236: Chapter 236 App Software Development! Investing in Baihai Ingredients!

Chapter 236: App Development! Investing in Baihai Ingredients!

"Boss, how is it?"

"Not bad, it's good!"

Su Yang said with a smile as he stared at the computer screen.

"Really?"

The employee from the Market Expansion Department on the computer screen asked in pleasant surprise.

"Of course!" Su Yang nodded. "You've done well. Just wait for your bonus!"

"Thank you, Boss!"

After ending the livestream connection, Su Yang thought for a moment and then called An Yukun, the General Manager of Weimeijia.

"Boss!"

"The site for the twelfth Weimeijia branch has been finalized today, but I want you to prepare to send people to Shancheng!" Su Yang said in a low voice. "The number of Weimeijia branches in Rongcheng is likely reaching its limit. The speed of opening new stores in Rongcheng will probably get slower and slower from now on."

Weimeijia was different from Nine Fragrance Hotpot.

Its requirements for site selection were even more stringent than those of Nine Fragrance Hotpot.

As for going to other county towns outside of Rongcheng, they wouldn't be able to open many branches there at all!

Weimeijia was designed for workers; it was difficult to set up shop in places without a large number of nearby enterprises and factories!

Even if they could open a store, it wouldn't make much money, and he currently had a relatively high need for profit!

"Understood!"

"Guo Fang is in Shancheng; just get in touch with him!" Su Yang said in a low voice. "Don't worry about the ingredient supply. Nine Fragrance Hotpot has already opened up the channels, and Fengyuan can support you as well. President Xiang from Fengyuan has already finished negotiations with Shancheng Baihai regarding the investment stake."

"Okay, Boss!"

An Yukun was in a quite good mood at the moment.

After all, many connections in Shancheng had already been established, and even the supply chain was ready!

Having lived there before, he was practically half a local!

"The talent reserve needs to keep up, especially for store managers!"

Su Yang was relatively at ease regarding Weimeijia's talent reserve.

After all, Weimeijia's growth wasn't as explosive as Nine Fragrance Hotpot's, so they had time to train people!

"I understand!"

Around the 15th, Su Yang received a call from Yi Jiangang.

He had acquired a third small gym in Shancheng!

Combined with the three small gyms Xu Zhiping had recently acquired in Rongcheng,

The total number of gyms under Spark Fitness had reached twelve.

In Rongcheng, there were seven commercial gyms in total.

Among them were three large commercial gyms, one medium-sized one, and three small ones.

Shancheng had five gyms: one large commercial gym and three small ones.

Over the coming period, Yi Jiangang and Xu Zhiping would continue to acquire a batch of small but high-quality gyms in Rongcheng and Shancheng to continue their path of expansion!

Of course, this expansion was all under Su Yang's control.

At the very least, Su Yang could guarantee that these small gyms would have no operational issues within a year!

These small gyms generally had a group of loyal customers.

With a year of serious management, these small gyms could become fully sustainable.

The customer stickiness of Spark Fitness was famously strong!

After Yi Jiangang and Xu Zhiping reorganized the newly acquired gyms, the Spark Fitness Sixth Anniversary Challenge began again... though this time it was mainly held in Shancheng!

Yi Jiangang suggested, "Boss, should we develop our own fitness app?"

"Like Koop?"

"Yes!"

"We can do that!"

The Koop company was a well-known fitness software provider in the industry.

When it was listed in Hong Kong years ago, its market value reached 15 billion.

However, it had now plummeted to a point that was painful to see!

Furthermore, the software had significant issues; the interface was not user-friendly, and there were far too many ads.

It was likely due to performance pressure.

After all, it was a listed company and had to be responsible to all its shareholders!

Moreover, the market for this type of fitness software was being squeezed by mobile phone manufacturers.

But could this software be made?

Naturally, it could!

After all, Su Yang also wanted to become a giant in the national fitness industry.

Having a fitness app would be beneficial to his career with no downsides!

Yi Jiangang was indeed ambitious and forged ahead with determination.

Su Yang liked that about him!

Hearing Su Yang say it could be done, Yi Jiangang asked, "Then should I find a software company for the development?"

"Let's just buy a software development company instead!"

Su Yang said, looking at the twenty million in funds he had on hand.

He could certainly handle software development.

As long as he bought a company, the largest remaining investment would likely be salaries!

Was he ever afraid of paying his subordinates' salaries?

An app isn't finished once it's developed; there's also the launch, modifications, optimization, and maintenance in the later stages.

Rather than outsourcing it, it was better to do it himself!

Besides, he might need other software development in the future!

There was no shortage of software development talent in Rongcheng, so meeting Su Yang's requirements wouldn't be an issue.

Software development companies weren't expensive either; a few million would surely get it done!

"Alright then!"

Buy a software development company?

Fine!

After frequent contact with Su Yang, Yi Jiangang had gradually adapted to his style.

He was rich and willful, and he loved to spend money on acquisitions!

He wanted a piece of every business!

But strangely enough, the boss was exceptionally talented; any business that stayed in his hands for a while would start making money.

It was simply ridiculous!

"I'll send someone to acquire a suitable software development company or build one myself," Su Yang said over the phone. "I'll notify you once it's settled."

"Okay!"

After hanging up on Yi Jiangang, Su Yang called Liu Fengshan.

As things stood, Hongyu Law Firm likely had the most comprehensive contact with various companies.

With Su Yang's recent investment publicity, Hongyu Law Firm's reputation had gradually grown, and business had improved significantly!

Upon hearing that Su Yang wanted to acquire a software development company, Liu Fengshan immediately promised to help him gather information.

Last time, when Su Yang wanted to acquire a housekeeping company, he hadn't been able to manage it.

This time, Liu Fengshan decided to go all out and mobilize the entire law firm's network!

Su Yang didn't intend to make the software development company very large; it would first be used to satisfy the needs of Spark Fitness.

The salaries for employees at software development companies were indeed quite high, but the total number of employees wasn't large; a company with over two hundred people was considered relatively big.

However, he could also use it to lay the groundwork for the future; he would be able to use it sooner or later anyway.

Besides, a software company wouldn't cost much, and he still had plenty of funds on hand.

He'd open one first and see!

The number of companies he owned was indeed getting a bit high, but Su Yang didn't feel it was too much of a burden!

He would just fully utilize his "advantages" and leave the rest to his subordinates to execute.

Moreover, the daily work made him feel fulfilled and satisfied.

Watching his companies gradually grow and seeing his number of employees increase gave him a great sense of achievement... it was a bit like playing a game!

About two days later, good news came from Shancheng.

Shancheng Baihai Ingredients was willing to accept an investment from Fengyuan.

With Guo Fang's help, Xiang Changxing had already gone to Shancheng in July to look for acquisition targets.

When Su Yang went to Shancheng in early August, Xiang Changxing had accompanied Guo Fang to receive him.

Xiang Changxing had already investigated Shancheng Baihai's credit status and financial situation.

He had also assessed its potential value and risks as an acquisition target.

Su Yang had also tried using Business Deduction, and Shancheng Baihai Ingredients had no major issues!

Both parties reached a preliminary consensus on the basic terms of the acquisition.

Baihai had recently held a shareholders' meeting, and the equity transfer had been approved by vote.

The rest was just following the standard procedures.

If things went smoothly, by the end of this month or the beginning of next month,

Fengyuan would be able to acquire a 70% stake in Baihai for approximately ten million!

Baihai was considered a relatively old-brand ingredient supplier in Shancheng.

They had once supplied ingredients to several catering giants, but because the company's decisions had repeatedly run into problems in recent years, those catering giants had abandoned Baihai to establish their own supply chain systems, leading to Baihai's gradual decline.

The reason Baihai was willing to accept Fengyuan's controlling stake this time, besides Fengyuan being able to afford the price and some shareholders wanting to leave, was because of the Jiuxiang Catering backing Fengyuan!

Recently, the Jiuxiang Hotpot Chain under Jiuxiang Catering had already become somewhat famous in Shancheng.

Business at the thirteen branches was quite booming, gradually showing a trend of suppressing other hotpot chains in Shancheng.

In addition, they also knew that Jiuxiang Catering was thriving in Rongcheng, and its Chinese fast-food brand, Weimeijia, was rising rapidly...

If Weimeijia could also enter Shancheng and gain a foothold, and if Baihai could simultaneously secure the supply shares for both Nine Fragrance Hotpot and Weimeijia, then Baihai would have a chance to reverse its decline!

Therefore, those shareholders who wanted to continue holding Baihai shares welcomed the addition of Fengyuan Ingredients and were willing to relinquish a portion of their own equity.

Su Yang was already very satisfied with obtaining a 70% stake.

Leaving the remaining 30% of the shares to other shareholders wasn't much of an issue.

Su Yang also needed their support!

With Baihai, Jiuxiang Catering would be considered more than half a local force in Shancheng from now on.

Furthermore, Baihai's own business was actually profitable.

It was just that the competition they faced was relatively high, and profits were decreasing year by year, making the decline seem quite obvious!

But with the addition of Fengyuan's special buffs and the support of Jiuxiang Catering,

Once Weimeijia entered Shancheng, they would be able to stabilize.

What Weimeijia excelled at most was low margins and high volume, winning entirely by sales turnover.

The amount of ingredients consumed was much higher than that of ordinary restaurants!

It was just extremely unfriendly to other nearby restaurants, easily causing them to fail in droves!

It was as if everyone had entered a cruel duel arena!

In fact, it wasn't just Weimeijia; other similar types of Chinese fast-food chains backed by significant capital were also squeezing the survival space of ordinary restaurants.

And Weimeijia had long since gone head-to-head with other similar fast-food chains.

But when it came to a direct confrontation, Su Yang was not scared at all!

Over at Spark Media, having received twenty million in "friendly sponsorship" from other MCN agencies, they also began to spend money lavishly.

Although the number of million-level influencers showed a downward trend compared to last month, that girl Niu Zhitong had achieved another breakthrough in sales from a single livestream session!

When Su Yang first met her, he had deduced that this girl would achieve a good result of over 2 million in sales from a single livestream within a year.

As it turned out, in less than a year, her best result was already 4 million in sales.

It could only be said that through constant deductions, continuous optimization of development strategies, and increasing investment amounts... Su Yang had made Spark Media's development speed much better than what he had first deduced!

It could be seen from Niu Zhitong's development... her ceiling had clearly been raised.