Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 213 Foreign Trade Orders
Mona Lisa Restaurant.

Li Zhe hadn't been here for a while, and today was the day to collect payments every seven days. Around 9 a.m., Li Zhe strolled over to the Mona Lisa Restaurant.

Although Mona Lisa Restaurant does not serve breakfast, it does have a coffee shop and opens earlier than most restaurants.

Li Zhe entered the restaurant with practiced ease and ordered a black coffee. He'd eaten quite a lot of oily food during the Lunar New Year holidays, so a latte wouldn't be appropriate.

Marty brought the coffee. As the restaurant manager, she rarely serves guests directly anymore; she mainly just greets Li Zhe on his behalf.

Li Zhe said with a smile, "Marty, I'm preparing to open a restaurant. When you have time, come to my restaurant with your boss and give me your feedback."

Mattie pulled up a chair and sat down: "Mr. Li, what kind of restaurant do you want to open? Is it also a Western restaurant?"

"Why would I open a Western restaurant! If I want to eat Western food, I can just come to your restaurant for a meal. Why would I need to open another one?" Li Zhe picked up his coffee cup and took a sip. It was bitter! But it was definitely refreshing.

He hasn't been sleeping well at night lately and is tired in the mornings, so he drinks a cup of coffee almost every morning. He stops drinking it after noon, worried that he won't be able to sleep at night.

"I'm planning to open a fusion restaurant specializing in Sichuan cuisine. Can you handle spicy food?"

"My mom is from Chongqing! Not to mention spicy food, I can eat any kind of chili pepper!"

Li Zhe laughed: "So, you might become a big customer of our restaurant?"

"Then you'll have to give me a membership card. I won't go without a discount!"

"Don't worry, I'll definitely give you a discount." Although Marty is the manager of a Western restaurant, the management philosophy is essentially the same. Li Zhe also hopes that she can offer some professional advice to Shuxiangju.

During the conversation, Shen Yanan arrived: "Hey, what are you two talking about? You seem to be having a good time!"

"Boss, you guys chat, I'm going to check on the kitchen," Marty said, getting up to leave.

Li Zhe told Shen Yanan about opening a Sichuan restaurant.

Shen Yanan sat across the table: "Brother, you're doing really well now, you're practically opening stores everywhere! First you opened a vegetable shop, and now you've opened a restaurant."

"Second sister, the core of my business is still off-season vegetables."

If it weren't for off-season vegetables to attract customers, foreigners would go directly to Friendship Store or its service centers. Why would they come to my vegetable store to make purchases?

The same applies to opening a restaurant. If it weren't for the off-season vegetables that attract customers, I probably wouldn't have ventured into the food service industry. To put it bluntly, Li Zhe is taking advantage of the current scarcity of off-season vegetables to expand his surrounding businesses.

Once these businesses are profitable, the disappearance of the scarcity of off-season vegetables and the decrease in profits will not have a significant impact on him.

The two then began to reconcile the accounts.

As Mona Lisa Restaurant's business improved, their demand for vegetables also increased, leading to a rise in the purchase of various vegetables. The total weight of several kinds of vegetables and fruits reached about 150 jin (75 catties), worth nearly 1000 foreign exchange certificates per day.

Li Zhe tallied the daily vegetable supply and prices, and the total cost for the previous week was 6823 foreign exchange certificates. Li Zhe rounded it down to 6800 foreign exchange certificates for her.

Li Zhe didn't leave immediately; instead, he waited for the truck to finish delivering the vegetables and come pick him up. To actually take such a large sum of money and wander the streets would be like an old man hanging himself—seeking unnecessary thrills.

Shen Yanan took the black coffee from the waiter, added some milk, and stirred it with a spoon: "Brother, I have a project here, I don't know if you'd be interested?"

Li Zhe asked instinctively, "Second sister, what project?"

"In recent years, Sino-Soviet relations have gradually normalized from a long period of tension and confrontation, and there have been some exchanges between the people in Northeast China," Shen Yanan said in a low voice.

“During the Spring Festival, I chatted with my elders at home. They said that Sino-Soviet relations might take a big step forward this year, with economic, trade and technological cooperation fully restored, especially bilateral economic and trade relations showing significant growth.”

Li Zhe stroked his chin. He was self-aware and knew very well that these national-level matters were beyond his control, but as long as he followed the will of the state, making a little money was still possible.

The second sister took a sip of coffee and continued, "The Soviet Union's light industry is weak and it urgently needs daily consumer goods. I've used my connections to secure some food export orders. Little brother, are you interested in working with me?"

"Second sister, what kind of food order?"

"The journey from our country to the Soviet Union was quite long, and ordinary food was difficult to preserve for such a long time. Canned food, such as canned meat, canned vegetables, and canned fruit, was the best option. The Soviet Union needed these."

As she spoke, the second sister took out a document from her backpack. "This document contains information on the varieties that the Soviet Union needs."

Li Zhe took the documents and looked them over: the meats included luncheon meat, braised beef, steamed pork, and steamed beef; the vegetables and fruits included canned pickles, canned green beans, canned tomatoes, canned eggplant sauce, canned yellow peaches, canned pineapple, canned oranges, and canned hawthorn. Li Zhe pressed on, "Is there anything you need me to make?"

"On the one hand, there is funding, and on the other hand, there is the supply of goods."

"Second sister, how many cans of food do you need? What's the purchase price for the order?"

"Around 100 tons is achievable. The specific purchase price is still unknown and we need to wait for further negotiations between the two parties. However, I estimate that the results will be available soon."

"Is the payment processed quickly?" This is Li Zhe's biggest concern.

"It will take about a month to go through the procedures."

Li Zhe nodded. Most people in later generations had heard about Mu Qizhong's story of exchanging canned food for airplanes, and many talked about it with great interest, regarding it as a legend.

Mu Qizhong's experience is hard to replicate, but it indirectly shows that Sino-Soviet trade was very profitable and worthwhile. Previously, he couldn't find the way, but now, having gotten on his second sister's bandwagon, and with some savings of his own, Li Zhe could give it a try.

Li Zhe had an idea in mind and said, "Second sister, I'm definitely happy that you're willing to help me make money. However, I don't know much about the canned food market. I'll go and find out about the domestic canned food market and prices in the next couple of days."

Could you inquire again about the purchase price of canned goods for export orders? Let's meet again in a couple of days to see if there's any potential.

"Brother, that's exactly what I mean. You're better than me at doing business, so you should work harder and do more legwork. Leave the foreign trade channels to me, and I guarantee no one will take them away." Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and Shen Yanan is no exception.

She's good at dealing with people in the compound, and has a lot of male and female friends around her, but when it comes to doing specific tasks, she's clueless and lacks the patience.

Furthermore, her identity can sometimes be an obstacle, making it inconvenient for her to appear directly. Finding a partner who is skilled in business and has sufficient capital can perfectly compensate for her shortcomings.

After this period of contact, the two have developed a certain level of trust, which forms the basis for their cooperation.

If the two parties have only known each other for a short time, Li Zhe will not easily cooperate with them.

Li Zhe first took a truck to the bank to deposit money, and then returned home to settle accounts.

Every day when Li Zhe gets home, he calculates the accounts: first, the income from selling vegetables, such as the daily vegetable production, losses, and sales volume; after collecting payments every seven days, he checks the accounts.

Secondly, there's the income from the convenience store, which is a bit more complicated. Fortunately, Sun Tao helps him keep records, so he only needs to check the records.

Li Zhe hadn't done his final accounting for a while; the last time was on December 27th. At that time, after deducting all expenses, Li Zhe's total funds were: RMB 48770, foreign exchange certificates RMB 9140, ​​and margin RMB 3153.

In the past month or so, Li Zhe has also spent a lot of money: for example, the deposit has been returned to the person who bought cucumbers from him, and that money is no longer available;

Li Zhe paid the remaining 20,000 yuan for the courtyard house and got back the 1,000 yuan deposit; then, Ji Hongbin exchanged 11,500 yuan for 5,000 yuan in foreign exchange certificates from him.
The rent for the 365 Vegetable Store is 1200 yuan in foreign exchange certificates; the Chongwenmen Vegetable Market receives 300 yuan in foreign exchange certificates every month.

In addition, employees received their December and January salaries, bonuses, and benefits; the investment of 6400 yuan in opening the Shuxiangju restaurant; and there were also regular expenses and gift-giving costs, which were not a small amount...

However, compared to the expenses, Li Zhe's profits over the past month or so are more considerable.

Li Zhe's income has not remained constant during this period. As the daily production of vegetables and fruits has increased, his daily income has also been rising. In addition, he has also increased his income from the convenience store.

Li Zhe added up all these incomes: among them, the 365 Vegetable Store started its trial operation on January 16, and the sales on that day reached 2680 foreign exchange certificates.

Although the sales volume is high, off-season vegetables and imported steaks barely generate any profit, and these two items together account for about half of the sales volume. The real money comes from the other half of the products.

During the Chinese New Year period, the supply of off-season vegetables increased significantly, and many products also canceled their discounts and promotions. Sales reached nearly 4,000 yuan in foreign exchange certificates, and the daily gross profit reached about 400 yuan in foreign exchange certificates.

Li Zhe's main income comes from greenhouse vegetables. Because vegetables are planted at different times and different varieties mature at different times, the income from vegetables fluctuates every few days. Currently, the daily output of vegetables from the greenhouses reaches 700 jin (350 kg), with daily RMB income exceeding 2,000 yuan. In addition, foreign exchange certificate income has surpassed RMB income, reaching 2,500 foreign exchange certificates.

Li Zhe added up his previous savings and income, and after deducting previous expenses, his current savings are: RMB 11400 in cash and RMB 90039 in foreign exchange certificates.

While the amount of money seemed substantial, Li Zhe actually still owed the credit union 112,000 yuan. However, this loan was interest-free, and Li Zhe wasn't in a hurry to repay it.

If you have enough funds, you can start thinking about the canned food export business.

Li Zhe's uncle works at the cannery, and he wants to visit his uncle that evening to inquire about the market situation of canned goods.

(End of this chapter)