Brilliant Years 1991

Chapter 97 A mouthful of sour and sweet plum!

Cao Yukun looked up in surprise.

Regardless of whether the relationship was good or not, it was true that Cao Yukun knew a few people in Hongkong in his previous life, but in this life, he really didn't remember having dealt with anyone from Hongkong.

His mind raced in an instant, and he said in the same tentative tone, "Mr. Sun?"

The man really laughed out loud, then took the initiative to extend his hand, "It's me, Sun Shangbin! President Kun has a good ear!... It seems that you didn't throw away the business card I gave to President Kun last time!"

Cao Yukun also laughed and spoke more bluntly, "I didn't dare to lose it. I thought that if I needed help one day, Mr. Sun might be willing to lend a hand."

This time, the other party laughed even louder.

It was indeed him, and it could only be him - in fact, strictly speaking, the two people had only met once in the shadows. At that time, Du Xuehong thought that the other party had quietly stopped the car and blocked the door to kill him, but at that time, Cao Yukun didn't even see clearly what the other party looked like. He didn't expect that he could actually recognize him!
And it happened under the current circumstances, and we met by chance in the elevator of a law firm in Hongkong!

"I'm afraid that 99% of the people who have seen your face, Mr. Kun, will never forget it easily!"

"Hahahaha! Thank you for the compliment!"

"Let's have a cup of tea downstairs and chat?"

"Okay! I wish I could have asked for it!"

They were definitely not very familiar with each other. In fact, when they were in Shanghai, Cao Yukun never considered selling the subscription certificate to him. He kept the business card, but never called him.

However, now that we suddenly met in the red sky and were in the light, it was not impossible for us to have a chat.

It turned out that he had just come to Hongkong from the capital in the early 1980s. His grandfather and second uncle were both here, so they were considered relatives. His parents are still in the capital and are retired teachers.

No wonder he spoke standard Mandarin.

Apparently, he had made a fortune in the ten years since he came to Hongkong.

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter. I understand you, Mr. Kun. When doing business, you should be cautious when you don't know each other at the beginning! In fact, I am more optimistic about the future development of the mainland than most of the local people in Hongkong now, so it doesn't matter. I hope to cooperate with you more in the future!"

"By the way, I wonder if Mr. Kun is coming to Hongkong just to travel or to do some business? I wonder if it would be convenient for you to tell me if there is any area for cooperation?"

"Beverage business?"

Sun Shangbin was stunned for a moment, then he burst into laughter and couldn't help asking again: "Are you going to set up a factory to produce beverages, or... Oh, haha, this is... a very novel idea!"

He probably used the most flattering words possible, but in his opinion, shipping beverages produced inland to a prosperous, advanced, international metropolis like Hongkong to sell them can only be praised as "novel."

Cao Yukun also smiled and said: "Just give it a try. You have to try everything to know if it works."

He smiled and nodded, then said: "However, if you really want to do this business, we can cooperate! To be honest, I do have a company in Hongkong that specializes in alcoholic beverage distribution, here..."

Seeing Cao Yukun's surprised expression, he took out his business card and handed it over with both hands.

Compared to the business card he gave me in Shanghai, the only thing that was the same was the name. The rest of the company, phone number, and even the font had all changed. "The Huagang Trading on the second line is my company! Currently in Hongkong, I am also the agent for seven or eight beverage brands. Of course, they are all small brands!"

"I'm a little better at alcohol. To be honest, I'm the agent for many types of liquor in our country! Luzhou Laojiao, Baofeng Liquor, Xifeng Liquor, these three are the biggest brands! In Hongkong, among all the companies that do alcoholic beverage agency and distribution, I'm probably in the top five!"

"It's just that when people in Hongkong drink, they still prefer foreign liquor, such as whiskey and brandy. I got up late, so I can't get them! Secondly, as for wine, poor people drink beer and sake, which can also be sold. Few people drink white wine, especially young people, who don't like white wine! The yellow wine I am the agent for is not bad."

"As for drinks, two large bottles of Coke!"

"I have never heard of a domestic beverage brand that can sell well in Hongkong! Do you know Jianlibao? It was very popular in China a few years ago, right? I tried it, but it didn't sell well! People in Hongkong look down on inland beverages. Even if they don't drink Coca-Cola, they will choose Fuso drinks, or even Taiwanese ones! It's like there are many people, especially the younger generation, who can't afford whiskey. They would rather drink sake and look down on white wine!"

"Of course I am willing to cooperate with you, Mr. Kun. However, I can be your agent and help you distribute the products, which is no problem, but this is all I can do! However, I do have a suggestion. I think you should still register a company in Hongkong and sell beverages under the name of this company!"

"Of course, no problem. As long as your drinks are shipped to the dock, I can guarantee that within one day, I will cover the entire Red Sky with them... But, Mr. Kun, you should think twice about whether or not you want to do this!"

…………

Before coming to Hongkong, and even before deciding to build a beverage factory, Cao Yukun had already anticipated the many difficulties in doing this. Frankly speaking, when he met Sun Shangbin in the afternoon, the problems he mentioned were not surprising to Cao Yukun - not only were they not surprising, Cao Yukun had even begun to deal with them.

Moreover, Sun Shangbin's sincerity in cooperation even made Cao Yukun want to try to cooperate with him. Of course, there are still many problems to be solved. The share of distributors in the matter of "selling the products of a beverage factory in Fuping County to Hongkong" is probably the smallest.

There were many problems along the way.

The next day, Cao Yukun rushed to the agreed place early in the morning, met up with lawyer Ah Hao, and started to follow him to go through the formalities. In the end, only three of the seven or eight names he had prepared were approved. After much hesitation, he decided on the name "Yiren Kangyin Co., Ltd." for the company.

Only after completing the company's registration procedures did Cao Yukun follow lawyer Ah Hao and take a taxi to a small street in Kowloon that he had no idea was familiar with, and found the registered address of his own company. This should be a residential area, or at least the edge of a residential area. The buildings are obviously old, and there is a strong atmosphere of life. There is also a fairly large indoor vegetable market nearby.

On this street with only two lanes, there is a six-story building facing the street. The first and second floors are a seafood restaurant, the third, fourth and fifth floors are all hotels, and the top sixth floor is planned to be divided into small cubicles of no more than two square meters, which are very similar to the partitions in an office building, but the walls are taller, about two meters or more, so it is impossible for them to see each other - Room 101 is the registered address of Cao Yukun's new company!
The operator here also runs a secretarial company, which specializes in taking on these two businesses for outsiders who need to register a company - legal secretary and registered address!

Ah Hao had already called to communicate everything in advance. He came here at this time just to take a look at the place, sign the contract and pay the money! If nothing unexpected happens, this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest, the relevant personnel will come to check whether "Yiren Kangyin Co., Ltd." really has an office address here.

…………

Afternoon, Imperial Hotel.

After lunch, Cao Yukun returned to the hotel and started making phone calls back home at around two o'clock.

To call back to Fuping from Hongkong, an extra transfer is required in the middle.

The main thing is to talk to the factory about product packaging issues.

"There is absolutely no problem with cans. We have the production capacity and our equipment is very advanced, Director Cao! But cans are very expensive. Once you use cans to fill, the cost will go up a lot!"

"As you know, producing aluminum consumes a lot of electricity. Our domestic aluminum production is probably not very high. Moreover, cans are not made of pure aluminum. They also use two or three kinds of aluminum alloys..."

"Yes, of course, domestically, there are several of them, and their products are all good. When the beverage factory was first opened, Director Song and I went through all the related companies across the country. At present, as long as we need to place an order and provide the size and requirements, they will definitely deliver the goods quickly!"

"As for the 350ml bottle... I need to calculate this carefully. We haven't purchased cans for two years, and I'm not sure if the market price has changed. If I make a simple estimate, the production cost of each can is probably around to cents... Mainly because the cans are expensive! The shipping cost is also very expensive!"

"Plastic bottles are not cheap! If you haven't studied this, you may not understand that the plastic that can hold beverages is specially made and called food grade. The price is not low, and it may even be more expensive than cans! It seems that there are only two factories in our country that can produce food grade plastic products. It is completely different from the plastic film and plastic basins used in our rural areas!"

"Okay! Okay, Director Cao, I'll contact him later to ask about the price and do some calculations."

"Do you really want to resume production of sour plum juice? Will the people of Hongkong like sour plum juice more? Okay, okay, I won't ask. I will just do what I should do. Director Cao, don't worry, I will definitely do a good job!"

There are actually... too many problems!
The further you push things forward, the more you understand, and the more you understand, the more difficulties you encounter.

For example, the simplest packaging issue is trademark!
If cans are used for production, of course the trademark can be printed directly on the cans at the supplier stage, and the cost is limited. However, plastic bottles, which Cao Yukun originally expected to be cheaper, turned out to be more troublesome - the plastic bottle manufacturers do not have the ability to print color directly on plastic bottles!

That is a bare bottle with a trademark printed on it using a plastic heat shrink film. The bottle is then heated to make the outer layer of the heat shrink film tightly wrapped around it. In later generations, this kind of packaging is completely commonplace and any manufacturer can supply it to you. But now, sorry, this is advanced technology!
Because this involves the issue of temperature control - plastic on plastic, it will become blurred if you are not careful - and the vast majority of domestic suppliers do not have advanced temperature control attachment equipment.

For a second-rate solution, using glue is also an option, but it will make it look low-end.

In order to successfully enter the red-air beverage market, Cao Yukun hopes that the beverages he produces will appear high-end at first sight - many people may have been drinking this stuff for several years without noticing the subtle differences in the packaging, but when they are all put on the shelves, compared to those plastic labels that are glued on or even move when rubbed by hand, your high-end heat shrink film feels more high-end!
This is why it is not practical to use glass bottles. Otherwise, glass bottles, which can be recycled and the price can be reduced by returning them, are actually the cheapest among all packaging materials!
But it's just a thought - are we going to recycle the empty glass bottles from Hongkong and then transport them back to Fuping? Nonsense!
However, to do something seriously, it is nothing more than this - when you encounter a problem, solve it! When you encounter a new problem, solve the new problem!
Just like that, Cao Yukun became busy at Hongkong's side unknowingly.

The company quickly completed a whole set of registration procedures and got it. Then it was time to design the trademark and register the trademark name. Cao Yukun registered 17 or 18 names in one go. The authentic product was called "Qinyuan", and he also registered "Qinyuanchun". The others were all homophonic characters, similar characters, and the like, which were considered defensive registrations.

As for the first drink he planned to launch in Hongkong, he named it - A Sour and Sweet Plum!

Well, as long as we can invite them, regardless of the price, let's invite Andy Lau and Amy Chow. The former is the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings and is currently at the peak of his career, and will continue to be so for many years to come. The latter has also been in the industry for several years and has been quite popular in the past two years. The title of "Jade Girl" is really a good one, which not only fits her personal image but also makes people feel intuitively favorable towards her - the most important thing is that they both represent youth and vigor now!
Busy, busy.

Before we knew it, May Day was over and it started to get especially hot here in Hongkong.

Over a dozen days, Cao Yukun completed many procedures at Hongkong, including company registration, trademark design, trademark registration, and on-site distribution. He also used international calls and faxes, as well as registered express mail, to remotely control Fuping County, and made preliminary contacts and partially negotiated agreements with various suppliers.

Because Cao Yukun had very high requirements for trademark printing, and such sophisticated molds could not be made domestically, an advance payment had to be made in order to sign the contract, because the supplier had to go to Fuso to make the version Cao Yukun wanted.

In short, he worked non-stop until May 8th. He felt that he had achieved some interim results for the time being. Then Cao Yukun finally booked a plane ticket and flew back to the Magic City.

That evening, he even returned home, and while eating dinner, he listened to his father, Comrade Lao Cao, who was seriously planning to build a new house for his grandfather.

(End of this chapter)