LA Detective

Chapter 233 Investigation
Saturday.

Luke retired.

I fell asleep until ten o'clock in the morning.

After getting up, I drank a pot of green tea, and it was almost eleven o'clock.

Drive out to eat.

Luke drove to a relatively well-known chain hot pot restaurant nearby, 'Shabu Tianxia'.

The reason why Luke came to this hot pot restaurant was that he wanted to eat hot pot. It is easy to get angry if you eat it for two days in a row, but you will miss it if you don’t eat it for a week.

For another reason, Luke wants to inspect this store to see if the franchise store is successful.

Luke now has more than 80 yuan in cash and enough principal for business. As long as the business is stable, it can also become a long-term cash flow channel.

Of course, it is just an immature idea now, and he also knows that doing business, especially cross-bank business is not an easy task.

If you don't do it well, you will lose money.

Therefore, he will not invest lightly before he has considered it well.

This Shabu Tianxia is also a Sichuan-style hot pot. Its main dish is butter hot pot. It comes with four side dishes: duck blood, bean curd, tripe, and quail eggs.

Optional seasoning, oil dish in the south, sesame sauce in the north.

Mutton, beef, hairy tripe, seafood, and seasonal vegetables are all kinds of Shabu dishes.

In addition, there are special dishes such as small crispy pork.

Because of the idea of ​​opening a franchise store, Luke observed it very carefully, considering the customer flow, staff, dishes, decoration and other aspects.

After a meal, the overall feeling is not bad.

Luke's favorites are beef tripe and crispy pork.

Luke also approached the owner of the restaurant to chat about franchising, and the other party talked about the situation of franchising, such as the franchise fee, site selection, decoration, chef and other corresponding rules.

There is an annual membership fee.

The location of the two stores should not be too close.

The decoration has a unified style.

Chefs, experienced chefs will be stationed in the store for guidance in the early stage, and the stir-fry ingredients will be uniformly distributed by the head office.

Luke roughly calculated that the initial expenses mainly come from three aspects, franchise fee, rent and decoration.

If you want to open a hot pot franchise store, the initial investment may be nearly 30 US dollars.

Another large expenditure is the salary of employees, which is no less than 4 US dollars per month.

Luke has a pocket of 80 US dollars, which is more than enough to invest in a hot pot franchise.

But he also faces many problems.

The first is that he has no experience.

The second is how long it takes to make a normal profit.

After eating a hot pot meal, my stomach felt comfortable, but my heart became more and more uncertain.

He wanted to invest in the hot pot business, first because he likes to eat hot pot.

Another one, compared to other types of catering, hot pot is relatively simple.

What surprised Luke the most about this hotpot restaurant is that there is a thoughtful deodorization machine in the store, which allows customers to quickly remove the hotpot smell from their bodies.

After a comprehensive consideration, Luke gave this investment project a B.

After eating, Luke went straight to the next investment project.

car wash.

Los Angeles has a large area, and almost every household has a car, and most families have more than two cars.

The car wash industry is naturally essential.

There are two main types, the first is manual car washing.

Compared with Huaguo, the labor cost in the United States is higher. Manual car washing costs about [-] US dollars, which is the cost after applying for the card.

This is a high-end route, and if it is done well, it will make a lot of money.

But Luke is now engaged in a sideline business, not the main business, and doesn't have much energy to manage people.

Therefore, he prefers self-service car washes.

His car happened to be dirty too, so he came to experience a self-service car wash.

Soon, Luke drove to a self-service car wash. There was a row of car wash rooms separated by walls on both sides, and there were car wash tools on the walls of each room.

Before washing the car, you have to go to the middle area to exchange change and car wash tokens, all of which are self-service.

One dollar can be exchanged for one car wash coin, and one car wash coin can be used for one hundred seconds.

In addition to the spray gun for car washing, there are also vacuum cleaners, towels, etc., which also require additional charges.

Luke did a quick cleaning of his car, which cost about ten dollars.

The experience is not bad, at least it is much more affordable than manual car washing.

After Luke washed the car, he waited outside for a while. There were cars going in for the car wash one after another, but not too many.

The most important thing for this kind of business is passenger flow, which has a lot to do with site selection.

Luke roughly calculated that if a car wash booth washes cars 24 hours a day, it can earn about $800.

Of course, that's pretty much impossible, and $100 a day is a lot to earn.

Ten car wash booths earn $1000 a day and $3 a month.

Rough calculations are still good, but traffic is key.

According to Luke's experience, the system reserves can be realized by increasing the passenger flow of self-service car wash shops.

The biggest consideration is the input of the premise.

The ten car wash rooms occupy a large area, and the premise investment requires a lot of capital.

The biggest worry is that there is a problem with the site selection, and it will be over if there are no customers.

Taken together, this investment can be rated as an A.

It feels better than investing in hot pot restaurants.

The third inspection project, antique shop.

Although the history of the United States is not long, Americans like to collect, and they collect strange things, only you can't think of them, and there is nothing they can't collect.

Antique stores are also the easiest of the three projects to realize the detective system.

In addition, Luke has another purpose in going to the antique store, which is to choose a birthday present for Grandpa.

As a tourist city, Los Angeles has many antique shops. As for whether you can buy real goods, it depends on your luck and ability.

Luke came to a street that specializes in selling antiques.

Different from domestic priceless cultural relics, antique shops in Los Angeles sell old objects with a sense of history and art, such as pots and pans, furniture decorations, jewelry and clothes, books and photos, oil paintings and sculptures, garden tools, etc. , a dazzling array of things.

Luke had the illusion that he had entered the second-hand furniture market.

Luke just turned around and dismissed the idea of ​​opening an antique shop.

The water in this industry is too deep, and he can't play it as a layman. Even if the system reserves are liquidated, it is still a loss-making business.

After dispelling this idea, he began to choose a birthday present for Robert.

Luke turned around a few shops, and saw an old-fashioned vinyl record player in an antique shop called 'Time'.

The record player of the Ford Mustang brand is consistent with the shape of the Mustang car from the outside. The overall color is red, which is very cool.

Luke felt that Robert would definitely like this record player, which has a sense of age.

Seeing Luke staring at the record player, the boss came over and asked, "Sir, you have a great vision. This is the first commemorative record player launched by Ford in the millennium, and it is very valuable for collection.

Give it a listen if you like it. "

Luke glanced at the boss. He was a fat white man in his 40s. He was walking among the narrow shelves of the antique store. Luke was worried that he would knock down the collection. "It's been more than 20 years, can you still listen?"

"Classic cars decades ago can run on the road, let alone a record player?"

The fat boss opened a black box next to it, took out a vinyl record from it, and put it on the red Mustang record player.

Then, a burst of music sounded. Luke didn't know who sang it, but the song was very pleasant and had a special flavor.

After listening for a while, Luke asked, "How much?"

"A thousand dollars."

Luke left without saying a word, which already exceeded the budget he gave to Robert.

He is rich, but not a fool.

"Hey, buddy, don't rush to go, if you like, we can continue talking."

Luke offered, "$200."

Fat Boss, "$800 minimum."

"I'm not interested in this thing. I want to give it to someone. It's beyond the budget. I can only choose other gifts."

"Who are you going to give it to?"

"My grandfather."

"This gift is perfect, I'm sure your grandpa will like it, $700, you can take it away."

"$250."

"$600, it really can't be lower."

"$300."

"500 dollars, you can take it away." The boss took another step back.

Luke looked at the red record player, which looked very similar to a Mustang car. Based on what he knew about Robert, this old man should like this record player very much.

He looked at the black box next to it again, which contained several vinyl records.

"I can offer four hundred dollars, but in addition to the phonograph, I want the vinyl record next to it."

"There are four vinyl records in this box, each of which is a collector's edition. Many people are willing to buy one for a hundred dollars. If I sell it to you at this price, I will even lose money."

"Five hundred dollars record player + vinyl record, yes, I will take it, if not, forget it.

This is the highest price I can offer. "

"God, you are the best bargainer I have ever met, but, for the sake of your filial piety to Grandpa...

OK, I'll sell it to you.

Five hundred dollars and the record player and vinyl are yours.

Dude, you made big money. "

Just listen to what the boss says.

No matter how savvy the shopper is, he can still surpass the savvy seller.

People do business to make money, and we can't let them make money at all.

Besides, this gift is indeed very suitable for Robert.

……

Back home at night,.

Luke lay on the recliner listening to vinyl records on the record player.

This kind of thing has long disappeared in China, but it is still relatively popular in Los Angeles. Many people like it, and it sounds like an atmosphere.

Luke listened to the music as he thought about today's three projects.

The more he thought about it, the more discouraged he became. He felt that he might not be suitable for business.

It is possible to make money, but it is more likely to lose money.

I am not short of money now, and I have saved more than 100 million US dollars as a policeman, so why bother with other businesses.

Some things are good, but not necessarily suitable for you.

His honey is my arsenic.

After listening to the song, Luke walked over to prepare for a new vinyl record.

Luke opened the black box, which was made of wood with a moisture-proof surface.

Luke pulled out a new vinyl record and put it on the gramophone.

Luke took out the remaining vinyl records to check. The name of the song and the name of the artist were printed in the middle of the record.

Since it is going to be given to Robert as a gift, do you want to wrap it up?

The lining on the black box was a bit broken, and Luke wanted to replace it with a new one.

When he was studying the black record box, he found that the record box was a bit awkward.

The record box is nearly ten centimeters high, but the actual space for containing the record is narrower, and ordinary people may not notice it, but Luke's observation skills are far beyond ordinary people, and he thinks there is a problem with this design.

There is likely to be an interlayer.

Luke studied it for a while, becoming more and more sure of his guess.

He opened the bottom of the black record box, and sure enough, he found that there was an interlayer in the record box. When he opened it, he saw that it was an oil-sealed paper bag, and the moisture-proof measures were excellent.

Luke smiled, since it was placed in the interlayer, it must be a good thing.

Unexpectedly, there were unexpected discoveries.

Open the bag, and there is also a vinyl record inside, with the name of the record and the band it belongs to printed in the middle.

The name of the album, That'll Be The Day/In Spite of Anger.

The band, the quarrymen.

Luke was stunned, thinking it was some precious record, but it turned out that he hadn't heard the song or the name of the band.

Why should an unknown band record be kept so secretive?

　There are still some cards today, the update is late. ,

　　Going to write Chapter 2.

　　Chapter 2 will be late, everyone go to bed first.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)