Jiangxin Vegetable Market.

Taking advantage of this dividend distribution, Chen Jiazhi also carried out consolidation.

After the integration, Huang Jianyuan and Xu Wenxiang each hold only 5% of the shares in Kaopu Fresh, a significant reduction of half.

But the two accepted it readily.

The prosperous vegetable market, Pengcun base, distribution center, stall No. 63, and even Yuanmou base have all demonstrated high value.

Although the shares have shrunk by half, the overall wealth is still increasing.

Moreover, Chen Jiazhi didn't pocket the reduced portion; instead, he set aside 10% to create a 20% profit-sharing pool to incentivize the management team.

Huang Jianyuan and Xu Wenxiang were deeply moved by such a generous act.

Chen Jiazhi, however, felt that this was what everyone who followed him deserved.

(End of this chapter)