The Industrial Giant Reborn

"It's hard to say. It may be a few days, or about half a month. I will go to Portland, Oregon in two days, and I may stay there for a while." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Portland City?" Pierce recalled the information about the city, and didn't think why his boss was going there.

"You do your work. If I don't finish it before I return to Hong Kong, you can send the materials to me later by air, or fax them. If you have any questions, you can also call them." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

In this era, although there is no e-mail, there are still faxes, but this thing is different from the scanning of later generations. It requires people to input characters one by one. It is more advanced than telegrams and inferior to text messages. between.

Because input is required, it may take more time if there are many words. In addition, it is easy to enter mistakes, which is not easy to detect. Therefore, when the content is large, the speed of delivering files may not be as fast as sending them by air.

"Okay, I'll communicate with you after the preliminary training plan and cost budget are completed." Pierce nodded and said.

While talking, the two walked to the dining area. This place sells cooked vegetables, which are different from the cooked vegetables in later generations. The main products here are roast chicken, sausages, cooked beef, etc. Costco supermarket is still in the cooked food area for the convenience of shoppers. There is a restaurant with more than 20 tables arranged in several rows. Customers can drink coffee, snacks or have a meal here. In addition to cooked food, there are also burgers, sandwiches, cakes, ice cream and other foods. Even McDonald's will not give in at all. It can not only save the public from worrying about whether they need to go to the supermarket after eating, but also increase profits for the supermarket itself.

"Let's eat here at noon." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. He is often used to meals in five-star hotels, and it's not bad to eat ordinary fast food, just like his previous life. He occasionally went to eat a Shaxian snack. Still very good.

The boss delivered the goods, and the others were naturally fine. Everyone found a seat and sat down. The waiter knew that it was the company's senior management, so he rushed over to entertain him.

After a while, everyone's lunch was served. Chen Zhiwen ordered a glass of iced cola, a small roast chicken, and a small hamburger.

"This roast chicken tastes good." Chen Zhiwen praised after taking a bite, it was no worse than the taste of Orleans roast chicken in later generations.

"I know this. All the fast-food chefs at Costco are recruited from big chain stores, mainly McDonald's and Burger King. Their techniques are better." Pierce said with a smile.

"Won't it infringe on patents? These chain fast food restaurants all have a lot of patents on food condiments, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"No, we didn't use their unique seasoning. In fact, if you change the ratio of a few ingredients, there will be no legal problems. The taste is actually the same. Everyone goes to McDonald's, which is a brand problem. Other stores want to do it. The taste is not difficult, but there is also the cost issue. The fast food industry is similar to our supermarkets, with misplaced competition and different positioning. It is never a difference in taste." Pierce said with a smile.

"Do you know a lot?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Of course, I actually planned to sell Fedmart last year, so I planned to start the fast food restaurant business. I have studied this business." Pierce said after eating the salad: "Now it's a good idea to open a fast food restaurant in Costco. It can be regarded as satisfying my retirement ideal.”

"Are you going to join McDonald's?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"No, it's a fast food restaurant called KFC. I know the founder of this restaurant, but unfortunately he is older than me. I couldn't sell the whole company a few years ago. Otherwise, KFC's future must be very good..." Pierce said with some pity.

"Kentucky Fried Chicken, I've heard it." Chen Zhiwen's face was surprised for a moment, and then he returned to normal. He naturally knew the name of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and if he had extra funds in the future, he could buy it for fun, but right now, he has no idea , this kind of industry has little influence, medium earning power, and the market size is far smaller than many normal industries, so it belongs to the dispensable category.

"The taste of KFC is not bad, but it developed much later than McDonald's. It's too difficult to catch up now. The company that bought KFC is a famous brewing company. In the past few years, KFC has actually developed well. It competes with McDonald's in many places. But it is very short of funds, and the annual profit is taken away by the head office to maintain the wine business, let alone expand normally." Pierce shook his head and sighed.

Chen Zhiwen asked: "Isn't KFC an option to join?"

"You need to invest your own money to join again. You need to advertise to join. Otherwise, no one knows the KFC brand. Besides, any investor who invests in KFC also needs to investigate the market. The head office does not spend money on marketing. How many people would invest in advertising?" Pierce said with a smile: "As far as I know, McDonald's spends more than 50 million dollars a year on advertising, and KFC doesn't even spend a fraction of that."

"There is no chance. McDonald's has basically covered more than half of the United States and has the highest reputation. If other brands do not compete, they will have no chance at all. The cost of success may be 2-3 times the cost of McDonald's. Any Capitalists are not fools." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "The company that makes wine may not be fools either."

The first-mover advantage does not only exist in the high-tech or Internet industries, but also in the real industry. If a brand has already succeeded and does not make major mistakes, other brands will have to pay several times the cost if they want to catch up. No capitalist will do it.

"That's true, KFC really has no chance." Pierce nodded and said.

"Unless KFC can enter a very large new market that McDonald's has not yet entered, it will have to change its products and go other ways." Chen Zhiwen said that the mainland of later generations will be KFC's turnaround, although the final scale is still smaller than that of KFC. I don't go to McDonald's, but if there is no domestic market, I might have become an unknown person long ago.

"That's impossible. McDonald's has already entered the Asian and European markets, and KFC has no chance." Pierce said.

"So, you should also understand why I am in a hurry to expand Costco on a large scale. Supermarkets can be entered with capital. We must build up the scale before others have realized it. When they find out, even if they can enter again, they will have to pay a higher price." Chen Zhiwen said with a faint smile.