Chapter 361: Land Accumulation in Shatin and the Instant Noodle Market Opportunity
On October 16th, Yang Wendong once again brought Su Yiyi to the seaside of Shatin.
Unlike their last visit, the once rudimentary chicken coops had undergone a second renovation and looked much improved.
Before even entering, Yang Wendong remarked, "Looks a lot better now."
Lin Yuehua, the person in charge of the poultry farm, replied, "Mr. Yang, we were rushing for time earlier, so we prioritized getting the chicks raised first and only focused on speed when it came to infrastructure. Once the chicks were properly settled, we had the time to slowly upgrade all the coops."
"Mhm," Yang Wendong nodded. "What are those nets above the chicken coops for?"
Above all the chicken coops were dense layers of light yellow netting, two or three layers thick by the look of it.
Lin Yuehua explained, "That's to prevent predators from the sky from swooping down to attack the chicks. But more importantly, it's to guard against the droppings of wild birds. Wild birds have a wide range of activity, and their droppings might contain viruses or bacteria. If that gets into the farm, it could cause an avian epidemic, which would be disastrous."
"Mhm, avian flu is definitely something to take seriously," Yang Wendong agreed. "Especially things like bird flu."
In this era, influenza posed a major threat to human health. The 1919 Spanish flu had killed more people than the First World War, and both the 1950s and 1960s had witnessed severe H1N1 outbreaks, each with death tolls in the millions.
Viruses didn't discriminate between politicians and billionaires. Although there wasn't much Yang Wendong could do on a grand scale, he could at least do his part by maintaining strict hygiene standards in poultry farming.
"Don't worry, Mr. Yang," Lin Yuehua said awkwardly. "We're afraid of that too. If any chickens show symptoms, we slaughter and bury them immediately."
"Good," Yang Wendong nodded again. "Let's go in and take a look."
They had just walked a short distance when Su Yiyi suddenly stopped, covering her mouth and nose with her hand, as if she were about to vomit.
"What's wrong? Is the smell bothering you?" Yang Wendong asked.
Su Yiyi nodded, "Yeah, the moment I smelled it, I felt nauseous. I don't know what's wrong, this didn't happen the last time we were here."
"It's probably because there are more chickens now, and they've grown bigger, so the smell is stronger," Lin Yuehua explained. "This is the livestock business, the strong odors are unavoidable."
Yang Wendong had smelled it too. Though it wasn't pleasant, he could still tolerate it. So he said, "Then go rest up front for a bit. I'll take a quick walk around and come back out."
"Alright," Su Yiyi nodded, and someone came over to help her away.
Yang Wendong continued walking deeper into the farm with Lin Yuehua. It had been nearly five months since their last visit, and the chickens here had grown quite large.
"This is already our third batch of chickens," Lin Yuehua explained. "The first two batches were all delivered to Carrefour. I calculated the costs—after leaving a 10% profit margin, we're still able to sell them for 30 cents less per chicken than China Resources delivers to Hong Kong."
"Thirty cents? That's not a huge margin," Yang Wendong considered. "I remember chickens in the wet markets go for about eight dollars each, right?"
In economically developed regions, the Engel coefficient tends to be low. A person could buy ten chickens with a day's wages. But in poorer areas, they might not even afford half a chicken. When Yang Wendong had first transmigrated, a typical day's wage was around 1–2 Hong Kong dollars, while a chicken cost nearly 8 dollars. Even eggs were about 20 cents apiece.
Today's Hong Kong was better off than a few years ago but still far from being considered developed. The Engel coefficient was still high, especially since Hong Kong lacked its own agriculture and had to import even basic necessities like food and water.
Lin Yuehua laughed, "Yes, market chickens do sell for 8 to 10 dollars, but those are fully grown. What Carrefour wants are mid-sized chickens—easier to process and cheaper to sell.
Also, from a farming perspective, chickens, ducks, and other animals grow fast in the early stages, but their growth slows later. That's why mid-sized chickens cost less."
"Then why are market chickens all fully grown?" Yang Wendong asked curiously.
"That's just a matter of different demand," Lin Yuehua replied. "Many people prefer buying large roosters or older hens. And the livestock transported from the mainland have to endure long journeys—adult chickens have a higher survival rate.
Since we're raising them locally, smaller chickens are actually more convenient, and Carrefour prefers them because they're easier to sell. Fully grown chickens are more expensive and heavier, harder to move, and less cost-effective when made into rotisserie chickens. Smaller cooked birds sell better."
"Mhm." Yang Wendong nodded. In his previous life, rotisserie chickens were usually on the smaller side, clearly matching market demand.
Lin Yuehua continued, "Based on market prices, our mid-sized chickens go for about five dollars each, even in wet markets. The retail price will be even cheaper. So saving 30 cents per chicken is already a big deal for Carrefour.
Their roast or white-cut chickens are very affordable and sell out fast—usually gone by mid-morning. The future demand will only grow."
"So you're saying your current production can't meet demand anymore?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile.
At present, Carrefour had 42 stores. If each sold 100 chickens a day, that was 120,000 chickens a month. And at that price point, 100 roast or white-cut chickens per store per day might still not be enough.
Anyone who had visited places like RT-Mart or Walmart in the past would know how fast their Orleans-style roast chickens sold. And back then, people in Hong Kong still had low protein intake—demand was even higher.
Lin Yuehua nodded, "Exactly. The demand is overwhelming. I even suggested Mr. Liu raise the roast chicken price a bit, but he refused. He wants to build up the brand recognition, even if it's not profitable for now. So they're trying to negotiate with China Resources. But since China Resources supplies adult chickens from the mainland, it'll take some time to work things out."
"Mhm. In that case, you should start preparing to expand," Yang Wendong said. "Bringing in chickens from China Resources will definitely be more expensive. From Carrefour's perspective, that's not a sustainable model. They'll have to rely on their own supply chain eventually."
"Understood," Lin Yuehua responded. "I've already scouted several locations around Shatin. A few look promising. Once I finalize it, I'll send you the documents."
Yang Wendong asked, "You're not planning to build another farm nearby?"
"No," Lin Yuehua said. "Having farms too close to each other increases the risk of disease and makes the odor worse. Even the staff might not be able to take it. Keeping them spread out is better. But for ease of transportation, we'll still keep it within the Shatin district."
"Alright, then for sanitary reasons, next time you buy land, make sure it's big enough," Yang Wendong suggested. "That way, in case of an emergency, you can increase stocking density without much trouble."
Raising chickens wasn't exactly a high-profit venture. In his previous life, many ultra-rich investors had dabbled in agriculture mostly out of interest. Even the big four grain traders—ABCD—didn't actually make their money by farming.
But in this era, things were different—especially in Hong Kong. Shatin was still largely undeveloped, with large swaths of idle land.
However, without a legitimate reason for development, the Hong Kong government wouldn't sell you any land. But if you had a valid reason that contributed to economic growth, getting approval wasn't a problem.
Although they couldn't obtain land officially zoned for commercial use, as long as they got hold of it early, it was as good as theirs. In the future, Shatin might not become the economic center of Hong Kong, but it would at least be ranked in the middle among the 18 districts. And besides, if they genuinely put effort into developing the area, climbing to the upper-middle tier wasn't out of reach.
Lin Yuehua understood his boss's meaning and nodded, "Alright."
After a while, Yang Wendong came out from the poultry farm and saw Su Yiyi resting by the car. He walked over and asked, "How are you feeling now?"
Su Yiyi smiled and said, "I'm fine now. There's no smell out here, so I feel much better."
"Yeah, that smell earlier really was hard to take. It even made me feel a bit sick," Yang Wendong said with a smile. "But that's just how it is with farms."
Su Yiyi asked, "Would free-range farming smell less?"
"Well, technically, this is free-range," Yang Wendong replied with a chuckle. "It's just that the density is higher. Truly low-density free-range farming isn't realistic—there's just not enough land in Hong Kong. And if it's too spread out, it's hard to manage manually."
In this era—when there were no poultry vaccines or sufficient antibiotics—cage farming was extremely rare. If someone dared to try it, an outbreak of chicken flu would quickly humble them. Even in the West, they were still experimenting with such approaches.
"Oh, I see." Su Yiyi didn't press the issue further.
Yang Wendong said, "There's not much else to see here. Let's head over to our instant noodle factory."
"Yeah, I'm curious about that," Su Yiyi replied with a bright smile. "I bought a pack of Japanese instant noodles last time, and they were delicious."
"Not bad to have every now and then," Yang Wendong laughed.
Even people who weren't lacking in calories enjoyed the occasional instant noodle. In his previous life, Yang Wendong would treat himself to a pack maybe once a month—and it was always satisfying.
The instant noodle factory was also near the coast, but more than a kilometer away from the poultry farm. This separation was mainly for hygiene purposes. In fact, pollution from large-scale poultry farms could rival that of some factories.
Between the two locations, they had also built a private dock. It could handle small cargo vessels of a few hundred tons, which was sufficient for their logistics.
Before long, their convoy arrived at the instant noodle factory, where Zhou Haoran was already waiting.
"Mr. Yang, Mrs. Yang," Zhou Haoran greeted them with a cheerful smile as they stepped out of the car.
"Hello, Mr. Zhou," Su Yiyi replied politely.
Yang Wendong asked, "Old Zhou, have the instant noodles already gone into production?"
Zhou Haoran answered, "Yes, both cup noodles and packet versions are in production now. We can go in and have a look."
"Alright," Yang Wendong nodded.
The group entered the workshop together. Inside, they were greeted by the sight of two small production lines operating in full swing. Each line was about ten meters long. At the very front was the dough press, followed by a series of machines forming a streamlined process. By the end of the line, round blocks of instant noodles were being neatly produced.
The group stood in front of one of the lines for a while. Zhou Haoran began explaining, "Mr. Yang, the production of instant noodles can only be handled by machines—there's no way to do it manually. So only the beginning and end of the line need a lot of manpower. The machines also help maintain hygiene standards."
"Good, use machines where necessary," Yang Wendong replied casually, then asked, "So what's the cost difference between the packet and cup versions?"
Zhou Haoran said, "In terms of production costs, they're actually quite similar. The seasoning for the cup version is slightly more expensive, so there's a marginal difference. But when it comes to logistics, that's where the cup noodles get more expensive. The further the destination, the greater the cost difference."
"Makes sense. That's going to be an advantage for us when we go into exports," Yang Wendong nodded, then asked, "Are we producing our own seasoning packets?"
Zhou Haoran shook his head, "Not yet. The seasoning packets are currently imported from Japan. I've already started researching possible formulations, but there's no breakthrough yet. So for now, we're using the standard chicken-flavor seasoning that's common in the market."
"Seasoning packets are the core of the instant noodle business," Yang Wendong said, glancing at the chicken-flavored noodles coming off the line. "I remember there are a few companies in Hong Kong that specialize in sauces, right? Try poaching some people from them."
As a time traveler, Yang Wendong naturally knew that the soul of instant noodles wasn't in the noodles—it was in the flavor. But the tricky part was that he couldn't just follow his own preferences.
The times were different. The place was different. In his previous life, the most famous variety was spicy mala noodles, but that didn't suit the Hong Kong market at all. Most Hongkongers didn't like spicy food. Even the Japanese weren't big on spice.
Of course, there were some people in Southeast Asia and a minority of Hongkongers who did enjoy spicy food, but for the first product rollout, you couldn't cater to niche groups. That's why they had gone with the universally appealing chicken flavor.
As for pickled vegetables, braised beef, seafood, and other flavors—those would be introduced gradually in the future. Creating them wasn't something that could be done overnight. Even once the formulations were ready, they'd still need market research before launch.
"Got it," Zhou Haoran agreed. "I know of a company called Tao Hua Datong. Their oyster sauce is top-notch. It's actually the best-selling condiment at Carrefour right now."
"Alright, sounds good," Yang Wendong nodded, then asked, "Have our noodles started selling at Carrefour?"
Zhou Haoran replied, "Yes, they're already on the shelves. But since our production capacity is still limited, we haven't launched any major promotions. Once the additional five production lines are installed, we'll ramp up marketing. I'm also preparing to export to Taiwan. Through Changxing Trading, I've already connected with distributors over there."
"Good," Yang Wendong said. "Once your production can keep up, I'll allocate resources for promotion—including internationally."
Food, clothing, housing, transportation—every one of these markets was almost limitless. Especially in this era, with Asia's economy just beginning to rise, instant noodles were an industry born at the perfect time. Yang Wendong definitely planned to seize the opportunity.
The only pity was that the biggest markets—Europe and North America—weren't into instant noodles. In his previous life, several Japanese instant noodle giants had made multiple attempts to break into the West during the 1980s, spending huge amounts of money, but still failed to change Western dietary habits.
That's why, when it came to instant noodles, it was enough to focus on Southeast Asia. If they really wanted to do something in the West, they'd be better off pushing potato chips or popcorn.
And when China opened up its economy, that would become a hundred-billion, or even trillion-level market.
Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Understood. I'll focus fully on increasing production capacity."
Yang Wendong then asked, "Have we made any progress on the sausage?"
Instant noodles with sausages were a perfect combo. It wasn't that they were particularly delicious, but they were the most cost-effective choice for ordinary people.
In terms of flavor, sausages usually couldn't beat traditional Chinese cured meats—but the cost was much lower.
Zhou Haoran replied, "The lab is still fine-tuning the flavor. We're close, but we don't yet have the machinery to evenly blend starch and meat and mold it properly. Dongsheng is working full steam on that. So it'll still be a while before we can bring sausages to market."
"Mhm, alright. Take your time," Yang Wendong nodded.
New ventures always took time to develop.
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