Rebirth in Hong Kong: From Dessert Shop to Industrial Empire

Chapter 13 Budgeting carefully
In the food factory on Cheung Sha Wan Road, Chen Bingwen's fingers gently tapped on a stainless steel steamer.

The annual rent of HK$30,000 did exceed expectations.

However, the environment and equipment at the food factory were better than he had imagined.

Chen Bingwen's mind raced with calculations.

With a bank loan of 80,000, if we bid on all four food stalls at the Victoria Park Lunar New Year Fair, we need to reserve at least 50,000. The remaining 30,000 needs to be prepared for the raw materials, labor, and stall setup costs of the Victoria Park Lunar New Year Fair.

But Chen Bingwen was very satisfied with the food factory in front of him, and it would be a pity not to rent it.

"Brother Qiang, could you talk to your boss about paying the rent monthly?"

"I'll have to ask him about that. You can look around here as you like, I'll go make a phone call."

Chen Bingwen's question put Zhong Qiang in a bit of a bind; it would be better to ask the boss directly about the rent.

After Zhong Qiang finished speaking, he turned and left, leaving Chen Bingwen alone.

Watching Zhong Qiang's hurried departure, Chen Bingwen didn't wait around foolishly.

Instead, they began to arrange the placement of equipment in their minds according to the sugar water production process.

From family workshops to large-scale food factories, the production process must be arranged reasonably; otherwise, production efficiency will be greatly reduced, and product quality may even be affected.

Chen Bingwen was well aware of this; he had visited many modern food factories and had a deep understanding of the importance of assembly line layout.

A moment later, Zhong Qiang's voice came from the doorway, "Awen, the boss said that monthly payments are possible, but there has to be a deposit and one month's rent in advance."

The deposit is one month's rent, meaning Chen Bingwen only needs to pay 5,000 yuan upfront to secure the right to use the food factory for one month.

This greatly reduced Chen Bingwen's financial pressure.

Chen Bingwen nodded, "Thank you, Brother Qiang. You can notify the boss to come and sign the contract. I accept this condition."

Although the loan hasn't arrived yet, Chen Bingwen can still come up with 5,000 yuan. The sooner he takes over the food factory, the sooner he can start equipment debugging and production preparation.

"Brother Qiang, you used to work here. Are you interested in coming back?"
The salary is 1,000 yuan per month, and the job is equipment maintenance.

After finalizing the lease for the food factory, Chen Bingwen looked intently at Zhong Qiang and extended an invitation.

During their conversation, he learned that Zhong Qiang's previous job here was to maintain the equipment.

Now that he has rented the food factory, the equipment there also needs to be maintained.

Instead of looking for someone else, it's better to find someone who is familiar with the situation.

“I’d love to. Thank you, Wen, or rather, Mr. Wen.”

Zhong Qiang readily agreed, and changed his address from "Awen" to "Boss Wen".

Once the boss arrived, Chen Bingwen signed the lease with him, and the right to use the food factory was officially handed over to him.

Back at the dessert shop, Chen Guofu and Wang Qiaozhen were excited to hear that the food factory had been rented.

Chen Guofu kept looking at the lease agreement over and over again, unable to get enough of it.

Wang Qiaozhen kept repeating, "My Awen has really made something of himself; he can rent a factory at just eighteen."

Although the money to rent the food factory was a loan, the sudden wealth after a long period of poverty still made Chen Guofu and Wang Qiaozhen unable to contain their emotions.

Seeing this, Chen Bingwen took his parents directly to No. 38 Cheung Sha Wan and gave them a tour.

This finally calmed them down.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Chen Bingwen stood at the entrance of the factory at No. 38 Cheung Sha Wan Road.

He needs to hurry up and get the equipment in the food factory working so that it can start production as soon as possible.

"Brother Wen, so early?"

Gao Zhenhai's voice came from behind. Chen Bingwen turned around and saw Gao Zhenhai riding that modified tricycle, the back of which was piled high with tools and ingredients he had brought from the dessert shop.

"Ah Hai, you've come at the right time." Chen Bingwen waved his hand. "Today we're going to transform this place into a sugar water production workshop."

The two worked together to unload the items from the tricycle.

Chen Bingwen pulled a hand-drawn floor plan from his pocket; it was the production line layout he had designed the night before.

"The cooking area should be located here, and the raw material storage should be closer to the water source."

As Chen Bingwen spoke, he walked around the factory, occasionally making marks on the ground with chalk.

Gao Zhenhai followed behind and saw different functional areas drawn on the ground. He couldn't help but scratch his head and said, "Brother Wen, we're just making some sweet soup, do we need to be so particular?"

Chen Bingwen stopped and looked at Gao Zhenhai seriously: "Ah Hai, we used to be a small workshop, so we could be more casual."

But things are different now.

He pointed to the spacious factory building, "With this food factory, we can produce more than ten times the amount of sugar water we used to produce every day."

Without establishing standardized procedures, quality cannot be guaranteed.

Gao Zhenhai nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Chen Bingwen knew that it would take time for his partner, who had grown up in Sham Shui Po, to understand modern production management.

His parents run the family shop, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

He plans to put Gao Zhenhai in charge of the food factory from now on.

Therefore, he needed to bring Gao Zhenhai out as soon as possible and make him understand the importance of modern management.

“Come on, let’s start with cleaning.” Chen Bingwen picked up a mop and said, “Hygiene is the most important thing in a food factory.”

With Chen Bingwen setting an example, Gao Zhenhai followed suit and started cleaning without hesitation.

Not long after the two had started, Zhong Qiang arrived, accompanied by two former colleagues from the food factory.

When we parted yesterday, Chen Bingwen asked him to help introduce some skilled workers.

When Zhong Qiang returned home, he immediately contacted his former colleagues and asked if they would be willing to work at the food factory.

Ah Chang and Ah Bing hadn't found jobs yet, but after hearing Zhong Qiang's introduction, they came with him early this morning.

“Boss Wen, these are A-Chang and A-Bing, both experienced.” Zhong Qiang introduced them to Chen Bingwen. “They heard you’re hiring, and they want to come and give it a try.”

Chen Bingwen sized up the two seemingly honest and kind-hearted middle-aged men in front of him and nodded. "Try it out for a week first. If there are no problems, the salary is eight hundred a month, including two meals. Are you in or not?"

"Do it! Do it!"

Achang and Abing nodded in agreement without hesitation.

With the new recruits joining, Chen Bingwen had Zhong Qiang lead Achang and Abing to clean and adjust the equipment.

He then took Gao Zhenhai to change the food hygiene license.

The food factory previously held a food hygiene license for producing preserved duck. Now that it wants to produce sweet soup, it needs to change its license with the Department of Health and Welfare.

Standing in front of the gray building of the Department of Health and Human Services, Gao Zhenhai unconsciously swallowed, his fingers gripping the edge of the document bag tightly.

"Brother Wen, I...I'm a little nervous," Gao Zhenhai's voice trembled. "I heard that the people from the Department of Health are the most difficult to small vendors."

“Remember, we are a legitimate food factory, not a street stall.” Chen Bingwen patted Gao Zhenhai on the shoulder forcefully. “Stand up straight.”

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(End of this chapter)