Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Three: Transport Demand and Debut

"We may indeed fall short in terms of the texture compared to McDonald's, but aren't our choices richer than theirs?"

"If you like tomatoes, we can add tomatoes; if you like potatoes, we can add potatoes! Even pineapples, we can add those too, and you can change the sauce as you please!"

"These diverse options can completely cover up the shortcomings of the corn tortilla! And, unlike McDonald's fixed combinations, ours won't easily become boring!"

"With such a variety, how could our restaurant not do well?!"

Following Trufari's line of thought, Carter realized that it seemed to make sense.

Of course, theoretically, it's practically impossible for their restaurant to be as economical as McDonald's 36 cents. It's like when you're buying a car and you see all those additional options—sure, theoretically, the base model should be enough to meet your needs, but when you see all those choices, can anyone really remain completely rational?

When buying a car, you might think, "Well, I've already spent two or three hundred thousand, what's another ten or twenty thousand?" Similarly, when buying their burritos for $1.24 or $1.35, the extra few cents for additional toppings seem negligible...

This back and forth made Carter suddenly realize that the final profit calculation for this restaurant might be even higher than he estimated. But even if it's not, the 15 to 20 cent difference is still manageable.

It may not seem like much, but let's do some more math!

One person, one meal, saving 15 cents. For a family of four, that's a saving of 60 cents per meal. If they have two meals a day from their own restaurant, they save $1.20 on food expenses every day!

That's $36 a month!! You have to remember, $600 a month is already considered a very decent income. $36 exceeds 5% of the monthly income of an average middle-class person!

This kind of savings is significant, and as Trufari said, burritos offer more variety compared to McDonald's standardized burgers. They won't easily become boring!

"I understand! I'll contact reliable suppliers right away!"

With this in mind, Carter no longer hesitated. He immediately promised Trufari.

"Uh-huh~ Oh, and there's also staff recruitment and... the chicken slaughtering center!"

...

...

Staff recruitment was straightforward; with Douglas recently adding 600 unemployed households, they recruited 30 people in less than two hours. As for the so-called "chicken slaughter center," that too was manageable.

As a large landowner near Highway 23, Carter had plenty of land. Water and electricity pipelines had also been extended for 20 kilometers. All they needed to do was find a piece of land within the range from the city to the commercial area, build a small courtyard with a few small houses, and connect the water and electricity. It wouldn't cost much.

As for machinery, that could be discussed later. For now, manual labor was sufficient. With the surplus staff from the restaurant, plus hiring ten more and recruiting twenty, gathering thirty "butchers" wouldn't be difficult.

Regarding beef supply, they would have to contact Victor from Texas...

"Beef? We do have some ranches here, with decent scale. The Grays, whom you met last time, have a ranch with over twenty thousand heads of Angus cattle. If you need a large quantity of beef, I can help you contact them and inquire."

"Okay, then I'll ask Uncle Victor for that. Oh, and about the beef processing plant, if there's one near Grapevine, please inquire about that too. After processing locally, the finished meat can be transported over... Hiss, I guess I'll have to set up a transport company."

Just as Carter was feeling proud of how easy it would be to supply and process chicken, he suddenly realized that this seemingly simple business might not be so straightforward.

From Texas to Georgia, even the shortest distance would be over a thousand kilometers. From processing at the beef plant to arrival here, it would take at least a day. That meant they would need refrigerated transport vehicles.

He had heard that the cost of refrigerated transport was not low...

"Set up a transport company? There's no need; we can just find a transport company to help! There are quite a few transport companies in Texas with insulated trucks capable of transporting beef."

"Okay, then could you please inquire about their prices for me? I'm thinking that if our future demand for beef is large, outsourcing this transportation business would be expensive. But for now, we don't need to rush."

After thanking his uncle, Carter pondered the transportation issue.

When Carter initially proposed setting up a transportation company, he hadn't considered the cold chain logistics aspect. Without considering cold chain logistics, what could a transportation company do?

Aside from reducing transportation costs for food ingredients, as the bank expands outward, they could also handle the transportation of funds! As the bank expands outward, the need for money transfers will inevitably increase.

In this era, specialized transport vehicles for money and escort companies do exist. However, their business doesn't extend to Douglas; these days, armored cars are mostly seen in large cities. They're mainly used for transporting large sums of money for the Federal Reserve.

These companies have limited transport vehicles and won't send a vehicle just for your tiny flow of funds. Or, they could, but only if you pay enough. In America, as long as the money is right, there's nothing that can't be done.

But the cost of transferring funds is too high, and it would be cheaper to set up a company and buy an armored car to shuttle back and forth. Since armored cars are needed, and escort companies are needed, it seems natural to let this escort company do some part-time work and buy some regular trucks to transport raw materials.

Or, to say, to let a regular transportation company. Adding a money transportation qualification and then having them help transport money...

"Ding ding ding!"

As Carter contemplated, the office door was knocked. Goodman, whose hair was slicker than usual, poked his head in from behind the door:

"It's about time; we can leave now! It'll take another two hours to get to Macon!"

"Okay, does my appearance look alright?"

Standing up and straightening his suit, Carter adjusted his tie. As there was no mirror in the office, he asked Goodman if his attire was impeccable.

"It's passable, generally speaking. Tighten the tie a bit more; your tie is a bit long, and if the bottom peeks out from the gap in your jacket, it'll detract from your image!"

After helping Carter adjust his outfit and tie, Goodman casually pulled out a pair of plain glasses from his pocket and handed them to Carter:

"Your appearance still looks a bit young, so I've prepared this for you. Wearing these old-fashioned plain glasses will make you appear more mature and stable."

"This is your first appearance in front of your peers, so try not to give them the impression that you're unreliable."