Free Web NovelChapter 13: Chapter 13: Byproduct
Starting in September, Hailufeng Company began selling large quantities of glass eels to the surrounding areas. Soon, all 7.6 million glass eels were sold out in less than a month.
The average price per glass eel was about 2.65 yuan, for a total of 20.14 million yuan in sales.
The first wave of returns covered their initial investment costs.
From now on, the farm would produce 7.6 million glass eels every two months, meaning it would generate about 10 million yuan in revenue for the company each month.
Meanwhile, at the eel canning factory, the 5,000 female eels that had finished spawning were all slaughtered, processed, and frozen in August.
In truth, the processed meat from 5,000 eels only amounted to about seven tons.
The specifications for the Hailufeng Eel Canning Factory’s custom cans were a net weight of 150 grams, with a drained weight of no less than 65 percent. This meant each can contained 100 grams of eel meat, so seven tons of eel could produce 70,000 cans.
Based on the production line’s efficiency, 70,000 cans was only about half a month’s worth of output.
However, once the eel farm expanded its operations, the canning factory would also run at full capacity.
Jiang Miao didn’t get complacent. He planned to continue expanding production, increasing the farm’s size to 200 mu.
But Li Xinhua, the recently hired manager of the canning factory, was dealing with a major headache.
The fourth floor of the canning factory was the R&D area.
Manager Li Xinhua, food engineer Huang Jianye, the company’s cook Aunt Li, and a few assistants were attempting to make braised eel.
On the stainless steel table, more than a dozen different eel dishes were already laid out.
These dishes weren’t made by Aunt Li; they had been purchased as takeout from various food stalls in the city.
"This one tastes the best. Where is it from?" Li Xinhua glanced at the label. It read: Pubei Town Nanfen Village Ah Xiong’s Farmhouse.
Huang Jianye took out his phone and pulled up a video. "I recorded their kitchen. I have a video of them making the eel."
Everyone watched for a moment, then turned to look at Aunt Li.
"I’ll give it a try and see if I can replicate it."
The morning passed as they cooked the braised eel, adjusting ingredients and tasting the results.
It wasn’t until past eight in the evening that they landed on the 23rd revision of the recipe.
Li Xinhua rinsed his mouth, picked up a piece with his chopsticks, and placed the eel, coated in a brownish-yellow sauce, into his mouth. He savored it for a moment. "This time, the taste is almost identical."
The others also rinsed their mouths and dug in with their chopsticks.
"Mmm, it really is almost identical. I can barely taste any difference."
A bald, middle-aged employee put down his chopsticks. "There’s still a slight difference. That food stall uses live, wild-caught eels, while we’re using frozen ones. But the strange thing is, our eel doesn’t seem to have much of an earthy, muddy taste. Did any of you taste that?"
Aunt Li shook her head. "No. I’m usually pretty sensitive to that muddy taste. The eel from that food stall definitely has a bit of it. If it weren’t coated in sauce, or if you ate it cold, the muddy taste would probably be very obvious."
In reality, they didn’t know that although the culled female eels from the farm had been frozen, they had spent over a month in the breeding ponds. This, combined with the special feed Jiang Miao had formulated, had caused the geosmin in their bodies to be mostly depleted.
As a result, the muddy taste in these culled spawners was reduced to an extremely low level. With the sauce to mask it, even someone highly sensitive to the flavor would have a hard time detecting it.
Li Xinhua thought for a moment. "Let’s run an experiment. We’ll keep one portion warm, let another cool down, and freeze a third to be reheated in a microwave. We’ll do the same with a few samples from the food stall and compare the results."
"Good idea."
Two hours later, the team compared the three conditions—kept warm, cooled to room temperature, and frozen then reheated—for both their own eel and the five dishes from the food stalls.
After the comparison, they noticed a clear difference.
Li Xinhua summarized the findings: "The food stalls’ eel is only good when it’s hot. As soon as it gets cold, a strong muddy taste comes through. Our factory’s eel doesn’t have a noticeable muddy taste, whether it’s hot or cold."
"Manager, are you planning to go with Recipe #23?" Huang Jianye asked.
"Yes, let’s use this recipe. But tomorrow, we need to try it in a large batch to see if the flavor changes."
Huang Jianye suggested, "In that case, I’ll start working on the ingredient list design as soon as possible."
"Go ahead."
Less than five days later, on September 15th, just before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Li Xinhua arrived at the company headquarters with a large box of canned eel.
Jiang Miao happened to be eating in the cafeteria.
Seeing Li Xinhua carrying a big box, he already guessed what it was. "Manager Li, is the canned food ready?"
"Yes. I’ve run three trial production batches over the past few days. This one was just produced today. Chairman, please have a taste," Li Xinhua said, taking a yellow can out of the cardboard box.
Jiang Miao took the can and examined the design. The style was decent.
The can had a lemon-yellow painted finish. It wasn’t bare tinplate; instead, it featured the lemon-yellow paint along with the Hailufeng Canning Factory logo and product name. The side also had the same finish with the printed ingredient list, nutrition facts, production date, and so on.
He flipped it over. The bottom was a pull-tab lid.
He hooked his finger through the ring, gave it a pull, and the lid came off.
Inside the can was a brownish-yellow sauce, large chunks of eel meat, and boiled peanuts as a side.
He picked up a large piece of the fish with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.
"Not bad. There’s really no noticeable muddy taste. Mom, you try some."
Jiang Miao passed the can to his mom, who was beside him.
His mom picked out a piece, tried it, and also nodded. "It tastes a bit like that food stall in Nanfen."
"Ma’am, we actually based it on that food stall’s recipe," Li Xinhua explained with a smile.
Jiang Miao immediately instructed, "Go ahead and start production with this recipe."
"Chairman, how much should we price one can?"
"Something similar to the market rate will be fine."
"In that case, I suggest a wholesale price of 12 yuan per can and a suggested retail price of 15 yuan."
"That works," Jiang Miao nodded. freewebnovёl.ƈom
In truth, he wasn’t too concerned about the canning factory’s business. After all, canning was destined to be a low-margin industry.
The cost of one can of eel wasn’t small. The meat cost 3 yuan, the tinplate can 0.8 yuan, packaging and printing 0.5 yuan, and ingredients 0.8 yuan. These costs added up to 5.1 yuan.
Then there was labor, rent, equipment depreciation, utilities, transportation, and taxes.
The profit on a single can was only about one to two yuan.
Seven tons of eel meat could produce 70,000 cans. Even if they all sold, the profit would only be 70,000 yuan.
If it weren’t for the eel farm constantly producing a supply of culled female eels that were difficult to sell directly, he wouldn’t have bothered with a canning factory at all.
Then, another thought occurred to Jiang Miao. "Oh, right, Manager Li. Have our purchasing department buy a batch directly and distribute them to all employees as Mid-Autumn Festival gifts. One case per person."
"Of course. The three trial batches had some minor issues with the exterior printing anyway, so it’s perfect for internal use," Li Xinhua nodded.
That afternoon, the canning factory delivered several dozen cases of canned eel to the headquarters.
Jiang Miao sent out a notice on the company’s internal messaging app, telling all employees to come pick up their Mid-Autumn Festival gifts that evening.
A case of 24 cans of eel, a four-flavor mooncake gift box that Jiang Miao had previously ordered from Suixiang Bakery in the city, and a 100-yuan red envelope were given to every employee as a Mid-Autumn Festival gift.
