Chapter 326 Maxim's Food

Chapter 326 Maxim's Food

Chapter 326 Maxim's Food
The next day, after Yang Wendong arrived at Changxing Building, Zheng Zhijie followed.

"Come, sit down." Yang Wendong handed over a can of drink and said with a smile, "This is the herbal tea that Watsons just trial-produced. It tastes pretty good."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Yang!" Zheng Zhijie took it with a smile, then saw the name on the can and said, "Uni-President Herbal Tea? This name is easy to remember."

Yang Wendong said with a smile: "The simpler the name, the better. When we are able to enter the overseas market in the future, such a word will be easier to promote."

The simpler the brand name, the easier it is to promote. Like common words, it is also easy for people to remember, which is an advantage during the early stages of expansion.

He thought about the brand name of his previous life for a long time, and decided that "Uni-President" was the simplest.

Zheng Zhijie studied it for a while, opened the can, took a sip, and said, "It's so cool, and tastes a little better than the ones in the breakfast shop."

Yang Wendong said: "Because it was just taken out of the refrigerator, any drink will taste better after it is cold, and the same goes for Coke."

Sugary drinks and even fruits taste much better when they are close to freezing point because the "cold" stimulates the taste buds, even in winter.

Zheng Zhijie replied: "That's true, but refrigerators are still relatively rare in Hong Kong."

"When the time is right in the future, I will also let Honor Electronics produce refrigerators, and they will be cheaper then." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

Before the advent of computers, home appliances were the world's largest electronics market. Especially now that I have an opportunity, that is, home appliances have begun to be "electronically controlled", which can be considered a half business opportunity.

Of course, business opportunities don’t just belong to you. The same applies to other companies. It just depends on who has stronger capabilities.

In this regard, the company's current advantage is not that great and cannot be compared with the computer era more than ten years later. Therefore, Honor Electronics' business expansion still needs to proceed step by step.

"That's even better. Hong Kong people's demand for refrigerators is increasing." Zheng Zhijie smiled.

"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded: "Why did you come to see me so early today?"

"Mr. Yang, there are two things." Zheng Zhijie took out a thick roll of paper from his side and spread it out, saying, "The first thing is that we just got the design from the land king. Bei Jinming Company has completed it. We are going to build a 28-story office building with a total area of ​​30 feet (about 3 square meters). This is the structural drawing."

Yang Wendong looked over and saw a square building. There was nothing special about it. In this era, it was not popular to have many fancy designs. Also, because the floors were short, there was no need to consider too much about wind resistance, height resistance, foundation protection and other designs.

"Inside" Zheng Zhijie began to introduce
It took a total of 20 minutes to slowly introduce all the details inside the building.

After listening to this, Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "There are only two floors of parking spaces underground, which is still not enough. We need to add two more floors. We have to consider the future. When Hong Kong's economy becomes stronger, the number of cars will also increase."

Although there will be very few cars in Hong Kong in the future, that is just an average. Many people who can work in Central still have cars.
This building, whether used by oneself or rented out in the future, will be better as it has sufficient parking spaces.

Zheng Zhijie agreed and said, "Okay, I will discuss it with Bei Jinming again."

“Well, at worst, if we don’t need so many parking spaces, I can use this basement floor for business purposes, and even put Carrefour in there,” Yang Wendong added.

Supermarkets in Hong Kong are definitely different from those in the mainland. Tourists who have been to Hong Kong in previous lives will find that many supermarkets are located in commercial buildings, unlike the mainland, where there are stand-alone properties everywhere.

It’s not that people in Hong Kong don’t like stand-alone supermarkets, but the housing prices are too high, and this is the only option after considering all factors.

That is because they invested early and considered the future value of the land, so they are copying the model of the mainland, but in places like Central, the core areas can only do this now.

Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "That's right. If we want to open another supermarket in Central, the best location is inside the building. It's basically impossible to find a separate location to build a new building."

"Yes, but we try to build our own as much as possible." Yang Wendong asked again: "How is the self-built supermarket in the recent period?"

Zheng Zhijie said: "It is going very smoothly at the moment. In Kowloon, this kind of property is easy to acquire. In Hong Kong Island, we have more choices and have also acquired four old buildings and land.

But now Jardine Matheson has also started to follow our lead. I guess they are also unable to bear the rent in the city center. "

"Does Jardine Matheson still care about this little rent?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile.

Zheng Zhijie replied: "Of course the Jardine Matheson Group doesn't care, but Vivo Supermarket is definitely an independent operation and can't afford to suffer losses for a long time. I guess they will have to pay even for the property of Hong Kong Land. At most, they will charge less for the sister company, just like us internally."

"That's true. There are many factions within a large conglomerate like theirs." Yang Wendong said, "Don't worry about them. We just need to do our own thing."

If you choose existing properties, whether you rent or buy them, there will be an extremely tight resource situation because there are not many properties that meet the requirements. A lot of them have already been occupied by Carrefour. Coupled with the rising housing prices, the cost will only get higher and higher.

But if we buy land and build a building ourselves, there are too many places to choose from. When the people from Jardine Matheson see us doing this, any brains will know why.

"Okay." Zheng Zhijie continued, "The second thing is the Maxim's Food Company that you asked me to check before. I have checked almost all the information. Please take a look."

After saying that, he handed over the information.

"Maxim's?" Yang Wendong also remembered it, and then took the information and roughly read it. Zheng Zhijie introduced: "Maxim's Food was established in 1956. The founders were two brothers, Wu Zhande and Wu Shunde. The first business they opened was a Western restaurant. They had strong management skills and quickly became famous in Hong Kong's upper class society.

Around 60, Maxim's began to expand into coffee, bread, cake and pastry shops. The taste is very good and is also very popular among Hong Kong citizens. It is said that their turnover exceeded 1000 million last year. In this industry, it is definitely one of the best. "

"1000 million?" Yang Wendong nodded, and then asked, "This amount of turnover shouldn't be enough to interest Jardine Matheson, right?"

Zheng Zhijie replied: "It may not be possible to do it alone, but the current Maxim's Food is mainly developed near Central. If it is expanded to multiple places in Hong Kong, it is estimated that it will not be a problem to double the number."

"That's right. Their food tastes really good. I've been there a few times." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "So Yihe is also interested in their business?"

Zheng Zhijie said: "Yes, initially, Jardine Matheson wanted to acquire Maxim's, but the two Wu brothers disagreed. Later, Jardine Matheson gave in and wanted to acquire 51% of the shares, but it still failed. After that, Jardine Matheson started to run its own catering business.

Hong Kong Land used its large number of properties as an advantage to force Maxim's, which leased some of its properties, to close down, and then opened a similar property next to Maxim's, which is completely using its own strength to hurt others."

"Their purpose is to force the Wu brothers to sell the company to them." Yang Wendong naturally understood it.

This is actually a normal business war in the market, using one's own strength to hurt others and bullying the weak to force you to submit. This was also the case in the Internet business wars of the past.

Because they are behind Carrefour, Jardine Matheson probably also knows the strength of Changxing Group, so they did not adopt the same tactics.

Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "Yes, in fact, in the early years, many Chinese companies encountered these problems after they became bigger, including Jardine Matheson and Wheelock, which became bigger and bigger by using these means.

Things may have gotten better since the 50s. At least the Hong Kong government stopped getting involved in such things for the sake of face. Otherwise, Chinese-owned enterprises would never have been able to make a breakthrough.”

"Business is like a battlefield. As long as it doesn't break the law, you can do anything." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "If you can control the law, there will be no problem."

In fact, the improvement of Hong Kong's business environment is due, on the one hand, to the decline of Britain, which could no longer tightly control so many colonies; on the other hand, it is also due to the victory of the North over 17 other countries, which made Western countries have to be cautious and dare not do many things too excessively.

Next year, when the mushrooms explode, the environment may be even better.
Zheng Zhijie said: "Yes, if Hong Kong Property Holdings loses 3 yuan and Maxim's loses 1 yuan, the Wu brothers will not be able to bear it for a long time."

"Almost." Yang Wendong nodded. "Once the Wu brothers sell Maxim's, Jardine Matheson will have picked up a high-quality asset for free. The scale of the company may be even larger in the future."

In its original history, Maxim's was sold to Jardine Matheson in 1970 and became a catering giant under the Jardine Matheson Group.

This is probably due to the impact of the economic crisis from 65 to 67, which caused Jardine Matheson to be more restrained. Otherwise, it would be unlikely for a normal small business to survive for 7 years under the targeting of Jardine Matheson.

Zheng Zhijie asked: "Mr. Yang, do you want to acquire this Maxim's?"

"No, we are not familiar with the catering industry, and there is no advantage in acquiring it." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "But this industry itself is not bad, and they can also consume Jardine Matheson's energy, so we just need to invest in it."

There are too many industries that can make money. Even if you are a god, it is impossible for you to run all the industries by yourself. The advantage of time travelers is that they are prophets of finance and many future consumer products, not the service industry. Unless it is a new industry like supermarkets, if you enter the market first when others have not done it, you will have an advantage.

Changxing Group may be able to make money by participating in the traditional catering industry, but it is not cost-effective compared to the energy and resources spent on other suitable industries.

Therefore, if these industries want to make profits, it is better to invest in future successful people. This way, they can save energy and gain some potential allies.

Zheng Zhijie asked again: "Then should I contact the Wu brothers?"

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, but keep it a secret for now, don't let Yihe's people know first."

"Okay." Zheng Zhijie agreed.

On the third day, Yang Wendong met the two brothers of the Wu family of the Maxim's Group at Changxing Building. They came to Changxing Plaza for "visiting" and then took a special elevator to the upper floors.

"Hello, Mr. Yang." The two brothers of the Wu family immediately said politely after meeting each other.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Hello, both of you. I am a loyal fan of Maxim's pastries."

Wu Zhande, the eldest brother of the Wu family, smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Yang, for your honor. This is an honor for Maxim's Foods."

Wu Shunde, the second brother of the Wu family, said, "Mr. Yang, our Maxim's Bakery is also planning to rent a store in Changxing Plaza. Then, you can enjoy our desserts often."

"Haha, okay, but I'm afraid that if I eat too much, it will be bad for my health." Yang Wendong smiled and then went straight to the point and asked, "You two, I asked you to come here this time. You should know my purpose, right?"

Wu Zhande said: "Mr. Zheng didn't tell us the details, but we guess that you want to invest in our Mei Xin?"

"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "What do you two think?"

Wu Chan-tak asked, "How much does Mr. Yang want to invest? How many shares does he want to get?"

(End of this chapter)