Chapter 115: Professor Zhong

Red Star Food Processing Plant's four workshops respectively produce bread, ham sausage, sausage, and soy products.

According to Qian Duo Duo's statistics of the plant's sales over the past three years, bread had the best sales, at one point accounting for fifty percent of Qingshui City's same-industry market share. Sausage came second, at one point accounting for forty percent of the same-product market share.

Meanwhile, ham sausage and soy products at most accounted for twenty percent share, which dropped to five percent before production halted.

However, due to the former plant manager's reasons, bread and sausage have generated a large amount of negative news in the market, and their market share has also been snatched away by some foreign products,

To win back the market, besides spending a lot of time and money on PR, we also need to strongly upgrade the products. The investment cost is somewhat high.

Meanwhile, ham sausage and soy products, due to their low market share and little negative publicity, have relatively low marketing costs.

After Chen Yang finished communicating with the head of the Market Research Department, Zhao Xiaoxiao, he decided to abandon the bread and sausage production lines and focus on ham sausage and soy products.

The future market for ham sausage is very large, especially after instant noodles became widely popular domestically, making it almost a staple food for office workers.

Soy products have long been one of the most popular foods in Dongjiangsheng. Whether fresh tofu, soy milk, douhua, or processed items like tofu sticks, soy skin, and dried tofu, they all hold a considerable market share.

Of course, regarding soy products, Chen Yang only plans to make dried tofu, specifically the small-packaged snack-type dried tofu sold in supermarkets.

Choosing ham sausage and snack-type dried tofu is mainly because they are easy to store, giving ample time to develop the market.

However, these two products currently also have some significant problems.

Although ham sausage has a complete industrial chain, the products produced lack competitiveness in the market. Chen Yang took a sample from inventory and tasted it; the flavor was quite ordinary. If placed in the Old Hundred Names Agricultural Products Supermarket for promotion, it might even damage the supermarket's reputation.

Snack-type dried tofu belongs to an emerging industry, completely different from the factory's original soy product line. To produce this product, based on the existing foundation, some equipment and procedures need to be cut, and some new equipment and procedures added.

Therefore, even though the handover procedures have been completed, the factory still cannot resume operations.

Chen Yang called Shen Anna, asking her to purchase a batch of equipment for producing snack-type dried tofu.

Then he also had Lin Wei look for Xu Li, asking her to help contact some food experts at the Agricultural University to specialize in upgrading the quality and taste of ham sausage.

Xu Li replied quickly, saying she knows a retired professor of food science and engineering from the Agricultural University, named Zhong Hanshan, who is a native of Qingshui City. He currently resides in Xingcheng. She also gave Chen Yang the professor's contact phone number and address.

Chen Yang called Zhong Hanshan according to the phone number Xu Li gave him. Upon hearing that Chen Yang was the boss of Red Star Food Processing Plant, the other party said only a few words and hung up.

Chen Yang had to seek help from Xu Li again, and the answer was that Zhong Hanshan had a student who previously worked at Red Star Food Processing Plant; because of a bad relationship with the former plant manager, the student became the scapegoat for the factory's food quality issues. Zhong Hanshan once called the former plant manager to plead for his student, but was refused. Since then, no students from the Agricultural University have come to Red Star Food Processing Plant to apply for jobs.

Chen Yang thought it over and felt he should meet Professor Zhong in person to clear up the misunderstanding. So he took an overnight train to Xingcheng.

After arriving in Xingcheng, he first returned to his rented apartment to wash up, then had Shen Anna drive to pick him up. Together they went to Professor Zhong's residence in Qingshu Garden.

Qingshu Garden is a residential community developed in the 1990s, consisting of seven-story walk-up buildings. Its supporting facilities still have a big gap compared to modern elevator-equipped communities. Its only advantage is being close to the Agricultural University campus of Dongjiangsheng, making it convenient for the university's faculty to commute.

Chen Yang found Professor Zhong's house according to the address Xu Li gave him. The door was opened by a girl about ten years old. After Chen Yang explained his purpose, she immediately ran inside and shouted:

"Grandpa, a handsome big brother and big sister are looking for you."

Chen Yang and Shen Anna stood at the doorway for a moment, then saw a thin, refined old man walk out from inside.

"Who are you?"

"Professor Zhong, I am Chen Yang, the one who spoke with you on the phone yesterday. This is my work partner, Shen Anna."

Zhong Hanshan looked at Chen Yang and Shen Anna with a bit of surprise, not expecting that the entrepreneur Xu Li introduced to him would be so young. Indeed, heroes emerge from generation to generation; the new generation replaces the old.

"Please come inside and have a seat!" Although he had no interest in cooperating with Chen Yang, Zhong Hanshan still politely invited Chen Yang and Shen Anna into his home.

Chen Yang roughly observed the place and felt that Zhong Hanshan's dwelling was very shabby, with only two bedrooms and a not-so-large living room.

Zhong Hanshan had Chen Yang and Shen Anna sit on the living room sofa, then ordered his granddaughter to take the homework book from the coffee table into the bedroom. Afterwards, he poured two cups of plain water for Chen Yang and Shen Anna.

"Regarding your factory's matters, I have already heard from Deputy Mayor Xu. However, I have many trivial affairs at home recently, so it's temporarily inconvenient to return to Qingshui."

"Professor Zhong, if you have any difficulties, please let them know. Our factory truly needs an expert like you with knowledge and experience to guide our work."

"Chen Yang, don't worry about me laughing. My daughter just divorced and brought her daughter to live with me. She hasn't found a job in Xingcheng yet; if I go back to Qingshui with you, who will look after the child?"

Chen Yang didn't expect Zhong Hanshan to refuse him for this reason. Curiously he asked: "Professor Zhong, what does your daughter study?"

Zhong Hanshan thought for a moment and said: "She is engaged in e-commerce in the Beautiful Country. I heard this industry is just starting domestically, with little demand. I have advised her to switch careers."

Chen Yang laughed: "Professor Zhong, our company is developing an online sales platform; I don't know if she would be interested in joining."

Zhong Hanshan looked at Chen Yang doubtfully and said: "Isn't your company producing ham sausage?"

Chen Yang explained: "Red Star Food Processing Plant is merely a subsidiary we recently acquired. Our headquarters is in Xingcheng, called Old Hundred Names Agricultural Products Trading Co., Ltd., which also has under it the Old Hundred Names Agricultural Products Chain Supermarket. We specialize in selling agricultural products. Our company has been developing an online sales platform for a while; here is our company's online sales platform website—you can show it to your daughter." After finishing, Chen Yang handed Shen Anna's business card to Zhong Hanshan.

Zhong Hanshan didn't expect Chen Yang to have other industries. He knew of the Old Hundred Names Agricultural Products Supermarket; many people in the residential community are discussing this supermarket, where the vegetables are not only cheaper than the market but also the service is good.