Chapter 201 - 121: Promotion
"Alright," Old Zhang said helplessly, but he didn’t say anything more.
Aside from the customers coming for the 9.9 yuan special boxed lunch, there were also those who came for the Boiled Fish in Chili Oil and Fish with Pickled Mustard Greens.
Even though many knew it was Egyptian Fish, the taste was undeniably excellent. Processed by a specialized filleting machine, the fish slices were completely boneless and lacked any muddy flavor, making for an incredibly satisfying meal.
Plus, the prices were very low.
For example, a small order of Boiled Fish in Chili Oil contained 500 grams of fish and cost only 18 yuan. A medium order had 1000 grams of fish for 28 yuan, and a large order contained 2000 grams for 48 yuan.
In addition to the fish, the Boiled Fish in Chili Oil came with plenty of side ingredients like bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, sliced lotus root, and wood ear mushrooms.
Even so, the 18-yuan small order of Boiled Fish in Chili Oil still yielded a gross profit of 8 yuan.
However, the item in the restaurant with the highest profit margin was actually the 9.9 yuan special boxed lunch. This meal contained 300 grams of fish, 300 grams of rice, and 300 grams of cabbage stir-fried with pork cracklings. The combined cost was about 4.3 yuan, resulting in a gross profit of 5.6 yuan.
After all, these boxed lunches were all mass-produced at the central kitchen in Magong.
To supply the eight Jianghai Restaurant locations, the central kitchen had taken over the entire Nanhu Resort hotel building. Jiang Miao and the others had moved their offices to the staff dormitories in Nanhu Village or the office building in the experimental zone.
Seeing that the first wave of customers was nearly finished, Ye Meiya quickly stood up, holding a small portable megaphone. "Valued customers, thank you all so much for your support. For the next few days, we’re holding a grand opening tour event. Any customer who dines with us can sign up for a two-hour express tour of Magong Town. Here are the participation tickets."
Every customer received a participation ticket, which listed the tour’s itinerary.
This included a tour of the Yandun Mountain Egyptian Catfish Farm, the private fish farms in Salt Town Village, the Magong Fishing Port Canning Factory, the Nanhu Resort central kitchen, and Nanhu Farm.
At the bottom, the ticket also read: "Present this ticket and your Jianghai Restaurant receipt to receive one box of canned eel at the canning factory or one kilogram of Red-Heart Tomatoes at Nanhu Farm."
"How do we get there? Do we drive ourselves?" Xiaohuangmao asked, playing his part.
Ye Meiya smiled and quickly explained, "Everyone, as soon as we gather twenty people, our company minibus will take you there and bring you back, all for free."
The allure of a freebie and a good deal instantly piqued many people’s interest.
To facilitate the Jianghai Restaurant promotion, the fish farm, canning factory, central kitchen, and Nanhu Farm had all been renovated. They had installed dedicated viewing corridors, using transparent, floor-to-ceiling glass windows to separate the production zones from the guest walkways.
After all, production facilities like the central kitchen and canning factory were not places where outsiders could be allowed to enter directly.
Before long, twenty customers were eager to go.
After grabbing their receipts from the cashier, Ye Meiya led them to a spot near Shanmei Middle School, where a minibus was already waiting.
Once at the minibus, Ye Meiya handed each person in the group a temporary blue vest. This was to easily identify them and prevent them from wandering off at the farm and factory.
On the bus, Ye Meiya smiled as she began to tell the group about the history and various products of the Hailufeng Company.
A couple of tourists from out of town weren’t really in it for the free gifts; they simply wanted to take the free bus to see Magong Town.
"Miss, your strawberries are so expensive! Can’t you make them a little cheaper?" an older woman, who seemed to have bought the company’s strawberries before, piped up.
Ye Meiya smiled and explained, "Ma’am, we sell direct from the source, so this is already the lowest price."
"Can we pick strawberries at the farm?" another woman asked curiously.
"Our tour areas are kept separate from the production zones due to food safety regulations. We don’t offer a you-pick strawberry experience for tourists at this time."
Guo Xiaobo, one of the out-of-town tourists, flipped through the folded pamphlet that came with his ticket. "Miss, can we see your company’s White Truffles, too?"
"Yes, you can. The White Truffle greenhouses are located right on Nanhu Farm, so we’ll be able to see them during the tour."
"I read on Xiaohongshu that the fish and shrimp in Magong Town are super fresh and cheap. Can we check that out on this trip?" asked Guo Xiaobo’s wife, Gao Ya, as she snapped photos with her phone.
"Miss, it’s noon now," another passenger chimed in. "The Magong fish market usually only has fresh-caught seafood in the morning, and the prices are only a few yuan cheaper than the city markets anyway."
Before they knew it, the minibus had passed Jinting Bay and rounded a bend, arriving at the turnoff for the road to Magong Town.
They could see construction sites on both sides of the road.
Ye Meiya pointed to the sites on either side of the road and explained, "The construction site to the south, closer to the mountain, is our company’s new office building. The one to the north is our employee housing complex."
"Your company even has its own employee housing?"
"Are the apartments free?"
"Even state-owned enterprises and government agencies have stopped giving out free housing. What are you dreaming about?"
"Housing prices are a lot cheaper than they used to be."
"Cheaper? It’s still seven or eight thousand a square meter, and you have to pay for all that shared building space. No way in hell I’m buying."
The passengers chattered amongst themselves.
After passing the gas station in Xinxiang and going over a small hill, they soon arrived at the Yandun Mountain Industrial Park.
The minibus slowly came to a stop.
Not far away, another minibus was parked on the side of the road. It seemed the manager of the Hai Feng County branch had also brought a group of customers for a tour.
Just as Ye Meiya was leading her group off the bus, she saw the other branch manager leading his tour out of the Egyptian Catfish Farm.