In summary, with the official commencement of operations at Ding Yun's private food factory, her initial objectives were largely met. Not only did the rumors subside, but the villagers' attitudes also noticeably softened and became more accommodating.
As long as she continued to develop the business steadily over time, her original goals would inevitably be fully realized.
Of course, there were also drawbacks.
That was, she had to become busy again.
A newly established factory required a great deal of attention. Moreover, for such a large factory, the supply of raw materials could not solely rely on the small amount of ingredients she sliced with her knife skills daily. Setting aside whether there were enough ingredients, even if there were, the variety would be far from sufficient for producing a wide range of snacks.
Therefore, raw materials had to be procured on a large scale.
The quality of the ingredients also needed to be meticulously inspected.
Ultimately, the qualification of the final products, the efficiency and attitude of the workers, and so forth, were all matters Ding Yun had to consider. In short, Ding Yun was completely unable to rest. She was so busy that she had little time to return to her own shop during the day.
The small business was completely entrusted to Xiao Gu and Xiao He.
After a period of busyness, Ding Yun realized that she could not continue like this. Therefore, she soon posted recruitment notices again. This time, she was not hiring ordinary employees but sales representatives and management personnel.
Sales representatives were responsible for promoting and selling the products.
Their role was to push the products to major department stores in other regions.
Management personnel, naturally, were responsible for managing people and affairs.
In addition, Ding Yun was also privately exploring and inquiring about employees responsible for procurement and new product development, looking for suitable candidates.
These two types of personnel, those responsible for procurement and new product development, were particularly important. The former ideally should have experience and established procurement channels.
The latter, at the very least, needed to be a skilled cook.
Experience in making snacks would be even better.
Therefore, Ding Yun did not directly recruit these two types of individuals. Instead, she inquired privately and then visited them one by one. Those who could be poached with high salaries were recruited with high salaries.
For those who could not be persuaded with high salaries or were not cost-effective,
She would specifically look for retired individuals to assist.
They could help train new employees at the factory.
After several more months of hard work, Ding Yun finally managed to assemble all the required personnel, significantly alleviating her own pressure and workload.
Concurrently, after several months of promotion and advertising, the snacks produced by their factory had finally expanded beyond their county and began to sell well even in the provincial capital.
They produced and sold various dried fruits and preserves, delicious nuts and seeds, dried meat and meat floss, and Chinese and Western pastries such as steamed cakes, sponge cakes, and date cakes, as well as candies like fruit drops and soft candies.
Ding Yun’s strategy was to focus on hygiene and deliciousness for products that were not yet widely available. For products already on the market, she focused on exquisite and aesthetically pleasing presentation. Furthermore, she also introduced high-end gift boxes.
Not everyone was poor in this era.
There were both rich and poor.
While the exquisitely packaged gift boxes might not sell well in small county towns, they were well-received in the provincial capital and even sold very well. This was because the income of residents in the provincial capital was significantly higher than that of residents in smaller county towns.
When the income of many workers in county towns was only thirty to fifty yuan, many workers in developed big cities or prosperous areas earned over a hundred yuan. Individual business owners dealing in goods could even earn five thousand or ten thousand yuan,
And these were not uncommon occurrences.
This was also why people from the mid-to-late 1980s onwards were fond of working in big cities, because the wages in big cities were indeed high, far exceeding local wages. Working in a big city for a few years and returning home to build a new house was a perfectly normal thing.
Of course, this was for those who were thrifty and reluctant to spend money.
For those who were extravagant, the outcome was unpredictable.
It was possible to return home with no money at all.
With high wages, most people naturally moved away from the principle of pursuing cheap and practical goods and began to seek better, more expensive, and more exquisite high-end products.
And Ding Yun's snack factory's products, which looked better and were more exquisitely packaged,
Naturally quickly became a favorite among the people of the provincial capital.
Coupled with their excellent taste,
They became the perfect gifts for festivals and holidays.
However, Ding Yun was not content with this. She quickly introduced a reward system for the newly recruited sales personnel who had just completed their training. This meant that they would receive a commission based on the amount of product they successfully sold. For every ten thousand yuan worth of various products sold,
They would receive a commission of one hundred yuan.
While the commission might not seem high, compared to other sales jobs that offered no commission, Ding Yun's offer was quite generous. Moreover, in order to rapidly expand the sales channels and volume of her products,
And to expand sales nationwide, and even overseas,
The profit margin was deliberately set low. Coupled with the high transportation costs at the time, she genuinely could not afford to offer excessively high commissions, so she could only maintain it this way for the time being.
But the sales representatives were still quite pleased.
After all, Ding Yun not only offered commissions but also provided a base salary that was not significantly lower than that of other jobs. Earning more for selling more was exactly what they desired. If everyone received the same salary regardless of sales, they would truly have no motivation to work or push sales aggressively.
In addition, Ding Yun also set requirements and standards for other positions, with rewards for meeting them.
Increased rewards for exceeding expectations.
Direct dismissal for consistently failing to meet standards.
Since Ding Yun's requirements and standards were not high, and unless one was deliberately lazy, there was virtually no possibility of not meeting them. Therefore, for the workers who had no intention of being lazy, this was clearly an opportunity to earn extra money.
It was an additional bonus on top of their salaries.
Consequently, no one disagreed.
Everyone's enthusiasm was quickly ignited.
Furthermore, Ding Yun was operating during the golden age of booming development across all industries. Therefore, her food factory naturally experienced rapid development.
And its tax contributions at the end of the year were particularly outstanding.
There was no other way. Compared to many state-owned factories that incurred losses every quarter and constantly sought economic assistance from higher authorities,
Ding Yun's sole private enterprise,
Not only did it not go bankrupt, but it also paid a large sum of taxes to the government. Every leader was delighted.
They recognized her capability.
And believed she could receive appropriate assistance.
Thus, in the following year, Ding Yun not only had the diligent assistance of her employees but also received enthusiastic support from the relevant local departments. These departments helped her establish contacts with relevant departments in other regions, smoothed out bureaucratic hurdles, facilitated the export of her products nationwide, assisted in sourcing raw materials, and even provided guarantees to farmers in some rural areas, encouraging them to grow more raw materials for her.
With the enthusiastic help of the local relevant departments, Ding Yun's food factory developed at a pace comparable to high-speed rail.
Its growth was rapid and steady.
In just one year, it expanded its sales reach again. In the provincial capital and several neighboring provinces, Ding Yun's food factory's snacks could be found in almost all major department stores.
However, the growth of the snack factory reached its limit there.
When Ding Yun wanted to expand further into other regions and cities, her sales volume stagnated.
Customer feedback also decreased significantly.
Combined with factors such as higher transportation costs for greater distances,
And increased overall expenses,
Ding Yun's food factory's development had undeniably entered a bottleneck period. Without a breakthrough, further expansion would be difficult.
As the saying goes, not advancing means retreating. If she could not advance further, she could only either stagnate or face continuous decline, being forced to shrink her sales area.
She might even be eliminated by the rising tide.
In response, Ding Yun had to start gathering information.
She began collecting relevant information from sales representatives who had failed to expand into several distant provinces, while also considering opening branch factories in other locations.
This was to reduce costs and minimize transportation losses.