136: The hot pot broth is ready!

9:00 PM. Huinan County, Central Kitchen.

To make the filming look more authentic, Mo Li specifically chose 8:00 PM, which was when the Central Kitchen officially started operations.

After nearly an hour of filming, Mo Li had obtained all the video footage he wanted.

The next step was to edit and assemble the video footage to convey the intended message, then choose an appropriate time to publish it.

In addition to filming the process of making Mo Ji Snacks at the Central Kitchen, Mo Li also specifically filmed some of the production process for the hot pot base.

He also grabbed a few bags of the officially packaged hot pot base, planning to send them to Tang Guoer later so she would stop posting empty teasers.

After finishing the filming, An Ran took Mo Li to an office next to the Central Kitchen.

"Make yourself at home... What would you like to drink?"

"Let's skip the tea at this hour, just some plain water will do..."

As he spoke, Mo Li looked around the office.

While it was technically outside the Central Kitchen, it was still located inside the same facility.

Due to the hygiene requirements of the Central Kitchen, the office area had been partitioned off from the kitchen.

The entire office area consisted of simple prefabricated structures, divided into two floors, with a total of over a dozen offices.

Currently, only seven or eight were in use, leaving plenty of extra space.

An Ran's office was on the second floor; it wasn't large, only about twenty-something square meters, and was much smaller than her office at Harmony Garden.

"Boss An, this office of yours is much shabbier than the one at Harmony Garden..."

After observing, Mo Li teased.

An Ran handed the cup of water to Mo Li and shot him an annoyed glare.

"I didn't really spend much time here, so I just kept the original decor without changing anything. Why are you unhappy that I'm saving you money?"

Hearing An Ran's quip, Mo Li felt amused.

When Mo Li first held a 30% stake in the Central Kitchen, it was hard to say who An Ran was saving money for.

But now that Mo Li held a 49% stake, An Ran's claim about saving him money actually made some sense.

Mo Li took the cup from An Ran, took a sip of water, and said to her unhurriedly, "In that case, I should give you a red envelope as a reward!"

Mentioning the red envelope reminded An Ran of the scene where Sun Chuan was humiliated, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up, revealing a charming smile.

"What do you think Sun Chuan is doing right now? Do you think he's already celebrating, thinking he has it in the bag?"

"Hard to say... I feel like Sun Chuan has a brain. He might think that my launch of the hot pot base is just me hiring influencers to sell products and rip people off, making one last grab for cash, but he probably isn't celebrating prematurely yet."

"That's true, Sun Chuan isn't a total idiot..."

"Let's stop talking about him and get back to business. Let's talk about the cost of the hot pot base first..."

After the small-batch trial production of the hot pot base was successful, An Ran began promoting the samples within her circle.

The circle the An Family belonged to, while often called a chef's circle, wasn't entirely accurate.

In the early years, it was indeed all chefs.

Later, times changed, and many went out to start their own businesses; some succeeded, some failed.

Those who succeeded became bosses, and those who failed often chose to return to restaurants as chefs.

Slowly, this circle evolved to include head chefs of large restaurants, catering industry bosses, and ingredient suppliers.

Calling it a catering industry circle might be more accurate.

The people in this circle included those rooted in Binhai City and Donghai City, as well as those who had developed in Shanghai like the Wang Family.

In short, it was a promising network of contacts.

An Ran's target for promoting the hot pot base was very clear: it was aimed at hot pot restaurants within the circle that didn't have their own hot pot recipes and had been buying their hot pot base from the Sun Family.

Because the quality of Mo Li's hot pot base was top-tier, An Ran's entire promotion process went very smoothly.

Several large hot pot restaurants were already inquiring about prices.

After filming was finished, the two didn't leave immediately, but instead went to An Ran's office, wanting to discuss the pricing of the hot pot base.

An Ran smiled sheepishly.

"Every time I think about Sun Chuan getting humiliated, I want to laugh, I almost forgot the main business... Wait a moment."

As she spoke, An Ran took a small tablet out of her exquisite little bag, pulled up some data, and then handed the tablet to Mo Li.

"The material costs for the hot pot base are all here. The cost of one jin of retail hot pot base is around 15 yuan."

"This is all thanks to your ingenious recipe; we don't need to use the best of every raw material, otherwise, it wouldn't even be possible to produce it for 20 yuan per jin."

"Most commercially available bagged hot pot bases are priced between 20 and 30 yuan per jin, and I suggest we set our price within this range."

"As for the portion supplied directly to hot pot restaurants, the sales format is closer to wholesale, so I suggest benchmarking against Sun Chuan's price of 22 yuan per jin."

An Ran explained the general situation to Mo Li while he looked over the data.

After Mo Li roughly scanned the information, he put down the tablet and fell into deep thought.

The data provided detailed explanations.

The material cost for the hot pot base was 15 yuan per jin, sold to hot pot restaurants for 22 yuan per jin, with a gross profit margin of about 31%.

After deducting other costs from the gross profit, the net profit was estimated to be between 10% and 15%.

If the retail hot pot base was priced at 28 yuan per jin, the gross profit margin would be around 46%.

After deducting other costs from the gross profit, the net profit was estimated to be between 25% and 30%.

Whether selling directly to hot pot restaurants or retail, the profit margins couldn't compare to the outrageous profit margins of the five-spice tea egg and various buns sold at Mo Ji Snacks.

However, hot pot base and Mo Ji Snacks products were not the same concept.

Mo Ji Snacks was in the catering industry; the sales cap for a single store was fixed.

To get more sales, one needed to hire more people and open more stores.

Producing hot pot base was a manufacturing industry; as long as the sales channels were expanded, the sales cap was extremely high.

The two were not comparable concepts, and comparing them together was meaningless.

Seeing that Mo Li wasn't speaking, An Ran knew he was analyzing and thinking.

She didn't disturb him and simply took the time to bend over and knead her legs, which were feeling sore from walking around the Central Kitchen with Mo Li.

It was unknown how much time had passed.

Mo Li had reached a decision.

He looked up at An Ran and noticed she was bent over, kneading her calves.

Because she was leaning over, her neckline dipped, and from Mo Li's angle, the view inside her collar was fully exposed.

It made Mo Li think that her skin was incredibly fair...

"Ahem..."

Mo Li gave a dry cough.

An Ran naturally straightened up and glanced at Mo Li.

"I just remembered, you still owe me a massage. I walked around with you all day today and I'm exhausted. There's no time like the present, hurry up and give me a massage."

As she spoke, An Ran got up, shifted her position, sat sideways on the sofa, stretched out her long legs, and then looked at Mo Li.

"You aren't thinking of welching on the debt, are you?"