"Have you considered the mainland market?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"Mainland? Can't get our products in? Qin Zhihao was stunned.

"I can't get in now, but maybe I will have a chance in the future." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said: "These are a bit too far, you can take down the internal market in Hong Kong first." ”

In fact, in the 80s, there was no shortage of milk in China, but the problem was that it was difficult to ensure that it would not deteriorate during transportation, which led to the fact that people close to the cattle farm, drinking milk to vomit, may be lower than the cost of drinking boiled water, and in the distance, even in some cities, money cannot buy milk.

This problem needs to rely on a company called Tetra Pak in Europe, which is the world's top supplier of beverage packaging equipment, with the most advanced aseptic sterilization technology, which can make milk and yogurt sterilized and sealed, generally maintaining a shelf life of half a year.

It's just that this kind of equipment is very expensive, and with the domestic foreign exchange situation in the 80s, it is unlikely to buy this kind of equipment, and if Yili Dairy develops well, then it can go to the mainland to do this business, or build a milk factory in the mainland, and produce and sell it by itself.

The dairy industry in the mainland is a super market, and the Mengniu + Yili of the later generations can get one of the industries, which is very good, and they have overseas terminal retail advantages, as long as they can do well in China, they may be able to make milk powder for export, and even worse, dairy products can also be used as snacks.

This is just something too far away, and Chen Zhiwen can only make a long-term goal, at least this direction is feasible.

"Okay, then I'll arrange for the former staff of Dairy International to go overseas to buy equipment and cows." Qin Zhihao said.

"Okay." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"One more thing, Mr. Chen, our instant noodles have also begun to be exported to Japan and the United States, and from the feedback we have received so far, it is not too ideal." Qin Zhihao reported with some shame.

"As expected, it's not a new food, there are hundreds of instant noodle companies in Japan, and there is no instant noodle culture in the United States, so it's not surprising that we don't sell well." Chen Zhiwen said indifferently.

Instant noodles, Japan is the ancestor, played for more than 20 years, it is too difficult for foreign players to get in, as for the United States, there is no instant noodles over there, even if Japan's first brand of instant noodles, it can't sell much in the United States, and in the end you can only change instant noodles into soup and sell them to Americans to drink.

The main market for instant noodles is still the mainland and Southeast Asia, and now it is sent to Japan, the United States and even Europe, but it is just to stabilize this business, after all, the purchase rate of Europe, the United States and Japan is low, such a large base, it can still feed an instant noodle company in Hong Kong, survive first, and then slowly find a way to do better, and at the same time you can also try to enter the market in Southeast Asia, especially if ParknSHOP supermarket is rolled out in Asia, the effect should be good.

Of course, this is also due to the relationship of Galaxy Trade, otherwise, if you want to enter the American supermarket, there is no door.

Red Bull's decision to compete with Milk International for the Hong Kong dairy market is indeed something Chen Zhiwen did not expect before, since his subordinates have a heart, he will naturally support it, and if it succeeds and has an industry in Hong Kong, then it can rely on this technology and experience to invest in China in the future.

There are a lot of grasslands in China, where dairy cows are raised, and the effect should be good, and if it can be done well in the mainland, then it will have an industry that is no smaller than instant noodles. It may also be possible to use cost reduction to sell overseas European and American countries on a large scale, which will be even more profitable.

On July 20, Zhao Defeng officially signed a letter of intent with Galaxy Group, whereby the Zhao family exchanged 5 square kilometers of land in Tin Shui Wai for two industrial office buildings in Hung Hom and a small hotel property on the Kowloon Peninsula.

In terms of area, Zhao Defeng naturally lost a lot, but now with 5 square kilometers of land, the Zhao family can't earn a penny from this wasteland, only some fish in the fish pond, but converted into 2 industrial office buildings and a small hotel, it is enough for the Zhao family to have a net income of millions of Hong Kong dollars a year, and the whole family has no worries for several lifetimes.

This may be more meaningful than guarding a large area of wasteland, at least better for the current Zhao family.

After the land in Tin Shui Wai was in hand, Chen Zhiwen also made a special trip, and finally decided with Xu Jinhong, Qin Zhihao, and Zhou Jiayang to go down to the location of the factory, cattle farm and port, in fact, it is only a small part of this land, and the other places are still as they are, abandoned and undeveloped, and have no commercial value.

There will be no cultivation here, and all the forage can be imported from Southeast Asia, or from the mainland next door, which may not be possible now, but after the change, Chen Zhiwen remembers that the first investment in Shekou Industrial Zone was a large Thai group specializing in feed, which could meet his own needs.

At the same time, some engineers from Dairy International are developing equipment, quotations and so on.

After everything is settled, Chen Zhiwen will let his subordinates operate by themselves, these future potential businesses, he is only guiding the direction, in fact, even without his guidance, when Red Bull reaches a certain scale, it will gradually diversify, after all, Red Bull's own hot sales make it have a channel to dialogue with the world's large supermarkets, plus there is no shortage of funds and talents, will definitely find a way to make more common food or drink, as long as there is an opportunity, then it will try, failure is nothing, success will make a lot of money.

The original history of Red Bull, in fact, has also done a kind of diversification, but not food, but a variety of sports event investment, the purchase of teams, teams, etc., the direction is different from today's Red Bull, and when Red Bull has enough money, it can also develop in this direction, not to mention others, win the NBA team in the United States, and then train a few Chinese players, then the domestic beverage, food market, etc., can be more stable.

Connaught Building.

Beside the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the sun, he looks wistfully at the sprawling buildings across Victoria Harbour in the distance, once a new shopping model for Hong Kong.

As early as the time of the previous Taipan Henry Keswick, the senior management of Jardine Matheson found a more serious problem, that is, the shopping model before the 60s could no longer meet the shopping needs of many local and foreign tourists in Hong Kong.

The reason is very simple, the shopping malls in Central are all in various office buildings, generally on the lower floors, but the area of the office building is limited, customers have walked for a while, and they need to go to another shopping mall, but the problem is that if it is too hot in summer, rainy or windy weather, then it is not conducive to the exchange of customer flow between various shopping malls, plus the homogenization is serious, many people feel bored, but do not come.

It doesn't matter if each mall belongs to a different owner, but the main commercial buildings in Central are all Hongkong Land, and the flow of people is too small, which is not conducive to Hongkong Land's more rent.

As a result, the entire Jardine Matheson Group has launched two projects, one for the redevelopment of more than a dozen buildings in the Central District, many of which are planned to be redesigned, and the addition of flyovers to connect all the malls, so that no matter what the outside environment is, it will not affect the flow of customers between the different malls. The second is to use the Wharf to relocate the port and stay in the port after the Wharf is located opposite Central, and build Hong Kong's largest shopping mall, Harbour City.

Harbour City's capital consumption is more than Hongkong Land's Central redevelopment, but unfortunately, after nearly 10 years of hard work, I didn't expect to be robbed of the fruit when it was about to be harvested, and if Wharf succeeds, it may also affect Hongkong Land's business.

There was a knock on the door behind him, and Niu Bijian turned around and saw that it was Bao Fuda, so he said, "What's wrong?" ”

"It's not a big deal, but I feel like I need to talk to you." Bao Fuda walked in and said: "Recently, in the dairy department of the dairy company, many people have proposed to resign, which has affected the normal operation, so the people below have reported it, which is just a small matter, but the place where these people went is a new subsidiary of Red Bull, called Yili Dairy." ”

"Red Bull? Chen Zhiwen also wants to enter the milk supply market? After hearing this, Niu Bijian suddenly became energetic.

"Yes, and I also found out that Galaxy Real Estate has bought a large piece of land in Tin Shui Wai in the North District, and is planning to build a large dairy farm there." Bao Fuda said.

"The milk distribution industry is not very small, but the market is only in Hong Kong, in Chen Zhiwen's style, it doesn't look like he will pay attention to this industry, it is estimated that his Red Bull company, he wants to do it." Niu Bijian thought for a moment and said.

Hong Kong's consortium likes diversification the most, and the same is true of Jardine Matheson, which has hundreds of various subsidiaries, and these subsidiaries may also have different businesses.

But they can control the company by paying attention to two points, the first is naturally the company's key business, the second is the financial situation of each subsidiary, the financial situation is not good, find out which business is caused, it should be cut, the financial situation is average, then keep continuing, the leadership will not ask too much, so the financial performance is very good, that shows that it is very likely to become one of the main businesses, then it will naturally be valued.

They are already familiar with these routines, and Niu Bijian has also studied Chen Zhiwen's family history and daily business behavior, so they can come up with this answer.

"The question is, what are we going to do if this Erie competes with the dairy company?" Bao Fuda said: "In the past few years, we have increased the price of milk in the terminal a lot, and if Yili goes to a low price or even a cost price, we will be in trouble, which is a method that Chen Zhiwen often tries." ”

"Let's see first, the cows don't produce milk so quickly, and in half a year, the overseas situation of Jardine Matheson will be a little better, and then we will look at it according to the situation." Niu Bijian said.

"Okay." Bao Fuda nodded, in fact, the milk business is just one of the marginal businesses of the entire Hongkong Land, if it were not for Chen Zhiwen, he would not pay too much attention to it, who dares to provoke, just suppress it directly, but then again, it is Chen Zhiwen who will be inexplicable when the Hong Kong dairy market has been controlled by others, and it is necessary to spend money to buy land and build farms to enter this market, theoretically speaking, the probability of success for ordinary people is extremely low.

Wednesday, July 26.

Chen Zhiwen, who was relatively leisurely during this time, personally came to Kai Tak Airport to pick up a person, who was the current general manager of Costco, Pierce.

"Eric, long time no see." When Pierce saw Chen Zhiwen, he immediately came to a strong hug.

"Pierce, I doubt you're 50 years old." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said.

"Haha, I hope so, but unfortunately, this is just the surface, my body is still not as good as before, I just took a plane, but I am a little uncomfortable." Pierce said with a smile.

"Hit an air current?" Chen Zhiwen asked. Pierce is the core figure of Costco at present, every time he travels, he is first class, the reason why he does not choose private jets is because the private jet is currently too small, and he can turn the world upside down when he encounters a little airflow, that is, he is a young man who can't stand it, especially for long-distance flights, it is better to choose the first class of Boeing 747.

If you feel that one seat is still crowded, you can wrap up the entire first class.

"A small airflow, but they're all fine, I'm uncomfortable, haha, after all, I'm old, I can't compare." Pierce smiled, then said, "Eric, this is Bernie. Marcus, I'm coming to Hong Kong this time, mainly Bernie has a good idea that needs investment. ”

"Hello, Mr. Marcus." Chen Zhiwen nodded, shook hands and said, on the phone before, Chen Zhiwen knew the purpose of Pierce's coming to Hong Kong, but what he said on the phone was not very clear, he only knew that Bernie in front of him had a very good idea, but lacked funds.

Racking his brains before, he didn't know who this person was, at least he was not very famous in later generations, but since he was favored by Pierce, he had some ability and connections, if he wanted to invest, it didn't matter if he invested himself, and if he failed, he didn't have much money, and if he succeeded, he might be able to make a small profit.

"Hello, Mr. Chen, just call me Bernie." Bernie Marcus said with a shake back.

"Okay." Chen Zhiwen nodded.

"Let's go to a quiet place, Bernie has a plan," Pierce said. ”

"Okay, let's go." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, when it comes to investment, it is always bad to say it on the road.

After a while, the group arrived at a conference room on the highest floor of the Galaxy Building.

Bernie took out a stack of papers from his briefcase and said, "Mr. Chen, this is a business model that I've been thinking about for the last two years, similar to Costco on many levels, but the main business direction is all kinds of furniture, building materials, tools, and so on. ”

"Furniture? Building material? Chen Zhiwen's eyes lit up, and he immediately took the document.

I have to say that Bernie in front of him is still very well prepared, just this business document, it is actually Cantonese and English, which makes Chen Zhiwen a lot more convenient, although he understands English and speaks well, but it does not mean that he can easily read this kind of professional business documents, and he will have a headache if he reads more.

The translator on the side also got a backup, she is not responsible for reading the commercial content, but only for seeing if there is any problem with the translation of the document to avoid misunderstandings.

"That's right, this is a business model conceived by Bernie based on the special national conditions of the United States." Pierce said with a smile: "In the United States, a small thing in a family is broken, and the cost of maintenance is particularly high, mainly because professional labor is expensive, and many things can actually be done by ordinary people themselves, but they can't buy the corresponding things, such as a wooden plank, and finally have to find someone, which is too expensive."

So, the logic of this new business model is to provide all kinds of furniture components, materials, plus all kinds of tools, so the advantage is that the transportation cost is low, because you only need to transport wood instead of hollow cabinets, and I agree with this alone, Eric, what do you think? ”

"Very good idea." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Isn't that good? This is another retail giant that has intensified its material monopoly in later generations? Unexpectedly, it took the initiative to send it to the door.

PS: Ask for a monthly pass at the beginning of the month

(End of chapter)