Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 102 Promoting (Please Subscribe!)

Maxim's Restaurant, on the second floor of Chongwenmen Hotel.

This is the first high-end French restaurant in Beijing after the reform and opening up. It is famous for its authentic French cuisine and unique decor, and was even featured on CCTV's "News Broadcast".

The restaurant features 18th-century European court style, with gilded rattan decorations, stained glass windows and Louvre-style murals. It has a main dining room, a coffee shop and a salon area, and can host a dinner for 200 people or a banquet for 300 people.

With the meal service about to begin, restaurant manager Liu Zhiming first went to the kitchen to inquire about the preparation of the dishes, check whether the tableware was arranged according to standards, and then check whether the cleanliness of the restrooms met the standards.

In his view, if a restaurant can't even keep its toilets clean, its overall service quality won't be very good.

"Manager Liu, there's a vegetable cooperative's head, Mr. Li, looking for you outside," said Xiao Yang, the waiter.

Liu Zhiming walked out of the restroom, puzzled, and asked, "I don't know any President Li. What does he want with me?"

He said he could provide fresh broccoli and lettuce, and asked if our restaurant needed them.

Liu Zhiming was taken aback: "Are you sure you're not a scammer?"

Waiter Xiao Yang didn't want to take the responsibility: "Manager Liu, President Li is waiting for you in the restaurant."

Liu Zhiming didn't say anything more and walked straight past her towards the restaurant. He saw a man wearing a gray wool coat sitting by the window, his slightly rough fingers flipping through the gold-embossed menu.

"Hello, are you President Li?"

Li Zhe stood up: "Are you Manager Liu?"

"It's me. I heard your vegetable shop can provide fresh lettuce and broccoli?" Liu Zhiming shook hands with Li Zhe.

Li Zhe opened the shopping bag from the Friendship Store, revealing bright green lettuce and broccoli.

Liu Zhiming picked up a head of broccoli, still glistening with water droplets. He then tore off a lettuce leaf, feeling its crisp texture. "Were these vegetables freshly picked?"

"Picking them from the greenhouse this morning."

"Did you only bring these two samples?" Liu Zhiming has been in the industry for many years, and at this time it is already very difficult to buy broccoli and lettuce in the market. Even if they are grown in greenhouses, the difficulty and cost are very high, and the quality may not be guaranteed.

He was worried that the other party was a swindler, and he also suspected that Li Zhe had shown him the two best samples.

"The other goods are outside; they weren't brought in."

"Please take me to see it." Liu Zhiming stood up.

Li Zhe picked up the bag, and the two walked down the stairs together. At the door, they saw Li Weidong holding a bicycle. "Brother, this is Manager Liu from the restaurant. He wants to see our dishes."

Li Weidong directly lifted the quilt on the vegetable basket, revealing the lettuce and broccoli inside, each one fresh and green.

Liu Zhiming picked up the lettuce and broccoli and examined them. He had dealt with the vegetable suppliers before and knew that they were used to putting the best vegetables on top, but after checking, he found that the quality of all the vegetables was almost the same, and his worries were completely dispelled.

He clapped his hands, a surge of eagerness rising in his heart: "President Li, besides these two dishes, do you have any other dishes?"

"We also planted green peppers and tomatoes, which will be ripe in a while."

What are the yields of lettuce and broccoli?

"I can supply you with 20 jin of broccoli and 20 jin of lettuce every day," Li Zhe replied readily, indicating that he didn't intend to sell them all to one restaurant.

"President Li, how much do these two kinds of vegetables cost per pound?"

"Broccoli is 6 yuan per jin, lettuce is 5 yuan per jin, settled in foreign exchange certificates."

Liu Zhiming remained calm during the first half of the sentence, but the second half made him frown slightly—theoretically, foreign exchange certificates and RMB should have an exchange rate of 1:1, but in reality, it was not like that at all; 1:2 was considered low.

Liu Zhiming stroked his chin: "I can accept the price, but it has to be in RMB."

Li Zhe said with a smile, "Manager Liu, your restaurant only accepts foreign exchange certificates. A steak costs thirty yuan and a vegetable salad costs ten yuan. But I convert it to RMB to settle the bill. Isn't that inappropriate?"

Liu Zhiming held up two fingers. "How about this? If it's settled in RMB, I'll add two yuan for you."

"Manager Liu, if the settlement is made in foreign exchange certificates, I'll give you a discount of one yuan."

Manager Liu continued, "President Li, don't be fooled by the high price of our vegetables. The rent and labor costs here are high, so we don't really make much money. Besides, this isn't something I can decide on my own; I have to discuss it with another person in charge."

“If the labor cost is high, I can replace some temporary workers. If you can’t find anyone, I can help you find someone. But you can ask around in the whole of Beijing to see if there’s another place selling broccoli and lettuce.” Li Zhe covered the vegetable basket with the quilt. “Manager Liu, let’s cooperate again in the future. Brother, let’s go.”

"where to?"

"Great Wall Hotel".

Liu Zhiming grabbed the handlebars: "Wait! President Li, I didn't say no. When it comes to business, there has to be a give and take. Could you give me a discount? I'll pay half in foreign exchange certificates and half in RMB."

"Broccoli is 5.5 yuan per jin, and lettuce is 4.5 yuan per jin. As I said before, everything must be settled with foreign exchange certificates."

Liu Zhiming continued to haggle: "I can pay with foreign exchange certificates, but broccoli is 5 yuan per jin and lettuce is 4 yuan per jin."

"make a deal."

Liu Zhiming breathed a sigh of relief: "Then please send all these goods down, I'll take them all." "Not today, tomorrow."

Liu Zhiming realized what was happening: "You're still going to the Great Wall Hotel?"

Li Zhe didn't answer, but instead asked, "Would you go if it were you?"

……

After reaching an agreement with Maxim's Restaurant, the two brothers rode their bicycles to the Great Wall Hotel.

Li Weidong couldn't help but ask, "Second brother, Manager Liu said he wanted more, why not sell them to him? Why go all the way to the Great Wall Hotel to sell them?"

Li Zhe said, "Brother, the Great Wall Hotel is the best hotel in Beijing. Even the President of the United States stays here when he comes. This hotel is the benchmark and flagship of the domestic catering industry. Let me put it this way, it's a golden brand."

Li Weidong was somewhat unconvinced: "Our dishes don't have to worry about selling, why do we need a prestigious brand?"

Li Zhe said, "A good reputation can not only attract customers, but also help you avoid trouble. It all depends on whether you know how to use it."

Li Weidong still didn't quite understand, but if his second brother said so, then so be it; that kid's mind was more agile than his own.

When Li Weidong saw the Great Wall Hotel, he understood Li Zhe's words. The more than 20-story building and glass wall design shocked him. He had never seen such a building before.

"Second brother, isn't this glass house cold?"

"The hotel has air conditioning, so you don't need to worry about them."

As usual, Li Weidong waited outside the hotel while Li Zhe sneaked in with foreign exchange certificates. The lobby was decorated with crystal chandeliers and the marble floor was so shiny it reflected the light. Foreigners in suits came and went from time to time.

Li Zhe walked straight to the front desk: "Hello, comrade."

"Hello, do you need to check in?" the female attendant replied.

Li Zhe took out a business card and placed it on the front desk: "I am the head of the Daying Vegetable Cooperative. Our cooperative grows broccoli and lettuce in greenhouses. I wonder if your hotel has any needs for this?"

The waitress was taken aback, as this was the first time she had encountered such a situation: "Comrade, I am just a front desk clerk and I am not responsible for this kind of work."

"Could you ask the purchasing manager for me?"

The waitress gestured for him to rest in the lobby for a while, and said, "Please rest in the lobby for a while, and I'll ask for you."

"Thank you!" Li Zhe walked to the sofa opposite and sat down, watching the waiter make a phone call.

Then the waitress came over and said, "I'm sorry, sir, the purchasing manager is in a very important meeting and cannot serve you at the moment."

"How long will it take to wait?"

"I can't say for sure either."

Li Zhe glanced at the clock on the wall: "Okay, I'll sit here and wait a bit. Let me know when the meeting is over."

The waitress responded and returned to the front desk.

Li Zhe waited for about ten minutes and was about to go to the front desk to ask when he saw several foreigners walking in, chatting and laughing. One of the foreigners was carrying a broccoli, and a Black woman was carrying lettuce. Li Zhe could understand some simple foreign languages, but these foreigners were speaking so fast that he couldn't keep up at all.

As Li Zhe exited the hotel revolving door, he saw a group of foreigners surrounding Li Weidong. After some gesturing and some confusion, they actually made a deal. Li Weidong took the voucher, and the foreigners left with the food.

After dealing with another group of foreigners, Li Weidong saw Li Zhe and waved him over, saying, "Come here quickly, check if these foreign exchange certificates are real or fake! If you don't come out soon, the foreigners will snatch all the food!"

Li Zhe was somewhat amused and exasperated: "If you sell all the vegetables, how will people check the goods later?"

“I knew what I was doing, I still have the samples. I didn’t expect you to be gone for so long, the foreigners were all scrambling to get them, they just couldn’t stop,” Li Weidong said in a low voice. “Those foreigners were giving us foreign exchange certificates, we made a fortune. These foreign exchange certificates can fetch two or three times the price on the black market.”

Seeing two more foreigners approaching from a distance, Li Zhe said, "Let's keep selling. Once we're done, we'll go home."

"You're not selling it to this hotel?"

"The hotel manager is in a meeting, and we don't know when it will be over. Let's talk about it another day."

"After all this fuss, you still haven't met the real culprit. Second brother, how about I give you an idea that's guaranteed to work?"

"You said."

Li Weidong laughed and said, "Let's go straight to the hotel restaurant and order broccoli and lettuce. If they don't have them, we'll just display them and sell the vegetables, right?"

"Brother, I think you want to eat Western food, right?" Li Zhe teased, stroking his chin. "This place accepts foreign exchange certificates. I bet a steak will cost thirty or fifty foreign exchange certificates. I only have ten foreign exchange certificates. How can I afford that?"

"So expensive!" Li Weidong pulled out a handful of foreign exchange certificates from his pocket. "This is what I just earned, count it."

Li Zhe smiled and put the vegetables in his pocket: "If you sell the vegetables to these foreigners, they can afford them, which is like advertising for us."

Li Weidong: "..."

(End of this chapter)