After Being Forced Into Marriage, I Became Very Successful - Chapter 39

39:

The old shops’ business had been booming more and more lately, with increasing numbers of people drawn by those online food photos. Already in a bustling area with convenient transport, new customers weren’t limited to weekends anymore, many even came during lunch breaks or after work in the evenings to grab food.

To capitalize, the old shops got proactive and extended their hours. Though they didn’t open a midnight stall, closing well after dusk was already a big improvement over shutting down early in the evening like before.

The old shops’ prosperity also boosted surrounding foot traffic. The shops previously acquired by the Li family were old shops too. Now revamped into the Li family’s uniform catering style, seeing Boss Qian and the others thriving stirred complex feelings.

But having signed the contracts meant losing control over operations. After renovations, they directly launched a storewide 50% off promotion per uniform requirements. With the price edge plus the Li family’s massive citywide marketing, many en route to the old shops got intercepted.

Such aggressive promotions weren’t just for customer appreciation, of course. Customers had to instantly repost the Li Catering official Weibo, “Old Shops Renovated, Reborn Anew”, with their own reviews.

Predictably, reviews had to be positive. The more vivid and enthusiastic, the better the chance of extra store rewards.

The old shops’ prior promotions were limited to posting photos and describing snack textures, nothing more evocative or topical.

Compared to the Li family heavily dramatizing the old shops’ “past and present,” practically scripting an epic tale of an imperial chef descendant’s rise, it indeed seemed thin.

Jiang Yan reviewed the traffic data Qian Ming had compiled, thinking it was time for the next step. With the bosses’ strong trust in her, she combined her business research insights with her own feelings as a target customer.

After hearing her new plan, the bosses hesitated but not like at the start. After all, her previous suggestions had been market-proven feasible, and she truly understood young customers’ psychology better than they did.

“Xiao Jiang, you mean we should do delivery too?”

A few years back when delivery apps launched, the area’s old shops had all signed up. Sales did rise initially, but after the promotion push, new customers dwindled, average orders dropped low. Once subsidies and rewards ended, reviews shifted from “delicious and affordable” to “so expensive, mediocre value.”

This chilled the old shops. They stuck to traditional methods, costing more in labor than centralized or frozen reprocessed food. But on apps, customers didn’t care, old shops were forced to compete with volume runners squeezing costs, with predictable results.

Limited profits, average ratings, useless reputation, platforms taking hefty cuts unchanged.

Eventually, the old shops withdrew from delivery apps one by one, focusing solely on local business.

Boss Qian sighed: “It’s not that we don’t want to expand. Selling citywide would be great for us. But to maintain reputation, we must consider pricing, and deliveries too far change the taste anyway.”

Jiang Yan replied: “No worries. For now, we only do nearby deliveries within 3-5 km.”

She circled an area on her phone map. The population density here was impressive; volume wouldn’t be low if done right.

Boss Ding said: “Customer numbers are fine, but platforms won’t agree to special requests. Before, we couldn’t even pause orders during peaks, they fined us for slow fulfillment.”

The other bosses nodded vigorously, they’d all suffered under platform overreach.

“So we don’t sign with platforms. We make our own.”

Even Qian Ming was quite shocked.

Everyone asked: “Our own?”

The bosses didn’t know technology, thinking building a delivery app wasn’t easy, otherwise, those two platforms wouldn’t have been so aggressive during signup talks.

Qian Ming thought giving a new app vitality was too hard, especially with the delivery market already carved up by giants. Snagging a share was like robbing the tiger’s mouth: unrealistic.

“We just make the simplest app possible, only old shops on it, targeting just the area I circled.”

The bosses pondered. Jiang Yan added, seeing they might not fully get it: “It’s basically like customers calling the shop to order before, just shifted to this app.”

Boss Qian asked: “Then who delivers? Even at peak, we can’t afford dedicated riders for our few shops.”

Labor costs were sky-high now, catering profits trending down overall. Even rent-free old shops, maintaining raw material quality, weren’t as profitable as outsiders thought.

“We can hire idle neighbors during peaks, pay per delivery. If swamped, use crowd-sourced help.”

That sounded way more feasible.

So who builds the app?

Boss Qian generously offered: “Tomorrow I’ll have Qian Jin come over. That’s his day job. If he can, he’ll do it; if not, he’ll find someone else.”

Sure enough, Qian Jin said it wasn’t hard, data needs weren’t huge.

“I can make it. Give me some time.”

Hearing Qian Jin could handle it energized everyone. Per Jiang Yan’s plan, during app development, old shops printed tons of flyers for local distribution, targeting office white-collar workers.

With the app not live yet, they listed WeChat customer service info. Qian Ming handled this, recruiting part-time students online to build several customer groups within a week.

Initial WeChat orders were few, mostly prior customers too lazy to go out in cooling weather. Later, colleagues got recommended, so order quantities gradually grew.

With this early data, bosses gained strong confidence for the app launch.

But today, they specifically called Jiang Yan to the shop not for delivery talk, but to give her money.

“Xiao Jiang, we discussed it. Once the delivery app launches, you take 30% of the profits.”

“Ah? No, I never thought of getting anything from you, absolutely not.” Jiang Yan was genuinely stunned. The bosses had never hinted before, why this sudden decision?

As their leader, Boss Qian spoke with authority: “We know you don’t need this money and truly want to help our shops. We appreciate the favor, but we can’t take it for free. Business is like that, and so is being human. You help us, we can’t pretend not to notice.”

Boss Qian teaching her skills last time was generous enough; now actual profit-sharing left Jiang Yan speechless at their sincerity.

“I just gave a few suggestions, I didn’t really contribute much, and I can’t cook. I can’t take this money.”

Tian Sheng chimed in: “In today’s world, a good idea’s worth a fortune, let alone yours, more than one. You’ve led us step by step here; we know exactly what it means. If you won’t take it, we won’t do business with peace of mind.”

The bosses had clearly decided. Jiang Yan couldn’t refuse.

She thought the app was to expand old shops’ reach, profits might not be huge anyway. Pushing further would hurt harmony.

“Fine, I’ll take 30% of net profits, only the final net.”

The bosses laughed: “Sure, you don’t need money, but who complains about more? Others grab every extra cent in splits, you insist on the tiniest final scrap.”

Being reasonable folks, they not only gave Jiang Yan 30% but specially allocated Qian Jin 5%. So aside from Jiang Yan, the Qian family got the biggest share.

No one found it unfair. From these bosses, Jiang Yan saw more about unity, yielding, and respecting partners.

Jiang Yan never detailed old shops’ operations to Xia Yining, but her frequent visits weren’t secret. Sure, Jiang Yan spent most free time out instead at home, not ideal, but she always brought tasty food back, so Xia Yining couldn’t say much.

After all, before gourmet, some principles weren’t necessary.

That day, Xia Yining met Qin Yishan for a client lunch. After parking, minutes from the restaurant, someone shoved a flyer into her hand.

Qin Yishan glanced casually, traditional snacks, unfamiliar shop names: Old Shop Alliance.

She smiled, reaching to take Xia Yining’s to fold and toss in the nearby trash.

“Wait, I want to look closely.”

Qin Yishan hadn’t expected Xia Yining to care about a crudely designed flyer, so she opened hers too.

“Anything special?” Qin Yishan still saw no difference, these snacks were utterly ordinary.

“Looks decent. I wonder about the taste.” Xia Yining smiled faintly, folding the flyer and slipping it into her limited-edition H bag.

Seeing this, Qin Yishan couldn’t just toss hers—imitating, she tucked it in too.

“You like those snacks on the flyer too?”

Qin Yishan felt that after years of knowing Xia Yining, her understanding had drifted far away. She’d once thought she knew her well, but now realized how much she didn’t.

Entering the restaurant, the client was already there. Xia Yining’s gaze never turned to Qin Yishan.

“Traditional snacks endure because they have a unique, irreplaceable charm. I just appreciate things with lasting appeal that touch the heart.”