Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

Xu An had just gotten back to his gate. Before he even got off his tricycle, he heard the CREAK of the gate to the courtyard next door opening. Aunt Hong walked out and came straight toward him.

"Aunt Hong," Xu An greeted her politely. He got off, walked to the back of the tricycle’s cargo bed, unlatched the tailgate, and lifted the two little ones down. Then he helped Granny Xu out of the vehicle. When he turned to open his own gate, he noticed Aunt Hong was still standing there, staring at him.

"Aunt Hong, did you need to talk to me about something?"

"Yes." Aunt Hong nodded. "I just got a call from the person in charge at Victory Supermarket..."

Aunt Hong briefly explained the situation to Xu An. As he listened, two vertical lines creased between his eyebrows.

’Did this happen in my last life? I don’t think so!’

In his last life, after Victory Supermarket broke their contracts with the greenhouse growers, it was like a signal. One after another, Victory Supermarket’s contracts with other partners were canceled, and they eventually went under.

’Could it be that because things went wrong at a different time in this life, Victory Supermarket’s response has also changed?’

Just as Xu An was pondering this, two figures appeared at opposite ends of Xu Family Village. They strode purposefully toward where Xu An was.

The two of them walked up to Aunt Hong, and all three asked in unison, "Did you get a call from Victory Supermarket?"

As soon as they said that, Xu An understood. It wasn’t just Aunt Hong; Uncle Lin and Hu Juan had also received calls from Victory Supermarket.

’Victory Supermarket has contacted three growers that I know of. What about the other growers in Qianhai Town? Did they get the call too? What is Victory Supermarket planning?’

’This definitely isn’t aimed at Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant. The supermarket industry and the restaurant industry are worlds apart. I probably just happened to get caught in the crossfire.’

Even though he knew it wasn’t aimed at him, he still didn’t know what Victory Supermarket was up to. Since Aunt Hong and the others had all refused to work with them, he decided it was best to wait and see, responding to whatever came his way without making the first move.

Xu An’s gaze swept discreetly over the three of them, a faint, inexplicable sense of unease rising in his heart.

’This crisis was averted because everyone decisively refused, but what if Victory Supermarket keeps raising the price? An extra fifty cents per jin, eighty cents, or even a full yuan—can they still resist that temptation?’

’If a partner appeared offering a higher, more stable price than what I’m paying, would they still refuse so readily?’

He asked himself honestly: if he were in their shoes, twenty cents wouldn’t move him. Thirty or fifty cents might tempt him, but he could hold the line. But if the price went up by eighty cents or a yuan, it would be impossible to resist.

’An extra tens of thousands of yuan a year for nothing... only a saint could turn down that kind of money just because of a contract!’

At the very least, Xu An knew he couldn’t do it himself, so he couldn’t force others to do it either.

’If only... I had my own greenhouse farm...’

「The next day.」

Xu An wanted to see if there was a suitable place to rent between the Silver Star Office Building and the shopping mall construction site to use as a new transfer point.

He swapped stall locations with Zhang Dezhen. Zhang Dezhen went to the Ivy League University construction site by himself with 150 box lunches, while Xu An took 100 box lunches and a thick stack of flyers to the entrance of the shopping mall construction site.

As soon as he reached the construction site entrance, he saw six signs with the words "Box Lunch" hanging high in the air.

Yipin Xiang Fast Food Restaurant, Brocade Hotel, Golden Dragon Fast Food Restaurant, Fukelai Fast Food Restaurant, and two other fast food places he’d never heard of.

TSK!

’Seeing Ren Peng yesterday, I knew nothing good would come of it. But I didn’t expect them to move this fast. They’ve copied my little stall down to the last detail—even the style of the sign is the same. This is getting ridiculous.’

And then there was Brocade Hotel.

’You’re a long-standing, major hotel! Why would you lower yourself to jump on this bandwagon? Have you no shame? Can’t you have a little ambition?’

After his internal rant, Xu An inspected the six box lunch stalls, checking their dishes, portions, and prices.

After making a full circuit, Xu An’s anxious heart finally settled down.

’Whether it’s portion size, number of dishes, or price, the box lunches from Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant are better than yours in at least one category!’

’So it turns out, I’m the king of this rat race!’

’Oh, well, that’s fine then. Excellent. Keep it up! I’ll crush them with competition!’

「Hai City Food Studio.」

After working at a large company for five years, Meng Huai quit his high-paying job to start his own studio. The studio’s main business was managing three food-related social media accounts.

The first account focused on affordable, highly-rated spots for couples and friends’ gatherings. The second reviewed the food, ambiance, and service of high-end restaurants. The third was dedicated to recommending cheap and delicious fast food for office workers.

Each account was updated twice a week on average, and the day after tomorrow was the update day for the third account.

Usually, the content was prepared five days in advance. But last week, they took on a promotional deal for a hotel and everyone got busy with that, so filming for the third account was delayed until today.

However, the proposal was already prepared. This time, the chosen restaurant was Star Restaurant, located near the Silver Star Office Building.

The restaurant had opened a week ago. It had a wide variety of dishes, large portions, good flavor, and reasonable prices. Most importantly, they had paid an advertising fee—and not a small one.

When Meng Huai and a photographer arrived near the Silver Star Office Building, he saw a line of street-side stalls at the entrance of the nearby shopping mall construction site.

’Quite a lively scene.’

He glanced over and was about to leave when he suddenly saw a blackboard propped up high. The fluorescent writing on it was very eye-catching, and Meng Huai could clearly read what it said.

’Xu’s Fast Food, three dishes and a soup for eight yuan.’

’Xu’s Fast Food... why does that name feel so familiar?’

After a moment’s thought, Meng Huai remembered where he had seen that name before.

He had seen it on the local Hai City station’s program, *Visiting Fast Food Restaurant*. It was a fast food place that had been officially rated as "Excellent."

After the documentary aired, Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant was added to the studio’s filming schedule.

But first came the hotel promotion, and then Star Restaurant offered way too much money, so they had to push the filming back.

’Just you wait! I’ll film you next time! After all, if I don’t shoot it soon, I’ll miss out on all the hype!’

Star Restaurant was positioned as a fast food place for office workers, but its decor had a trendy, artsy vibe. It would have actually been a good fit for promotion on the first account.

The owner of Star Restaurant had already prepared the food for the shoot. From the six-yuan bowl of vegetable noodles to the twenty-eight-yuan three-cutlet combo platter, everything was generously portioned and looked absolutely delicious and tempting.

After some brief pleasantries, the photographer picked up his camera and started snapping away at the food on the table with a series of KLICK-KLACKS. Meanwhile, Meng Huai sat down at a nearby table with the owner and conducted a short interview.

Only after Meng Huai and his photographer had finished shooting and left did the owner’s wife come out from the kitchen. Standing at the entrance, she watched their departing figures and asked nervously, "Is this really going to work? We paid them quite a bit of money."

"Of course it’ll work. Why wouldn’t it?" The owner stood up to clear away the dishes used for the shoot. "Memorize this portion size. We have to serve this much all week. Once our reputation is up and we get more customers, we can gradually reduce it."

"A whole week! This portion is almost one and a half times what other restaurants serve!" The owner’s wife was clearly pained by the thought.

"You can’t catch a wolf if you’re not willing to lose the bait. We’ve already spent so much money; this little bit more won’t make a difference," the owner consoled her. "There are a lot of office workers around here. We’ll have plenty of opportunities to make money later. Even with these portions, we’re still turning a profit, just a smaller one."

"We’re running a business! Who would ever complain about making too much money? Of course, the more we make, the better!"

「Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition Preparatory Committee.」

Gao Baolin arrived at eight in the morning and was busy straight through until ten, when her phone alarm rang.

It was an alarm she had set for herself, a reminder to notify the major hotels to come and submit their bids tomorrow.

Putting down her work, Gao Baolin opened her email and began composing the message, sending out notifications to the hotels in the order they were listed on her document.

Xiuli Hotel, Black Swan Hotel...

When she got to the email for Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant and Brocade Hotel, Gao Baolin’s hands paused. Instead of sending it immediately, she scheduled it to be sent at four o’clock this afternoon...

「Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.」

Except for the ones at Hai City Library and Red Brick Creative Park, all the employees who had been running stalls at the other construction sites had returned to the restaurant. They were all exchanging news about what happened at the site entrances today.

From their conversation, Xu An learned that several more box lunch stalls had appeared at the entrances of the construction sites they had gone to as well.

The names that appeared most frequently were Brocade Hotel and Yipin Xiang Fast Food Restaurant, followed by Golden Dragon Fast Food and Fukelai Fast Food. The names of the remaining stalls were a motley collection of everything imaginable.

Thanks to the popularity Xu’s Fast Food had built up yesterday, sales today were still pretty good.

Although it took a little longer to sell out than yesterday, every box lunch they brought out was sold.

However, most of those new fast food places were members of the Hai City Fast Food Association. It was hard to say whether even more stalls would show up tomorrow, so he would have to control the quantity of food they prepared.

The other matter was finding a suitable transfer point near the Silver Star Office Building.

On his way back from the shopping mall construction site, Xu An took a detour to a few streets he had pinpointed on the map yesterday to check out the shop rents, sizes, and other details in the area.

The final conclusion was: ’Nope, I’m out!’

Xu An saw a total of eight shops with "Prime Location for Rent" signs and called the numbers on them one by one to inquire.

The cheapest one was thirty-seven square meters, with a rent of 4,800 yuan a month. The most expensive one was a twenty-three-square-meter shop on a food street near the Silver Star Office Building, with a monthly rent of 7,600 yuan.

To put that in perspective, the combined rent for all three Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant locations was less than 7,600 yuan!

’For that kind of rent, I’d be better off getting a dedicated delivery van, driving it over, and parking it in a designated roadside spot. Parking is only eight yuan an hour, so three hours would just be twenty-four yuan.’

’A cheaper van can be had for eight or ten thousand yuan, and a used one would be even cheaper. Even after factoring in a driver’s monthly salary, the total expense is way more cost-effective than renting a shop.’

’Even if I switched to a refrigerated truck that could keep the food warm, it would still be more economical than paying rent.’

’At least if I buy a vehicle, it’s my own asset. Rent money is just gone once you pay it.’

But that idea was obviously unrealistic. If you were just loading and unloading for ten or twenty minutes, that would be fine; people would understand.

But if you tried to operate your business out of a parking spot, you’d either be caught by a patrolling traffic cop or reported by the public, and you’d be the "proud" recipient of a fine.

’But renting a storefront just to use it for two or three hours a day... that feels like a waste of such exorbitant rent!’

’Do I have no choice but to bite the bullet and rent a place for four or five thousand yuan just to use as a transfer point?’