New Gods of North America.

Chapter 527 Secret Recipe
A large yellow square was painted on the paper, and after it dried a little, a large red "W" was painted on it.
Wayne turned the draft on the table and pushed it across the table. "What do you think of this trademark?"

In a corner of the bar hall that was being cleaned, three partners were gathered around a table, and a few detectives were curiously poking their heads out.
It’s not a secret anyway, listen if you want.

Inesa took a quick look and said, "It's very simple, the color and style are quite eye-catching... I have no objection."

Lina seemed ready to vote and approve it, but then she thought something was wrong:
"Why 'Wayne' again? Usually people use the first letter of their last name. Shouldn't yours be a 'C'? And since the detective agency has already used your name, it should be Inesa's or my turn this time, right?"

"You can, you can...but I think this trademark is quite suitable."

It doesn't really matter what it's called. Wayne simply borrowed a trademark that has been tested in the market, and he did it for his own amusement rather than persistence.

But after a brief thought, he decided to ban Lina first. "I remember that your current last name was not chosen randomly? Are you really planning to keep using someone else's last name?"

Lina's current last name is "Kyle", with the first letter "K". Wayne thinks he should keep it for the time being. If he wants to open a fried chicken shop in the future, he can use it when he feels the time is right.

"Hmm...that's right." Lina seemed to be just arguing casually, "Or you can use Inissa's last name."

"Do you want to listen to what you are saying? Isn't Winslet's first initial still 'W'?"

"The name is different. Winslet's, the name just sounds..."

"..."×3
If it was any other product, it would be fine, but adding a Windsor-style surname in front of "restaurant" makes it look like a place that sells dark cuisine...

It seems like "boiled potatoes can be served to guests as a dish without even peeling the skin."

Inesha was the first to express her resistance. "Although I don't really care about the name of the store, it's better to change it..."

"Okay. Now that I think about it, I suddenly feel that Wayne's Restaurant might not be so bad."

Lina thought for a moment and added, "But if we open a hotel in the future, the trademark must use 'L'. Then I want to be the majority shareholder."

Wayne was a little confused, "I didn't intend to use my own name... It was you, Lina, who thought of it as 'Wayne' first."

The appearance of this trademark can only be regarded as Wayne's personal bad taste. There are so many trademarks in the United States that use letters. There are many different kinds of "W" alone.

According to the plan, fast food restaurants will be opened everywhere along with the detective agency's offices. Even if there is no business, they can be used as canteens. Although the identities of the shareholders are not a secret, there is no need to publicize them too obviously, lest bad guys smash them up just by seeing the names.

"Ah? Then what is this 'W' of yours?"

"It's 'West'. Since hamburgers and hot dogs are Kansas delicacies, of course it's called 'West Restaurant'."

……

It had only been a few days since the previous bar closed down, and the original bar owner had gone from being a "small boss" to a "worker", and was now the "acting store manager candidate" of the fast food restaurant.
This guy is a down-to-earth person. After the initial employment intention was finalized, he moved back some of the wine glasses, kitchen utensils, and tableware that were previously in the bar. The agents cleaned up the kitchen, which solved the hardware problem for dining.

However, if the new store wants to open, the storefront needs to be renovated. Bars tend to be open at night, so lighting issues are not a big deal. However, the overall style does not match the brighter fast food restaurants that Wayne remembers.
As the first store with a demonstration nature, Wayne planned to make the exterior wall with large glass areas, and add a red and yellow dopamine color scheme, which can be considered "eye-catching" in this era - but unfortunately, large pieces of glass are ridiculously expensive, and currently they can only be pieced together like windows, using the thinnest wooden frames possible, and leaving space outside to fill with wooden boards, which can be sealed to protect the glass when needed. The funding issue is relatively easy to deal with. The $3 Lina got from selling the "evil mirror" to the rich man has hardly been touched until now. $1 was directly transferred from the detective agency's fund pool as a backup, and with Mr. Russell's investment, it is more than enough to open a few more stores.

However, the issue of share distribution in the fast food restaurant sector is relatively troublesome. Wayne tried to solve it with a relatively worry-free solution:
"We must have the right to operate and make decisions on a daily basis. We have equal shares but different rights, so we can give in to the dividend ratio. We will convert Mr. Russell's total investment into 49% of the total shares of this store, and the detective agency will pay 30% in cash. The remaining 21% will be our investment in technology. We can then consider selling it to other investors or interested parties, and keep a portion as sales incentives. What do you think?"

Unlike the detective agency, which must have its shares concentrated in the hands of "partners", Wayne hopes that the majority of the shares of the fast food restaurant will be in the hands of others, and the investors should preferably be local "local bosses".
In this way, if more stores are opened in the future, each store will have a "local" to help protect it. When encountering troubles, the detective agency will not be so busy running around and unable to take care of everything. The detective agency can also have more local friends secretly help with its main business.

The same goes for sales incentives. It is more costly to just stare at other people working, so it is better to give up some of the profits and then conduct regular assessments. The key is control - there are some things that Wayne is not very proficient in, but he feels that if certain practices can be adopted by modern society as common management practices in the industry, then if he starts by imitating them in form, he can probably at least get a passing score.

At present, this store is used to test the waters first, and in the future it will probably be mainly "franchised". If it develops well, we will consider opening a few directly-operated flagship stores.
As a whole, the detective agency will take back the profits from the fast food restaurant and then divide them up in proportion, so that the shares will not be calculated too chaotically. Wayne and Chef Parker, as the "inventors" and "improvers" of the dishes, will have a portion of the money deducted internally as a "buyout" of the recipe, and then normal dividends will be distributed.

If anyone comes up with a suitable new dish in the future, you can also consider buying out the recipe and we can discuss the details later.

Lina was a little unconvinced at first, thinking that Wayne had never opened a restaurant before, and this model didn't sound like a common practice for opening a store these days.
Then he was soon stunned by the fright.

"Is there something wrong with the menu you made? A half-pound hamburger is 12 cents, a drink is 2 cents, a serving of French fries is 3 cents, and a fried sausage is 5 cents, and all these add up to a total of 19 cents for the combo?"

"I have calculated this accurately. The average weekly salary of the working class is about 7 to 8 dollars. Assuming that they spend 30% of it on food, the cost of a single person's meal is at most 17 cents. It can't be too expensive. Otherwise, even the clerks and store clerks can't afford it."

"But your price is not cheap. Let alone 3 cents, I can buy a lot of potatoes with 1 cent."

"You just thought my meal was a good deal. If I let you choose, wouldn't my French fries have been mixed in with the meal?"

"Hiss... that does make sense. But now a pound of beef in Richmond costs 18 cents, and you're adding cheese to this half-pound burger. Are you still making any money?"

"Then why would I let Parker research recycled cheese? It's to lower costs. The same goes for meat patties and sausages. To make them delicious, we can add other ingredients. It doesn't have to be all meat, and cheaper parts can be used. Unless we can't sell them, we won't lose money."

"Wow, you're such a profiteer. But why do your meal prices all look so weird? They're all 19 cents, 29 cents, 39 cents, and so on."

"Hush! This is the most crucial business secret. Let me tell you, from now on, the last digit of the prices of the suites and meals in your hotel should all be '9' or '8'. Just telling you this secret is enough for me to get the shares of your hotel for free."

"Is it really that magical?" Lina asked suspiciously as she quickly took out a small notebook and started writing notes.

At this moment, there were already a row of eavesdropping agents around, the former "bar ex" and the current "acting store manager candidate", who were nodding their heads after listening to what was said:

“Although there are some things I haven’t figured out yet, Mr. Wayne’s business acumen is indeed admirable.”

What's this? I haven't told you that fast food restaurants may have to "order in bulk" in the future.

At that time, the profits from the purchase of semi-finished ingredients and sauces will not belong to the fast food restaurant.

(End of this chapter)