National Tide 1980.

The five gingerbread man fast food restaurants have become an instant hit in Beijing.

The pressure that this shining new brand brought to the entire fast food industry was soon felt by its peers in a way that could be described as painful.

Tuesday, February 1988, 2, was the fourth day that the Gingerbread Man fast food restaurant opened in Beijing.

At 9:30 in the morning, the Kentucky store in Qianmen, Beijing opened on time.

After a Kentucky clerk opened the door, he followed the standard procedure that he had practiced countless times and politely greeted the customers who were waiting at the door.

"Hello, welcome to KFC."

When he said this, his expression was natural, he had a smile on his face, and he stared at the other person, which gave the customer a very comfortable feeling.

But to be honest, he is not as positive and confident as he appears to be.

Because he knew best that the number of customers waiting at the door was obviously decreasing compared to previous days.

There were more than fifty people at the door the day before yesterday and the day before yesterday, there were twenty or thirty people yesterday, but today there are only a dozen or so people.

Does that mean that there might only be a few people tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow...

The clerk didn't dare to think about it anymore.

But he was very clear in his mind and knew exactly why this happened.

This is because a Western fast food restaurant called "Gingerbread Man" opened next to them a few days ago.

And when he subconsciously lowered his head and turned to the west to look at his new neighbors.

Sure enough, they saw that the entrance of the Gingerbread Man store twenty meters away was much busier than the front of Kentucky's store.

I don’t know when a long queue of at least sixty or seventy people formed.

Those people who were shrinking their hands and stamping their feet gathered together with great interest, and judging from their expressions, no one felt cold.

This scene of people looking forward to the taste of fresh exotic flavor without fear of the cold weather is just like the grand scene when the front store in Kentucky opened three months ago.

The clerk couldn't help but be absent-minded for a moment, with an inexplicable feeling of loneliness rising in his heart, so much so that he didn't even hear a single question from the customer.

Fortunately, the person who asked him the question was a kind young man and did not blame him for it.

Instead, I waited patiently for him to come back to his senses before continuing to ask him questions.

"Hey man, do you have any free gifts in your store? For example, if I buy a meal, I can get a keychain or a small gift."

"Ah, sir, we don't have any such activities at the moment."

"Are there any special offers?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but no."

“Nothing…” The young man seemed a little disappointed.

The girl next to him then spoke up again, "Let's go, let's go, what are you wasting time on. I've already told you, we don't have any here. Why are you still asking? Let's just go to that store, it's written in the newspaper that they have discounts and gifts."

Although they didn't say it explicitly, the clerk still knew where they were talking about. He was stunned and felt even more disappointed.

Fortunately, the young man was afraid of queuing, and his words gave the clerk some confidence.

"But there are so many people over there. My dear aunt, look, there are so many people over there, there is a queue. It's so cold, how long will it take for us to go there? I think we can just eat here, just smell the fried chicken!"

The shop assistant quickly agreed and tried hard to keep the customer.

"Yes, our fried chicken is soaked in fresh milk, so it smells especially good when fried. It tastes even better. Just like what it says on the sign, Kentucky Homestyle Chicken. You can't get such authentic American fried chicken anywhere else in Beijing except here."

However, the girl didn't buy it and ignored the clerk, only talking to her boyfriend.

"At this time, they've just opened their doors to welcome customers, and there aren't many people in the restaurant. If we go and line up now, we probably won't have to wait long. Besides, what's wrong with waiting in line for a while? Are you in a hurry?"

"Let me tell you, this is the store that Teresa Teng visited a few days ago. If you spend ten yuan, you can not only get a gingerbread man keychain, but the special offer is the wine and coffee that Teresa Teng sang about in her song. Hey, don't you want to try it?"

"You've seen Dahong, right? She and her boyfriend went to the store on the first day of its opening, and even got Teresa Teng's autograph. The keychain she brought back was so cute... Forget it, forget it, look at you like that, what's the point? It's really boring to go out with you. Are you going or not? If you don't want to go, forget it, I'll go alone, and don't regret it if I get drunk..."

Seeing his girlfriend turned her face away, the young man was at a loss. He gave a wry smile to the clerk he talked to, and it was obvious that he was a good candidate for kneeling on the washboard.

"Thank you, buddy. Well... let's go over there and take a look first. Sorry..."

When the two finally left, the young man looked very embarrassed.

But the one who was more embarrassed was the shop assistant.

To be honest, out of curiosity, he had secretly been there after getting off work in the morning, so he naturally knew what kind of charm the place had.

Even though he earns a salary at Kentucky, if he were to switch positions with the couple just now, he would make the same choice.

But he was also wondering from the bottom of his heart where did such a strong competitor come from?
You know, when he was selected from a thousand applicants to participate in vocational training in Kentucky.

The advanced operating methods and perfect service requirements of the American fast food industry have already opened his eyes.

The chairman’s speech, in particular, made him extremely excited about the career he was about to embark on in the future.

He thought that Kentucky was the undisputed leader in the fast food industry around the world.

And he is naturally an extremely lucky one to be able to participate in it.

Unexpectedly, the newly opened Gingerbread Man fast food restaurant was not only as good as Kentucky in every aspect, but seemed to be even better than Kentucky in every aspect.

He is not yet worried about the company he works for, after all, the restaurant can still be crowded with people coming to taste American fried chicken.

But he also clearly felt that Kentucky was showing signs of decline. At least in terms of popularity, it was gradually losing to the other party. It could even be said that it had lost a lot of customers to the other party.

In his opinion, if their chairman does not come up with a good solution as soon as possible, Kentucky's temporary first-mover advantage will be lost, and their original position as the leader in the domestic fast food industry will also be lost.

Of course, this is not something that a small employee like him can worry about.

As usual, Wang Dadong arrived at 10:30 in the morning that day.

It was a weekday, and after ten o'clock, the flow of people on Qianmen Street under the Qianmen Building gradually increased.

But as a result, the gap in customer flow between the two stores, which were originally worlds apart, has become even greater.

When Wang Dadong arrived at the door of his shop, he saw that the line at the entrance of the "Gingerbread Man" in the distance had already reached hundreds of people. However, there were only a dozen people in front of his own shop, and he immediately felt bored and a little embarrassed.

People are like this, they can't help but compare everything.

Although Wang Dadong knew that the opening of a new store would be more likely to attract customers, and his own store had been so prosperous before, he still couldn't escape the temptation and felt uncomfortable.

After all, colleagues are enemies. Seeing that the other party is much more successful than oneself, one will be very angry.

After walking into the store and checking that everything was in order, Wang Dadong finally felt a little better and nodded to his employees with satisfaction.

However, when he asked the store manager about the customer flow and sales today, his expression involuntarily became gloomy again.

"Why is it so little? Are you sure? We've been open for an hour, and the operating income is only over 1,200 yuan?"

"That, Chairman, is indeed the operating income."

The store manager selected by Wang Dadong himself agreed, then hesitated for a moment and gave a certain degree of explanation.

"Maybe it's because today is a workday and it's not even noon yet. Things will definitely get better by noon."

These words were actually meaningless. Wang Dadong certainly knew that there would be fewer people on weekdays, and he also knew that the closer it got to noon, the more people would dine.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

But don't forget, Kentucky has been open for three months, and there has never been a time on any weekday when the hourly revenue was less than 2,200 yuan.

If we calculate based on this ratio, the maximum revenue we can earn in a twelve-hour business day is 25,000 yuan, which is a huge difference from the average daily revenue of 40,000 yuan in the past.

too big!
"No, no, that's not right." Wang Dadong shook his head and asked firmly, "This data has dropped too much. The seats in the store are obviously almost full, and there are customers queuing at the door. How can it be less than 2,000 yuan? It doesn't make sense. You are the store manager. If there is a problem, I can only find you. Tell me, what's going on? Don't tell me you don't know..."

Faced with Wang Dadong's stern tone, the store manager was stunned with embarrassment.

He knew that Wang Dadong was really angry, so he lowered his head and thought about it very seriously before explaining to Wang Dadong again.

"Chairman, after opening the store today, I have been following the operating procedures and have checked the kitchen equipment, food inventory, beverage machine conditions and restroom hygiene. So during the opening period, I didn't pay much attention to what happened in front of the store. I am not very clear about some situations. However, I also noticed some strange phenomena. Today, many customers must have come in to take a look and left without ordering. Or several customers came together but only ordered a small set meal. I don't know why this happened, but in my opinion, this may be the reason for the decline in business data..."

"No order..." Wang Dadong was stunned for a moment after hearing what the manager said.

This was an explanation that he could not understand at all.

He didn't understand why customers would come from far away to visit the restaurant, but would just leave without ordering anything?

Are these people just bored and having nothing better to do?
A few people only ordered a small set meal, which is not acceptable.

Could it be that the appetite of people in Beijing has suddenly decreased?

Or is it one person eating while others are watching?

However, it happened that just when Wang Dadong was suspicious and confused, the situation reported by the manager happened again in the store.

There were four young girls, probably they came together.

They stood in front of the ordering counter with the menus in their hands for a while, whispering to each other, and finally ordered a small single meal for $7.30.

Then a girl brought the food on a tray and she and her companions found a seat with only three chairs.

One person was standing and three were sitting. They divided the two pieces of finger-licking original chicken into four pieces, and took a bite of mashed potatoes, shredded salad and buns, each of them giving each other a bite. They started eating like this.

The attentive Wang Dadong soon noticed this situation.

He didn't even bother to go up to his office on the third floor. He just took off his coat and handed it to the store manager along with his briefcase. Then he went to the warehouse and got a chair and gave it to the girls.

But to be honest, giving chairs to the girls was not his real purpose. What was more important was that he wanted to show his goodwill and ask the girls what they thought.

"You only ordered such a small portion, is it enough?"

After Wang Dadong brought the chair, he asked questions in a friendly manner and introduced himself.

"I'm the manager of this fast food restaurant. Please don't get me wrong. I just want to know if you have any opinions about the food in this restaurant? Is it because the fried chicken tastes weird or too greasy that you don't like it?"

Several young girls had no social experience. When they saw him dressed in a suit and tie and claiming to be a manager, they attentively brought him a chair and looked smiling and amiable.

Suddenly I didn't know what to do.

Several people were silent for a long time, feeling that it was not good to disappoint such a good person. Finally, a girl whispered the truth.

"It's too expensive. We are all students. We still have one year to graduate from college and we haven't earned our own money yet. If each of us buys a set meal, it will cost almost 30 yuan. We just want to buy one and try what American fried chicken tastes like."

"Oh, is that so? How about this? I'll just treat you. I'll have someone bring you three more of the same set meals. You're college students after all. I can't have you come here and go hungry. When you get a job in the future, you're welcome to come to our restaurant again."

Wang Dadong is indeed a veteran in the catering industry. He used this trick to win people's hearts and further increased the girls' favor for him and strengthened their trust in him.

Not only will it be more conducive for him to continue to seek the other party's opinions, but it will also be possible for him to cultivate a few loyal fans.

For him, the cost was just a few of the simplest fried chicken sets in his store, which was almost negligible.

And based on his understanding of the people in the capital, it is very likely that these shy girls will not accept his kindness.

As expected, the girls all had self-respect and no one was willing to take advantage of them in such an inexplicable way.

Not only did they immediately decline, but out of gratitude they also revealed more of their true thoughts to him.

"No, uncle, thank you. Actually... Actually, we still have some money in our pockets for food, but we still want to try something else..."

"Yeah," another girl said, "Isn't there a gingerbread man shop next to your place? We heard that there is also a Western fast food shop there, and there are a lot of delicious food, more than here."

"Well, we heard that this is the place where Teresa Teng had dinner a few days ago. We can eat a full meal for about ten yuan, and we can also get a cute gingerbread man keychain. So we plan to queue up there after eating fried chicken..."

I have to say that young people are really naive. They say whatever they think, making it easy for Wang Dadong to get all their thoughts out of them.

But then again, the truth often hurts.

Just like Wang Dadong, he felt very embarrassed in front of a few girls who were chattering like birds.

Asking the truth would only make him feel even more unhappy.

But because of the problem of establishing his character, he still has to put on a smile and maintain his composure.

How infuriating is this?

Now he is not the chairman of KFC, he is almost in a state of overconfidence, and he starts talking about FCK. (End of this chapter)