Chapter 50: Business Cooperation

“Little Master Chef, I have a question for you.”

Zhang Heng asked Xu Le respectfully.

Although Xu Le was just a child, he had already earned Zhang Heng’s respect by being able to cook such delicious dishes.

The accomplished are the masters.

In this world, this principle would always be followed.

People might have some respect for older people, but they would only truly feel admiration for those with capability.

This admiration had nothing to do with age.

…

“Go ahead.”

Xu Le looked up at Zhang Heng and replied in a tender voice.

“Is this dish easy to learn? And… can this dish be made into a fast-food package or as a semi-finished product?”

Zhang Heng looked at Xu Le with bright eyes and asked anxiously.

As a businessman, he naturally considered matters from a business perspective.

From the moment he tasted the dish, a bold plan surfaced in Zhang Heng’s mind.

Although the Lake Yangcheng’s hairy crabs he reared were of excellent quality, they were too expensive.

Zhang Heng had opened more than 30 restaurants in the country and specialized in selling Lake Yangcheng’s hairy crabs. A raw hairy crab cost more than a hundred yuan, not to mention that it had been processed by a chef and sold as a dish in the restaurant.

In the restaurant, a crab would cost about 200 yuan.

This was a price that most people could not afford.

Therefore, Zhang Heng had always wanted to develop some cheaper dishes to attract more customers. However, the cost of the crabs could not be reduced, so this plan had not been in operation until now.

But now.

After tasting the [Crab Roe], Zhang Heng had an idea.

Is it possible that… [Crab Roe] could be this cheap dish?

Compared with the real crabs, the taste and texture of this dish was not bad. It could even be said to be very similar.

The price was very cheap and it was unique.

One dish would cost less than 10 yuan. Customers could also order some other ordinary dishes.

At the same time, they would be able to eat their fill in Zhang Heng’s restaurant.

For a restaurant, they were most worried about not having any customers.

At this moment, the dish [Crab Roe] could solve this problem.

When there were more customers… the restaurant would naturally become famous. Although [Crab Roe] taste similar to real crabs, there was still a huge difference. It could not be completely replaced.

Therefore, more and more customers would be willing to taste the real crab.

Other than that, Zhang Heng even drafted a marketing strategy in his mind—making use of trends!

What was the hottest trend now?

Xu Le!

He would take advantage of the popularity of the little Master Chef, Central TV’s live broadcast and Taste of China’s program which would be broadcast in a week’s time.

These were all very good marketing opportunities.

As long as Zhang Heng grasped this opportunity, his brand would be able to use this wave of popularity to become a household name.

That was why he asked Xu Le this question.

“Is this dish easy to learn? And… can this dish be made into a fast-food package or as a semi-finished product?”

When Xu Le heard this question, he was stunned for a moment before he fell into deep thought.

Is this [Crab Roe] easy to learn?

It was definitely not difficult.

However, it would be very difficult to achieve Xu Le’s standard, or rather, to get close to it.

All the ratio of seasoning, the control of the fire, the order of ingredients…

Everything had to be done with extreme care.

“Making it into a fast-food package or semi-finished product… that’s unlikely.”

Xu Le shook his head.

However, he continued, “However, if I were to personally teach this dish, it wouldn’t be difficult to learn it.”

Zhang Heng’s eyes lit up.

If Xu Le could nurture a group of excellent chefs and introduce this dish into his restaurant, then with Xu Le’s recent popularity…

“Little Master Chef, I want to discuss a business deal with you. Are you interested?”

“A business deal?”

Xu Le replied with interest.

He really had no experience in doing business. Hearing Zhang Heng’s suggestion, he was naturally very interested.

The other party was an investor of Taste of China and was also Master Cai Lan’s friend. Therefore, Xu Le was quite assured of him.

“It’s like this. I grow hairy crabs in Lake Yangcheng, and I’ve opened more than 30 restaurants around the country.”

“All the main dishes in the restaurant are crabs, so they’re more expensive. There are very few ordinary-income customers, so business isn’t so good…”

“Little Master Chef, I just tasted the [Crab Roe] that you made, and I think its flavor is very good. I wonder if you can help train a group of chefs to make this dish our restaurant’s common-price dish, so that we can use it to promote our restaurant.”

Zhang Heng spoke very sincerely.

However, Xu Le did not agree immediately.

Although he was only an eight-year-old child, he was still a university student who had transmigrated here. He knew that he had to be careful when it came to business matters. He might fall into the other party’s business trap even if he was the people he was most familiar with.

Besides, it was his first time meeting Mr. Zhang Heng, so he didn’t know him well.

“What else do I have to do besides training the cooks? And… what do I get out of working with you?”

Xu Le asked calmly.

This was his first time coming into contact with this kind of business cooperation, so he had to be extra careful.

Seeing Xu Le being so cautious, Zhang Heng also nodded. This was the attitude that a businessman should have.

It was better to discuss everything in advance than to have disagreements later.

“Let me first explain my request.” Zhang Heng smiled.

“First of all, we need the Little Master Chef to help us train our chefs and authorize the rights for the [Crab Roe] recipe to our restaurant.”

“We plan on promoting this dish in Shanghai first. There are a total of six restaurants, and we need to train eight chefs. We also need you to authorize the recipe to us.”

“Secondly, with the help of your popularity, we hope that you can become the spokesperson of our restaurant, or we hope that our restaurant [Giant Crab] and your [Eight-year-old canteen] can do a joint promotion.

After Zhang Heng finished speaking, he specially added, “This are our requests. Little Master Chef, please state your request. We can discuss it slowly.”

Xu Le nodded slightly.

It seemed like the other party was sincere in cooperating with him.

Xu Le was naturally happy to do so. After all, this was a good opportunity to earn money and promote delicious food.

However… he did not know if the other party would agree to his request.