Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 289 Planning
As noon approached, the Mona Lisa Western Restaurant exuded elegance. The light brown wooden tables and chairs were polished to a shine, several Impressionist oil paintings hung on the walls, and soft jazz music played from a gramophone in the corner.

There weren't many guests at the moment, only a few tables, mostly occupied by blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners chatting quietly.

Marty stood behind the counter, holding a small notebook, checking today's featured dishes: French onion soup, pan-fried foie gras, and baked snails. She carefully marked each item, her short hair neatly tucked behind her ears, her eyes focused.

The restaurant door opened, and the wind chimes tinkled softly. Li Zhe walked in, wearing a clean white shirt and looking sharp and energetic.

"Mr. Li, you've arrived." Marty looked up and saw him, immediately smiling and speaking in a familiar tone.

Li Zhe nodded, glancing around the restaurant: "Where's your boss?"

"They're on the second floor, watching the renovations next door," Marty said, pointing to the stairwell. "You'll see them when you go up."

Li Zhe thanked her and went up the carpeted stairs to the second floor. The restaurant on the second floor was empty, without even a waiter.

As you walk to the end of the corridor, a newly carved doorway comes into view. The roar of electric drills, the shouts of workers, and the clanging of wood all come from inside, making it exceptionally noisy.

He stepped into the doorway and saw that the space next door was full of building materials and tools. Cement bags were piled up in the corner, sawdust was scattered on the ground, and a dozen workers were busy building walls and laying floors, working hard.

Shen Yanan stood in the corner with her arms crossed, wearing a plaid vest, frowning as she watched the workers build the wall, occasionally reminding them to "make sure the wall is flat".

Shen Yanan turned around and saw it was him, her brows immediately relaxed: "Brother, you've come at the right time! I've rented the second floor next door and plan to convert it into a private room. Can you take a look and see what you think of the layout?"

Li Zhe walked around the spacious open room, tapped the newly built partition wall with his finger, and frowned slightly: "Second sister, this partition wall is too thin. We need to add a layer of sound insulation cotton in the middle."

Guests choose private rooms for privacy; if they can hear everything the next room is saying, it really ruins their experience.

"I've thought of what you said too." Shen Yanan sighed, her tone tinged with frustration. "This renovation is a bottomless pit. I don't like the inferior materials, and the imported ones are too expensive."

The soundproofing and plumbing/electrical work alone will cost a fortune; it's driving me crazy.

Li Zhe deeply agreed. He had just bought a shop, and the subsequent renovation would also be a considerable expense: "Let's take it slow. Renovation is a delicate process and can't be rushed. Let's compare several building material suppliers and we'll eventually find one with a good price-performance ratio."

“That’s true.” Shen Yanan smiled and led him out of the renovation area and back to the second floor of the Western restaurant. The two sat in a booth by the window, with freshly brewed black tea on the table.

"Let's not talk about renovations. You've come at the right time. I've used my connections to get a 200-ton canned food export order to the Soviet Union. How much stock does our 'Good Taste' canned food factory have right now?"

When the cannery was mentioned, Li Zhe immediately became serious: "Currently, we are producing canned tomatoes and canned yellow peaches, totaling about 80 tons, and about 10 tons of canned pickled cucumbers. The total inventory is about 80 or 90 tons."

"Then how much do you think is appropriate for us to supply to the foreign trade company at one time?" Shen Yanan pressed, her fingers unconsciously tapping the table.

“My main concern is the repayment issue…” Li Zhe frowned slightly. The situation in the Soviet Union was unstable, and anything could happen, but he couldn’t be too direct.
"In that case, next time I deliver goods, I'll go to the foreign trade company to ask if they have any marketable goods in their warehouse, such as timber, steel, or fertilizer."

If it's suitable, we can barter for supplies with canned goods, clear out the cannery's inventory, and reduce inventory pressure.

“Okay, I’ll call Manager Wu from the foreign trade company this afternoon to find out the delivery time and the current purchase price, so we can prepare in advance,” Shen Yanan readily agreed.

As the two were talking, Li Zhe suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Second Sister, I made an appointment with Brother Lin to have lunch together. He'll be here soon."

Shen Yanan asked curiously, "You said you wanted to buy a shop, did you buy it?"

"I bought it. It's right over in the Asian Games Village, a 500-square-meter shop on the ground floor. The location is pretty good." Li Zhe nodded with a smile.

"Wow, 500 square meters! What do you plan to do with such a big shop?" Shen Yanan asked, somewhat surprised.

"I want to open a supermarket," Li Zhe said.

"A supermarket?" Shen Yanan repeated, then realized, "You mean one of those self-service supermarkets run by foreigners? You go in, pick out your own things, and pay at the checkout?"

Li Zhe raised an eyebrow and smiled, "It has to be you, Second Sister. When I tell other people I'm opening a supermarket, they don't know what that is. I have to explain it to them first."

“I’ve only seen it when I was abroad,” Shen Yanan said with a smile and waved her hand. “But you have a really good eye. It’ll definitely be lively there when the Asian Games start next year. Many of my friends have bought houses there. With more rich people, supermarkets will definitely have a lot of business.”

Li Zhe had already made his plans. Having lived through the 1990s, he knew that there was a saying back then: "Having a mobile phone, driving a car, and living in the Asian Games Village" was the standard for wealthy people.

There are not only high-income people there, but also many foreign-related institutions and overseas Chinese, who have strong spending power and don't have to worry about customers at all.

As the two were chatting, Lin Weimin carried his briefcase up to the second floor.

When he saw Li Zhe and Shen Yanan, he immediately walked over with a smile: "Second sister, brother Li, I'm sorry, something came up at the bureau, I'm late."

"It's not too late, it's not too late. I'll go check on the kitchen. You two sit down for a while." Shen Yanan got up and invited him to sit down before turning to go to the kitchen.

Li Zhe picked up the teapot and poured him a cup of black tea: "Brother Lin, have some tea."

"Okay." Lin Weimin took the teacup and glanced in the direction of the renovation: "What's going on over there? All that banging and clanging?"

“The second floor next door is for rent. My second sister took it all over and plans to build a batch of private rooms,” Li Zhe said.

Lin Weimin took a sip of tea and laughed, "Hey, Second Sister's restaurant is getting more and more popular. It makes me want to start my own business."

Li Zhe took out a bulging envelope from his briefcase and handed it to Lin Weimin: "Brother Lin, you helped me with everything from buying the shops in the Asian Games Village. This is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."

Li Zhe knew very well that Lin Weimin had helped him a lot in buying the shops in the Asian Games Village at a low price. Without Lin Weimin's help, even if he could have bought the shops, the price would definitely not have been this high.

Lin Weimin quickly waved his hand, looking a little embarrassed: "Brother, you're being too polite. We're friends, it's only right that I help you out."

Li Zhe stuffed the envelope into his hand, his tone sincere, "Brother Lin, I'll definitely need your help again in the future. If you don't accept it, I'll feel bad, and I won't have the nerve to ask you for help again."

Lin Weimin looked at the heavy envelope in his hand, then at Li Zhe's sincere eyes, and sighed with a smile: "Alright, I know you're a good friend, so I won't be pretentious. I'll accept this token of my appreciation. If you need anything in the future, just let me know."

The two chatted for a while, and then Shen Yanan returned.

The waiter brought the dishes to the table: first, two appetizers, one a vegetable salad with Thousand Island dressing and the other smoked salmon; then the main courses, pan-fried lamb chops, red wine braised beef, French-style baked snails, and seafood risotto; finally, a chocolate lava cake was served, filling the entire table.

The three of them ate while chatting about the development of the Asian Games Village.

Li Zhe talked about the construction of residential areas and apartments for foreigners in the area, while Lin Weimin added about future transportation plans. Shen Yanan also mentioned that she had many friends in the Asian Games Village.

As they chatted, the three of them came up with the idea of ​​starting a business together in the Asian Games Village, but they couldn't think of a suitable project for the time being.

After the meal, Lin Weimin rode his bicycle away from the restaurant.

He rode into a quiet alley, looked around to make sure no one was watching, stopped his bike, took the envelope out of his briefcase, and carefully opened it—inside were neatly stacked 3000 yuan in foreign exchange certificates.

Lin Weimin's eyes widened instantly, and he couldn't help but mutter, "Goodness, that's more than two years' salary for me! Brother Li, you're so generous!"

He carefully put away the foreign exchange certificates, thinking to himself that he needed to hurry up and find other suitable shops and residences for Li Zhe...

...Diplomatic Residence, 365 Vegetable Store.

In the afternoon, the vegetable shop was quiet. No customers came in, and several employees were dozing off by the shelves. Only the sound of chewing could be heard from behind the counter.

Sun Tao sat behind the counter, holding a sesame seed cake in his hand, enjoying it with a plate of pickled vegetable shreds. He even picked up the sesame crumbs that had fallen on the counter and ate them.

With a rustling sound, he looked up and saw Li Zhe walking in. He quickly put down the sesame seed cake, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, stood up and said with a smile, "Brother Li, you've arrived!"

Li Zhe nodded, his gaze sweeping over the sesame seed cakes and pickled vegetables on the counter. He frowned and asked, "Why are you eating this?"

"Hey, I love this!" Sun Tao waved his hand dismissively, then picked up the sesame seed cake and took a bite. "I've loved sesame seed cakes since I was a kid. They taste even better than meat when eaten with pickled vegetable shreds."

As he spoke, he moved a wooden chair over from the side: "Brother Li, please sit down."

"Don't worry about me, eat yours first." Li Zhe waved his hand and slowly started walking around the shelves.

The cucumbers and tomatoes in the vegetable section were neatly arranged, each one still moist with fresh moisture, and all roughly the same size, with no misshapen or cracked fruits; the eggs were placed in special paper trays, the shells wiped clean, without a trace of chicken feathers or droppings.

The grocery section next door was also neatly arranged with laundry detergent, soap, canned goods, and other items, much more organized than when I last visited.

He nodded in satisfaction. Although Sun Tao was young, he was indeed reliable in his work.

Sun Tao finished the sesame seed cake in a few bites, drank some hot water, wiped his hands, picked up the blue ledger on the counter and walked over: "Brother Li, this is the turnover for the past few days, take a look."

Li Zhe took the ledger and flipped through the numbers—the daily turnover was 20% less than last month, only 70-80% of what it used to be, but the data for the past few days had been relatively stable and had not dropped any further.

He closed the ledger and handed it to Sun Tao: "It's good that things have stabilized. You've worked hard during this time."

Sun Tao sighed and scratched his head: "The turnover is stable, but the profit has dropped a lot. In order to compete with that vegetable store in Chaowai, we improved the appearance of our vegetables and lowered the price a bit. In the end, we earn less than half of what we used to."

"That's normal. If you want to do business in the long run, you can't always be thinking about making huge profits," Li Zhe smiled and continued.

“Competition is what makes a market normal. If there is no competition, it’s a monopoly, and ordinary people like us won’t have a chance. Right now, we need to retain our customers. Once our off-season vegetables are on the market, our sales will increase.”

Sun Tao nodded as if he understood, "Brother Li, you have a higher level of understanding. My brain can't quite grasp it right now."

"Take your time learning." Li Zhe changed the subject and asked, "Are you busy at the shop this afternoon? If not, come out with me."

Sun Tao readily agreed: "No problem! I've arranged everything at the store, I can leave anytime."

"Let's go then." After saying that, Li Zhe took the lead and walked out of the vegetable store.

Sun Tao gave the shop assistants a few brief instructions, then hurriedly followed Li Zhe out and got into the white Volga sedan. Once seated, he couldn't help but ask, "Brother Li, where are we going?"

As Li Zhe started the car, he calmly said, "Let's go to the Asian Games Village. I bought a shop there. I'll take you to see it."

"Bought a shop?!" Sun Tao's eyes widened instantly, and his voice rose several decibels.

A while ago, Li Zhe did mention wanting to open a supermarket, but opening a supermarket is no easy task. But seeing Li Zhe's calm tone, as if he had just said "I bought a cabbage," he was really taken aback.

He took a few deep breaths, barely suppressing his shock, and asked again, "Brother Li, how big is that shop...?"

“Five hundred and twenty square meters,” Li Zhe replied casually.

Sun Tao was shocked once again—the “365 Vegetable Store” they opened next to the diplomatic apartment was only about 80 square meters, while the new store was six times larger. He didn’t even have the courage to ask “how much”, and the atmosphere in the car instantly became silent.

After driving for more than twenty minutes, the Volga sedan finally arrived at the Asian Games Village.

The car stopped in front of a street-facing shop. Li Zhe got out and pointed to the shop in front of him, saying to Sun Tao, "This is the shop I bought. What do you think? Is it suitable for opening a supermarket?"

Sun Tao got off the bus and scanned the surroundings. He had been to the Asian Games Village before, when it was a construction site everywhere. Now, there were many completed residential buildings and apartments, more cars on the road, and he could occasionally see a few foreigners with high noses and blue eyes. It was much more prosperous than before.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "Brother Li, you have such a keen eye! With the Asian Games starting next year, this place will definitely be even more prosperous. Opening a supermarket here is sure to make you money!"

Li Zhe opened the shop door: "Let's go in and take a look."

Sun Tao walked into the shop and looked at the spacious interior. He couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow!" It's so bright and airy here! If we put up shelves and displayed goods, it would look much better and be more impressive than our vegetable shop!

Li Zhe asked, "What are your thoughts on the supermarket's planning? You can share them."

Sun Tao took a deep breath and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Brother Li, to be honest, this place is so big, it completely exceeded my expectations. My mind is still blank, and I can't think of anything specific right now..."

Seeing this, Li Zhe took the initiative to explain his plan: "Our biggest advantage is attracting customers with off-season vegetables. Off-season vegetables only come to market in November, so the supermarket plans to open after November. It's already the end of August, so time is actually quite tight."

He paused, then added, "There's a lot of work to be done: store decoration, market research, establishing product procurement channels, store layout and display planning, obtaining a business license, recruiting staff, and later marketing planning."

At this point, Li Zhe also felt that things were complicated, and even thought that opening in November might not be realistic, so it would have to be postponed. He continued, "I'll ask Brother Hong for help with the business license. Other work hasn't been specifically arranged yet. What are your thoughts?"

Sun Tao asked in confusion, "Brother Li, what does this 'market research' mean?"

Li Zhe patiently explained: "It's about understanding the consumption needs, consumption levels, and consumption habits of the residents around the Asian Games Village. The more people we survey, the more accurate the data we get."

Of course, we need to conduct research with our target customers; those who are unlikely to come to the supermarket to shop should not be included in the research scope.

“I understand!” Sun Tao summarized in plain language, “It’s like opening a store near a school, where you need to stock more stationery and snacks that students usually use; or like opening a store near an old residential area, you need to focus on the daily necessities and affordable vegetables that the elderly need, right?”

“That’s right, that’s exactly the point.” Li Zhe nodded with a smile.

Sun Tao's eyes lit up, and he volunteered: "Brother Li, I'll take charge of the market research and product procurement channels! I'm familiar with the Chongwenmen vegetable market, and I can find cheap and good sources of goods there. As for the research, I'll take people to visit the neighborhoods a few more times and do some more surveys!"

“Okay.” Li Zhe nodded. Sun Tao had connections in the vegetable market, so he was indeed suitable for purchasing. “Be careful when conducting research, don’t annoy people. Prepare some small gifts in advance to give to the people being surveyed, and they will be more willing to say a few more words.”

Sun Tao nodded repeatedly.

The two walked around the shop again, discussing the decoration style and layout...

After chatting for a while, Sun Tao hesitated for a moment before asking the question that had been on his mind: "Brother Li, once this supermarket is built, who do you plan to have manage it?"

Li Zhe glanced at him: "At present, you are the first choice."

But let me be clear from the start: if you still don't have the skills to manage a supermarket by then, I'll have to hire someone experienced from outside to be your assistant, so you can learn and practice as much as you can.

Sun Tao took a deep breath, his eyes hardening, and said with great enthusiasm, "Brother Li, don't worry! I will definitely study hard and improve my skills!"

Li Zhe patted him on the shoulder, his tone full of trust: "Go for it, I believe in you!"

(End of this chapter)