After leaving the district government, Lin Mai drove his car and went to the Baohaochi flagship store without stopping.
The exterior decoration of Baohaochi flagship store is exactly the same as that of its chain stores, and the interior style is also the same, also following the ancient style route.
The only difference is that the interior is decorated very classically and elegantly.
Lin Mai walked around upstairs and downstairs and only made one suggestion.
Just put a guzheng in the corner of the lobby on the first floor and ask a beautiful girl who can play guzheng to play.
It's not like Jiangcheng doesn't have a music school, so it's quite easy to hire a girl who can play the guzheng.
She asked Zheng Xudong that since the flagship store was about to open, what activities was he planning to do besides giving away apples on Christmas Eve?
Zheng Xudong chuckled and said, "Use the same promotion method you have used before, Mr. Lin.
If your consumption reaches a certain amount, you can get a discount or a 20% discount. Do you think that’s okay?”
Lin Mai nodded: "Yes, but besides that, we can also put some effort into service."
In her previous life, she particularly admired Hai Zhong Lao. In terms of taste, it was definitely not the best in the hot pot world.
But why does it have such a good reputation and people are willing to go there to spend money?
A very important point is that the service is particularly good, and the customer is truly God.
Lin Mai told Zheng Xudong about Hai Zhong Lao’s service concept.
Zheng Xudong accepted it quickly.
But here comes the problem. The delicious snacks sold are not much more expensive than ordinary steamed buns and dumplings, but the service requirements are so high, which greatly increases the cost. It is really not cost-effective.
Lin Mai said very decisively: "Then raise the price."
Zheng Xudong was dumbfounded: "If the price increases, a lot of customers will be lost."
Lin Mai discovered a problem.
Whether it is Ren Baozhu or Hou Xinyi, now there is Zheng Xudong. They seem to be afraid of price increases. They always think that price increases are digging their own graves.
If the competitiveness of your products is weak, raising prices will definitely be a dead end.
But now that we have established a reputation and brand, it is normal for prices to rise.
At the famous snack bars in Jiangcheng, the steamed buns, hot dry noodles, tofu skins they sold at first were not affordable.
After word of mouth spread, the prices went up, and they didn't collapse, and they became a time-honored brand.
Although Lin Mai asked Zheng Xudong to increase prices, they are not making low-end snacks, but high-end snacks.
Next, Lin Mai went to Huazhong Agricultural University and asked several retired professors about winter vegetable diseases and insect pests.
Retired professors were surprised when they heard that she had grown out-of-season vegetables in a greenhouse.
After listening to Lin Mai's greenhouse principle, they knew it was not nonsense, but completely feasible.
They all lamented that they didn't think that way.
Lin Mai comforted them, saying that they didn't have the conditions at that time, so how could they think about off-season vegetables.
Before the reform and opening up, the situation of intellectuals was not very good, and it was not up to them to have the final say in what they wanted to do academically.
Vegetables grown in greenhouses were infected by diseases and insect pests, a situation none of these professors had ever experienced.
They were very interested and asked to go to the scene to see what was going on.
Lin Mai chose three professors who looked good and drove to the countryside.
People who are in poor health dare not ask for help because they are afraid that they will not be able to withstand the bumpy journey.
It was already past one in the afternoon when we arrived at Simei Town, and we needed to eat.
Now Simei Town also has small private restaurants.
Lin Mai picked a small restaurant next to the town's state-owned guest house and walked in.
The state-run guest house next door was deserted and no one visited it.
Lin Mai still remembers that when she entered the guest house after she was divided into the Wu family and had nowhere to go, the receptionist who received her had a look of disdain on her face.
But this life, thirty years to the east of Hedong, thirty years to the west of Hexi.
I don't know what the receptionist's expression looked like when he saw her now. He probably didn't recognize her.
Lin Mai is very famous in Simei Town.
When she walked into the small restaurant with a few elegant old professors, the restaurant owner and his wife immediately recognized her and greeted her with smiles on their faces, shouting that they were rare guests.
When they heard that she brought several old professors who specialized in treating greenhouse vegetable diseases and insect pests, the boss and his wife were in awe.
The landlady made hot tea and fried peanuts to entertain them.
According to Lin Mai's request, the boss bought large grass carp, pullets and pork ribs from the market and started cooking.
The old professors estimated that it would take at least an hour to cook this meal, and they planned to use this time to go to the greenhouse to check for plant diseases and insect pests.
Lin Mai was afraid of starving them, so he asked his boss to give each professor a bowl of poached eggs to eat, and then drove them to inspect greenhouses in ten nearby villages.
When the village chiefs got the news, they all came to accompany him.
After all, he was an expert and could tell at a glance that those vegetables were suffering from powdery mildew.
Lin Mai quickly asked for advice on what pesticides to buy so that she could find someone to buy them.
Several professors all smiled and shook their heads, saying that powdery mildew is easy to treat and does not require pesticides.
Just mix baking soda with water in a certain proportion and spray it on the vegetables.
The village chiefs looked at each other in shock. They never thought that the treatment method for this pest and disease that gave them headaches could be so simple!
After returning from the greenhouse, the boss and his wife had already prepared lunch.
The lunch was very rich, not only including pickled fish, chicken soup, potato-braised pork ribs, but also tomato scrambled eggs, braised fat duck, yuba pork belly... there are ten dishes in total.
Lin Mai smiled and said to the proprietress and his wife, "I didn't order so many dishes?"
The landlady smiled and said: "Many of the dishes were sent by the villagers for us to cook for a few old professors."
After lunch, Lin Mai paid the bill. The boss and his wife were only willing to charge for the dishes made with the ingredients they paid for.
They refused to accept the dishes made with ingredients sent by the folks.
Lin Mai gave up and took a few old professors to Wujiacun to inspect greenhouse vegetables.
The greenhouse vegetables in Wujiacun also suffered from powdery mildew. Several old professors told Village Chief Wu the same treatment method, and Lin Mai took them back to the city.
They were sent home respectfully and each of them was given a red envelope worth two hundred yuan.
It was still early, only around four o'clock in the afternoon, so Lin Mai drove to Fang Zhuoyue's machinery factory and asked him to accompany him to Guan Yonghua's factory to look at the equipment.
In order to get over the addiction of driving a luxury car, Fang Zhuoyue asked Lin Mai to sit in the passenger seat and he drove, and the two went to the Ximan Garment Factory.
Fang Zhuoyue looked at all the equipment carefully, tried it again, and nodded to Lin Mai.
Lin Mai understood that it was cost-effective to use these equipment to mortgage the 80,000 yuan compensation Guan Yonghua owed her.
Therefore, she told the court comrades accompanying them on the spot that she was willing to accept the court's suggestions.
The comrades in the court asked her to go to the court tomorrow to complete the procedures, and the equipment would be hers.
When Fang Zhuoran came back from get off work in the afternoon, Lin Mai hadn't made dinner yet.
He went into the kitchen, and while helping her, he asked her what the experts said after she asked experts to look at the pests and diseases of greenhouse vegetables in the countryside.
Lin Mai told him truthfully, and then sighed: "The pests and diseases of greenhouse vegetables are easy to control, but a new problem has arisen."
Fang Zhuoran handed the peeled garlic to her: "What new problem has arisen?"
Lin Mai told him that District Chief Ouyang wanted her to contract the Daxing Road food market.
Fang Zhuoran was stunned for a moment: "It's the Daxing Road food market that closed down last month and couldn't pay wages. The workers went to the city government to protest?"
This incident was quite a sensation at the time and was reported in the newspapers, so Fang Zhuoran also knew something about it.
Lin Mai sighed: "It's not just that market!"
Fang Zhuoran nodded: "The employees at that market are so noisy that they are really difficult to manage."
"I rejected District Chief Ouyang. Don't expect any help from him in the future." Lin Mai looked worried.
Doing business is difficult even if you don't know a few government officials.
Fang Zhuoran comforted her and said, "You don't have to worry about this, I still know some senior officials.
In the future, if any happy events are held at the homes of these senior officials, just send me invitations and I will bring you along to expand your network."
Lin Mai nodded in agreement.
Fang Zhuoran asked: "Do you want me to find someone to help you settle this matter about District Chief Ouyang?"
Lin Mai pondered for a moment, shook his head and refused: "If you find someone to settle things for me, I'm afraid District Chief Ouyang will hold a grudge against me. It's easy to make enemies but not easy to make them."
Both of them were silent, except for the sizzling sound of fish frying.
After a long while, Fang Zhuoran said: "Didn't you ask District Chief Ouyang why the superiors insisted on letting you take in those laid-off workers?
Maybe if you know the cause, you can find a solution?"
Lin Mai blinked his eyes and said, "What you said makes sense. I'll call and ask why."
After that, he put down the spatula and ran away.
Fang Zhuoran shook his head, picked up the spatula and continued to fry the fish.
Lin Mai ran to his room in one breath and called District Chief Ouyang.
Ask him why the superiors asked her to contract the Daxing Road market and why she had to take over those workers.
District Chief Ouyang explained: “Since the reform and opening up, many state-owned factories have faced the risk of bankruptcy.
When a factory closes down, workers will be laid off. When workers are laid off, they lose their source of income.
Above, the closure of factories and the layoff of workers were included in the cadre assessment.
The more laid-off workers there are in an area, the harder it will be to pass the assessment and they will be demoted.
The leader who wanted to force you to take over the employees of the Daxing Road market did so because many state-owned factories in the area he was responsible for closed down and too many people were laid off. He was afraid of being demoted, so he did so."
It is an inevitable trend for state-owned factories to close down due to poor management.
Although the above idea is good, we don’t want employees to lose their jobs and have no food to eat.
But how effective can it be to outsource laid-off workers to contractors and treat the symptoms rather than the root cause?
In order to keep his position, the leader wanted to use her as cannon fodder, which was really too much.
But whoever calls him a leader can't even twist his thigh with his little arms and legs.
Lin Mai thought for a moment and his eyes lit up: "Isn't it just to reduce the number of laid-off workers?
This is easy to handle. I can take over a group of laid-off workers from other factories, not necessarily the workers from Daxing Road Market."
On the other end of the phone, District Chief Ouyang was a little confused: "Since we are accepting laid-off workers, why do we have to accept laid-off workers from other factories?"
Lin Mai explained: "The laid-off workers I accept from other factories are workers who have been laid off for at least three months.
These laid-off workers have already tasted the pain of having no job and no income. If they are re-employed, they will definitely work well.
But the workers at the Daxing Road Market are different. They have not suffered anything, but they have been able to work seamlessly. Who will cherish their new jobs?
Not only do they not cherish it, but they also think that because the original food market collapsed, they can still have jobs because they can make a fuss.
As long as you don't follow their wishes in the future, they will get even more noisy.
So why should I accept these troublemakers?"
It was not her sudden idea to take in employees who had been laid off for at least three months.
There are laid-off workers like this in her Fuduoduo market, and they work very hard.
Only when people lose and gain again can they learn to cherish.
District Chief Ouyang nodded on the other end of the phone: "I'll reflect your thoughts to the leader and see what the leader says."