Li Yuling watched, stunned, from the side. She wanted to advise Su Xiaotian but couldn't stop her, almost turning to seek help from Yiming Pavilion.
However, she then thought that since Su Xiaotian dared to make such a decision, she must have the capability.
Even as she held the shop keys and walked out, Li Yuling still felt as if she were in a dream.
Su Xiaotian saw Li Yuling's worry and hugged her arm to comfort her.
"Auntie, it's fine. When the time comes, we'll expand the business. We won't just have malatang; we can offer more snacks."
"I'm only one person. No matter how much I think, I can't manage it all!"
She was alone. If she opened a malatang stall and business was good, she'd need to hire people. Not to mention offering more snacks.
"Besides malatang, we can also include huidouzi, tianpeizi, liangfen, and liangpi. These can all be prepared in advance, and then just served when ready, not requiring too much time."
Su Changjiu's wife heard this and thought it made sense.
But even so, the place was still too big. What if after a month of hard work, they ended up helping others make money?
Four hundred yuan a month for rent, how could that be tolerated?
Especially since this money was given by Xiaotian.
Watching Xiaotian hand over twelve hundred yuan to the landlord all at once, Li Yuling didn't know how she would face Liang Xiu later.
"Xiaotian, I still don't think it's feasible. These are just snacks, how much can they earn? Why don't we talk to the landlord and cancel the lease!"
Twelve hundred yuan, she had never seen so much money in her life until today with Xiaotian.
But this much money would soon belong to someone else.
"Auntie, don't worry. We can find people to share the rent," Su Xiaotian said mysteriously.
Li Yuling couldn't understand what she meant.
"Didn't the landlord say we can't divide the shop?"
"Auntie, I've thought about it. We don't need to divide it. We can set up more cooking stations along the side walls and rent them out to others who plan to do snack businesses. This will lighten the rent pressure, and maybe we won't even have to pay the rent ourselves."
This shop was conveniently located at a street corner, facing the street on two sides with windows, and walls on the other two sides.
In later generations, there were many such food courts, but at this time, this business model had not yet appeared.
Li Yuling asked hesitantly, "Can this really work?"
"It definitely will. Auntie, don't you trust me yet? Our school cafeteria is like this. There are cooking areas all around, and students eat at tables in the middle."
Hearing Su Xiaotian say that universities were like this, Li Yuling couldn't help but smile.
No wonder, so universities were all like this, then she could be at ease.
"Auntie, I roughly measured. The side walls are about fourteen to fifteen meters long. We can definitely divide them into five cooking stations."
"So, there will be ten cooking stations available for rent?"
"Not that many. I plan to bring the small food products from the factory to the market. That will take up one counter. With your stall, there will only be eight counters left."
Su Xiaotian's words were not just to comfort Li Yuling, but her genuine thought.
The food factory processed packaged goods, but in reality, Su Xiaotian felt that these small food items would taste better if cooked and sold directly.
Spicy pig trotters, spicy pig tripe, and similar items that could serve as snacks to satisfy cravings or as accompaniments to drinks should have a good reception.
She planned to try imitating the business model of a certain duck brand that would become popular nationwide decades later.
The spicy flavor was developed by Dong Yan'an.
According to Dong Yan'an, her next step would be to research spicy and sour flavors.
Su Xiaotian believed that no matter the flavor, many people would like it.
This was why she had this idea.
She also saw that Dong Yan'an was a rare talent, and it would be great if she could be of use to the factory.
But in reality, even Su Xiaotian knew that her small factory couldn't keep Dong Yan'an.
After all, Dong Yan'an was a university graduate from a prestigious university, and it was certain she would enter government agencies in the future.
Moreover, unlike the previous team research, Dong Yan'an's flavor development was entirely her own independent work.
Therefore, she couldn't be rewarded according to the factory's previous standards for team research.
After discussing with the factory leadership, they planned to give Dong Yan'an three percent of the profit from the spicy series when it was launched, but Dong Yan'an refused.
She said that since it was developed in the factory, she should have the same treatment as other researchers in the factory.
She was content with her salary and bonuses.
After discussing with Director Lei and others, Su Xiaotian decided that new flavors developed by teams would receive team rewards, settled directly with bonuses.
For new flavors developed by individuals, the top seller would directly receive a three percent profit reward for their product; the second place would receive two percent, and the third place would receive one percent.
These rewards would be settled monthly.
With this reward system in place, the factory's research personnel enthusiastically threw themselves into a new round of research.
At the same time, Su Xiaotian felt that she should also keep up with the times and innovate her work.
After much consideration, Su Xiaotian decided to first stock the products in the market.
If the sales volume was satisfactory, she could consider opening more branches.
This way, when new products were launched, many people would already have a good understanding of them.
Products with good reputation would be easier to sell.
Now that there was such a large shop, Su Xiaotian wouldn't need to find another one separately.
Moreover, Su Xiaotian felt that this composite business model would be of great help to the small eatery she was about to open.
After all, no one would sit in a stall and just eat spicy pig trotters or spicy pig skin. However, takeout was inconvenient at the moment, plastic bags were not yet widely used, and their prices were relatively high.
But with other food items, people would order them to eat along with other dishes, solving the problem.
After listening to Su Xiaotian's ideas, Su Changjiu's wife felt that this girl, Su Xiaotian, had a truly sharp mind. In such a short time, she had thought of so many things, and thus agreed.
She had lived in the countryside for decades, and since childhood, she had only seen her small patch of land, her experience was indeed limited.
However, she had two strengths: one was daring to think and act, possessing a rather decisive personality.
The other was firmly believing in the saying that listening to advice leads to a full meal.
It must be said that both of Su Changjiu's wife's strengths were excellent.
Even many years later, when her family's conditions were good, Su Changjiu's wife still felt grateful that she had listened to Su Xiaotian's advice back then.
She even wondered what kind of life she would have had if she hadn't taken this step and returned to Nanying Village to farm.