National Tide 1980

In fact, Ning Weimin was a little over-cautious in his exchange of favors with Song Huagui.

You know, at the beginning of reform and opening up, there were no real manufacturers of Western tableware in Beijing.

Maxim Restaurant is also a pioneer in introducing the elegant style and romantic feelings of French cuisine into the Republic.

It was a big bet, and it was clear that the business strategy was not to simply pursue profits, but rather to bear long-term losses, but also to maintain the style of the Paris headquarter, and not to quit easily.

So since the signing ceremony of the official Maxim Restaurant project, Song Huagui has been worrying about how to ensure the supply of tableware.

The simple truth is that if imported goods are used forever for such continuous consumables, the cost will be too high, and efforts must be made to localize them.

However, information circulation in this era is very limited, so it is not easy to find manufacturers capable of supplying it.

The actual situation is that several people from the head office are wandering around the capital like headless flies with a set of tableware flown from Paris as a sample all day long.

But because no one understands the situation of the arts and crafts industry, it runs into obstacles everywhere.

If nothing else, it’s difficult to pass the plate test.

No matter whether it was a ceramics factory or a ceramics shop they found, they all claimed that they couldn't make it because the plate tires were too thick.

Finally, someone finally found the Hunan Liling Ceramics Store in Zhushikou, and the manufacturer agreed to try to take over.

It was even more difficult to find a home for the knives and forks. Everyone shook their heads when asked where they were, and everyone was at a loss.

Thanks to the model performance and entering Zhongnanhai, Song Huagui had the opportunity to complain to the superiors.

Only then did three tons of specially approved nickel-nickel copper be obtained and handed over to the Shanghai Mint for production.

As for the most difficult problem to solve, it is the glass.

It sounds like nothing, but the problem is that there are many kinds of foreign drinks, and they all have corresponding cups.

Especially French cuisine, they are even more particular about cups and utensils.

Red wine glass, white wine glass, champagne glass, water glass, highball glass, classical glass, spirit glass, aperitif glass, long drinking glass, cocktail glass, punch glass, Irish coffee glass...

There are dozens of subdivisions.

However, there is no domestic manufacturer that can make these cups that are not difficult to buy in foreign countries.

What's more, the demand is not too high, at most a few hundred of each type, and even a hundred and eighty for uncommon ones. Mass production is not cost-effective.

So currently, the head office is negotiating with a Chengde glass cup factory found at the glassware exhibition.

The other party is also reluctant and very reluctant to take over, even for the settlement of foreign exchange certificates.

In short, this matter is actually a bit ridiculous.

Just because no one in Song Huagui knew that Chongwen District was home to almost all the handicraft manufacturers in the capital, they looked far away and had to negotiate supply contracts with foreign manufacturers.

It is conceivable that considering the domestic logistics conditions at this time, even if a cooperation is reached, it will be time-consuming, laborious and expensive.

But it's different if Ning Weimin wants to help.

By doing the purchasing for the "Tan Palace" restaurant, he had long been familiar with the situation of various handicraft factories in the district.

Like porcelain, he can go to the Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory that specializes in antique porcelain.

Although this factory does not have a ceramic name, it specializes in antique porcelain and is engaged in customization business.

For them, it is a piece of cake. It is far more advantageous than most civilian ceramic factories that rely on machines for mass production.

As for the knife and fork matter, the badge factory in Beijing can actually handle it.

Although due to the face of the top management, this matter is not easy for the Shanghai Mint to do.

But once the cutlery and forks are produced, it will not be a problem to take over the silver plating processing business three times a year.

This also avoids the trouble of returning to Shanghai for maintenance every year to ensure that the cutlery is as bright as new.

As for the dozens of types of glasses, it was actually like Ning Weimin looking for a tailoring agency to take over Pierre Carton's scattered clothing-making tasks.

For major glassware manufacturers, it may be a troublesome and tasteless business, but for handicraft workshops, it has become a completely sweet business.

Don’t forget, grapes are blown out one by one by workers using traditional techniques.

It’s not easy to blow some glass!

Isn't this just delivered to Ning Weimin?

In short, Ning Weimin took over, this thing is an absolute win-win, not to mention how cost-effective it is!

Not only can it help Song Huagui completely solve the supply problem of localized tableware, it can also completely solve this troublesome headache for her.

Moreover, Ning Weimin himself could enrich his own pockets openly and at the same time use these orders to sell favors to antique porcelain factories and badge factories.

Therefore, when Ning Weimin truly understood the actual situation, he calculated that he had actually saved the head office nearly half of the cost.

He felt calm instantly and happily became the middleman.

And I thought about how to use the tickets for this "PC" international exhibition to bring goods for myself.

In fact, what to do is very simple.

The smaller the technical content and the easier it is to mass-produce, the more it should be “OEM” for export.

On the other hand, the more technology is required and the lower the output, the less suitable it is for this.

In view of this principle, Ning Weimin retains his own brands of silk figures, material utensils, bionic porcelain and stone carvings.

What was strongly promoted at the exhibition was nothing more than the brocade boxes from the Brocade Box Factory, insect straw weavings from the street sewing club, antique porcelain tableware, and even the first batch of temporarily blown wine glasses from the Donghuashi Street Production Co.

Not to mention, there are really quite a few gains.

An agent from the UK took a fancy to the hat box and gave Ning Weimin several styles of hat boxes on the spot.

Ning Weimin needs to use the brocade box production method and give a quotation of 1,000 pieces of each type according to the styles he provides.

Finally, an agreement was reached on the spot with the exchange certificate of 22,000 yuan.

Ningwei Minhui will provide 3,000 brocade hat boxes with qualified quality and "PC" nameplate trademark to Marks and Spencer, a long-established British brand, within two months.

There are also several Italian agents who value antique Chinese porcelain and inquire about the price of making "PC" brand Western tableware.

However, because Ning Weimin was unable to give a detailed quotation on the spot, there was only a preliminary intention to cooperate in this matter.

He could only reply after discussing with Liu Yongqing and the antique porcelain manufacturer and continue to negotiate the matter.

The most unexpected thing is the wine glass from Donghuashi Street Production Co., Ltd.

Because they were all temporarily blown, the colors of the sticks on two cups were accidentally mixed.

The final blown cup is not pure color and transparent.

Instead, from top to bottom, the gradient effect is from a mixture of red, yellow, blue and green to colorless and transparent.

On the contrary, this is a mistake, and it is more favored by foreign businessmen.

Someone wanted to order two thousand red and white wine glasses with this effect.

Others requested products in other colors and detailed quotations.

Ning Weimin, who was surrounded by several people, was so frightened by the enthusiastic response from the agents that he did not dare to respond.

He could only find an excuse to escape, and urgently contacted Chang Yuling to ask if he could create a product with constant effects.

Just like that, after getting a positive reply from Chang Yuling.

After the three-day international trade fair, Donghuashi Subdistrict Production Co., Ltd. not only became the "originator" of producing Western-style glass and wine sets in the Republic.

Moreover, he unexpectedly acquired a gradient-colored Western food wine set as the main product for foreign exchange earning, and received overseas orders worth about 130,000 yuan in foreign exchange coupons and 7,500 wine glasses of various colors.

This small workshop, which once had only a dozen people and once closed down, became more and more prosperous and began to expand to a production scale of 80 people under the hands of Ning Weimin.

However, in comparison, Ning Weimin is actually the biggest beneficiary.

Because judging from the current situation, the deal negotiated at this exhibition, if the 10% OEM fee is paid to the head office, can still earn him at least 100,000 yuan in foreign exchange coupons.

So how could he not love Pierre Carton, respect his boss, and cherish his position?

To be honest, there is really no need for promotion, no need...