Chapter 330 - 164: Tentacles

Chapter 330: Chapter 164: Tentacles

Dad asked worriedly, "Do crabs and lobsters have this problem too?"

Jiang Miao nodded. "Of course. It’s a common issue with all crustaceans. But as long as you don’t eat the internal organs, the average person’s daily intake won’t be a major problem."

Hearing this, Jiang Dahai actually relaxed. "I’m old, so it doesn’t matter if I eat a few more. You young people shouldn’t eat too many, especially you, Shuya!"

"Dad, I know." Shuya was already very careful about her diet. Aside from following the meal plan Jiang Miao had created, the only extra things she ate were an occasional piece or two of fruit.

「After dinner.」

Inside his study, Jiang Miao was discussing company matters with his brother-in-law and sister.

His brother-in-law had been following up on the large-scale terraced farms recently. He gave Jiang Miao a brief update, "Ah Miao, the foundation pit for the Chicken Cage Mountain Farm in Magong Town has been excavated. They’re currently pouring the concrete foundation and pool walls."

"What about the ones on the Zhe Lang Peninsula?"

"They’ve only excavated half of the foundation pits over there."

"What did the construction contractor say?"

His brother-in-law relayed the project’s timeline. "They said the Chicken Cage Mountain Farm in Magong can be operational by September. The two farms on the Zhe Lang Peninsula probably won’t be finished until the end of October."

"Okay. I’ll have to ask you to keep following up on this, Brother-in-law. Especially the foundation work. We can’t afford any carelessness there."

"I know."

Jiang Miao jotted down the key points in his notebook, then turned to his sister. "Sis, the company’s retail division needs to expand further."

"Expand even more? Won’t that put a strain on the company’s cash flow?" his sister cautioned.

His brother-in-law also felt the expansion was too fast. "Exactly. We just invested a billion in properties in the Pearl River Delta, after all."

Jiang Miao, however, was full of confidence. "Sis, Brother-in-law, don’t worry. Starting in May, our company will be generating an additional 350 million in monthly revenue from the newly developed Vanilla Strawberry Powder business, nearly 100 million from the honey business, and another 24 million from the Morchella business."

"Those three businesses are bringing in that much revenue?" His brother-in-law had been focused on the farm construction sites for the past few months and hadn’t kept up with the company’s new ventures.

"That’s right."

Jiang Xia thought for a moment and agreed that they could continue expanding the retail division, extending their physical stores across the country. "If that’s the case, I agree with expanding further. But, Ah Miao, where do you plan to start?"

Jiang Miao made an immediate decision. "Ignore other regions for now. We’ll expand into the two core areas first: Shanghai and the Capital City."

’After all, cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen have the strongest consumer spending power in the country. With the domestic economy in a slump these past few years, it’s a good time to acquire property in these places while prices are relatively low.’

’Besides, the types of products Hailufeng Company sells mean we have to focus on major metropolises right now, not dabble in smaller cities.’

"Shanghai has sixteen districts. We’ll set up one store and one set of staff dormitories in each district, plus one warehouse. I’ll use the May revenue from the Vanilla Strawberry Powder to fund the property investments in Shanghai."

"The Capital City also has sixteen districts, and we’ll do the same arrangement there. The 350 million from June will be invested in the Capital City."

"The funds from July and August will be invested in the Yangtze River Delta Region. The funds from September and October will go to various cities in the coastal areas. This will let us gradually build an independent logistics and transport line, ensuring our company’s products can be quickly shipped north and south along the coast."

Jiang Xia took notes, stunned by her younger brother’s grand plans.

In reality, the Hailufeng Company had always had its own fleet of logistics vehicles. It just hadn’t been formalized into a proper division.

Previously, the company had to sell live eel fry to farmers, which naturally required large trucks capable of live transport.

Later, they added refrigerated container trucks for delivering feed, White Truffles, frozen fish balls, fish products, strawberries, and ready-to-eat meals.

Currently, the company owned a total of 5 small live-transport vehicles, 15 medium refrigerated container trucks, and 30 large refrigerated container trucks.

This fleet was clearly not large enough.

As for whether they could outsource some of their business to Shunfeng Express, aside from small items for online shopping, their other wholesale and specialty products were definitely not suitable. This was because Shunfeng Express wasn’t as responsible as one might think.

Take the live eel fry, for example. Shunfeng Express had no professional vehicles for live transport. If they relied on simple packaging, probably half the eel fry would be dead by the time they reached the farmers.

Then there was the special feed. They transported tens of tons of it at a time, and it required a complete cold chain to extend its shelf life.

Other courier companies wouldn’t transport these things for the Hailufeng Company. And they didn’t trust private transport vehicles or other professional logistics firms. Therefore, if the Hailufeng Company wanted to expand its businesses and ensure its products reached customers without a hitch, its only choice was to further expand its own logistics system.

This was a necessary path for any large agricultural conglomerate.

For example, large agricultural groups like ABCD, COFCO, Sinograin, and the Beidahuang Group all had logistics and warehousing industries that were cornerstones of their operations, just as important as production, processing, and sales.

Without a robust warehousing and logistics system, even the best products would never reach the customers. Back in the day, Old Lucia’s logistics management was so terrible that many agricultural products rotted in warehouses or on railways after being produced, while their city residents had money but couldn’t buy supplies.