When Pei Qian first heard the four words “garbage classification,” he didn’t sense any danger.
After all, garbage classification was already a major trend, with countries around the world implementing it. Although it was only 2011, and domestic garbage classification seemed a bit early, the world often experienced some ahead-of-time developments, which Pei Qian had witnessed many times before.
Moreover, garbage classification was merely about cultivating environmental awareness and making daily life slightly more inconvenient; it wouldn’t significantly impact people’s lives.
So, Pei Qian didn’t immediately realize what “garbage classification” meant for him.
But after a brief moment of hesitation, Pei Qian suddenly understood.
Garbage classification might not directly affect him, but it had huge implications for Slackin’ Takeout!
Currently, all Slackin’ Takeout follows a uniform process: food is delivered in white porcelain bowls, customers leave leftovers in the dishes for collection, delivery personnel collect the dishes, centrally process the leftovers, wash and disinfect the dishes with dishwashers, and reuse them.
The problem lay precisely in this “centrally processing the leftovers”!
Initially, Pei Qian hadn’t considered this aspect at all. He had only thought that recycling dishes would make delivery personnel make extra trips and spend more money, while lost dishes could result in additional compensation.
But once garbage classification was implemented, the situation would be completely different!
For customers, compared to other takeout services, Slackin’ Takeout eliminated concerns about both leftovers and disposable containers and utensils.
After finishing other takeout meals, customers had to separate containers, utensils, and leftovers for disposal, but with Slackin’ Takeout, they could still simply place the entire set of dishes at their doorstep for collection, saving themselves enormous trouble!
Originally, Slackin’ Takeout had a higher premium, and other takeout services could compete in the market with the advantage of being “cheaper and more convenient,” but now…
The more Pei Qian thought, the more anxious he became. He immediately set off to check the situation at Slackin’ Takeout Store No. 1!
…
Slackin’ Takeout Store No. 1, Food Laboratory.
Rui Yuchen was worried about Slackin’ Takeout’s prospects.
After reporting to Mr. Pei previously, Mr. Pei had completely ignored the data and instead made some inexplicably counterproductive moves.
Although Slackin’ Takeout was performing better in super first-tier and first-tier cities, and in cities outside Handong Province with fewer stores, Mr. Pei had done the opposite, instructing Rui Yuchen to place all new branches in Jingzhou and other cities in Handong Province.
Now, Slackin’ Takeout stores throughout Handong Province were clearly in a saturated state, especially in Jingzhou, where Slackin’ Takeout stores were competing with each other for business and customers.
Of course, “saturation” was a relative concept. It didn’t mean that they had covered all of Jingzhou, but rather that, given the current user base of Slackin’ Takeout, the number of stores exceeded actual user demand.
There was no help for it. Rui Yuchen had already tried to avoid overlapping coverage areas between stores before opening them, but there were simply too many Slackin’ Takeout shops in Jingzhou!
In the end, it was like squeezing stores into every available gap. Even though there was some overlap with other stores, they had no choice.
In short, Slackin’ Takeout was currently in a state of oversupply in most cities in Handong Province, especially in Jingzhou.
Besides this, Rui Yuchen was also troubled by the Food·Harmony brand.
From the pilot program, Food·Harmony’s reputation was indeed quite good, but it was only open to Tenda’s loyal users who had reached a certain credit rating, so the customer base was inherently limited.
Although Food·Harmony had a certain price premium, the custom food boxes, ingredient procurement, chef training, dish washing, and other aspects all required substantial investment. Selling just a few Food·Harmony meals couldn’t possibly cover current expenses.
Rui Yuchen’s original idea was to position Food·Harmony as a high-end brand, similar to how many car manufacturers create additional luxury car lines. The main purpose wasn’t to make money but to flex muscles and establish a high-end dimension that elevated the main brand’s value.
Following this logic, Food·Harmony should be small but exquisite, available only in specific major cities and main stores, not aimed at satisfying everyone’s needs, but more about showcasing high-end cuisine.
However, Mr. Pei’s thinking remained unfathomable.
Mr. Pei required the immediate promotion of the Food·Harmony brand to all Slackin’ Takeout stores, including those in third-tier cities, with no exceptions.
This included all Slackin’ Internet Cafés that already offered Slackin’ Takeout services, which would be completely updated in sync.
As a result, each store had to reinvest substantial funds to purchase food boxes, train chefs, and buy ingredients, greatly increasing losses for all stores at once!
Rui Yuchen, who had glimpsed a slight ray of profit, was instantly bewildered by Mr. Pei’s combination of moves, turning Slackin’ Takeout back into a bottomless pit of losses.
What exactly was Mr. Pei thinking?
Rui Yuchen truly couldn’t figure it out.
He had even discussed these issues with Lin Canrong from Nameless Restaurant, but Lin Canrong couldn’t explain it either, only suggesting that if he couldn’t understand, he should wait patiently, as Mr. Pei surely had other arrangements.
So, in recent days, Rui Yuchen had been busy opening stores and promoting Food·Harmony while also intensely trying to decipher Mr. Pei’s true intentions 24 hours a day.
Yet he still came up empty-handed.
After having several customers at Slackin’ Takeout Store No. 1 sample the new dishes, Rui Yuchen found an empty seat in the store and continued to ponder the deeper meaning behind Mr. Pei’s actions.
At that moment, however, frequent voice notifications of new orders began sounding in the store.
“Ding, new order.”
“Ding, new order.”
“Ding, new… Ding, Ding, new order.”
At first, Rui Yuchen didn’t pay much attention, as it was already past 5 PM, approaching dinner time, so new orders were normal.
However, after a while, Rui Yuchen suddenly realized something was off.
These new orders were coming in far too frequently, something that had never happened before!
Especially concerning was that many new order notifications were running together, which only happened when several people placed orders simultaneously.
Rui Yuchen quickly checked the backend and discovered that the number of orders at Slackin’ Takeout Store No. 1 was rapidly increasing, up nearly 40% compared to dinner time yesterday and the day before!
Rui Yuchen was surprised: “Business is good today!”
But he was also puzzled—what was going on today? Why had people suddenly decided to order from Slackin’ Takeout?
In fact, many people in Jingzhou had ordered from Slackin’ Takeout before, but not every day. They usually only ordered occasionally to change flavors, normally ordering from other takeout services as well.
Although Slackin’ Takeout offered many types of meals, eating the same food continuously would eventually become tiresome.
So, Slackin’ Takeout already had many users in Jingzhou and decent brand recognition, but people didn’t order frequently enough, making it difficult to break even.
But seeing the current situation…
Rui Yuchen couldn’t help but exclaim joyfully: “If we had this many orders every day, we’d make a profit!”
“What am I thinking? How could we possibly have this many orders every day?”
“Wait, today isn’t any special holiday. Why have so many people suddenly thought of ordering from Slackin’ Takeout?”
The more Rui Yuchen thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. He quickly checked the Slackin’ Takeout store manager group chat.
One look revealed that the group had been flooded with messages!
“Quick, check this news!”
“[Link] Handong Province Implements ‘Strictest Garbage Classification’ Comprehensively!”
“[Link] Cultivating Garbage Classification Awareness Is Imperative”
“[Link] Guiding Garbage Classification to Become a New Fashion, New Habit!”
“Has implementation already begun?”
“Yes, the opinion-gathering phase is over. Now it’s being implemented province-wide in Handong, with Jingzhou as a key demonstration city.”
“Some residential communities are already checking garbage classification today. Garbage can no longer be disposed of randomly.”
“So quick? No wonder I’ve been wondering why orders exploded today!”
“My orders have exploded, too! A regular store in a third-tier small city that usually doesn’t have many customers suddenly got over a dozen orders today. I’m shocked!”
“Gotta go, need to hurry to the kitchen.”
Rui Yuchen quickly clicked on the links in the group to read the news and finally understood why orders were surging.
Handong Province was implementing garbage classification!
Each city had its own garbage classification regulations, but clearly, Handong Province’s policy was the strictest ever, dividing garbage into four major categories: kitchen waste, recyclable waste, hazardous waste, and other waste.
Kitchen waste and recyclable waste could not be mixed!
Most plastic containers and bags used in takeout packaging were recyclable waste and had to be thrown into blue garbage bins, while kitchen waste had to be removed from bags before being thrown into green garbage bins.
This meant that for a regular takeout order, leftovers had to be separated from the takeout containers and plastic bags!
Rui Yuchen slapped the table in sudden realization: “I understand now!”
“So that’s what Mr. Pei meant!”
“Considering this garbage classification policy, Mr. Pei’s series of measures is the optimal solution!”
“By mainly opening Slackin’ Takeout stores in Handong Province, especially in Jingzhou, we can maximize the fulfillment of consumer needs under garbage classification conditions.”
“If I had followed my original plan and opened stores across other cities nationwide, we definitely couldn’t have satisfied the demand guaranteed by garbage classification in Handong Province!”
“As for expanding the Food·Harmony brand to all stores, that’s even more important, achieving two key effects:”
“Besides showcasing Slackin’ Takeout’s high-end brand to all diners, it also diverts demand. Customers seeking a more premium experience can order Food·Harmony, while those who don’t care as much can order regular Slackin’ Takeout.”
“It’s perfect!”
“Could Mr. Pei have already heard the news, or predicted the trend?”