Zhang Ma also understood that she was just making a unilateral request, and as a partner, Su Qingluan couldn't have no calculation at all.
After all, the Xie Mansion is not one of those black-hearted workshops that eats people without spitting out their bones. As long as the Su family is not greedy, Zhang Ma is still confident that she can agree to certain conditions on behalf of Mrs. Xie.
So she nodded quite reservedly: "If Madam Su has any difficulties, feel free to mention them. As long as I can do whatever I can, I will definitely help."
Although what Zhang Ma said sounded nice, in fact, if you listen carefully, you can find the "doorway" behind it - she said that "she" will do her best when it comes to something, which means that this sentence represents her personal position, even in the end If there are any mistakes, they can't be blamed on Xie's family.
Su Qingluan was secretly dumbfounded: She is indeed a servant of a wealthy family, and she can make seven or eight twists and turns in a seemingly careless sentence.
But this has nothing to do with her - no matter how fancy the words are, it will ultimately fall on a contract.
Su Qingluan took out the finely embroidered purse and took out the silver notes inside: "Since this silver note is regarded as a deposit, then this batch of trial sales must be indispensable whether it is in the eyes of all nobles or not. Within half a month, everyone was busy running around lighting lamps and consuming gas.”
Zhang Ma nodded.
Indeed, no matter what the finished product is, developing three new products in half a month is indeed considered a time crunch.
Su Qingluan smiled and said: "Although it is said that 'taking people's money to eliminate disasters', it is indeed good for you to pay us to do things, but as the saying goes, 'there is no credit, but hard work.' If the nobles are not satisfied, part of the deposit can be refunded , but you can’t get a full refund, it’s all due to everyone’s hard work in the past half month and the loss of items involved.”
Zhang Ma had prepared for the worst. To put it bluntly, if something went wrong with the five hundred taels of silver notes, Zhang Ma was prepared not to get them back.
After all, how can there be any truth in doing business that you can only make profits but not lose money?
What’s more, no matter whether the business is profitable or not, the initial investment is essential.
But Su Qingluan promised that if the trial sale failed, part of the deposit would be refunded. Naturally, Zhang Ma had no reason to push out the money that could be recovered.
So she happily agreed to this and said: "That's right, no matter what the result is, we can't let everyone's work go in vain."
Su Qingluan nodded and said: "Second point, our workers here will ask to keep the production method of jam secret, and can guarantee that before each new product is launched, a small amount of trial products will be launched - in view of the introduction of new products. This is the only way for a jam brand to survive for a long time. After agreeing on the interval between new product launches, we will ensure the output of new products. At the same time, Xie Mansion does not need to pay anything other than one or two gold per can. cost."
At first glance, these are not requests made by Su Qingluan to the Xie Mansion. Instead, they are basically self-restraints. However, Zhang Ma understands that these constraints can only be achieved by the transfer of corresponding rights by the Xie Mansion.
As expected, Su Qingluan said next: "Correspondingly, the Xie Mansion must ensure that when new products are launched, the formula of any finished product will not be changed without authorization, any materials will not be added without authorization, the sales will not exceed the prescribed period, and each fruit cannot be changed. The selling point of the sauce - the other promotional words must be agreed upon with us, and any promotional words that we do not agree with shall not be used."
They talked a lot, but in the end they highlighted one central idea: if Xie Mansion wanted to be the only legal sales channel for Suji Jam, it could only transfer the production rights, only the sales rights and the right to formulate part of the promotional slogans.
In modern terms, it means only injecting capital but not participating in technology investments.
Seeing Zhang's mother frowning slightly, as if she didn't agree, Su Qingluan made her words more clear: "I can tell you the truth. The recipe for this marmalade is all in my head, even if it's under my command." The workers only know the simple production process."
Seeing that Su Qingluan had something to add, Zhang Ma temporarily calmed down and looked at her.
"The recipe of the jam seems unique to you, but if you tell me, it doesn't have any particularly advanced craftsmanship." Su Qingluan's expression was very sincere, "And everyone is not a fool. Wait until you realize this kind of compound of multiple ingredients. When jam becomes more popular, it will definitely be followed by others. And we just want to try to extend the time gap between being imitated as much as possible.”
Zhang Ma is not a stupid person. She understands at one point: Only by holding the jam-making method in the hands of a few people will the possibility of leaks be greatly reduced, and the time lag for being imitated will be correspondingly extended.
But one thing Su Qingluan did not explain is that not everyone can combine different spices, ingredients and even medicinal materials into jam to make a composite jam. This ability to blend different flavors is not something everyone has.
What's more, many people simply don't think that spices, medicinal materials, tea, etc. can be added to the jam as excellent helpers to harmonize the taste. Innovation from scratch to something is often the most difficult.
Therefore, many recipes that Su Qingluan thought were commonplace would not be thought of by anyone in this era for a long time.
To put it bluntly, "conventional thinking and cognition limit imagination."
When Su Qingluan said this, Zhang Ma also felt that it was very reasonable. Even for the sake of win-win, the second condition should be agreed.
In addition, there are some objective conditions that limit the yield, such as the fruit-producing period limit of wild fruit trees, and the total quantity limit, etc.
It’s okay to say about the production volume. Anyway, Su Qingluan planned to take the high-end route from the beginning and did not plan to go into mass production, so it is best to produce several series a year, each series is a limited edition, to maximize the hunger marketing effect. .
But the seasonal restrictions are quite tight - you can't just open a store and have to wait a year for new products.
So Zhang's mother promised Su Qingluan to "find a way", then turned around and wrote to Mrs. Xie, telling her about the incident and asking her to use a special messenger channel.
Of course, Su Qingluan didn't know anything about this matter at this moment.
Su Qingluan then made detailed requirements regarding the design of the outer packaging, the name of the shop must be "Su Ji", and even the contract period.
"I may not be able to guarantee that I will always maintain the quality and quantity of new jams, so in order not to mess up the 'Suji' jam brand, this contract has to be signed every few years. Of course, the specific number of years has to be mutually agreed upon. …”
Naturally, these clauses involve a wide range of classifications and cannot be completely finalized in one day. To put it another way, if the response to the ten sets of trial products is not good, the rest of the contract will be dead.
So today, both parties just roughly laid out the issues that came to mind during the cooperation. As for the specific terms of the contract, they still need to be broken down and discussed slowly.
However, there are two points that need to be finalized first - "Su Ji" as the general trademark of the store, and the proportion of the "deposit" that needs to be returned if the trial product fails.
The former was easily agreed upon. Before Zhang Ma came to Lefeng County, she had been told by Mrs. The first "Rong Fei".
Today's emperor is suspicious and is very afraid of his relatives interfering in politics, so he has not established a queen. Therefore, the status of a quarter is not low.
Therefore, even in a capital city where wealth and wealth gather, the Xie Mansion is still eye-catching. So at least in terms of appearance, this jam shop can't attract too much attention - and it definitely can't use the name "Xie's Mansion".
Because of this, Su Qingluan's plan to use "Su Ji" as a "trademark" unexpectedly suited the other party.
As for the deposit, Zhang Ma wrote a letter guaranteeing that even if the "trial product" was not favored by the nobles, after all, there was still a "Four Seasons" series, so half of the deposit could be guaranteed as "hard work fee."
Su Qingluan thought that the deposit amount was five hundred taels, so wouldn't half of it be two hundred and fifty?
The term "key two hundred and five" does not have any special meaning in this era. It is just an ordinary number, which makes Su Qingluan feel helpless even if he wants to complain.
Then she thought about it very bachelorly: since no one thinks that the number two hundred and five has any special meaning, then she can just pretend that other meanings do not exist for the time being - anyway, she is not the kind of person who is so hypocritical as to avoid a certain person. People who can't live up to numbers and money.
Now that the most urgent matter has been resolved, Su Qingluan feels a lot more relaxed. Later, Su Qingluan and Zhang Ma thought about the directions and the details that could be added. Everyone wrote down everything they could think of on paper, and there was no need to adjust it.
But sorting out these clauses one by one is what Xie Mansion's clerk needs to worry about.
Su Qingluan was very happy to receive a large deposit, and at least more than two hundred taels could be credited to the account.
She began to think about how to create as many jobs as possible so that more villagers in Huaxi Village could come to work as "part-time workers", so she could logically distribute the money she had to these villagers to buy winter vegetables, winter clothes, and salt. Pickling and storing vegetables, and repairing the leaky house.
She couldn't help but feel happy when she thought that everyone in Huaxi Village would be much better off than usual this year. That was another kind of happiness different from making money.
In fact, if you really want to help the villagers survive the winter, the money stored by the Su family is enough. What's more, the Su family's current business and the dividends from "Hongfu Building" are enough to support the Su family's expenses.
But Su Qingluan also understands that if benefits come too easily, people will become more and more dissatisfied. And the face that was originally grateful will gradually become dissatisfied and jealous.
This is human nature, and she never intended to test human nature.
So no matter how much he wants to help the people around him, Su Qingluan's principle is the same - their rewards must be obtained through their own labor. Only in this way can the money given out be more "reasonable" and more "safe."
This is true for both the villagers and the Su family.
After all, if money comes too easily, who would want to work hard?
