The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 168 Business

It takes several months from planting to harvesting peppers, and they need to be dried in the later stages. No link can be kept absolutely confidential, so it is expected that the secret would be leaked.

Chili products have already appeared on the market, but the scale is relatively small and the quality is not very good, so there is no impact on their business for the time being.

But once there is a first, there will be a second. Once the raw materials are leaked, followers will not be far behind, and it is only a matter of time before the hot pot base is imitated.

After the large-scale cultivation of peppers, Chen Cui thought about this. After discussing with Zhang Ruomei, she launched the hot pot base for sale separately the following year.

The taste is almost the same as in the store, but you can take it home and enjoy it with your family without having to wait in the store, which is a lot more convenient.

It's said that they sell at a low profit but in large quantities, there are so many spices in it, as well as mutton fat and beef tallow, so the final price is not low. It's just that the profit is not as high as selling hot pots in a hot pot restaurant.

After all, all the side dishes and dipping sauces in the restaurant have costs, plus a premium, plus labor costs, so a hotpot meal is naturally not cheap.

The consumers of these hot pot bases are not the poor masses, but at least those who have enough food and clothing or are wealthy.

Moreover, in order to maintain confidentiality, she has hidden many of the spices in the hot pot base as much as possible. They are either ground into powder or taken out after frying and not included in the finished product. Therefore, it is difficult to imitate and she will not be caught up for the time being.

They are in the food business, and it is difficult to maintain long-term confidentiality. Even the peppers they grow exclusively for themselves have been stolen, so canned fruits are even less likely to be spared.

In the first year after the canned food was launched, sales were very good. Some people were jealous and bought some to study. When the fruit was on the market the following year, someone did imitate it, but the finished product was disappointing.

Chen Cui’s canning process may seem simple, but it is actually a set of steps that people have discovered through repeated experimentation over the years. Each link has its role, and ultimately the finished product is able to be preserved for a long time.

Although imitators also find a way to seal the fruit and then steam and sterilize it, the process is not so rigorous, and the disinfection and sterilization are not strict, the shelf life is very short.

Moreover, Chen Cui added an additional process of rapid cooling with ice water to maintain the appearance of the fruit, especially canned lychees. Without this process, it is easy for them to turn rust red, but imitators do not know this.

The big merchants all have their own backers. After they know that this is the business of the Prince of Shu's Palace, they will not let the big merchants touch it. Only those with average strength become jealous of the hot sales of canned food and secretly imitate it.

Although it was made, and even the jars were similar to the "Zhang Ji" made by Chen Cui and others, a fake is still a fake.

Those canned foods are just for show and can only be kept for a short time. Some people even find out that they are bad right after they buy them. After going to the store to claim compensation, they can only go to the "Zhangji" store to buy again.

Now, Chen Cui and her team have improved the canned food packaging. The label affixed to each jar after production will clearly state the type of fruit, production time, and shelf life.

The shelf life written on it is one year, and the store promises that if the contents are found to have deteriorated within the shelf life, ten times the compensation will be given!

In fact, Chen Cui always keeps a portion of the canned food she produces for shelf life testing. Some of them have not changed color or taste even after two years.

It is difficult for those imitators to do this. After experiencing many incidents of claims due to canned food spoilage, no one is doing these imitations anymore, at least not openly.

But Chen Cui knew that sooner or later someone would figure out the secret. After all, it was not something too profound. As long as she was willing to study hard, she would discover it sooner or later.

But so what, it's just a price reduction.

At that time, she and Zhang Ruomei had already made a lot of money from this business, and the price reduction would hardly have any impact.

After years of operation, everyone has long believed that "Zhangji" canned food is the most genuine, authentic and worth buying!

Zhang Ruomei was also very satisfied. She used these two businesses to successfully narrow the distance between her and her cousin and better bind them together.

Don't think that they are close just because they are cousins.

The Zhang family is large and populous. My cousin is the legitimate daughter of the head of the Zhang family. Although she is not from a famous family, she has been carefully cultivated since she was a child.

Although Zhang Ruomei was also from the direct branch, she was from the side branch. There were no outstanding male members in the family. It was only because her father was better at business and the family had more money that she had some status in the clan.

Moreover, there is a big age gap between her and her cousin, and they don't interact much.

Zhang Ruomei's status in the clan increased only after Wang Hengzhi was promoted to Tongzhi.

A seventh-rank county magistrate is not uncommon in the clan, but a fifth-rank assistant magistrate is relatively rare, especially since Wang Hengzhi is still young.

Zhang Ruomei's father was also very happy. After the clan members learned the news, they all praised him for having a good son-in-law and a bright future.

Old Man Zhang felt that he had made the right choice in choosing the right person. This son-in-law brought him great honor.

But no matter how promising a Tongzhi is, he cannot compare with the prince, especially since this prince is the emperor's own son.

Although my cousin is the King of Shu's concubine, she has two sons and her status is not comparable to that of ordinary concubines. She has a lot of face in front of the prince. Over the years, the Zhang family has gained a lot of conveniences by relying on the relationship with Concubine Zhang.

Zhang Ruomei has respected her cousin very much since she was a child. She feels that it is totally worth it to be able to build a closer relationship with her cousin and increase their contacts by doing a little food business. As for whether there is money or not, it is not that important.

When Chen Cui came out of the palace, it was still early for lunch. She remembered that the weather would be getting warmer soon and it was time to sew new clothes for her family, so she planned to go to the cloth shop.

In fact, making new clothes is mainly for the children. She doesn’t care about it herself, especially Suisui. She grows fast now, and sometimes the clothes she wears in spring can’t be worn in autumn, so new clothes have to be made almost every season.

However, the materials in the cloth shops seem to have increased in price, and the more expensive the material, the more obvious the price increase.

"Madam, there is nothing we can do. Our purchase price is here. Last year there was a drought and the harvest was poor. The production of cotton, mulberry and hemp all decreased. The price of this material must go up!"

Chen Cui sighed.

The prices of grain, vegetables, and fruits have increased, and the price of cloth has also increased. The cost of living has gone up all of a sudden.

Whether the cloth is cheap or expensive will not affect her plan to make clothes. She will cut the right amount. But it is different for people at the bottom of society.

No matter when, the people who suffer the most are the common people at the bottom of society. Their lives will be affected by the slightest disturbance.

You can wear one less piece of clothing, but you cannot skip meals. In order to eat, you may have to use the money for making clothes to buy rice and flour to fill your stomach.