Chapter 109: In Principle
Aiden sat a little straighter.
This was the most important part of their discussion.
"What would you be looking at for twenty-five thousand bottles?" the youth asked, his tone mirroring the CEO’s seriousness.
For a moment, Nathan hesitated.
Then, instead of answering the question, he inquired politely;
"If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your targeted production cost?"
"One that allows me to sell each bottle to retailers at sixty cents." Aiden casually replied without directly quoting a price as well, unbothered by the lack of answer just yet.
He knew why the CEO was asking him a question in return instead.
Given the state they were in, they had to compromise between keeping their customer as happy as they could, but also try their best not to go under in the process.
It was also why, Aiden had more or less thrown the ball back into the man’s court with his response by allowing the man to do the math of his own accord within the estimate he’d given him.
Which was why Nathan’s eyebrows rose slightly as he remarked;
"Sixty cents wholesale?"
"Yes. Higher than the standard sparkling water by a few cents, I know, but I’m sticking with it nonetheless." Aiden nodded in response to which the man then asked, his tone curious;
"And your retail price?"
"One dollar fifty." Aiden responded yet again... only to then add with a thin, almost cunning smile as his eyes glinted;
"For the first run, that is."
Nathan blinked in response, unsure of what to make of the youth’s current expression.
Still, from what he could piece together of things...
’I guess he wants to focus on getting the product into people’s hands first, rather than actually make any net profit with his first go at things...’ Nathan mused to himself.
’$0.6 wholesale means that even if he sells all 25,000 bottles--and that’s a big if--he’d only be making about 14% of its revenue when all is said and done...’ the man’s thoughts continued.
’That’s quite the loss, since our current quote would require around $15,000 as well...’ Nathan tapped a finger on his desk.
It then begged the question for the CEO.
’Is he actually that assured of his formulation that he believes he can scale up the wholesale price point later on to whatever suits him?’
Nathan really couldn’t say.
Nonetheless, Aiden continued speaking, confirming his former thoughts;
"It has to be inexpensive enough that retailers aren’t hesitant to take a chance on an unknown beverage brand."
"I get that," Nathan replied, to which the youth continued;
"And I’m not expecting you to magically hit a number that isn’t feasible,"
"I get that too." Nathan responded once more and Aiden’s expression became slightly more serious as he said;
"So, if the twenty-five-thousand-unit run can’t be produced anywhere close to that range, I’d rather know now."
Leaning back into his chair though, the CEO considered that for several seconds and then spoke;
"Well, twenty-five thousand bottles does give us something reasonable to work with. If you were asking me for five thousand though, I’d be much more concerned about the economics."
"So, we’re not immediately out of the running?" Aiden asked, his grin returning.
"Not at all." Nathan smiled in response to which the coal-haired youth bobbed his head softly whilst muttering audibly;
"That’s good to hear."
By now, Nathan had already turned slightly toward another screen, presumably checking some preliminary figures as he said;
"If we’re handling everything from ingredients through finished packaging, I’ll need to run the numbers properly. I don’t want to throw a number at you and have to change it later,"
"But for now, I’d reckon you have somewhere within $10,000 to $15,000," the man added nonetheless.
"That’s reasonable." Aiden remarked, not the least surprised by it.
"There is also the question of whether you intend to place another order if the first run sells." Nathan then turned to look at Aiden through the screen, the slightest hint of a shameless grin on his features.
"Assuming the numbers look good?" Aiden arched an amused brow in response as he replied immediately after;
"Absolutely."
This time, Nathan shameless smile came in full bloom in response to the youth who kept speaking;
"Besides, I intend to scale gradually."
"But first, I’d rather sell twenty-five thousand bottles and know exactly what I’m doing before I start making one hundred thousand." he added, with a slight shrug.
"Can’t argue with that logic." Nathan agreed as well.
Then after looking over all of the information he’d written down, he went through all of it with Aiden once more.
Upon confirming that everything was as it should be, the CEO then asked;
"When do you plan to have its initial launch? So, we can reasonably try working towards it as best as we can?"
"In a month and two weeks." Aiden replied.
"We can work with that." Nathan smiled in response and Aiden bobbed his head once more as the man said;
"Oh, and one last thing. We’ll need samples."
"We’ll need enough to run our own testing and determine whether any commercial-scale adjustments are necessary." the man explained quickly then said;
"And once we’ve done that, we’ll send you a formal quote."
"That’s fine by me. I’ll have it sent in before the week’s end." Aiden smiled to which he then said;
"So, I suppose we have ourselves a deal in principle?"
"In principle." Nathan emphasized with a chuckle.
Playfully, Aiden extended a hand toward the camera and Nathan actually laughed this time before doing the same on his end.
Despite the general childishness of it all, the gesture felt appropriate nonetheless, as both individuals felt it was a rather fitting way to end the meeting.
No sooner had the feed gone blank from his end, Nathan leaned back fully into his chair. It had been a while since he had actually had such a productive meeting.
It was even more impressive for him that it was a chap roughly ten if not eleven years younger than him that had kept him so engaged.
Literally most of their previous clients whom were much older, often came without any proper inclination or research into what they even wanted to do.
Truly, Nathan couldn’t help but be impressed.
"I’m guessing things jelled well?" Nolan soon walked into his office, his expression curious as he studied his brother’s expression.
"Yeah. It did," Nathan replied to which he then added whilst leaning forwards with a slight grin;
"I also think, that we might’ve found ourselves quite the interesting client."
On the other end of the blank screen though, Aiden loosened his tie as he sunk into the sofa whilst letting out a deep breath.
’I’m really going to hate meetings going forwards...’ he inwardly sighed in resignation.
Though he’d had a good time with SlurpPAK’s CEO, it didn’t detract from the fact that he could already see a shit ton of them coming in his future.
Aiden doubted anyone would be a fan of that really.
In any case, he soon rose up from the chair and headed over to the kitchen to begin making breakfast like he’d planned so he could head back over to the hospital.
Roughly forty-minutes later, he was done with everything and packed his Pop’s meal.
Pulling up his old man’s stats to ensure he was doing well, Aiden nodded his head in satisfied relief when he realized the man was dandy.
Eating his own portion a few minutes later, Aiden swiped the keys off the counter and promptly headed out.
*
A day had passed since Aiden’s meeting with SlurpPAK.
At the same, Richard had finally been discharged from the hospital, though the doctor still made sure to remind him that he would have to come in for frequent checks.
At the same time, he was advised to get as much bedrest as he possibly could and put off any strenuous work for a week at the very least.
In any case...
"Ah~..." Richard sighed in relieved satisfaction as he stepped into his own home.
"How I’ve missed you..." he remarked wistfully whilst standing at arms akimbo in the middle of the living room as he looked around the house like he hadn’t been there in forever.
Aiden on the other hand, was currently by the door, letting out an amused chuckle whilst removing his shoes when his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Retrieving it a moment after, Aiden saw that it was from he and the gang’s group.
-
Casper: Gentlemen, I’ve finally completed all the character sheets and lore for [Gothic Survivors]. I say we go full speed ahead into development!
Theo: I agree as well. I think we’ve gathered enough data to start building the game.
Larry: Wait till you guys see the addictively creepy soundtrack we’ve cooked up.
Benjamin: I can already smell it... those sweet Benjamins rolling in! Come to think of it, that’s my name! Ha! I’m him!
Clyde: I swear to God, Aiden has corrupted us all with his workaholic ass. Can’t we have at least one week of joblessness? I literally just rounded up high school a couple days back.
-
Without thinking twice, Aiden sent a reply.
-
Aiden: No rest for the wicked, Clyde. Now, get your shit together and let’s go get people virtually addicted.
Aiden: Oh, and by the way... my Pops and I just came back from the hospital. He was hospitalized for two days after being diagnosed with a benign cerebral hemorrhage. He’s all good now though.
-
Aiden didn’t get a response after that... not that he minded. He had literally just dropped a bomb on the group after all.
What he hadn’t expected however, was for the sound of two familiar vehicles to pull up into the driveway of his house roughly thirty minutes later.