Volume 1: Reborn in the 1980s, selling lunch boxes with my mother Chapter 97: Opening a branch at a gas station
Hu Qiongfang never thought about selling lunch boxes at a gas station.
But Jiang Tian knew this was a good opportunity.
Opening a convenience store in a gas station is a sure-win business.
However, selling boxed lunches was not suitable for Boss Tong’s gas station, so she planned to discuss another business with Boss Tong.
After finishing lunch, Jiang Tian asked her second uncle to accompany her, took some things, and went to the gas station to find Tong Zhiyuan.
She wanted to rent a place next to Mr. Tong's gas station and let her grandmother come there to sell food such as glutinous rice balls and rice dumplings.
"Uncle Tong, I know many truck drivers who run freight services are often so busy that they miss their meals and have to eat steamed buns and drink cold water. Even an iron man can't stand it."
"But if we sell lunch boxes, we can only sell them for a few hours at noon and in the evening . If it's past mealtime, let's not talk about whether the food is fresh or not. What if the driver is too hungry and doesn't want to eat?"
"I don't know if Uncle Tong likes to eat glutinous rice balls. The glutinous rice balls made by my grandma are very delicious. The ones you buy outside are not as delicious as hers."
"Besides, unlike boxed lunches, which you don't want to eat after mealtime, this stuff is filling and can be eaten as a snack. Even if it's past mealtime, you can buy it and eat it when you're hungry or craving for food. It's freshly made and eaten right away, so it won't be stale. What do you think?"
Tong Zhiyuan was stunned for a moment and couldn't help laughing.
He is now a little jealous of the eldest brother of the Jiang family.
Not only did he marry a virtuous and capable wife, but his daughter also had a talent for business.
If the two families had never met each other and his daughter Xiaoyan was a few years older than Jiang Tian, Tong Zhiyuan could not help but wonder if the two families born.
It is obvious that Jiang Tian is more like Tong Zhiyuan's biological daughter.
I was envious in my heart and couldn't help wanting to test this girl.
Tong Zhiyuan deliberately hesitated for a while, and said to Jiang Tian in a businesslike manner:
"Girl, if you want to set up a table and sell lunch boxes in my gas station, I won't charge you a penny for the sake of being neighbors."
"But if you want to set up a stall in my gas station to sell things, it will be a long-term business, and you have to pay me rent. Do you want to go back and tell your parents?"
Hu Jianjun glanced at his niece. OK! He finally understood why this girl wanted to bring him along.
As an uncle, if you don’t stand up for your niece now, when will you?
Hu Jianjun quickly took over the conversation: "Boss Tong, how much do you think is a suitable rent? Don't tell me, tell this girl, she can make the decision on our family's affairs."
Tong Zhiyuan was stunned.
What kind of family is this? The adults are doing business and letting the children come out to negotiate business with others?
Boss Tong's mouth twitched twice and he said a number.
"Five dollars a month. See the water tank over there? That's it. You can build the shed yourself. Just don't block the cars from coming in or out."
Jiang Tian looked up and was immediately happy.
This place is great!
No matter whether they are truck drivers or passengers on long-distance buses, when they arrive at a gas station, they either go to the toilet or fill up their water bottles here. Boss Tong is quite good at doing business. He has set up a water pool in the gas station for customers to fill up water for free. How much does it cost to dig a well?
But with this water pool, many drivers will come here to refuel for the sake of convenience, and also add some water and take a rest here.
Let’s put it this way, a car entering a gas station may not necessarily refuel here, but it definitely needs this water tank.
Moreover, five yuan a month does not sound cheap. After all, the polished round-grained rice that ordinary people eat now is only 20 cents per pound. Five yuan is enough to buy more than 200 pounds of polished round-grained rice.
But that’s not how it works.
A meatless rice ball with some shredded green peppers and potatoes, half a fried dough stick, and some shredded pickles costs 20 cents and is sold for 50 cents each, making a profit of double the amount.
Although the cost of adding meat to the rice ball is a bit higher, it can be sold for 80 cents each. If you encounter a picky customer, you can add a braised egg, braised tofu, braised bean curd sheets, etc., and a rice ball will cost more than one dollar.
If this price is sold at a country market, only a few can be sold in a day. It's not easy for people in the countryside to make money. Who would be willing to spend a dollar to buy a glutinous rice ball, even with meat!
But for those drivers of large trucks and people who travel long distances by car, they can buy a large rice ball for one dollar, and those with a small appetite can eat two meals of it, which means that a meal only costs fifty cents, and there is meat, rice and vegetables. What a good deal!
And there is another advantage of glutinous rice balls. They taste good when they are hot, and have another unique taste when they are cold. Some people like to eat cold rice balls, just like sushi in later generations.
Tong Zhiyuan originally thought that 80 cents for a rice ball was a bit expensive, but when Jiang Tian measured the size of a rice ball, he immediately shut his mouth.
A rice ball as long as a chopstick, can this be called a rice ball? It should be called an extra-large rice dumpling, right?
What's more, in addition to glutinous rice balls, Jiang Tian actually plans to ask her grandparents to make some rice dumplings to sell.
Just think about the Jiaxing zongzi chain store that became popular in major service areas in later generations. If this thing wasn’t easy to sell, would it have been popular for so many years in service areas with extremely high rents?
Jiang Tian decided that she would teach her grandma how to make salty rice dumplings when she returned home!
Local people often eat alkaline rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival. They are made by adding a proper amount of alkaline water to glutinous rice and then wrapping it with bamboo leaves. After being cooked, the glutinous rice turns light yellow and has the fragrance of bamboo leaves. It is especially sweet when dipped in sugar.
Some families who are particular about it will add red beans and red dates to the zongzi, and these are the only ways to make it in the countryside. Unlike later generations, zongzi and mooncakes have been spoiled by merchants, and everything can be used to make zongzi, with a variety of ways. Egg yolk and meat zongzi is already a routine operation, and there are also zongzi with durian, curry chicken, and spicy crayfish.
Jiang Tian had never thought of challenging the people’s acceptance of weird food in the 1980s.
She planned to make two flavors of rice dumplings: salted egg yolk rice dumplings and large meat rice dumplings.
The most important thing is that rice dumplings are easier to sell. You can wrap and cook them at home in advance, put them in a steamer, and keep them warm on a coal stove underneath. When guests come, you can just take them out, peel off the bamboo leaves and eat them.
Speaking of coal stoves, this is also the reason why Jiang Tian insisted on renting a small piece of land from Boss Tong and building a separate house to open a store.
Although many people are not polite these days and smoking at gas stations is still rampant, Jiang Tian will not joke about the life safety of her own grandmother.
By building a separate house, you can put the coal stove and steamer inside the house, and just set up a stall at the door with some samples. When customers come, they can go inside to get either glutinous rice balls or rice dumplings. This way there will be no hidden danger of open flames.
