1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 222 The Meaning of a Chicken Rack
Qingfeng Food has come up with something new!

This is one of the most sensational news in Texas and the three provinces in the Central Plains in the past two days.

Whether you admit it or not, in this still immature market environment in China, although Momo Baizha, which owns more than 500 franchise stores, is not as big as countless giants in terms of size, it is far ahead of them in terms of public attention.

Although it is normal for a restaurant chain to maintain its vitality and competitiveness by constantly adjusting its product line and striving to create more popular products,

However, Qingfeng Food’s move this time has clearly gone beyond adjusting its product line and has directly launched a related diversified sub-brand... and although the main product of this sub-brand is still "chicken", in fact, it can be regarded as having intervened in another track that has nothing to do with Momo Baizha.

This sub-brand is called...

"Silently."

As the name suggests, this is a brand that specializes in making and selling marinated products.

In fact, the Momo Bailu that is grafted onto the addresses of those franchise stores sells chicken-related products... to be more precise, "chicken parts."

If this kind of thing happened in the future, it would definitely be criticized to death by relevant practitioners. After all, even the coffee that Jiangxiang Technology launched in collaboration with Mouxing in the form of "direct involvement of the main product" was considered extremely stupid in their eyes. What's more, Momo Baizha can only be regarded as a medium-sized regional brand at best, and the newly added sub-brand is actually on two completely different tracks. It is difficult to dilute the brand value of Momo Baizha?
Fortunately, it is still the late 1980s, and fortunately, most of the fast-moving consumer goods sectors do not yet have truly leading brands, and have not even realized the power of the word "brand". Otherwise, even if there were many gaps in the market, Yang Mo would not be so arrogant as to think that he could kill all the way as long as he intervened.

However, opportunities are opportunities. Even with the success of Mo Mo Baichao, and even though Yang Mo must have a new project to make up for his losses, he is still extremely cautious in operating a project like this one that involves marinated products across a large track. Not only did he spend a lot of time thinking about the selection and combination of the product lines, he also repeatedly calculated other key details in his mind.

………………

Spring City, Lishan Road.

As soon as I got off the bus, a young man and a young woman, who were obviously dating, hurried forward in a somewhat hurried pace.

"It's the same with Momo Baizha. They made stewed dishes but didn't sell them all the time. It's said that only 20 out of the 80-plus stores in Quancheng sell them. They're either concentrated in front of technical secondary schools or in front of the vegetable markets on the edge of the city... If Hu Lili hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have known about this!"

The little girl in short-sleeved shirt wiped the sweat from her forehead breathlessly, her tone full of complaints.

The boyfriend next to him looked puzzled: "Aren't there braised food shops everywhere? Ximen Bridge, Nanmen Market, Yinhu Pool, Qingqi Motorcycle Factory, where can't you find this stuff? At the very least, go to the vegetable market next to our factory and take a look around. There are three or four shops selling braised food... Why go all the way to the Provincial Mechanical Industry School?"

This is the truth. As one of the most popular Chinese delicacies, braised food has become addictive due to its incredibly complex and compound aroma. Many people become craving for it if they don't eat it for a week. Therefore, even in the 1970s and 1980s when the economy was not well developed, braised food stores in various regions never worried about business.

In fact, contrary to what some people imagine, no matter what era, the braised food business has never been a niche track; with the development of China's economy, it has developed into a huge market with potential of hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars, and its customer stickiness and market vitality are so high that they make those foreign brands shudder.

Since there is such a huge market and it is a traditional food, there will naturally be many braised food shops or stalls everywhere. Based on the current income and consumption level and the two-kilometer residents' economic activity area, the number of braised food stalls within a two-kilometer radius will certainly not reach such an exaggerated number of ten, but there will still be one or two.

Therefore, the man really couldn't understand why his partner would squeeze on the bus for half an hour and travel all the way to a technical secondary school to buy braised food.

The little girl curled her lips when she heard this: "What do you know! Can the flavor of this Mo Mo Bai Fried... no, Mo Mo Bai Lu be the same as other stewed dishes?"

Speaking of the area she is most interested in, the girl immediately became excited: "Let me tell you, although they are all called braised dishes, there are many different schools of thought, and the tastes in different parts of the country are completely different;"

"Take the local braised dishes we often eat for example... Rather than calling them braised dishes, they are better called braised meat. The soy sauce is really strong... If I couldn't taste some other flavors, I would almost think it was just boiled meat and then soaked in soy sauce soup overnight!"

After complaining about the braised dishes she often eats, the little girl's eyes were full of excitement: "But I heard from Hu Lili that the new braised dishes launched by Momo Bailu are completely different from the ones we usually eat... Very fragrant! Very delicious! And the more you chew, the more fragrant it is... Hu Lili told me that after she ate those braised dishes, she woke up with drooling the next morning!"

"I originally thought that this was an exaggeration. After all, she is a die-hard fan of Momo Baizha. She spends a third of her monthly salary on chicken chops. She even eats out at Momo Baizha at night and on weekends. It's normal for her to promote their new product."

"But when she talked about those braised dishes, her eyes almost glowed green, and she kept sucking her lips... That expression, as if she wanted to swallow me whole, could never be fake!"

"You know, Hu Lili is well-known in our workshop for being a glutton. She has eaten almost everything in half of Quancheng. Even she looks like this, so how can the new stewed dishes made by Momo Bailu be bad?"

The image of the plump girl appeared in his mind, and the man's mouth twitched: "Since Hu Lili misses Mo Mo Bai Lu's things so much, why doesn't she come with us today?"

When the girl heard her boyfriend ask this, she looked a little frustrated: "Isn't it that our embroidery factory is not doing well this year? We haven't received salary for almost two months. How can Hu Lili afford to buy these foods?"

The man blinked his eyes and immediately understood why his girlfriend had to drag him to the bus. It turned out that she wanted him to be her wallet.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but touch his somewhat deflated wallet, feeling a little worried.

The situation this year is not right. The embroidery factory where his girlfriend works is not doing well, and the plastic factory where he works is also not doing well. Although it has not yet reached the point where they cannot pay their salaries, forget about bonuses and benefits. Although the consumption in Quancheng is not as high as in Qingdao, in this era of soaring prices, living in the city on one's not-so-high salary is actually quite stressful.

Besides, braised dishes have never been cheap. If I really spend a lot of money today, I will have to eat boiled water and steamed buns for the next half month.

However, as a man, he naturally couldn't lose points in front of his girlfriend, so he just made a curious expression: "Hu Lili has no money to buy food? Then how did she know that Mo Mo Bai Lu's food is delicious... Is she kidding you?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Who told you that you can't eat Momo Bai Lu's food if you don't have money? Hu Lili is a regular customer of Momo Bai Zha and Momo Bai Chao. Momo Bai Lu opened for trial operation the day before yesterday and invited regular customers like them to come and try the food and give their opinions for free... Momo Bai Zha is a good person. Not only did they pay for the travel expenses to invite regular customers like Hu Lili to try the braised food, they also gave her extra of each item so that she could take it back as a gift to her friends."

Looking at the little girl's resentful expression, it was obvious that those braised dishes were not given to her as gifts, but were eaten up by a fat girl that night.

After waving her fists in the air for a while, the little girl noticed that her boyfriend looked a little strange. She rolled her eyes and suddenly said with a smile, "Do you know why Momo Bailu only dared to open 20 stores in Quancheng, and they are all concentrated in front of the colleges and on the edge of the city?"

The distracted man asked unnaturally, "Why?"

The little girl chuckled and said, "Because those students have no money!"

The man was stunned: "What's the logic behind this?"

The little girl looked around mysteriously, then lowered her voice and said, "Originally, Momo Bai Fried and Momo Bai Stir-fried are known for being cheap...but the things in Momo Bai Braised are so cheap compared to other braised dishes that it's shocking!"

"According to Hu Lili, the reason why they wanted to promote Momo Bai Lu was because Momo Bai Zha had made quite a bit of money in the past six months. The leaders of their company felt that the money was too much to spend and was inconsistent with the original intention and position of the central enterprise to open a tertiary industry project. So they wanted to give the extra money back to society, and that's why they launched this project that was launched to lose money no matter how you look at it."

"But you also know that there are many franchise stores of Momo Baizha, and the number of people in each store is close to being full every day. If every store sells Momo Bailu, the little money they make from chicken chops will not be enough to cover their losses!"

"So after much thought, they strictly controlled the number of stores of Momo Bailu, and all the outlets for this project were franchise stores near schools and the edge of the city."

At this point, the little girl chuckled and said, "Maybe they thought that since those students have no money, naturally not many people would buy braised dishes, and the money they lose on Momo Bailu would naturally be much less... But they seem to have forgotten that the store is dead, but people are alive... If they don't open a store here, can't we just walk over there?"

Seeing his girlfriend's look of getting a huge bargain, the man who finally understood the implication of the previous words calmed down a little, and then his face was full of curiosity: "A project designed to lose money? How cheap must the things in this Momo Bailu be?"

The little girl looked at him with a smile: "Well, let's keep it secret for now. You'll know when we get there... Anyway, if Hu Lili didn't lie to me, the prices of the things in Momo Bailu will definitely shock you!"

As she spoke, she glanced at the long queue of people a hundred meters away and was horrified: "Oh no, the news has been spread, we have to hurry up and queue up, otherwise we won't be able to buy it if we're too late!"

Having said that, he took the man's arm without saying anything and rushed forward.

Although the huge crowd in the distance made the man's scalp tingle, the soft touch on his arm suddenly made him feel lustful.

Damn!

Go for it! Even if you have to wait in line for an entire afternoon;
Even if I can only eat steamed bread for the next half month;

It’s worth it!
………………

Unexpectedly, perhaps because the braised dishes were all pre-prepared the night before, and the sales method of Momo Bailu was slightly different, although the number of people queuing in front of the store exceeded three hundred, only an hour had passed before it was the young couple's turn.

After moving within five meters, the man finally had the opportunity to take a closer look at the silent Bailu not far away.

Just like Momobaizha which is regarded as a "tiny little shop", Momobailu, which relies on its franchise stores for its existence, simply has a counter window less than two meters wide opened on the right side of the franchise stores.

However, since it uses the same display method and execution standards as Mo Mo Bai Zha, one can see the dishes inside clearly through the shiny glass cabinet.

To be honest, it was the first time for the man to see this way of selling braised food.

Different from the flat-bottomed display of ingredients at Momo Baizha, seven rather large square stainless steel basins were neatly placed under glass covers;

The reason why the seven square basins are arranged neatly in an odd number is because the square basin in the middle is specially made according to the size of the two square basins.

And unlike ordinary braised meat stalls where only a few items are spread out sparsely, the food in Mo Mo Bai Lu's seven square basins is all piled up in front of you like a small mountain... These six small and one large basins, piled up almost as high as a person's chest, will definitely scare people who see them for the first time and will also inexplicably give you a strange sense of security.

What was beyond the man's expectation was...

Although Momo Bai Fried and Momo Bai Stir-fried are both well-known in the three provinces of the Central Plains for being "unexpected", he did not expect that Momo Bai Lu also inherited this style.

Braised chicken racks, braised chicken wing tips, braised chicken necks, braised chicken gizzards, braised chicken intestines, braised chicken feet, and braised tiger skin chicken feet.

These are all the braised dishes currently available at Momobailu.

It can be said that, apart from the braised chicken gizzards, the rest are all scraps in the minds of the people of Qilu, the kind that they would not even look at before this year!

But, as I said just now, that was before this year.

This year, especially in the second half of this year, life has become increasingly difficult for everyone. Many people are embarrassed about their cysts, but are reluctant to lower their living standards... Come to think of it, in the late 1980s, although supplies were not very abundant, it was no problem for workers in the city to eat one or two meals of meat a week. For them who were used to having some meat from time to time, it was not realistic for them to go back to the days of eating only steamed buns every day.

As a result, those cheaper meat scraps gradually came into everyone's sight... After all, although it looks a little shabby and not as refreshing to eat, it is still meat after all, right?
But that being said, now that everyone has gradually lowered their expectations, these scraps have not become as popular in Shandong as everyone thought.

The reason behind this is actually quite embarrassing... At this time, most people in Qi and Lu have not yet found a way to turn these scraps into delicacies.

To be precise, ordinary people lack skills and experience, and are unable to overcome the inconveniences or prejudices in the process of eating food, and eventually turn these scraps into delicious food that they are happy to eat;

However, local catering businesses are limited by the complex characteristics of Shandong cuisine, which requires extremely high levels of knife and fire skills, as well as cost constraints, and are unable to turn these scraps into truly affordable and high-quality popular delicacies.

Therefore, when the man saw for the first time that the food sold in Momo Bailu were all leftovers, he subconsciously felt a little repulsive... He came here with his girlfriend today. A man in a relationship attaches great importance to face, and he did not want to ruin the atmosphere of today's date because of an unpleasant dining experience.

However, when a strong medicinal aroma entered the man's nose, the saliva that unconsciously secreted from his mouth suddenly changed his mind;

No matter whether it is deep-fried or stir-fried, the taste has never disappointed people, and the aroma is obviously much more tempting than the local braised dishes in Shandong... I heard that these leftovers are braised using the method of the southwest. Maybe, as Hu Lili said, these things made by Momobai are really delicious?
Consumers at that time were still very naive. They did not realize that there was something fishy about the electric fan blowing hard at the boiling stew in the kitchen of Momo Bailu. They also did not know how shameless some businesses in later generations were in using "aroma" to attract customers.
All the people within ten meters of Momo Bailu were drooling at the strong and tempting aroma;

It smells so good just by smelling it. If you really eat it, even if it’s just the leftovers, how can the taste be bad?

This is the unanimous thought of all the newbie diners at this moment.

In fact, even without the temptation of the aroma, the man was completely unable to walk when he saw the price tags of these braised dishes.

That Hu Lili didn't lie to her boyfriend. There was a reason why she didn't dare to spread out all her things... The things here are really cheap! Very cheap!

Whole chicken neck, 3 cents each;
Chicken intestines, 2 yuan per bundle (one whole chicken intestine per bundle);
Chicken wing tips, 2 cents for 4 pieces (not sold individually;)

Chicken gizzards, 2 cents each;
Ordinary chicken feet, 2 cents for 5 pieces (not sold individually);

Tiger skin chicken feet, 2 cents for 4 pieces (not sold individually)...

It can be said that if it weren’t for the whole chicken necks that are more than ten centimeters long and the prices there, Momo Bailu could be directly regarded as a "two-corner store"!
At a time when prices are rising rapidly, what does it mean to be able to buy a braised, skinless chicken neck weighing nearly half a pound for 3 cents? It's probably the same as spending two or three yuan to buy a whole chicken neck in later generations.
Apart from this, the other braised products whose actual unit prices are as low as four or five cents each can definitely be regarded as price butchers in the current braised food industry!

Moreover, all these things are calculated by quantity and there is no need to weigh them. When buying these braised dishes, you don’t need to worry about underweighing them. With two windows open at the same time, the efficiency is terribly high... No wonder there were more than 200 people queuing before, but it was my turn in an hour!

However, although the other six kinds of braised dishes are very attractive, anyone who goes to the window of Mo Mo Bai Lu will definitely be attracted by the things displayed in the largest stainless steel basin.

Braised chicken rack, 2 yuan each (limited to 5 per person.)
This price sounds normal at first glance, not much cheaper than ordinary chicken racks. After all, this thing has only one pound of bones and one ounce of meat, just like "soudiu", you just eat it for the sake of thought... and it actually takes a lot of effort to process this thing, and there are certain requirements for the quality of the raw materials.

If the chicken is roasted, you can use sugar, spices, or even the smell of coal fire to suppress the fishy smell of bones and blood, so that diners can feel the beauty of meat sticking to bones; but if you use braising method to prepare the chicken rack, especially the rack of diseased chicken, chicken or frozen chicken, it is not that simple.

In short, even though some areas in later generations like to eat chicken racks, chicken racks are definitely not a popular category for people engaged in the business of marinated products, and they will definitely not go to the trouble of using this thing as an affordable product.

But Momo Bailu did just that.

Judging from the appearance and color, the pile of chicken racks that looked like a small mountain was obviously fried; it looked very tempting;

More importantly, unlike those ordinary chicken racks with almost no meat on them, perhaps because Momo Baizha mainly makes chicken steaks, these are obviously chicken racks cut from self-supplied raw materials, and there is undoubtedly a lot more meat on them... At the very least, the amount of meat left on the spine, chest ribs, and wing roots is enough to make those who sell grilled chicken racks ashamed to death!

TNND, there should be at least 300 to 400 grams of meat left on this chicken rack, right?
Putting aside other things, spending two cents to buy three or four taels of chicken doesn’t seem to be a loss at all!

Therefore, just one minute later, when it was the man's turn to buy, he first asked his girlfriend to order a bag full of various stewed dishes, and then looked at the bill that totaled only four dollars, and waved his hand generously: "Waiter, give us five more chicken racks... to make it five dollars!"

………………

While "the old brings in the new", serious traffic jams have occurred in front of the stores of Momo Bailu in various places. Bai Mengmeng, who has not had a good sleep for several days, is looking at Tugou classmate in front of him in the office with a worried look.

"Sister Lu, everything else is fine, but such a large chicken rack is not cut into small pieces twice, and it is braised after going through such complicated processing methods, but it is only sold for 2 yuan per piece. If the rush to buy it continues like this...will we lose a lot of money?"

Moving a stack of documents that had just been approved to a corner of the desk, Lu Yingying rubbed her sore wrists and smiled nonchalantly: "Lose a lot? Of course not, at most we will make less money, or even no money... In fact, the more crazy the competition in the market, the happier your master will be!"

As he spoke, Tugou showed a smug smile on his face: "Mengmeng, let me teach you a lesson. When looking at things, you can't just focus on the thing itself. You have to look at the problem from the overall perspective, and also from the most core and key points... Don't underestimate this as just a small braised chicken rack. The strategic significance it contains and the heavy responsibility it carries are beyond everyone's imagination!"

Strategic significance?

Eh…? ?

Bai Mengmeng was really confused this time...

(End of this chapter)