By October, the weather had begun to turn cold, and Cheng Su’s business was slowly climbing. Joy Soon Loy Restaurant, having established rules and procedures, and with its operations maturing greatly, was developing even more smoothly than Joy Soon Loy Jam Company.
It is worth mentioning that the yard next door, which used to be a grocery store, was finally secured by Cheng Su for a monthly rent of twenty yuan. Compared to the current yard, that was almost three times more expensive. This was because the other party saw how well Joy Soon Loy was doing and jacked up the price. At first, they wanted twenty-five yuan!
After leasing the yard next door, Cheng Su sketched out a blueprint based on its layout and again hired Dazhi, the decorator, to take measurements and plan the renovation. She inquired with the landlords of both properties and decided to create a moon gate between them to serve as a passageway.
Cheng Suxin was quite happy that the restaurant could expand its storefront operations, proving that her past efforts were not in vain, and she had taken another step toward her goal.
Therefore, Cheng Su shifted her focus to Joy Soon Loy Jam Company.
More than ten days since the opening, the sales representatives were very diligent, and the orders kept increasing. Joy Soon Loy jam was placed on the shelves of all the major distributors in Qing City, and the strawberry jam, being fresh, became extremely popular.
Where there are people there is the jianghu, with new products comes competition. As soon as Joy Soon Loy introduced its strawberry jam, other food companies hurriedly followed suit and launched similar products, prompting Cheng Su to call a meeting.
"Now several food companies have launched their own strawberry jams. These are some brands I’ve bought for us to try. Taste them and compare with our Joy Soon Loy jam. Write down any strengths or weaknesses you notice," said Cheng Su, standing in front of a small meeting area demarcated in her office, arms folded, looking down at her sales representatives.
On the table, there were four or five jars of strawberry jam from other companies, along with several small bowls, spoons, and bread.
Upon hearing this, Wang Gang, Zhu Lifen, and others opened the jars, first tasting directly and then trying it with bread.
Cheng Su leaned on the table and watched. Among them, Wang Gang and Zhu Lifang were the most meticulous, slowly tasting, and even diluting with water and tea for comparison, causing her to nod in approval silently.
She also took a small bowl and tried a bit of everything. Regardless of whether they were tasty or not, she tried all of them until she furrowed her eyebrows slightly upon reaching Friendly’s.
After a while, everyone had written down their tasting notes and looked at Cheng Su.
"Chen Li, you start," Cheng Su said as she sat down, looking at one of the male sales representatives.
Chen Li, a bit nervous, cleared his throat and slowly presented his findings. After comparing them, some were too sweet, some a bit too sour, and not fragrant enough. Still, Joy Soon Loy’s were the tastiest.
Cheng Su turned her gaze to Wang Gang.
Wang Gang said, "Zhongguang Food offers the lowest price, nearly one yuan cheaper than ours, and it tastes overly sweet. Datong has no comparison. But what I want to talk about is Friendly."
"Go on!"
"Friendly Food has a high brand recognition, and their strawberry jam has a balance of sweetness and sourness, with a price that’s mid-to-high range among these brands. Their flavor is the closest to ours at Joy Soon Loy, but it lacks the distinctive fragrance found in our jam. I’ve also done some research, and Friendly’s strawberry jam sells well due to its slightly lower price," Wang Gang explained while looking at Cheng Su.
Cheng Su nodded and turned to Zhu Lifen.
"My view aligns with Wang Gang’s. Since Friendly’s strawberry jam tastes similar to ours and is priced just a bit lower, their sales volume is only slightly less than ours, by about five percent," Zhu Lifen said, flipping through her documents. "Furthermore, Friendly has hired the popular Young Actress Song Zhenzhen to advertise for them."