Chapter 718: An opportunity to create a food giant

The next day, the sky was clear, with not a single cloud in the blue sky.

The temperature in Pengcheng in November fluctuated around 20 degrees, and the autumn wind was pleasant, making it a good time to travel.

After having breakfast early in the morning, Xia Yu first went to the film and television base under construction.

This base, also constructed by Jiuding Infrastructure Construction Co., Ltd., is progressing much more slowly. After all, it is a meticulous job constructing antique buildings, with designs ranging from those of the Qin Dynasty to those of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of talent on the mainland. At the official's call, a large group of stonemasons and carpenters of excellent skills have gathered.

After learning about this, Xia Yu knows that the design period for this film and television base is two years. The progress is slightly faster now, with eight months of work completed in six months, and it may be finished half a year ahead of schedule in the end.

In the afternoon, Xia Yu planned to visit some other factories, and then the trip to Pengcheng would be over, and he would return to Xiangjiang the next day.

Now many of Xia Yu's companies had set up branches in Pengcheng, but they were mainly concentrated in the real estate and industrial sectors.

In areas like media and finance, the mainland had not yet opened up, and even the subsidiaries of Jiuding Media Group and Jiuding Financial Group would find it difficult to enter.

However, when Xia Yu went north in the first half of the year, he privately suggested that the construction of Pengcheng could not do without financial support, so this life has changed, and the financial access qualifications of Pengcheng will be opened to Hong Kong businessmen sooner than in the previous life.

In the previous life, it was not until 1981 that the mainland opened the financial access qualifications of cities such as Pengcheng, Xiamen, Zhuhai and Shantou to allow Hong Kong's banks, insurance and other financial companies to enter.

In this life, Xia Yu heard that the matter is already being studied, and it is estimated that it may be possible to open up next year, 1980. At that time, Jiuding Bank will definitely be able to get one of the first entry tickets.

That said, the companies that have entered Pengcheng now include Jiuding Printing Factory, Jiuding Toy Factory, Jiuding Book Publishing Company, Jiuding Real Estate Group, and three manufacturing companies under Tiangong Group.

These companies all need a large number of workers, and with such low labour costs and land prices on the mainland, Xia Yu could not possibly not urge them to come over and seize the initiative.

However, the factories in Xiangjiang should not be closed in the next few years, and adjustments will be made according to the actual situation at that time.

If one day, the factories on the mainland are large enough, it is not impossible for all the factories in Xiangjiang to close. At that time, the huge land plots should be used for real estate development.

The first factory visited was the Jiuding Toy Factory.

The first phase of the factory building had already been constructed by Jiuding Infrastructure Limited and was now in use.

When Xia Yu arrived at the factory, he saw busy workers on the assembly line and finished products coming out one after the other.

He also took a Pikachu doll and looked at it carefully, satisfied with the quality.

After spending about 20 minutes at the Jiuding toy factory, he went to the next one.

All the factories were in the same planned industrial zone. Apart from Xia Yu's factory, the factories of Lim Por Yen and others were also here, except that most of their factories were still under construction. Xia Yu's factory was one of the first to start production.

Along the way, Xia Yu passed by many construction sites and noticed a phenomenon.

That is, when many construction workers took a break, they basically had steamed buns to nibble on, and the better ones had rice balls. When they got thirsty, they just opened the tap or hose and drank.

Xia Yu asked one person when he caught him and then understood. The current Pengcheng is a big factory with various supporting facilities that are not perfect. Originally, this was just a small fishing village, but now so many people have suddenly poured in, which has created huge pressure on living conditions.

Not to mention, eating and sleeping are problems.

Forget about hotels and the like. As far as hotels are concerned, Xia Yu's brother's Marco Polo Pengcheng Hotel is estimated to be the first to open. Even if it opens, it is not affordable for these workers. Most of the workers now live in shacks, and some even sleep directly on construction sites or in the streets.

As for food and drink, water is relatively easy to solve, but the difficulty lies in eating.

Although there are already some breakfast stalls, the huge market simply cannot be supplied. The most important thing is the supply of ingredients. Despite official allocation, only rice, salt and vegetables are guaranteed, and there is less meat.

For efficiency, some companies have large canteens, but due to limited ingredients, the food is not much better.

Workers do hard and tiring work, and their bodies consume a lot of energy. Even if they eat enough in the morning and at noon, they get hungry very easily in the middle of the day.

In these circumstances, steamed buns and rice balls are the quickest and most convenient food to fill an empty stomach. Many workers eat steamed buns to fill their stomachs.

Xia Yu thought of one thing, however: it was already November, and by the time winter came, energy consumption would be even greater. It would be inhumane to let the workers eat dry, cold and hard steamed buns and rice balls.

On the way back, Xia Yu came up with a solution: instant noodles.

Once the inspiration hit, Xia Yu's thinking diverged and he thought of more.

Now the Uni-President Group had already been established and was a well-known food company in Taiwan, but it would not enter the instant noodle sector until the 1990s.

The parent company of Master Kong, Ting Hsin, had already entered the mainland, but it was still in the oil manufacturing business and had not noticed the instant noodle market at all.

Although instant noodles had appeared in Hong Kong in the late 1960s, this company had also not entered the mainland.

This is a huge opportunity!

Previously, in Hong Kong, Xia Yu had also paid attention to the instant noodle market, but the market had already been dominated by instant noodles represented by doll-shaped noodles, and there was even Nissin, the originator of instant noodles from the island country, snatching up the market.

Under these circumstances, trying to re-open up a brand to capture the market would be costly, time-consuming and low-profit, and Xia Yu didn't think it was worth it.

But now it's different, the mainland market is blank, and even just counting Guangdong Province and Pengcheng, it's enough for a new instant noodle brand to gain a foothold.

There are many Hong Kong people here in Pengcheng, and after establishing a name here, they can also attack Hong Kong and head towards Southeast Asia.

It can be said that now is an excellent opportunity.

Thinking of instant noodles, Xia Yu also thinks of Master Kong. Starting with instant noodles, it later entered the beverage and pastry fields, and at its peak, its market value reached more than 100 billion. Even at its lowest point, it still had a market value of 60 to 70 billion.

And this is still the case when there are many competitors in the market.

Now Xia Yu is seizing the market so early, and with the resources of his consortium, he may be able to create a monopolistic food giant, such as Master Kong + President + Dali Foods + Wanglaoji + Wahaha?

After doing the math, a market value of hundreds of billions of yuan is still possible!

If the scope is expanded and no longer limited to ordinary food and beverages, and enlarged to the grain and oil sector, the prospects are even brighter!

The more he thought about Xia Yu, the more excited he became, which caused him to ponder over this matter all night, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that the timing was perfect.

He already owned a supermarket and a convenience store, and had a dominant position at the point of sale. He just needed to display the new products in the best possible locations to promote a brand as quickly as possible.

Since he had the conditions, the timing was good, and the prospects were bright, Xia Yu could not find a reason not to do it.

Therefore, the next day, as soon as he returned to Xiangjiang, Xia Yu called in Fok Kin-ning and instructed him to arrange for someone to investigate the food, beverage and instant noodle markets in Xiangjiang.