During the journey back from Zhou Kun’s store after collecting the goods, Xu Yang had already thought of a plan for selling the watermelons.
“Tonight, we’ll be serving a free pitcher of watermelon juice to every private room. Withdraw the promotion of honeydew juice that we’ve launched previously. Unless the customers make any special requests, the main promotion for today will be the 188-yuan-per-pitcher watermelon juice.”
In the past few days, the reputation of Xiang Banquet private restaurant’s honeydews had been increasing, and there were many customers who would order the fruit platter or honeydew juice as soon as they arrived.
However, the stock for honeydew was running low and Zhou Kun did not replenish his stock for a long time. Actually, Xu Yang was rather anxious as well.
Seeing Zhou Kun’s message regarding the purchase of a new batch of watermelons, Xu Yang immediately rushed over.
The new batch of watermelons was cheap and large in quantity. They could be the main promotion for summer drinks.
“Also, if the customers would like to order the fruit platter, they would be priced at 188 yuan. If any customer would like to order a whole watermelon, inform me immediately.”
Apart from plated watermelon and watermelon juice, Xu Yang also expected to sell whole watermelons. He planned to pack the watermelon into gift boxes that would be sold to the customer at 399 yuan each.
Zhou Kun did not expect it either. He had just sold his watermelons, and yet, the prices rose by ten-fold.
At six o’clock in the evening, the same group of wealthy young men was in the Yunlu Academy private room of Xiang Banquet private restaurant.
“Hello, this is the complimentary watermelon juice for this evening.”
“Watermelon juice? No, give us a jug of honeydew juice,” said Mr. Ma who was giving his friends a treat. He immediately waved his hand to refuse when he heard those words.
Accustomed to drinking the signature honeydew juice of Xiang Banquet private restaurant, they felt that there was nothing good about the bland watermelon juice.
“This watermelon juice is complimentary for each private room tonight. Please enjoy some watermelon juice while I go place your order for the honeydew juice.”
The service staff of Xiang Banquet private restaurant has all undergone private training. After he said those words, everyone in the room stopped rejecting the drinks.
“Complimentary? Alright then, hurry and serve the honeydew juice!”
If watermelon juice could speak, it would definitely say, “Just leave me in the private room, I’ll handle the rest.”
The wealthy young men were fiddling with their mobile phones while waiting for the dishes to be served. The chilled watermelon juice on the table was starting to give off a strong aroma.
Even the simplest watermelon juice had been processed carefully in Xiang Banquet private restaurant. After de-seeding the watermelons, they squeezed the pulp in a raw juicer to strain out all the dregs and foam.
In order to prevent the taste from changing, the watermelon juice would be served within three minutes. Ice would be used throughout for keeping it fresh.
“Why aren’t the dishes served yet?” Soon, a customer could not help but pour himself a glass of watermelon juice.
He initially only wanted to take a few sips to quench his thirst but to his surprise, the watermelon juice was delicious.
“Damn it, has Xiang Banquet private restaurant switched to selling fruits lately? Even their watermelon juice tastes so good.”
“Is it as exaggerated as you make it out to be?” asked his friend who felt that he was making too much of a fuss. Hence, he poured himself a glass of watermelon juice as well.
To his surprise, he had to take back his words at the next instant. He praised, “This watermelon juice is really superb!”
“How good can it be? Can it be as delicious as honeydew juice?” Mr. Ma was unconvinced since honeydew juice was his favorite.
“Try it for yourself. It tastes even more refreshing than honeydew melon juice.” Originally, fruits with more water content like watermelon would be more suitable for juicing than honeydew, in terms of taste.
Mr. Ma was defeated the moment that he tried the watermelon juice.
“It’s really great. Waiter, serve me another pitcher of watermelon juice!”
On that night, there was an overwhelming number of orders for watermelon juice.
In the end, when the customers in Yunlu Academy private room left, someone suddenly requested to purchase the whole watermelon.
“Go ask your manager if this watermelon can be sold as a whole, individually.”
“Do you really think this is a fruit store?” his companion asked in bewilderment.
“I was just thinking that these watermelons taste great, so I want to buy some to dupe the two old folks. After all, I’ve been spending a little too much lately. These watermelons should shut them up.”
“You are quick-witted. I shall bring one home too.” As a result, each of them left with satisfaction while carrying along a 399-yuan watermelon gift box.
Of course, the uproar, which the watermelons caused in Xiang Banquet private restaurant, was greater than that. In the Willow Leaf Lake private room, Zhao Yuandong, one of the minor shareholders of Xiang Banquet private restaurant, was treating his close friends to a meal.
“Mr. Zhao, this is the complimentary watermelon juice that is specially prepared for you.”
All waiters of Xiang Banquet private restaurant were liars with glib tongues. Even though the watermelon juice was complimentary for every private room that day, they deliberately said that it was a special order for Zhao Yuandong, in order to make him look good.
“Watermelon juice? Can’t you see that I’m giving my friends a treat today? How can you serve watermelon juice? Serve our signature honeydew juice instead.”
Due to the fact that the watermelons had just arrived, Zhao Yuandong did not know of their origin and hence, refuted it immediately like the customers in the other private rooms.
“The watermelon juice is great. Old Zhao, don’t go to that expense,” said Chen Peng, Zhao Yuandong’s friend who stopped him immediately.
“It’s rare for you to come to my place. No matter what, you have to try our signature drink. Go bring some honeydew juice here instead.”
“Old Zhao, you really don’t have to be so polite.” Chen Peng was still declining. After all, even if he was given the best delicacy, he wouldn’t be able to stomach them now.
“Please enjoy this jug of watermelon juice for the time being. After all, it’ll take some time for the honeydew juice to be ready.”
“Okay, let’s do that.”
After they took their seats, the atmosphere in the private room seemed somewhat tense.
“Old Chen, still worried about the business? Since you’ve come to my place today, relax a bit and think about the other matters after dinner.”
“I won’t be able to eat until this matter is resolved.”
Zhao Yuandong didn’t know how to persuade his best friend. He couldn’t help at all although he knew a little bit about the issue.
Chen Peng was the owner of a chain of tea beverage stores that sold fruit tea and milk tea that were currently the most popular beverages on the internet. However, he encountered some difficulties in his business lately. Simply put, he had encountered piracy.
The other party imitated Chen Peng’s trademark, and the key thing was that the milk tea that he produced and the packaging of the beverages were similar to Chen Peng’s. It was even specifically set up near Chen Peng’s milk tea store.
Hence, that resulted in a severe loss of customers. Besides, the other party was also excellent at using competition as a marketing technique. Not only did he hire fake customers to line up at the entrance, but he also restricted the speed of production of the drinks. Hence, that created an illusion that there was always a queue.
Both stores operated simultaneously, but one was extremely crowded with a long queue while the other only had a few customers. According to mob psychology, one will naturally think that the store with more customers was better.
Although Chen Peng had also begun running promotions, the other party had already beaten him to it after all.
Chen Peng was the first to develop a certain milk tea series, but the other party imitated him and even had better sales. How could Chen Peng not be worried about that?
“Forget it, Brother, drink a couple of sips to cool off the heat first. They serve Hunan cuisine here. I’m afraid you won’t be able to stand the spicy food later,” said Zhao Yuandong who poured a glass of watermelon juice for Chen Peng.
Chen Peng, who was originally unaware of how delicious the watermelon juice was, exclaimed in amazement as soon as he took a sip of watermelon juice. “Old Zhao, how did you make this watermelon juice? How can it be so delicious!?!”