Rebirth: Starting from the Cafeteria

January 1988.

The first karaoke bar in China opened in the Oriental Hotel in Guangzhou. The Oriental Hotel is a long-established five-star hotel and a gathering place for Japanese businessmen in Guangzhou.

In the midsummer of the same year, the first karaoke bar in Beijing opened, heralding the rise of a new form of entertainment.

Karaoke was born in Japan in the 1970s and became popular in China in the 1990s.

At this stage, he is still just emerging. Du Shaojie did not expect Xu Bo to have such vision, which made him look at him with new eyes.

Today's karaoke halls are open-style, unlike later KTV rooms.

Guests are seated in a large open space with a small stage where karaoke equipment is located.

Guests can ask the waiter to help order songs, and then go on stage to sing. It feels like a performance, and even timid people will feel nervous when they go on stage.

"Mr. Xu, this is a good idea. If you can handle all aspects, it would be nice to open a karaoke bar."

The entertainment industry is a complicated business, and Du Shaojie never thought of getting involved because he thought it was troublesome.

In fact, if you run a karaoke bar well, you can make real money, as long as you can keep it going.

"Boss Du, I beg you to help me find some equipment in Yangcheng. To be honest, I don't even know where to buy it."

Xu Boxing is currently in the exploratory stage. It is not easy to obtain information these days, especially for a new industry like this. He has developed an interest in the karaoke bar, so he plans to start with the equipment.

"It's no big deal. I'll call Hong Kong later and ask them to send you the equipment information."

Du Shaojie nodded, and then asked Xu Bo for the mailing address.

There are many trading companies in Hong Kong, which are backed by the mainland and are actually engaged in re-export trade. As a window for China to the outside world, Hong Kong has benefited from the country's reform and opening up.

So, although finding equipment may seem difficult, it is actually very simple.

"Come here, Mr. Du, I'll toast you a glass and thank you for your support. I think this business is good, Mr. Du, can you invest a little? Don't worry, if you really lose money, it will be my responsibility."

Xu Bo planned to bring Du Shaojie along, not because he couldn't raise the funds, but because the other party's company had Hong Kong capital background.
In addition, he has big ambitions and wants to expand and strengthen the business after the initial trial. At that time, he will definitely not be able to handle it alone, and the right solution is to have more powerful shareholders.

"Okay, we'll talk about it when the time comes."

Du Shaojie neither agreed nor refused. He himself did not want to work in the entertainment industry mainly because he was afraid of trouble, but if there was a good investment opportunity, he would naturally consider it.

The two drank a lot of beer and finished quite late.

When Du Shaojie returned home, the house was cold and deserted.

Wang Yuxiu lives with Xiaoya and helps the woman take care of the children, so she rarely comes over.

After taking a shower, he called Winnie and asked her to find a reliable company and send the information and quotation of karaoke equipment to Xu Bo.

"I'm doing this for a friend. Try to keep the price down. Please arrange for someone to keep an eye on it."

"Okay, Mr. Du, I'll get it done."

Winnie has been doing well since she came to the company. Although she is an assistant, she actually helps Liang Meiqin share a lot of work.

The next day.

Winnie handed the matter over to Fan Shilun, as this was a good opportunity to test his ability to handle the matter.

After accepting the task, Fan Shilun immediately visited many companies, compared the functions and quotations of the equipment, and learned a lot about karaoke equipment.

Then he solemnly recommended a small company to Winnie.

Currently, the manufacturers of karaoke equipment are mainly Japanese-funded enterprises. Although this company is not large in scale, it has close cooperation with Japanese-funded enterprises, and the quality of its equipment and its quotation are both good.

Winnie urgently sent the letter to Xu Bo according to the address provided by her boss.

Du Shaojie stayed in the Magic City for a week and then returned to the capital. Because Qi Yan was pregnant, he had to stay in the capital for a longer time and could not be as free as before.

It’s not that Qi Yan put a lot of pressure on him, but he himself felt it necessary to do so.

During this period, he has been studying the fusion of seafood and traditional Sichuan cuisine. Drawing on some of the seasoning of "Crab Roe Porridge", he innovated the method of "Mapo Tofu" by adding the element of fresh crab to the tofu.

After the initial success, he specially made several innovative versions of "Mapo Tofu" and let the chefs in Beijing taste it.

"I never expected that the freshness of the crab could blend so perfectly with tofu."

The innovative dish highlights the characteristics of fresh, fragrant and spicy, with less spicy taste and more fresh taste. The taste of the finished dish is surprisingly good, but the cost of the dish has increased significantly. This dish is more suitable for high-end restaurants.

But Du Shaojie was not very satisfied and will continue to improve this innovative dish.

End of month.

As usual, Du Shaojie needed to go to the company headquarters in Shenzhen to handle some things.

It just so happened that Pang Weidong was also going to the south to inspect the Shuweixiang Hotpot stores, so the two of them made an appointment to fly to Guangzhou together.

"Ajie, it's rare that you've stayed in Beijing for such a long time. Are you bored?" "Not bad. I've been researching some innovative dishes recently. I cook in the kitchen when I have nothing to do. I like this kind of life."

Du Shaojie has not found a breakthrough opportunity yet, but he feels that he should have the strength of a senior technician. However, he is not in a hurry and wants to wait until the baby is born.

Pang Weidong couldn't quite understand this semi-secluded lifestyle, so he was very curious.

Du Shaojie responded casually that there was nothing much for the two of them to talk about on this issue, mainly because the differences were too great.

A few hours passed in a flash, and the plane landed at Yangcheng Airport. After leaving the terminal, the two went to [Seafood Restaurant] to have lunch together, and then planned to act separately.

"Mr. Du."

Du Shaojie and Pang Weidong were walking out when they suddenly heard someone calling them.

He looked over following the sound and spotted Xu Bo. He was also eating here, but he didn't sit in a private room but in the lobby. There were three or four people with him, but he didn't know the others.

"Mr. Xu, why are you here?"

"I came here to receive the equipment. Don't you know about this?"

"How would I know? Didn't you contact Hong Kong directly? Well, let's sit together tonight, and you go ahead and do your thing."

The two men exchanged a few words, Du Shaojie nodded at Xu Bo and the others, and then left with Pang Weidong.

Afterwards, he sent Pang Weidong to the hotel and invited him to dinner in the evening.

"Who was that person just now?"

Pang Weidong has a slightly arrogant personality and doesn't like to talk to ordinary people.

Du Shaojie had to briefly introduce Xu Bo's situation and inadvertently mentioned the karaoke bar.

Unexpectedly, Pang Weidong became very interested and pulled Du Shaojie into the room and chatted with him for more than an hour.

"Dongzi, let's do this for now. Have a good chat with Xu Bo during dinner tonight. He knows a lot."

Du Shaojie finally got away and went home to have a nap.

evening.

He asked Wang Yongli to drive to pick up Xu Bo and Pang Weidong, while he took Zou Xiaohe's car. The three of them finally met at the fish restaurant.

He didn't invite anyone else for this meal, just the three of them, so it seemed more relaxed. The dishes were some common fish dishes, plus some barbecue, which tasted pretty good.

"Boss Du, I have everything ready. We are just waiting for the equipment to arrive before we can start business. I have reserved 20% of the shares for you. How about investing or not?"

No liquor was drunk in the evening, the three of us just drank beer.

When everyone was a little drunk, Xu Bo brought up the old matter again and encouraged Du Shaojie to invest.

"Okay, I'll have someone go to Shanghai to sign a contract with you. I'll make the investment."

Du Shaojie had no objection, the two had worked together before and had always gotten along well. Now that Sunshine Hotel was going to launch a "karaoke bar" project, it wouldn't mind him helping out.

Pang Weidong listened on the side, thoughtful.

"Okay, that's settled. However, Mr. Du, I plan to set up an entertainment company and open the first karaoke bar for now. If the effect is good, I may expand it to the whole country, and then we can talk about increasing capital and expanding shares."

Xu Bo's words clearly revealed his ambition, and Pang Weidong's eyes suddenly lit up.

However, he and Xu Bo were not very familiar with each other, and it would be a bit abrupt if he spoke rashly. Therefore, Pang Weidong kept winking at Du Shaojie, asking him to help say something.

Du Shaojie understood and said with a smile: "Dongzi, are you interested in this project? I don't have the final say. You have to ask Mr. Xu if he is interested in bringing you to do this together."

Xu Bo was stunned for a moment, but immediately picked up his glass and clinked glasses with Pang Weidong.

"If Mr. Pang is interested, I would be more than happy to help you. However, the company is currently small, so I can only give up 10% of the shares. I hope you don't think it's too little. When we are ready to expand in the future, we can recalculate the shares. What do you think?"

Xu Bo is a very versatile person. He knew a little about Pang Weidong's background through previous introductions and was very happy to have such a powerful shareholder.

But he couldn’t give up too many shares at once, otherwise he was worried that he would not be able to control the situation in the future.

"Give me 15% of the shares, and when I return, we will start to open a karaoke bar in Beijing. Don't worry, I will take care of all the matters in Beijing, and the business will be good."

Pang Weidong felt that 10% of the shares was a bit too little. After thinking about it, he asked for 15% of the shares.

In addition, he also felt that Xu Bo's pattern was problematic and the development speed was too slow. Therefore, he suggested opening a karaoke bar in Beijing and then expanding to the whole country.

Du Shaojie knew that Pang Weidong had a radical personality, but this time he agreed with his opinion.

"Yes, Mr. Xu, if you want to do it, you must focus on making it bigger. This project can't go wrong, so take bigger steps."

"Is that so? Then I have to recalculate the investment amount. How about this, the proportion of shares will be based on what Mr. Pang said, and the investment amount will be doubled?"

Xu Bo was also a decisive person. After thinking for a while, he decided to adopt the two people's suggestions. (End of this chapter)