You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 566

"Have you ever ordered takeout?" Qin Shaoyan asked seriously.

"Takeout?" Zhou Yuan paused for a moment, his mind starting to ponder this somewhat unfamiliar term.

"It's the restaurant's delivery service. When it's inconvenient for you to go to the restaurant, or you don't want to go out, you can call the restaurant and ask them to deliver your food to your door," Qin Shaoyan explained casually. "Have you ever had such a time?"

“Yes, when I was in college, if I didn’t want to leave my dorm, I would call the restaurants I frequented and have them deliver to me.” Zhou Yuan said with some confusion, “How can this be related to our internet business?”

"Of course you can." Qin Shaoyan laughed. "There are 360 ​​professions, and you can find connections with them as long as you want to. That's what we call 'Internet Plus'."

Before Zhou Yuan could even ponder this new concept, Qin Shaoyan steered the conversation back to the main topic.

Have you ever used food delivery services? Have you summarized their advantages and disadvantages?

"As for the pros and cons," Zhou Yuan thought for a moment, "First of all, it's convenient. When it's too hot, windy, rainy, or snowy, you don't have to go out, or you're not feeling well and don't want to walk to a restaurant."

"Eating in the dormitory is more comfortable than eating in a restaurant. When it's mealtime, it's packed with people and there's nowhere to sit. You have to wait forever."

"In addition, it can save a lot of time, allowing me to read and study in my dorm room."

Zhang Pingyi chimed in from the side, "We were playing Dota online, and we only called for food delivery because we couldn't leave before we finished the game."

Zhou Yuan awkwardly agreed, "Yes, yes, that's part of the reason. In short, it's convenient."

Qin Shaoyan smiled and continued, "What about the drawbacks?"

"The downside is that some restaurants don't offer delivery," Zhou Yuan said helplessly, spreading his hands. "There are only a few restaurants that do deliver, and we get tired of eating the same few dishes every day."

"Even then, it depends on whether the restaurant is in the mood to deliver. When they're busy, they don't deliver at all. You can only order when you've missed the meal times."

"But this is understandable. After all, the restaurant staff are responsible for delivery. The restaurant is too busy to handle the food itself, so it's a bit unreasonable to ask them to run errands and deliver food for you."

After listening, Qin Shaoyan asked in return, "Then have you discovered any tracks that you could enter from here?"

“Racing track? Uh…” Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment, then he understood what President Qin meant and began to think hard.

He didn't really see how the internet could be combined with this. Was it a combination of the internet and restaurants?

But that's within the scope of group buying, it's clearly not this.

Could it be that President Qin is also going to enter the catering industry?

Suddenly, Zhou Yuan had a flash of inspiration.

Zhou Yuan asked cautiously, "President Qin, are you interested in launching an online food ordering service? Users place orders on the website, and we deliver them?"

"In that case, we need to set up a central kitchen in each city and find someone who understands the catering industry to manage it."

Qin Shaoyan laughed, "Your idea is quite good, but it's still a bit different from what I was thinking."

Zhou Yuan's idea wasn't bad, but it was a bit narrow-minded; he could only make a little money by making a website to sell boxed lunches.

"What we need to do is understand the pain points between businesses and diners, and find the key to address them."

"What is their biggest pain point? Of course, it's not being able to find someone to deliver the food."

"We can deliver meals for restaurants, which solves the problem of restaurants being short-staffed and customers not being able to order food."

"Huh?" Zhou Yuan was stunned. "We deliver food for restaurants, this..."

“Their weaknesses are our selling points,” Qin Shaoyan smiled. “We integrate all the restaurants into the website, allowing customers to place orders online, and then our delivery drivers pick up the food from the restaurants and deliver it to the customer’s designated location.”

"Does this model have great potential?"

Zhang Pingyi, who had been sitting next to him, was a little puzzled. "This model sounds logically sound, but it might be difficult to make a profit."

"How will the fees be charged? Will it be collected from the store or from the customer?"

How is a food delivery driver's income calculated?

"We'll collect the fees from both ends, of course," Qin Shaoyan said without hesitation.

"Huh?" Zhang Pingyi was stunned. "This...isn't this inappropriate?"

Making money from both ends, is that even possible...?

Qin Shaoyan said matter-of-factly, "By helping the restaurants deliver food, we save them manpower and space, which indirectly increases their revenue. It's not unreasonable for them to contribute a little money, is it?"

“Not at all, not at all,” Zhou Yuan quickly echoed.

"For customers, paying a little more money means they can get their meals on time and save time. It's not unreasonable to pay a little extra for the service, is it?" Qin Shaoyan continued.

Zhang Pingyi frowned. "How much is this?" A dish only costs a few yuan. According to the standards of restaurants near university campuses, the most expensive one wouldn't cost more than fifty yuan. Even if someone can eat a lot, they can't have four dishes and a soup every meal.

Besides, even if students have spending power, they can't afford to eat lavish meals every day; a meal a day would cost at most around ten yuan.

In this situation, how much should one charge for delivering food?
If you charge too little, delivery drivers won't want to deliver; if you charge too much, customers won't be willing to deliver either.

Hiring people specifically to deliver food to customers for restaurants raises the question of how to charge them, ensuring that the delivery personnel earn enough while also guaranteeing the company's profits.

"Let's give you one or two yuan per serving," Qin Shaoyan gestured with his hand. "The shopkeeper pays two yuan, and the customer pays one yuan. That should be about right."

"So, the delivery driver only earns three yuan per delivery?" Zhang Pingyi said with some doubt. "Isn't that a bit too little? And what about the company if all three yuan goes to the delivery driver?"

"Moreover, food delivery service is essentially a price increase, so it might be difficult to promote."

Qin Shaoyan smiled and said, "Every blue ocean market is not accepted by potential customers at first, but once they accept the model, they will adapt quickly."

"We must trust our customers. People are very adaptable. Look at QQ. At first, people questioned the membership fee, but it quickly became widespread and brought considerable profits to Tencent."

"As long as the model works, profitability won't be a problem." Qin Shaoyan didn't care at all, but was actually quite enthusiastic. "Delivering food is indeed hard work, but as long as you're willing to work hard, you can always make money."

"Delivering one meal doesn't cost much, but what if you delivered five or ten at once?"

"Little by little, you can make a considerable amount of money over time if you do it a few times a day."

“You know, in my hometown, many people can’t even find a decent job, so what does it matter if they earn less?”

Zhang Pingyi fell silent upon hearing this, then nodded.

"Our customer base can't be limited to students; white-collar workers are also potential customers," Qin Shaoyan continued. "They either bring their own lunch or eat near their company."

"I think everyone can relate to this: bringing your own lunch saves money, but it takes up some of your personal time."

"The biggest problem with eating near the company is that you get tired of the food after a while. No matter how many restaurants there are, you'll get tired of them after a year. Food delivery service expands the range of choices for customers and saves time when going out to eat."

“Students and white-collar workers…” Zhou Yuan nodded slowly.

The business logic is quite clear, the target customer group is accurately defined, and the pricing model is in place, so this business seems feasible.

The only thing that made him hesitate was how promising the future of this food delivery business was.
Qin Shaoyan seemed to see Zhou Yuan's concerns and said earnestly, "The food delivery business is something I thought about for a long time before I came up with it. It will be an important part of the company's future business strategy, and its importance is even greater than that of group buying."

"Otherwise, why would I hand it over to you?"

"Don't underestimate this business. Just imagine, if more than half of the people in the city use food delivery services, that's a huge market. And if the business expands nationwide, that's a massive scale."

"China believes that food is the most important thing for people. As long as we focus on food, clothing, housing, and transportation, how small will this market be?"

These words were a revelation to Zhou Yuan. "President Qin is right. My understanding is lacking, and my mindset and perspective haven't kept up."

"Don't worry, Mr. Qin, I will do my best to do this new business well. I will personally lead the team to do on-the-ground promotion and strive to include all the restaurants in Beijing in the cooperation list within half a year."

"Within three years, we will expand the entire business nationwide."

Qin Shaoyan waved his hand, "There's no need to rush this time. We can keep a low profile and do it slowly. If necessary, we can use group buying as a pretext to negotiate cooperation with restaurants."

Zhou Yuan immediately understood that President Qin was using a feint to compete with rivals in group buying, while actually trying out a new business.

Zhang Pingyi then realized, "If we can really expand our business nationwide, it will solve the employment problem for many people, which would be a great deed."

Qin Shaoyan waved his hand, "Let's not talk about that for now. Let's be business. It's just a new business, don't make it sound so high-end."

"In short, keep a low profile for now."

"Yes, it's better to keep a low profile." Zhang Pingyi nodded.

Secretary Xiao Chen knocked on the door, quietly squeezed in, walked to Qin Shaoyan's side and whispered, "Mr. Qin, Mr. Yang Hongyang from Dream Creation Capital wants to see you."

"Hmm?" Qin Shaoyan frowned. "What's he doing here?"

"It's about financing for the group-buying website. He made an appointment," Secretary Chen said quickly, then pointed to her watch. "He came a little early."

Qin Shaoyan then remembered that there was indeed such a thing. "Since he's here, let him wait for me in the reception room. I'll be right there."

After Secretary Chen left the office, Qin Shaoyan sighed, "You guys go ahead and get busy, I still need to find someone to scam money from."

Zhou Yuan was stunned by these words and didn't know how to respond.

Zhang Pingyi chuckled and said, "That's called financing."

"Yes, financing." Qin Shaoyan nodded. "Mr. Zhang is right to correct me. I almost blurted out the truth."

(End of this chapter)