Chapter 160: Drawing a Blueprint

Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Drawing a Blueprint

"How is that possible?"

Zhang Minzhen’s first reaction to Gu Nuan Nuan’s words was to reach out and feel her forehead, checking for a fever.

"Mom, I don’t think anything is impossible in this world. If we can just think about things from a different angle, the outcome might be completely different." Gu Nuan Nuan took a deep breath, mentally preparing what she was about to say. "On the way here today, I could tell from Uncle’s tone that he isn’t very optimistic about our business. After hearing what he thought, I started wondering... what if we try a different approach?"

"A different approach? Tell me, how would we do that?" Zhang Minzhen was on the verge of refuting her, but she suddenly remembered her daughter’s recent performance and forced herself to change her tune.

"Take selling the buns, for example. Mom, other than just setting up a stall on the street and hawking them, have you had any other ideas?"

"Hmm?" Zhang Minzhen thought for a long moment. "Does supplying the buns to workplace cafeterias count?"

"Anything else?" Gu Nuan Nuan’s eyes brightened as she pressed on. ’Looks like Mom has a pretty good head for business, huh?’

"Anything else? Well, there’s opening our own shop."

"Okay, and if we were to open a shop, how would you go about it, Mom?"

"How else would you open a shop? You just rent a storefront, open for business, and if things get really busy, you hire some help, right?" Zhang Minzhen eyed her daughter with suspicion.

"Mom, do you think our buns are good? The kind that makes you crave more after just one bite?" Gu Nuan Nuan asked Zhang Minzhen, already knowing the answer. The words had barely left her mouth before her mother rolled her eyes. "Is that even a question? Stop beating around the bush. If you have an idea, just spit it out."

"Heh, Mom, our buns are delicious, so we can’t sell them using the same old methods everyone else does. That wouldn’t make us stand out." Gu Nuan Nuan said with a light laugh. "So, in my opinion, before we even start selling, we need to give our buns a name. Something like ’Zhang’s,’ for example. That way, in the future, whenever people talk about buns, they’ll say, ’The buns from Zhang’s are just too good.’"

"You’re right about that. But creating a brand name when we don’t even have a shop... isn’t that a bit premature? A little too flashy? Won’t people laugh at us?" While Zhang Minzhen agreed, she couldn’t help but feel a little doubtful.

"Afraid of being flashy when you’re doing business?" Gu Nuan Nuan couldn’t help but laugh. "When you’re in business, don’t you want the whole world to know about our meat buns?"

"You’re right. What else? Keep going," Zhang Minzhen said, laughing in spite of herself.

Of course there was.

Gu Nuan Nuan continued, "Once we’ve built a name for ourselves, the next step is to open our own shop. After we have our own storefront, we can start recruiting for franchise stores."

"Franchise stores? What’s a franchise store?" Zhang Minzhen was completely lost.

"A franchise is when we let someone else use our brand name to open a shop that’s decorated exactly like our own bun shop. The goal is that as soon as someone walks in, they’ll know it’s one of our ’Zhang’s’ bun shops. However, we’re not responsible for the money they spend opening the shop or hiring staff. We’re only responsible for supplying them with the buns. Then, we charge them an annual franchise fee and a security deposit. This ensures they maintain the store’s decor to match ours exactly and only sell buns they’ve purchased from us. If they fail to meet these conditions, we have the right to confiscate their deposit and revoke their right to use our brand." Gu Nuan Nuan explained the franchising model that would become incredibly popular in the future.

"So you’re saying... we let other people use our brand name to open a store and sell our meat buns for us, and then... and then we also charge them money every year and dictate that they can only sell buns they get from us? Is that what you mean?" Zhang Minzhen felt like she was hearing things. She stared at her daughter in disbelief. ’A brand name can be used like that? But who would ever agree to those terms?’

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to calm down and think through her daughter’s words one more time. Then she asked herself: ’If it were me, and I had the money... would I be willing?’

As she mulled it over, her furrowed brow gradually smoothed out, and her heart began to pound. The meat bun filling her daughter had created... with a recipe that good, maybe there really would be people willing to agree. If so, setting everything else aside, they could just hire a team to focus on making and selling the buns, and they’d have a stable income every month. And if more and more of these franchise stores opened...

"Exactly."

Seeing her mother’s growing excitement, Gu Nuan Nuan thought for a moment before adding, "If you think about it, our initial costs aren’t actually that high. Other than the capital needed to open the first store ourselves, the franchise fees we collect later on will be enough to build a distribution center.

Once everything is on track, the monthly profit from the buns we sell will be significant. And to build our reputation and make our brand even more famous, we can also launch all sorts of incentive programs. For example, the price we charge each store for the meat buns doesn’t have to be fixed. Instead, it could be based on their monthly order volume from us.

We can start with a standard wholesale price, and then at the end of the month, we tally up the numbers. We can reward the shops with the highest order volumes with rebates. That way, to earn more money, each shop will naturally find ways to promote our meat buns for us. The more people who know about us, the more famous our brand will become. Eventually, our bun shops could open up all across the country, and maybe even around the world."

The blueprint her daughter painted was so wonderful that the more Zhang Minzhen thought about it, the more captivated she became. Suddenly, she snapped back to reality with a jolt. "You’re right, but actually doing all this won’t be so easy, will it? The most crucial element is the recipe for the bun filling. If we’re only opening shops in town or the city, that’s manageable. But for places farther away, we’d have to set up a distribution center in each region, wouldn’t we? How could you guarantee the recipe for the filling wouldn’t get leaked?"

"I’ve already thought about that. A pre-mixed, powdered seasoning packet can solve the issue. We can train one or two trustworthy people at each distribution center to be solely responsible for mixing the filling."

Gu Nuan Nuan had already asked Cao Cao about it; her idea was completely feasible. She could even mix in a powder made from the extracted and dried juice of a plant—one that was relatively easy to find but wasn’t a common spice or medicinal herb. When that plant powder combined with another specific ingredient in her recipe, it would create a unique, special flavor. This flavor would not only further enhance the texture of the meat filling but would also be beneficial to one’s health. More importantly, even if someone tried to analyze the seasoning packet with scientific instruments, they would still have to figure out the exact proportions of the ingredients.

"But you can never be certain about people. What if... even if it’s just a powder, who’s to say there isn’t someone with an incredible palate who could taste all the individual ingredients?"