Meng Chang continued: “Second, with the rapid development of mobile internet, platforms such as Weibo, review websites, and chat software have become brand new marketing platforms for catering businesses. The rapid development of food delivery software and group purchasing industries has provided a boost for the expansion of catering enterprises.”

“One of the biggest advantages of the internet era is that a successful business model can spread and be replicated quickly, allowing everyone to know about it at the fastest speed, and expand nationwide!”

“Many excellent catering brands in the past could only expand slowly, one city at a time. Neither capital nor reputation was sufficient to support the rapid replication of a successful business model.”

“But in the internet era, all this has become possible!”

“Combining these two points, we can easily see that once a popular catering brand becomes standardized, mass-producible, and of outstanding quality, it can spread across the country at an extremely fast pace, obtaining enormous profits and rich returns!”

“The best part is that ‘food is the first necessity of the people.’ As long as people are alive, they need to eat. So once a catering brand gains widespread consumer recognition, its long-term value will only increase!”

At this point, Meng Chang observed He Desheng’s expression.

He Desheng was listening very attentively and nodding frequently.

This theory was quite correct. Under ideal circumstances, catering plus internet indeed presented huge business opportunities. For example, the takeout and review industries, where many investors were now focusing their efforts, were precisely the catering plus internet model.

But the question was, could grilled cold noodles also develop into a chain brand and gain consumer trust?

Meng Chang had anticipated this point long ago, and he immediately flipped to the next page of his PowerPoint.

“After looking at the huge prospects and market potential of ‘Cold Noodle Girl,’ the next content will be divided into two aspects.”

“They are: the problems and opportunities in the grilled cold noodle industry, and the details of the ‘Cold Noodle Girl’ brand at the execution level.”

“Grilled cold noodles sounds like a food that’s very difficult to appear in high-end settings, and also a food with zero barriers to entry. Roadside stalls sell it for three to five yuan per serving, and it never appears in upscale restaurants.”

“However, this type of food has a unique charm—from billionaires to ordinary citizens, everyone loves it.”

On the PowerPoint slide was an image of a billionaire being photographed while queuing to buy grilled cold noodles. There were also screenshots of sports stars and entertainment celebrities praising grilled cold noodles on Weibo.

This content could be found easily with a simple internet search.

“According to statistics from shopping websites, raw materials for grilled cold noodles sold on shopping websites alone reached more than ten million servings annually, ranking consistently in the top three among internet-famous foods such as river snail rice noodles, spicy strips, and self-heating hotpots.”

“Moreover, many street vendors’ raw materials don’t even come from shopping websites.”

“This is enough to show that although grilled cold noodles seem difficult to appear in high-end settings, there is a very large demand for them domestically. This point doesn’t need data; it can be felt through daily experience alone.”

“In night markets and other areas with high pedestrian traffic, you can always see grilled cold noodle stalls, and they often have people queuing. The small vendors selling grilled cold noodles could be said to be making a fortune quietly, with monthly incomes of tens of thousands being common.”

“Of course, this data may not be completely accurate, considering various hidden costs, but regardless, it has huge profit potential.”

“However, the grilled cold noodle industry currently also has many problems and hidden dangers, which can be simply summarized as: not standardized enough with many hygiene risks; not refined enough with poor brand image; not complex enough with too few product varieties.”

“Many of the raw materials for grilled cold noodles are produced in small workshops with already poor production conditions, posing hygiene risks. Roadside stall vendors don’t pay attention to hygiene, use inferior oil, and the food ingredients can be contaminated during washing and serving processes.”

“Therefore, like many other roadside stall foods, grilled cold noodles are very unhygienic. The roadside dust may be the least harmful substance apart from the edible parts.”

“Moreover, different vendors have different skills in making grilled cold noodles. Neither the taste nor the appearance is suitable for high-end settings. They can neither achieve standardized production to guarantee a baseline of taste, nor can they innovate to develop new flavors and styles.”

“Without internet thinking, the grilled cold noodle industry would forever remain at the roadside stall stage. How could it develop?”

“The goal of ‘Cold Noodle Girl’ is to integrate the already existing grilled cold noodle market and create a national food catering brand with ultra-high recognition!”

“In simple terms, we want to use new thinking and new methods to create a new type of fast food belonging to Chinese people. We want to use good ingredients and new techniques to recreate traditional flavors.”

“So, how exactly will the ‘Cold Noodle Girl’ brand redefine the grilled cold noodle industry?”

“Next, allow me to explain it to you one by one.”

Meng Chang paused briefly and took a sip of water.

At the same time, he secretly observed He Desheng’s expression, and He Desheng was deep in thought.

For all the content above, Meng Chang himself knew very well that it was somewhat nonsensical.

After all, trying to change the concept that “grilled cold noodles are junk food from street stalls” was actually very difficult, because this image was deeply rooted in ordinary people’s minds.

But Meng Chang’s goal was never to change this concept.

Sometimes, marketing in the internet era is inherently unreasonable. If pancakes, cold noodle skin, and meat sandwiches could all become internet-famous brands, why couldn’t grilled cold noodles?

Moreover, if foods like ramen and sushi could have figures like the “God of Ramen” and the “God of Sushi,” why couldn’t there be a “God of Grilled Cold Noodles”?

Many times, facts don’t matter; stereotypes matter even less. What matters is how to make others believe.

Meng Chang had spent a full two to three months preparing this entire plan and PowerPoint, but had never presented it until now.

Because he had never found a very suitable investor.

Sometimes, whether a pie can be drawn well doesn’t completely depend on the person drawing the pie, but also on the occasion and the audience waiting to eat the pie.

If it were an ordinary investor, they would kick Meng Chang out as a fraud.

Although he was indeed a fraud and had never denied this in his heart, being kicked out was unacceptable because it would affect his reputation.

In Meng Chang’s view, this plan could only be used once, aiming for a single successful hit.

If he approached various random investors who all refused to invest, his reputation and the project’s prestige would be completely ruined. The pie would be exposed before it was even properly drawn. Wouldn’t that be a complete failure?

The easiest people to fool were wealthy individuals, such as senior executives of large companies, celebrities, and tycoons, because these people would more easily believe some high-sounding concepts and terms.

However, the premise of all this was that Meng Chang himself needed to have a sufficiently dazzling halo, so that these big shots would overlook the unreasonable aspects of the project.

Where would this halo come from?

Just graduating from a prestigious school and having senior marketing experience at a major internet company was not enough.

“Invested by Mr. Pei” was a good halo. Although not omnipotent, it could at least intimidate many people.

Once enhanced with this halo, many unreasonable aspects would naturally be overlooked. If the investor was fooled, it would attract a huge influx of capital.

And once he got this money, Meng Chang could start marketing, using overwhelming advertisements and various seemingly plausible concepts to guide the attention of the public, turning them into leeks to be harvested.

Afterwards, he would open a high-end store, create profits through traffic, raise the valuation, and attract more capital investment. After harvesting enough leeks, he would slip away, leaving behind a mess.

In short, this routine was perfect, provided he could pass the first hurdle.

If he couldn’t even secure Tenda’s investment, then this series of routines would naturally be out of the question.

So, Meng Chang took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, preparing to begin his most brilliant performance.

All that had been said before was just groundwork, forcibly establishing about fifty to sixty percent reasonability for the “Cold Noodle Girl” brand.

But people will always believe what they want to believe. The existence of so many intelligence taxes also relies on this fifty to sixty percent reasonableness. The key was whether the next segment could cover up all those seemingly unreasonable aspects.

The PowerPoint displayed various details of the “Cold Noodle Girl” brand.

“The concept of the ‘Cold Noodle Girl’ brand, to put it simply, is to create a grilled cold noodle brand with a sense of quality and petite bourgeois sentiment.”

“The name itself gives a kind of personified suggestion. Her virtual image seems to be cold yet gentle at the same time. The brand’s logo is traditional yet youthful, just like our product is popular yet refined.”

“For the shaping of this brand, I have established a three-step goal.”

“Step one: Open a ‘Cold Noodle Girl’ flagship store in a bustling commercial district of the capital.”

“In this store, we will comprehensively showcase the differences between this brand and other roadside stall grilled cold noodles to all customers, from the recipe, raw materials, and tableware to the dining environment.”

“First, we will invest heavily in researching the recipe and taste of ‘Cold Noodle Girl’—from the selection of cold noodle raw materials and various seasonings, to the amount of various ingredients, to the heat and time in the actual production—everything must be standardized to ensure the taste of each serving of grilled cold noodles.”

“At the same time, we must also fully develop multiple flavors of grilled cold noodles. We cannot merely differentiate by sweet-spicy, sweet-sour, and other flavors; we must also create more content and varieties for grilled cold noodles.”

“Of course, for the richness and diversity of store dishes, we will also make various traditional cold noodles, side dishes, or fruit juices.”