Chapter 45: Who Is Truly to Be Pitied

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Who Is Truly to Be Pitied

In the office, Daniel produced a cooperation contract with the terms spelled out.

Liam would be responsible for attaching the cart of prepared fresh foods, Daniel’s restaurant would take responsibility for receiving orders and delivering to the customer’s door. Profits split 20-80. Liam 20%, Daniel 80%.

Liam read it through, then set it aside without hurrying to sign. Business deals couldn’t be finalized through discussion alone. At a minimum, both parties first had to reach an agreement on operations, pricing, and profit sharing.

He took out a plan more detailed than the one he had given Daniel the other day, projecting it onto the large board, then standing up to explain each item to Daniel.

"The list price you’ve set is far too high against an ordinary person’s average income. You should know our original target was every class in society. You can’t set a price only the middle class can afford."

Daniel propped his chin up, looking at Liam: "Then tell me what we should do. If we set a lower price, after deducting ingredient costs, labor and delivery, we won’t make a profit."

Liam tapped the screen, enlarging the pricing plan.

"We’ll divide the list prices into three tiers: everyday, middle and upper. The everyday meals prioritize the cheapest fresh ingredients, with each portion consisting of one vegetable dish, one savory dish and one dessert."

He enlarged a sample combo:

"Take this meal. I use Sawtooth greens, grade-three star-beast meat and a dessert in limited quantity. The Sawtooth greens can be stir-fried with cracklings, at three plants and two pieces of crackling per portion.

Grade-three star-beast meat only needs a hundred and fifty grams, and we can mince it or cut it into strips then fry it, batter and fry it, or stir-fry it, so it looks like more.

As for dessert, cakes for instance are made only in small moulds, fruit is only half a piece, juice only a tiny cup. Of course, all of this should be cooked by robots rather than people."

He changed the image again, switching to the sample for the middle tier:

"The middle tier works the same way, but with more dishes. The minimum portion is one savory dish, one stir-fry and one soup; the mid-level portion is two savory, one stir-fry and one soup; the high-level portion has the same number of dishes as mid-level but the ingredients are one grade up."

"As for dessert in the middle tier, it’s the same as everyday but bigger in size, larger in volume. Of course, also cooked by robots."

Liam moved on to the next sample: 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Last is for the upper tier. This level uses the best ingredients, cooked by human chefs. It’s also split into three levels: minimum, medium and high. I imagine you know how to handle this one?"

Daniel nodded. His restaurant was aimed at exactly this highest level, so of course he understood how to grade the ingredients. Liam went on:

"As for dessert, obviously we can’t use the same desserts as the other two tiers. I suggest you set cream cakes and puddings aside as the dessert for this tier. Later on our planet will grow more ingredients that don’t exist on the market. I won’t be selling those on the market, only supplying them exclusively to your restaurant. By then, upper-tier society will take your restaurant as the standard by which they judge sophistication."

Liam stressed: "Most important of all, for the highest package in the upper-tier range, you have to sell the accompanying service as well."

Daniel sat up straight: "Meaning?"

Liam smiled: "It means that instead of only delivering goods to them as with the other packages, with this one you deliver the people along with the goods. Your staff bring the food and serve the customer at home. Whatever treatment they receive when they come to your restaurant, you must serve them exactly the same when you deliver to them. Of course, on condition the householder permits it first."

Daniel’s eyes blazed, springing to his feet to slam the table: "Bloody hell! This plan is incredible!"

Liam raised a hand to signal Daniel to sit, going on calmly:

"That’s only the operating method and the pricing. The more important part comes after. That’s the after-sales service. You have to set up an after-sales department covering these functions: advice, answering customer questions, assessing customer satisfaction. Thanking customers when they praise you, apologizing when they aren’t satisfied, and being psychologically prepared to negotiate and compensate properly if our goods give a customer a bad experience."

He pressed the point: "This is the hardest stage the service industry faces. Whether in the food business or in the tourism service we’re aiming at later. This stage decides whether we can hold on to old customers and build the reputation to draw new ones."

Liam looked straight at Daniel: "I won’t take part in anything else, but this after-sales and customer care matter I’ll supervise myself, do you agree or not?"

This amounted to directly sharing part of the running of Daniel’s restaurant, and it was no small matter. Done badly, not only would their partnership run into internal division, it might even ruin the friendship the two of them had built with such difficulty.

Daniel tapped his fingers on the desk, drew a deep breath, said: "If you employ a man, don’t doubt him. I trust your character and your ability, so I agree. However the current split no longer fits.

You’re taking part in running the restaurant, so the share of revenue going to you has to be higher. What do you think of 40-60?"

Liam shook his head: "Keep it at 20-80 as before, taking 20% is already far too much for the work I’m doing. As for the tourist planet, we’re both putting in capital, so 50-50."

Daniel frowned, wanting to say something, only for Liam to brush it aside: "Don’t think I’m losing out, you’ll understand later, 20% is not a small figure."

The matter of partnering on the food delivery service was settled there. Daniel’s secretary had the new contract drawn up, so the two of them read it carefully then put pen to it. Liam went on to discuss the tourist planet, in the end agreeing that all the mobile homes must be custom made to the architecture Liam drew.

As for area and rental format, based on customer needs these were divided into two kinds: individual and family. Within these two kinds there were again three levels: everyday, middle and upper.

The two of them discussed it all morning, and at midday Daniel and Liam ate right there in the office, talking business as they ate.

Daniel said with feeling: "Liam, doing business with you, I’ve learned more than in four years at the Economics school."

Liam smiled, offering no comment. In truth, schooling only laid the foundation. How you built your own commercial empire still came down to the individual.

Mr. Mason might have the shrewdness of a seasoned merchant, but the Mason family business leaned toward machinery and military supplies. He didn’t understand the food business well enough to teach Daniel every detail of it. What’s more, as Liam could see, Mr. Mason didn’t take Daniel seriously, or more accurately had no confidence that he could succeed on this business road.

Perhaps in Mr. Mason’s eyes, Daniel opening a restaurant was only playing for fun, and when he came of age he should still go home to marry, bear his husband children then raise them. That was the general view people in this world held of Omegas.

They spoke of indulging and cherishing Omegas, but in reality, in their eyes an Omega was only the best breeding tool, able to optimize humanity’s gene pool. Compared with Betas, Omegas were far more to be pitied.

Yet they themselves were brainwashed, always proud of being treasures, so how could they recognize their own situation?

Liam didn’t say this to Daniel either, because there was no need. Once Daniel could stand firmly on his own feet in business, he would understand it of his own accord.