Extraordinary Genius
Chapter 605 – Partnership with Quanjude (Part 2 of 2)
On the one hand, it was the responsibility towards Quanjude, the other was a great political credit. Deputy Mayor Liu was in a dilemma. If the partnership was a success under him and Quanjude becomes Asia’s number one F&B company, he will gain significant benefits.
He was now the Deputy Mayor. Although it was impossible for him to replace the Mayor, he might be promoted and deployed to some province to the be governor there. Or, he might be promoted to be the City’s Deputy Party Secretary. No matter what, he will definitely be promoted if this partnership goes through.
Which government employee does not want to be promoted? Every Civil servant, especial those officers had a blueprint in their heart. All of them wants to higher authority and power.
But it was not easy to be promoted. The country’s economy was now doing well, and if one does now have economic results, it was hard to be promoted. But if one made a significant contribution to the economy, he was sure to be promoted!
Feng Yu does not like corrupted officials who were hungry for money. But towards the officials who were desperate for promotions, he was fine. If an official does not want to be promoted, does not want to do their work and just want to read newspapers in their office, they were worse than those corrupted officials.
Feng Yu and Fu Guangzheng decided to entice Deputy Mayor Liu with this political credit.
“Mayor Liu, we are thinking of bringing Quanjude out of China. We want to bring Chinese cuisine to every part of the world and earn those foreigners’ money. Once the partnership is formed, it can be done immediately.” Fu Guangzheng continued.
“But there are so many companies in this partnership and so many restaurants. Quanjude will suddenly become tens of restaurants. We will not have enough roast duck chefs.” Deputy Mayor Liu said.
Feng Yu smiled: “Mayor Liu, Bianyifang is also one of the City’s enterprise? There are lots of chefs there. If Quanjude could train them, they could master the skills within a month. Beijing also has lots of other roast duck restaurants. We can poach their chefs and roast ducks for Quanjude.”
“How can you do that?” Quanjude roast ducks are different from the rest of the restaurants!” Deputy Mayor Liu replied firmly.
“Mayor Liu, people from different regions have different taste buds. Some places preferred sweet and some preferred spicy. Since region have different taste, what’s wrong if the taste of our ducks differs in different areas? We just need to make sure our ducks taste good, and the customers like it.”
“But will the customers feel that we are cheating them?”
“Of course not!”
In Feng Yu previous life, the ducks served in Quanjude’s restaurant in the US was slightly different from Beijing. But the restaurant was still popular among the locals. It was just like Sichuan cuisine sold in Zhejiang. It was not as spicy as the original.
No matter how excellent Chinese cuisine was, the recipe will be changed to suit the local consumers. The US Chinese restaurant bought by Fu Guangzheng was the same too. He told Feng Yu that the food served in the restaurant cannot even be considered Chinese cuisine, but it was still very popular in New York.
Deputy Mayor Liu was hesitating. But he really wanted to be promoted.
He reported this to the Mayor, and when the Mayor questions him, he used what Feng Yu and Fu Guangzheng said to reply to him.
In the end, this partnership was approved after a meeting. But there was a condition. The Chairman of the new Quanjude must be someone from the City Government!
The City had wanted to let a “senior and experienced” to be the Chairman and General Manager of the company, but Feng Yu rejected.
It is either you be the Chairman or the General Manager. You can’t be holding on to both positions!
Feng Yu wanted Jiang Xianjun to be in power. In Feng Yu’s previous life, Jiang Xianjun had managed Quanjude and its brand well.
Also, Jiang Xianjun was open to new ideas and had his own unique style of managing the company. Feng Yu will feel assure if Jiang Xianjun was leading the company. Jiang Xianjun’s reputation in the company was outstanding. He was close to everyone and does not have airs.
Fu Guangzheng also feels the same way after chatting with Jiang Xianjun. That old man was too conservative. If he becomes the Chairman and General Manager, he will slow down the company’s developments.
Jiang Xianjun had also contributed in forming this partnership, and Feng Yu wanted to reward him with some shares. The position of Chairman can be given away to the City Government, but Jiang Xianjun must be the General Manager.
Feng Yu was very firm in his demands. So, Deputy Mayor Liu went to speak to Jiang Xianjun. He wants to find out why Jiang Xianjun, as a state-owned enterprise’s employee, sided with Feng Yu.
Deputy Mayor Liu found out from Jiang Xianjun that Feng Yu had promised him the position of General Manager and if he quit his position in the State-owned enterprise, he will give him shares of the company. Jiang Xianjun also feels that Feng Yu was a man of his words.
He told Deputy Mayor what he was thinking and said to him that even if he resigned from the State-owned enterprise, he will still be loyal to the Party and will still someone from Beijing. He will never forget the guidance given to him by the City Government. He will protect and manage Quanjude well.
Jiang Xianjun also told Deputy Mayor Liu about his plans for Quanjude, and he proved himself to be better than that old leader to manage Quanjude!
……
Deputy Mayor Liu contacted the other 2 F&B companies. The F&B companies had thought that they had no more chance to form an invest in Quanjude. They never expect the City Government to contact them.
Quanjude’s condition was reasonable. After Quanjude Group was formed, the headquarters will be Beijing, and the City Government will assign the Group’s Chairman. The rest of the positions will be decided by all the shareholders.
When the companies knew that a Hong Kong Company will be investing in this venture and will be speeding up the group’s expansion, they agreed. Anyway, they can also be the Deputy Chairman. They will also have some say in the company and will earn more money after the group was formed.
Now, everybody was on the same page, and the rest of the details were quickly finalized.
4 parties came together to form Quanjude Group. Beijing City Government, Sichuan City Government, Feng Yu, Fu Guangzheng, the group of businessmen from Zhejiang, the group of businessmen from Sichuan and Jiang Xianjun became the company’s shareholders. Feng Yu, Fu Guangzheng, Jiang Xianjun, and a few others formed the board of directors, and the old man from Beijing City Government became the first Chairman of the Group, and Jiang Xianjun was the General Manager.
Quanjude Group total value was now 1.72 billion RMB. Beijing City Government owns 16.3%, Feng Yu owns, 15.8%, Fu Guangzheng owns 10%, Sichuan Government owns 8.2%…… Jiang Xianjun was given 0.8%, and the rest of the restaurant manager were given 0.05% each. Feng Yu was the most significant individual shareholder, and the Beijing City Government was the next key shareholder.
Beijing City Government was relieved to know that no two shareholders can combine to have the controlling share of the company. They believed that Quanjude will never be fully privatized!
Thus, Quanjude Group started its operations, and one month later, all of Quanjude restaurants started selling their specialty roast ducks. The specialty dishes from each restaurant were also available in other restaurants. A powerful restaurant chain was formed…….