My American magical life
Chapter 32 - 32 32 The Capital's Delicate Wife

32: Chapter 32: The Capital’s Delicate Wife 32: Chapter 32: The Capital’s Delicate Wife Cheng Daqi was focused on eating his meal.

On Red Street, you could get free food, but the taste of those things was not very good.

Even a large portion was close to expiration.

After all, the purpose of distributing food was to keep the homeless from starving to death.

On the other hand, if the quality of the free food was too high, many less poor people would go to grab it.

Then, the truly needy would have less to eat.

Domo’s burgers didn’t surprise Cheng Daqi at all, but they still tasted great.

The pineapple pie and apple pie desserts were delicious too.

Putting down the apple pie he was holding, Cheng Daqi eyed the beverages offered in Domo’s food truck.

Why not take advantage and drink for free?

“Domo, this might be a bit presumptuous to say, but would you like to hear my suggestion?”

Meeting by chance, Cheng Daqi decided to give Domo a bit of sincerity.

Aroused from his reverie about the future, Domo replied with a smile.

“Of course, you guys are my first customers; even if you didn’t say anything, I would still want to ask for your opinions.”

The plump chef came from a rich family; if he didn’t have a love for food, he wouldn’t have become so overweight.

If he didn’t really want his own cooking to gain more recognition, he wouldn’t have bothered to run a food truck so earnestly.

Domo was very happy to receive suggestions.

He didn’t find Cheng Daqi presumptuous at all; in fact, he was extremely pleased.

From Cheng Daqi’s recent comments about his burgers, it was clear that this Asian man knew a thing or two.

Actually, Domo’s guess was not wrong.

In his previous life, Cheng Daqi had founded a chain of fitness brands.

The core selling point was not the gym itself but the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) fitness meals.

Using fitness as a traffic entry point, he attracted a large number of people concerned with health and fitness with a low membership fee.

The core profit came from providing different TCM fitness meals for these members.

There were meals to aid with fat reduction, physical conditioning, and fighting the signs of aging.

In his previous life, Cheng Daqi had truly studied the catering industry; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to combine medicinal food with fitness.

“The food you’re making has great taste, much better quality than those cheap fast foods.”

First giving a few compliments unhurriedly, Cheng Daqi prepared to give some advice to the plump chef.

After all, he had no plans to enter the catering business again in this lifetime.

“Before I give you my suggestion, I need to ask you a question.”

“What question?” The plump chef touched his chef’s apron, puzzled.

“Do you want to run a great food truck and be an ordinary successful boss,

or do you want to make your BBB burgers famous and make a name for yourself in America’s catering industry?”

Cheng Daqi didn’t care about Domo’s answer; he just wanted to freeload two bottles of beverages.

Asking questions was also a common technique, just something he did casually.

But his words hit Domo like a heavy hammer, deeply shaking his heart.

This West Coast rich boy who had left home to start a business had never truly considered this question.

He just wanted more people to recognize his food, his cooking skills.

That was all.

Domo was stumped by Cheng Daqi’s question, or rather, he had never clearly thought about to what extent he wanted to achieve.

“I guess, I just want more people to recognize me.

I want to show my father that being a chef is nothing to be ashamed of, that no profession is inferior.”

This big boy of over two hundred pounds softly voiced his own answer.

Wanting his father’s recognition?

Cheng Daqi had not yet realized he had encountered a rich man’s son; he was merely moved by the common dream shared by countless boys.

The initial idol for boys is their own father.

“I understand what you’re saying.

Get me two bottles of beverages, and we’ll talk slowly.”

In America, if you want something, you say it directly; don’t beat around the bush when you want to negotiate terms.

Many ordinary Americans had lost the ability to think independently under decades of being coddled.

If you speak too subtly, they might really not understand.

“Sure, sure, drink as you please.”

Domo pushed the drinks over, speaking generously.

“I didn’t open this store to make money, but rather to have more friends recognize my cooking, my culinary skills.”

Under Sani’s incredulous gaze, Cheng Daqi casually opened a bottle of beer for her, and then another for himself.

Cheng?

Are you serious?

Bringing me to eat, you’ve turned the restaurant into a relief spot.

You’re fine with a fifty-cent big burger, but you also scammed drinks for free?

You manage to shop without spending anything, just using your mouth, without lifting a finger, right?

“No!

Domo, your thinking is utterly foolish!”

Cheng Daqi wasn’t planning to con the chubby chef, so he spoke his mind.

He would say it as effectively as possible.

“If the store doesn’t make money for a day, your father won’t recognize you for a day, no matter how popular your burgers are, they won’t convince your father.

You want your father’s recognition, you need your customers’ recognition first.

Do you know what customer recognition is?”

Cheng Daqi’s smooth crooning matched Domo’s rhythm, and after pondering, the chubby chef ventured a response.

“They like my food?”

“No!”

“They give my store a good rating?”

Seeing that Domo really didn’t quite understand, Cheng Daqi gave up guiding him and prepared to spoon-feed the information.

“No!

There’s only one kind of customer recognition, and that’s the willingness to pay for your product.

How to attract customers to pay, for someone like you, a newcomer to America’s fast-food industry, there’s only one feasible approach – differentiation strategy.”

(To prevent nitpicking, let me clarify that this idea comes from a discussion with a friend who has a deep foothold in brand marketing across several top-tier cities in the food and beverage industry, and it’s been confirmed to be viable.

Additionally, there are four attributes here: American, fast-food industry, newcomer, and applicable to him; those who wish to argue should take note of the attributes before raising objections, as each attribute has been carefully considered.)

Differentiation strategy, the approach that Cheng Daqi used to break through in entrepreneurship in his past life.

His peers were rolling out classes, female fitness coaches, and fitness industry competitions.

He directly collaborated with local university experts to co-develop medicated diet meals for health and fitness, dealing a heavy blow to the competition.

In combination with a deep-rooted local industry short video matrix and other tactics, he expanded from one store to eight within a year.

Without taking any financing, he had already validated his profit model, which allowed him to secure an impressive valuation during the PA round of financing.

The way Cheng Daqi spoke passionately gave Domo an illusion, as if he saw his own father holding a staff meeting.

The tone was firm, the wording precise, the language professional.

“Differentiation strategy?

Can you elaborate?”

Without thinking too much about it, Domo eagerly asked Cheng Daqi for more details.

“You’re in America, where entering the fast-food industry isn’t difficult because the market demand is right here.

Americans have become accustomed to filling their stomachs at fast-food restaurants when they’re hungry.

This is thanks to the larger chain fast-food companies’ long-term cultivation and nurturing of the market.

However, every situation has two sides.

While the big companies have cultivated the market, they’ve naturally also blocked the space for other small fast-food companies to grow.

In recent years, haven’t all the new fast-food enterprises emerged with the backing of traditional large corporate giants?”

Cheng Daqi didn’t know for sure, but he was familiar with the common development trends in various industries.

Industry giants, once the market becomes saturated, will naturally branch out and expand, creating new sub-brands and subsidiaries to occupy niche ecological niches within the industry, a nature determined by capital monopoly.

This development model has cross-industry applicability.

Like the Taobao ecosystem, evolving from just e-commerce to spanning every industry chain link today.

From enterprise-level cloud computing to last-mile delivery services, even acquiring Ele.me.

Domo carefully considered the industry situation outlined by Cheng Daqi.

To his astonishment, he discovered that every single statement made by Cheng Daqi was in complete agreement with the details he had observed.

Small fast-food companies get acquired before they grow large, and those promising new brands that do well all turn out to be the darling spouses of big capital.

All match up!