Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 835 - 459: Top Quality Beef Made into Beef Jerky

Chapter 835: Chapter 459: Top Quality Beef Made into Beef Jerky

Despite being extremely busy, Boss Yan still made time to attend school, and when he returned home, he was surprised to encounter Chen Liqiang there as well.

Watching how Chen acted as if he naturally belonged there, eating and drinking at the cattle farm, Yan Fei was a bit taken aback, "Aren’t you working now?"

"Of course, I am! I’m on a business trip right now," Chen Liqiang replied confidently. "There’s not much going on at the factory, and as sales reps, we don’t even need to check in. I came to see when you might increase the beef jerky production."

"Oh, we only have so much production capacity right now, it will probably not be until after the National Day holiday that we can increase it," Yan Fei replied without probing further, and went to get some rice for his bowl.

Although I am a monster and one meal can last me several days, I still try not to appear too different from others. I’ll eat something if I’m around, and besides, the chef at the cattle farm is pretty good. By trying his dishes, I can learn something too!

"I’m telling you, Boss Yan, this isn’t going to work! The market is so good right now, if your beef jerky production can’t keep up, it’s a big loss!" Yan Fei didn’t want to talk too much with Chen Liqiang, but Chen was persistent.

"Do you have any idea how many companies are losing money because of inferior products, how many are facing bankruptcy, and how many are racking their brains to develop new products and new business? Now you have a product that is selling so well in the market, and you’re not paying it any mind. Other companies that know about this situation would not only be envious of you, but they might also secretly curse you..."

As Yan Fei ate, Chen Liqiang, unafraid of annoying him, kept rambling on and on about the market situation, giving examples and reasoning. In the end, it all boiled down to one thing: hurry up and increase the production!

This kid was seeing benefits from running the business himself. Even if he sold just one pack of beef jerky, he could charge a little extra for running around, earning more than his salary. At the pharmaceutical factory where he worked, his pay was about the same no matter how much or little he did, and even if he performed exceptionally well in sales, his bonus wouldn’t be much more.

The factory ranked its employees by seniority, and as a newcomer with a degree but shallow experience, his salary was already quite low. And bonuses at the pharmaceutical factory were based on one’s salary, meaning that all his hard work over a month wasn’t as profitable as earning a little extra from selling beef jerky.

But this wasn’t the most frustrating part. The most irritating aspect was that bonuses at the pharmaceutical factory were calculated for the whole department. If a department performed well, the factory would award some bonuses to the entire department. Then, everyone in the department, except those who had made mistakes and had their bonuses canceled, would share those bonuses proportionally based on their base salaries.

While it may sound incredible, this was indeed the case. In a department of ten people, maybe only three to five worked well, yet the rest would also share in the bonus. The most outrageous part was that those with longer tenure sometimes received more than the newer employees who performed well.

This was simply beyond reason, with newcomers having little say in the matter. And because those individuals had long tenures and complicated relationships within the factory, the higher-ups didn’t want to offend them, so they just muddled through.

Therefore, someone like Chen Liqiang, with strong business capabilities but ’shallow seniority’, was bound to feel discontent.

Now, as he took on other business ventures, he could claim back some travel expenses. It was like using company funds to do his own side jobs while on the job, with all the money earned being his own. Thus, the more he did this, the more addicted he became, eventually losing interest in his actual job!

Having made money from selling beef jerky, Chen Liqiang naturally hoped Yan Fei would increase production. Moreover, he didn’t come empty-handed; he thought Yan’s beef jerky packaging was too simple and unhelpful for promoting sales. Therefore, he took the initiative to mobilize his network, collecting a large number of packaging bags through family, friends, and old classmates.

In short, besides Pang Fa, he was the person most eager to see Yan Fei increase beef jerky production. His desire was so urgent that he went on and on from every angle about the necessity for the cattle farm to ramp up beef jerky production.

Because during the toughest and most difficult times, the cattle farm had helped him a great deal, especially when Heizi gave him advice that completely solved his life’s quandary at the time. This guy was really committed, as even now with the low production of beef jerky, he never considered switching to another product to run his business.

His urgency stemmed not only from the potential earnings but also from a desire to reciprocate the help he had received, hoping that the cattle farm would keep thriving. Most importantly, beef jerky was hot in the market, and he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot, nor did he want to see the beef jerky factory miss out and remain half-dead.

That’s just how the market is. While business may be good now, it won’t be long before everyone realizes there are too many subpar products. Just like those Turtle spirit products that were popular a while ago, they just faded out.

Consumer behavior is such that initially, everyone is willing to buy anything new, but as the fervor cools down, only the products that withstand market testing remain, while those that don’t get naturally eliminated.

The beef jerky produced by the cattle farm was cheaper than what the Meat Processing Factory in the county used to churn out, and this was an enterprise that had been promoted on city news. It was a product of local origin. Although the packaging was simple and the brand not very famous, if we talk about value for money, it definitely beat other products.

That’s the advantage of private enterprises. The county’s Meat Processing Factory had no idea how many people it had to support. But next to the cattle farm, this small beef jerky processing plant, with just one master leading a few people, managed to make quality products. In terms of calculating costs, the Meat Processing Factory simply couldn’t compete with them.

After a while, Pang Fa joined the conversation, "I think what Xiaoqiang said makes sense. In a few days it will be August 15th, followed by the National Day holiday. Isn’t this the best time to sell beef jerky? Why don’t we buy some other cattle from the market and turn them into beef jerky to sell?"

Yan Fei looked at Pang Fa’s eager face and felt that it seemed inappropriate to treat the beef jerky factory this way. Pang Fa couldn’t stand doing nothing. Having him around with just that little beef production, which was too low, they were actually losing money.

As for buying cattle, he was reluctant to do so. Beef jerky was different from other products. Other goods might require some time before one finds out if they are good or not, but beef jerky is food—you pay, and the customer can immediately taste what your beef jerky is like.

Yan Fei felt confident that the beef produced by his cattle could make tasty beef jerky. If he switched to different beef, however, he couldn’t be sure it would still have the same taste as now.

Since he had been thinking about this matter, he made a tough decision, "Alright then, but you guys don’t need to purchase cattle. I’ll handle sourcing myself and get some good beef back here. Inferior beef would ruin our reputation. Just wait, it’ll happen in the next couple of days. Oh, and if you guys think this packaging isn’t attractive, think of something better. We’ll switch to the new one once we run out of the current stock."

Having instructed Heizi on the need to purchase calves, he returned to the greenhouse area.

Nowadays, the cattle farm didn’t need its own people to go out and buy any sort of cattle, as Heizi had a slew of contacts. There were cattle traders from surrounding counties and cities as well as contacts from other small cattle farm owners. A phone call was all it took; there were plenty of people willing to deliver cattle right to them, very convenient.

So, for purchasing cattle, they simply needed to make a few calls, specifying what kind of cattle they wanted, which was very worry-free. Those who brought the cattle over would also take great care in choosing the right stock since they wanted to do long-term business with the cattle farm. The farm didn’t have to prepare and arrange for people and trucks to go out early in the morning like before.

Back at the greenhouse area, Yan Fei saw that Guan Jiawu and the other simple-minded lads had finished their tasks inside the greenhouse and were now cleaning the pathways around it. Seeing that they were looking for work even when there was none, he ordered, "Stop cleaning, and head back to the cattle farm to find Heizi. Tell him to organize a delivery of bricks. We’ll pave this road later."

Finding bricks through Heizi was more convenient than going through Ma Yongming; don’t forget the brick factory owner’s good-for-nothing son who had shared adversities with Heizi. They’d paraded down the streets together, which forged a bond stronger than brothers in arms.

This was now a dark Chapter in Manager Heizi’s history. At the cattle farm, besides Yan Fei and Old Gao, not many people deliberately brought it up anymore. As for the others, they were even less likely to mention it, and soon it would become a buried part of Heizi’s life history.

Upon receiving the boss’s instructions, Guan Shi and the others immediately cleaned up and went to convey the orders.

Yan Fei turned and entered the Dinosaur World. He promptly picked out a big fat cow and dragged it to the seaside, where he started playing the butcher.

He wanted to see what the beef quality was like. He had chosen the place yesterday, intending to use it for slaughtering cattle in the future. With so many cows, there simply wouldn’t be enough feed if all were kept alive. That’s why he had flown to the Arctic in one go, looking for a natural freezer, planning to slaughter the cows and store the beef.

But after Chen Liqiang and Pang Fa’s persuasion just now, he decided that if the beef quality was good, it would be perfect for making beef jerky.

Of course, even if it was good, it couldn’t be sold as top-quality beef. As ordinary beef, he could easily come up with an excuse, and no one would care where he got it from. But as high-quality beef, he couldn’t make up excuses. If there were other places capable of producing top-quality beef, why wouldn’t they sell it themselves instead of letting him do it? Besides, doing so could easily blow his cover and wasn’t worth the risk.

Having skinned the cow in no time at all, he cut a few pieces of beef for inspection. Immediately, Yan Fei smacked his lips, extremely satisfied with the quality, and then inevitably felt a twinge of regret: What a pity that such good beef could only be used for beef jerky!

This was a time when the internet wasn’t widely available. Otherwise, Yan Fei wouldn’t have needed to slaughter a cow specially to know that this was absolutely not subpar beef—in truth, it ranked among the world’s finest beef.