Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Chapter 89: Chapter 89: August’s Target: 100,000 Cans

At 8:00 AM, the order deadline passed. Xu An exported and categorized the data from the back-end system.

The boxed lunch orders from the Hai City Library area totaled 763. The numbers had been hovering between 720 and 780 for the past few days, and the data suggested that the customer base in this area was nearly saturated.

The boxed lunch orders from Red Brick Creative Park totaled 187, an increase of 65 from yesterday. The daily growth rate was considerable, showing great potential for expansion.

As the number of orders increased, so did the volume of ingredients they needed to purchase. And with larger purchase quantities came lower prices.

For instance, the procurement price for meat was now thirty cents cheaper per catty than when they first started. By sourcing fruits and vegetables from Aunt Hong, the average price was sixty cents cheaper per catty than at the wholesale market.

From these two items alone, their daily costs were reduced by three hundred yuan, which added up to nine thousand a month. Every little bit counts!

But now they faced a new challenge: delivery.

Xu’s Fast Food was currently using the Hai City Library and Red Brick Creative Park as distribution hubs. Once the boxed lunches were ready, they were transported to these two hubs, where couriers would then deliver them to the customers.

Two electric tricycles and one pedal-powered tricycle constituted the entirety of Xu’s Fast Food’s delivery fleet.

’Orders from Red Brick Creative Park are growing rapidly. Once the order count surpasses three hundred, should I buy a new electric tricycle, or should I switch to a different type of vehicle?’

Xu An leaned toward the latter option.

’The boxed lunch delivery business won’t be limited to just the Hai City Library and Red Brick Creative Park hubs. If every new hub needs two tricycles, staffing will become a headache.’

’Besides, electric tricycles have their pros: they’re cheap, easy to operate, and have decent carrying capacity. But the cons are just as obvious: they’re slow, require dedicated drivers, and on rainy, muddy days, it’s easy for the food containers to get damaged and spill.’

’It would be best to switch to a new type of vehicle—one with a large capacity, higher speed, less need for manpower, and a smoother ride...’

Xu An’s gaze slowly shifted across the street to the entrance of the Zijing Garden construction site. The Brocade Hotel, which catered the boxed lunches for the site, seemed to be using a van for its deliveries.

A Wuling Hongguang cost about 15,000 yuan right now, which was an acceptable price.

’But it’s a motor vehicle, so a driver’s license is essential. You can’t get on the road without one.’

In his past life, Xu An had gotten his driver’s license after he started working. But after passing the test, he never touched a steering wheel again, and the license just gathered dust.

’Even if I sign up for the test right now, it would take at least a couple of weeks to get my license.’

’Not to mention, I’ve pretty much forgotten everything from the test. There’s no way I could get a license quickly.’

Xu An pulled his gaze back from the construction site entrance. His eyes swept over every employee in the restaurant, finally landing on Xu Lili.

’Xu Lili’s father, Xu Guosheng, runs a pork business. He drives a small truck to the slaughterhouse every day to pick up his stock, then takes it to the town’s market to sell. His business is usually wrapped up by around 9:00 AM...’

’If he can drive a small truck, a van should be a piece of cake! I’ve decided! It’s you, Xu Guosheng, Master Xu!’

’Next up, I need to buy a van.’

’Of course, that’ll have to wait a few days. After paying for the custom website and buying the kitchen equipment, I was left with a measly thousand-or-so yuan.’

’Right now, we’re doing over nine hundred boxed lunches a day. With a profit of three yuan per box, plus the revenue from the apple vinegar, our daily net profit is around three thousand.’

’In another five days, I can buy a van in full! I’ll finally be a vehicle owner!’

’If I take out a loan, I could have a van today!’

"Boss, the ingredients are all prepped. You can start cooking!" Liang Dani’s voice from the kitchen shattered Xu An’s pleasant daydream.

"Coming!"

While things were bustling at Xu’s Fast Food, the vacant restaurant next door was getting another visit from a prospective tenant.

"This spot is a real money-maker. If the last owner hadn’t decided to move back to his hometown, this place never would have become available. The foot traffic is great, too. See that construction site over there? Five or six hundred workers—they’re all potential customers."

The prospective tenant toured the space and seemed quite satisfied.

Following the landlord’s pointing finger, he looked across the street and saw a massive construction site in full swing. The CLANG CLANG of hammers, the WHIR of machinery, and the occasional shout from a worker created a bustling scene.

He stepped outside the shop to observe the two neighboring businesses.

The owner of the restaurant to the left was sitting out front with a basket of vegetables on a table, prepping them while watching a show. He looked quite relaxed.

Meanwhile, Xu’s Fast Food to the right was extremely busy. The aroma of cooking had been wafting over ever since he and the landlord arrived. ’To be preparing this much food, their business must be excellent,’ he thought.

Busy in the kitchen, Xu An heard his phone ring and knew it was the rice delivery. He immediately stopped what he was doing and headed for the front door.

Just as he stepped out, he came face-to-face with the man who was inspecting the shop next door.

"Hello," the man greeted Xu An politely. "Your restaurant seems to be doing great business. The smell of cooking hasn’t let up for a moment since I got here."

"It’s alright. We’re just scraping by," Xu An said with a noncommittal laugh.

"What do you think of the business environment around here, my friend? I see a lot of restaurants, so the foot traffic must be good, right?" As he spoke, the man glanced toward the construction site, his unspoken question obvious.

Xu An glanced at the nervous-looking landlord next door. He didn’t spill the beans, just said vaguely, "More restaurants means more competition. We’re just making enough to feed our families, that’s all."

HONK HONK!

A van pulled up in front of Xu’s Fast Food. It was the exact Wuling Hongguang that Xu An had been dreaming about.

’A streamlined body, a simple, unpretentious exterior hiding an immense capacity...’

Before Xu An could finish his silent admiration, a small box truck pulled up. Two men hopped out, opened the back, and started unloading bags of rice onto the sidewalk.

The driver of the Wuling Hongguang that had just stopped poked his head out, glanced at Xu’s Fast Food, muttered something about being at the wrong address, and drove off.

Thirty bags of rice, one hundred catties each, for a total of three thousand catties. After they had moved it all, the two men wiped the sweat from their faces with the towels around their necks and came over to Xu An to get paid.

"Hey, guys," Xu An asked. "How come you brought a small truck? Why not use a van for the delivery?"

"It wouldn’t fit. A van can only haul about a ton, at most. You’ve got a full ton and a half of rice here. They don’t let you take out the second row of seats in vans anymore, so for a big load, you need a small truck."

?

A question mark appeared over Xu An’s head. ’In my past life, didn’t everyone say a van could hold anything you could stuff into it? Can’t even handle a mere one-and-a-half tons of rice? Pathetic!’

He glanced at the slowly departing ’pathetic’ van, then sized up the small truck before him.

’Boxy design, large payload, fast, easy to load and unload, can handle all sorts of terrain...’

’A new truck can be financed, but it costs forty to fifty thousand. A used one is only about twenty thousand, but I can’t get a loan for it.’

’With my current daily profit of three thousand, twenty thousand would only take about a week to save up. Waiting a week would save me twenty to thirty thousand.’

’I’ll wait!’

「Haiquan Beverage Company.」

It was August first, time for the monthly kickoff meeting.

This time last month, Liu Tong had just started, and his orders totaled a pitiful hundred-or-so cans, putting him in dead last.

This month, however, thanks to Xu’s Fast Food, his total sales reached 2,700 cans, with 2,300 of them sold through the restaurant.

’These sales numbers might not get me first place, but top three is a sure thing!’

He was now confident enough that he could take the top sales spot in August.

A middle-aged man strode into the conference room. He stood at the head of the table, leaning on it with both hands, his expression grim.

"This month’s sales showed a slight increase over last month." His tone suddenly shifted. "But compared to what we’ve invested in advertising, it’s nowhere near enough! For August, I have just one demand: total sales must reach one hundred thousand cans! Can you do it?! HUH?!"

The man was fired up, his voice ringing with passion, but the room remained deathly silent.

’Total sales in July were only 8,961 cans, and he wants to hit 100,000 in August?’

’In your dreams.’

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