Chapter 389: Chapter 142: The Green Tea Female Supporting Character in a Period Novel (29)

But the canned goods from the south that they were currently tasting were completely different!

The southern fruits were blessed with ample rain and sun, making them juicy and plump. On top of that, whatever technique this factory had found preserved the fruit’s original texture, making it sweet, tart, delicious, and pleasantly chewy...

"Mm, this canned fruit is great. The fruit flavor is authentic, and it’s not so sweet that it irritates your throat!"

Everyone nodded and praised it. As employees of the procurement department, they knew very well that if the negotiations went smoothly, their summer refreshments this year wouldn’t be the same old variety of sodas they were sick of drinking, but would instead include these rare southern treats.

As for deliberately criticizing the product to gain a bargaining advantage, sorry, but that thought never even crossed their minds, nor did they feel it was necessary.

Director Luo nodded as well. "Not bad. What else do you have?"

Chi Yun’er smiled faintly and gave her young assistant another look. He immediately tore open several more samples for everyone to try.

There were preserved fruits, cured meats, pastries, and even tea, an office essential.

Every item was high-quality, but more importantly, the products were novel and rarely seen in the Capital City.

Seeing everyone’s satisfied expressions, the young assistant chuckled, picked up a box, and went from desk to desk, placing a couple of items on each one. "You’ve all worked hard, comrades. These are samples. Please take them home and try them with your families..."

It was just as the saying goes: the gift is small, but the sentiment is great. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford these things, but the gesture made them feel good, and they wouldn’t go out of their way to make things difficult for her.

Director Luo laughed and slapped the table. "Done! Director Chi, please set a portion aside for the workers of our Bingyang Beverage Factory."

Then, they began to discuss the details of the barter arrangement.

Throughout the entire process, Chi Yun’er remained calm and unhurried, a pleasant smile on her lips. Her neither-humble-nor-haughty demeanor made it difficult for anyone to harbor any untoward thoughts.

Besides, Director Luo was genuinely sincere about making this deal happen.

After a bit of back-and-forth haggling, they finally settled on a plan that satisfied both parties.

As they were leaving, Director Luo was very generous and insisted on giving them six plastic crates of different flavored sodas, calling them samples.

Every company had a quota for product samples. To help close a deal, this portion was considered an extra investment, an intangible advertising expense.

A while after they got in the car and drove off, the young assistant clutched his chest, looked at the trunk space that had somehow increased instead of decreased, and asked in a daze, "Director Chi, we didn’t actually give them that many samples, did we?"

A plastic crate holds twenty-four bottles of soda, and the retail price for each bottle is one mao. Wouldn’t six crates be fourteen or fifteen yuan?

He counted on his fingers like a fool, completely unable to comprehend the other party’s extravagance.

Chi Yun’er chuckled and said softly, "That’s not how you calculate it. The profit margins on soda are incredibly high. The initial investment in equipment and formula development costs money, but after that, it’s almost all just labor and raw materials."

"I can’t go into the details with you, but we’re not the only smart ones here. They’re not stupid. All we can do is squeeze their profit margins again and again."

’She remembered a TV interview with a tycoon who’d made his fortune from soda. The man claimed there was no money in beverages, but an industry insider in the audience immediately refuted him.

A drink priced at three yuan actually only costs three mao in syrup and four-and-a-half mao for the bottle. With massive production volumes, after deducting labor, factory, and equipment costs, the profit on a single bottle can be as high as 1.7 or 1.8 yuan, or even approach two yuan!

The food and beverage industry is notoriously profitable. Even a regular street stall’s profit can reach half of its gross margin. Not to mention large corporations that deal in huge volumes and can increase their profits even further.’

At this time, soda bottles were recyclable. An empty bottle was worth three fen, so a one-mao soda actually cost seven fen.

But of those seven fen, the cost was at most three fen. Chi Yun’er and Director Luo had set the price at seven fen for a full bottle, with a future exchange rate of three empty bottles for one new soda.

Because this was a welfare barter and the quantity wasn’t excessive, as long as he wasn’t losing money, Director Luo didn’t haggle too much over the price. He just hoped that the general hospital’s summer refreshments would be prioritized and provided in large quantities to his own factory.

Overall, the time they spent discussing was focused on finalizing the types and quantities of the refreshments.

Once one company was secured, the rest would be easier to handle.

"Director Qi, our general hospital is very sincere. We’d like to barter the summer refreshments we’ve procured from the south for your factory’s fruit candies..."

"Look at this canned fruit—the cans are large, and they’re packed with fruit... If it weren’t for our good relationship with their factory’s deputy director... Every employee at our hospital is supposed to get at least one bottle, so the surplus is limited... The Bingyang Beverage Factory took quite a large amount in one go... If you’re interested, I can set a portion aside for you..."

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