Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: 7.8 It Is

At two in the afternoon, fewer than fifty of the six hundred cans of apple vinegar delivered just yesterday were left.

Xu An called Liu Tong and requested a restock of five hundred cans.

Liu Tong was dumbfounded when he got the call. ’Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant ordered a full six hundred cans of apple vinegar yesterday. How could they possibly need more already?’

Normally, customers would find out about the promotion on the first day, and sales would only start to gradually pick up on the second. It should take at least a week to sell six hundred cans—and that was under ideal circumstances.

Although he had the factory make the delivery, the sales volume was so high that it made Liu Tong uneasy. He decided to pay a follow-up visit the next day around noon.

He arrived at Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant at 11:10 AM and surveyed both floors. Roughly sixty percent of the customers were buying a drink, which was not a low proportion.

Just then, he saw Xu Heping arranging drinks in a styrofoam cooler. Once it was full, he stopped, went to the kitchen for some ice to pack into the gaps, then carried it out to a three-wheeled cart in front of the restaurant.

’Even double-stacked, that styrofoam cooler can only hold about sixty cans. Add in the customers dining in, and daily sales are probably around one hundred twenty. That’s a far cry from five hundred cans!’

At that moment, a worker picked up his tray after paying, then turned to Liang Dani and asked, "Are the drinks still free today? The one I had yesterday was pretty good."

"Starting today, they’re one yuan each. We also have Coke, Sprite, and orange juice available, but those aren’t part of the promotion."

The worker peered into the drink cooler at the price of a Coke—2.5 yuan, a full yuan more than the apple vinegar.

Recalling the can of apple vinegar from yesterday, the memory of its icy, sweet-and-sour taste flooded his mind. His Adam’s apple bobbed. "I’ll take a can of apple vinegar."

"You got it!"

Liang Dani took a can from the cooler and handed it to the worker, saying, "This promotion ends at the end of next month. After it’s over, the price will go back up to the original 3.5 yuan a can."

When the worker heard what Liang Dani said, the last shred of his reluctance instantly vanished.

’A drink that’s normally three-fifty only costs a single yuan. What a steal!’

Liu Tong, who had been watching the entire transaction from the side, couldn’t get the worker’s mention of "free drinks" out of his head. He reached out to stop the man as he was about to leave.

"Excuse me, sir. What was that you just said about free drinks?"

The worker didn’t recognize Liu Tong and assumed he was a new customer. "They had a promotion yesterday," he explained enthusiastically. "You got a free drink with any purchase. You came a day late, though. Today they’re charging for them—one yuan a can."

’A free drink with any purchase? That violates the contract!’

Liu Tong was furious, but then several clauses from the contract suddenly flashed through his mind.

’It seemed... there wasn’t a single clause that forbade giving them away for free.’

’The contract required customers to make a purchase to be eligible to buy a drink. That condition was met; the customers did indeed order a meal.’

’The drinks being given away were purchased by the owner himself before being handed out. There was nothing in the contract that said he couldn’t do that.’

A loophole!

’This Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant exploited a loophole!’

Liu Tong rushed out of the restaurant, pulled out his phone, and called his company.

Just then, Xu An came out of the kitchen carrying a styrofoam cooler full of lunch boxes. He spotted the figure outside the restaurant. ’Isn’t that Liu Tong, the promoter from the beverage company?’

’Looks like he found out. That was fast.’

But Xu An wasn’t concerned in the slightest. He had already achieved his goal.

Yesterday’s free giveaway was already showing results; six out of ten customers dining in today were willing to spend an extra yuan to buy an apple vinegar.

The add-on rate for delivery orders was lower, only two out of ten, but this was compensated for by the massive number of orders. Four hundred lunch boxes still meant eighty cans of apple vinegar.

Together, that was already over a hundred. Selling two hundred a day was no longer just a dream.

「Aisha Clothing Company」

At eleven o’clock, the company printer broke. A repairman was contacted, but he couldn’t make it until tomorrow. Unfortunately, the documents that needed printing were for a meeting that very afternoon.

The receptionist had no choice but to brave the scorching heat and go out in search of a print shop for the meeting materials.

She hadn’t gone far from the company entrance when she noticed the ad at the bus stop had been changed from an electric scooter poster to one for a beverage.

"Sweet, sour, and stimulating. A refreshing summer with Haiquan Apple Vinegar."

’Hey, I just had that drink yesterday!’

She looked up and saw that the ad at the bus stop on the opposite side of the street had been changed to the same one.

Gazing at the bright red apple in the ad, the receptionist’s mouth began to water as the memory of that sweet, sour, and refreshing taste flooded her senses.

’Maybe I’ll add a bottle of apple vinegar when I order my lunchbox for tomorrow?’

’It’s only one yuan, after all!’

The ads weren’t just posted at a few bus stops near the Hai City Library, but on advertising boards at bus stops throughout all of Hai City. For the next month, they would all belong to Haiquan Apple Vinegar.

Many passengers waiting for buses and people just passing by all saw the advertisement, giving them their first impression of Haiquan Apple Vinegar.

「Main Conference Room, Headquarters of the Real Estate Company managing the Zijing Garden Project」

After nearly half a month of discussions, deliberation, reports, and meetings, the dining plan for the workers at the Zijing Garden construction site had finally been determined.

Five hotels would be selected to bid, and the winner would supply the lunch boxes for the construction site.

The five bidding hotels had already been confirmed. Today was the day of the bid.

The manager of the logistics department was washing his hands in the restroom when a middle-aged man slipped inside. The man placed the "Do Not Enter" sign on the door, locked it from the inside, and then turned to the logistics manager with a beaming smile.

"Old Qi, why so secretive? What’s going on?"

"Did anyone see you come in?" Old Qi asked cautiously. He checked every single stall to make sure they were empty before continuing. "I just got the bid prices from the other hotels: nine, eight-point-five, eight, and eight."

"Hiss... Two of them bid eight? They must’ve gotten intel too," the man said, anxiously wringing his hands. "Eight yuan is already rock bottom. If we go any lower, we won’t make a profit even if we win the bid."

"I heard something else, too. If things go smoothly with the Zijing Garden site, the other construction sites will adopt the same model."

"So what you’re saying is?"

"Exactly!" Old Qi nodded emphatically. "If you win the Zijing Garden contract, you’ll probably be able to win the others, too."

"But this price... if it goes any lower, I’ll have a hard time answering to my superiors."

"Just lower it by 0.1. No, that’s too deliberate. Lower it by 0.2. Seven-point-eight!" Old Qi lowered his voice even more. "There are twelve construction sites in Hai City, with a total of three to four thousand workers. If you land all of them, won’t you be the one calling the shots in the hotel’s logistics from now on?"

Old Qi’s words were incredibly tempting. The man’s expression shifted several times before he finally grit his teeth.

"Fine! Seven-point-eight it is!"

The bidding session went smoothly. In the end, Brocade Hotel won the contract with a bid of 7.8 yuan per meal.

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