Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

February 22nd, Wednesday…

Huang Sibo brought the filming crew of Fei Huang Workspace and the representative from the Cold-Faced Lady, Zhang Yahui, to Chang'an.

China's food culture has a long history. There were many famous night market snacks all over the country. Many of them were famous throughout the country, such as Gaozhuang night market, East New Street night market, Zhang Gongqiao night market, Xisi night market, Cross Street night market, and so on.

All of these night markets gathered local cuisines. Every night, there would be a hubbub of voices. There would be the fire resulting from the stir-fry, shouts for sales, profuse sweating, and cold beer. The night market had a unique smell of smoke and human emotion.

The night market was a place where delicacies gathered. It was also a good place to set up stalls.

The first filming location that the production team chose was Chang'an's East New Street Night Market.

The night market here started in the 1980s. Most of the stalls and restaurants were located in the eastern section of East New Street. The three most famous gourmet restaurants were the Wang Family's Bucket Chicken, Zheng Family's Steamed Bun, and Old Chen's stewed vegetables.

Huang Sibo had already done his homework on these contents before he arrived.

Zhu Xiaoce might be the director and should lead a team but he had more important work to do: supervise the editing and post-production of Mission and Choice.

Zhu Xiaoce was the director of Mission and Choice after. There were many problems that needed his decision at the final stages.

Thus, Huang Sibo had brought his team over to film this time. He had chosen another new director in the company, and this was a good opportunity to train the newbie.

It was still early when they arrived at the hotel. Everyone checked in and gathered at the resting area of the hotel. They planned to discuss how to shoot the publicity video.

They had decided to film the night market but the content of the night market was too broad. There had to be a clear theme for what to film.

On the other hand, Huang Sibo and the entire team knew nothing about this. It would depend on the representative of the Cold-Faced Lady, Zhang Yahui on whether they would film it.

However, what confused Huang Sibo was the only one that came from Cold-Faced Lady was Zhang Yahui. What's more, Zhang Yahui did not seem to know much about the Cold-Faced Lady's business. He was just a vendor who had joined the Cold-Faced Lady.

Huang Sibo specially called the person-in-charge of the Cold-Faced Lady, Qi Yan, to ask. Qi Yan said that it was alright. She had already told Zhang Yahui all her thoughts. Both of them had the same opinion. She was still in charge of the daily operations of the shop and the planning of the Gourmet Laboratory so he would not go over. She asked that Huang Sibo discuss everything with Zhang Yahui and to call her again if they really could not make up their minds.

Huang Sibo pondered for a moment. That made sense. Given the cold-faced lady's half-dead appearance, Zhang Yahui could either make the final decision or let the management of the cold-faced lady make the decision. The outcome would probably not be much different.

Everyone looked at Zhang Yahui, waiting for him to tell them how to shoot the publicity video.

Zhang Yahui had never interacted with such a professional filming team before. He was a little nervous now that he had become the focus of everyone's attention.

He adjusted his emotions and then said, "Actually, Boss Qi doesn't have any special purpose for filming this publicity video. The main purpose is to record the daily lives of the vendors and show the netizens the hardships and life of setting up stalls. Of course, we can also promote traditional local delicacies in China and also emphasize on local delicacies that have innovated in tradition…"

"The reason why we want to make a film about street stalls is mainly because the Cold-Faced Lady had a Street Food Contest previously. Boss Pei approved of this very much. Boss Qi thinks that digging deeper into street food might be a direction for the Cold-Faced Lady's future development."

"What's more, Cold-Faced Lady's brand image and main cuisine are closely related to the stalls."

Huang Sibo was still confused. "I understand the general meaning, but the content is too complicated. There is no emphasis."

"Are we mainly filming delicacies or the daily lives of the vendors? The former would be a regular food promotional video, while the latter would be more inclined towards a documentary."

Zhang Yahui was stunned. "Er… I can't say for sure. Brother Huang, what do you think?"

Huang Sibo was a little speechless. He thought to himself, You guys were the ones who wanted to film this but you don't even have a clear idea, and are asking me?

However, on further thought, Cold-Faced Lady had just joined Tengda not long ago after all. This Zhang Yahui was only a stall owner previously and had not been influenced by the Tengda spirit. It was normal for him not to understand these questions.

Under such circumstances, a veteran from Tengda like him would have to guide them!

Thus, he patted his chest and said, "Alright, I'll tell you my opinion from Boss Pei's perspective."

"At the end of the day, we still have to publicize the Cold-Faced Lady. At the very least, we have to give the impression that the Cold-Faced Lady is very concerned about traditional delicacies and local gourmet heritage through the 'publicity film'."

"Therefore, my suggestion is that we pick a city, choose a local specialty, and tell a vendor's personal story for each episode to achieve the effect of 'imagining the big from the small'."

"In the past, many food promotional videos used delicacies as the core. For example, how precious the raw materials of such delicacies were, how complicated the production process was, how dedicated the boss was, and so on."

"However, if we expand the scope to the entire 'street stall', this perspective would undoubtedly be a little one-sided."

"We all know that street stalls are actually hard work. Many street vendors have a difficult life."

"Therefore, the structure of our film is roughly divided into three parts: the first part. Introduce the city and night market that we are going to shoot this episode. Introduce a few very famous local delicacies in the night market. Then, expand and make a summary of the entire region's food culture, giving the audience a very open perspective."

"The second part is to focus on a certain vendor in the night market and introduce his mental journey in detail. For example, how did this vendor walk the path of a vendor? Did anything sad or touching happen during his stall life? It would allow everyone to see the inner world of these vendors better."

"The third part, after introducing the vendor's mental journey in detail, introduces his exclusive cuisine. This way, the audience would have a certain impression of this vendor, and it would be easier to resonate."

"What does everyone think?"

Zhang Yahui immediately nodded. "Yes, I think that's good!"

"However, there might be a small problem this way. All the attention would be focused on the night market, vendors, and delicacies. They would not pay too much attention to Cold-Faced Lady's brand."

"I suddenly thought of a very important factor."

"The Cold-Faced Lady will set up a Gourmet Laboratory and work hard to recruit all the outstanding food vendors in the country. Of course, many vendors will find it difficult to leave their hometown. We will buy the recipe of Gourmet from him at a high price and train specialists to learn it. We will try to recreate this original local flavor."

"Once the content is added, the focus of the publicity would no longer be on a night market in a city or a certain vendor, but on the Cold-Faced Lady!"

Huang Sibo nodded immediately. "Indeed."

"Since it's a publicity video, our ultimate goal is to promote the Cold-Faced Lady."

"However, this matter should not be said too bluntly. It would easily arouse the disgust of others."

"I think we can add a cold-faced lady's logo and a line of words at the end of the film."

Zhang Yahui nodded. "Yes, sure. I'll listen to you, Brother Huang. I'm a vendor myself. If you have any questions in this area, you can ask me anytime."

Huang Sibo said, "Yes, I have questions for you now. Let's have a simple exchange first. We'll brainstorm and then we'll start planning how to shoot it."

"Actually, I understand the glamorous parts better. The main thing I want to ask is, how bad can the more dismal side be?"

Zhang Yahui smiled in embarrassment. "That… is a long story."

…

According to the statistics, six hundred million people in China earned less than 1,000 yuan a month. The economy might be developing rapidly, causing various high-income groups to emerge, many people were still worrying about their livelihoods.

Zhang Yahui knew many vendors who were forced to set up stalls to make a living.

They did not like to set up stalls but they had no choice but to treat it as a means to earn a living.

There were vendors who did all sorts of things. There were people who put film on their cell phones, people who booked newspaper booths to sell magazines, people who sold umbrellas at bus stops, shopping malls, and subway entrances, and people who made chicken chops or other snacks…

Of course, there were also people like Zhang Yahui who sold roasted cold noodles.

Their hearts ached while they were setting up the stall.

For example, setting up a stall in a popular place and getting messed up by hooligans. He had no choice but to swallow his anger and obediently 'pay his tributes';

Or renting a popular store but the landlord chased him away with the notice of demolition in the end. He only found out that the landlord had changed hands and increased the rent.

He wanted to open a small restaurant to make food and beverages. First, he had gone through so much trouble to apply for a business license. Then, he had been reprimanded for making changes because of a complaint. His business had been dismal…

Most vendors would sleep later than dogs and wake up earlier than chickens as long as they walked this path. They would not rest for the entire year. However, most of them could only barely maintain their livelihood and struggle on the food line.

Many people sympathized with the vendors, but that was on the premise that they did not start their stalls at their doorsteps.

The stalls of these vendors were either in unsafe places (placed at a crossroad or on the main road) or unhygienic (the raw materials were difficult to guarantee and the leftover garbage contaminated the road). They also posed many difficulties in managing the city.

Zhang Yahui had set up his stall after graduating from high school. He was still very young but he had actually set up his stall for seven to eight years. The location of his stall had also been changed many times. Naturally, he was very confident about it.

Fei Huang Workspace's filming team listened and recorded as they began to plan the filming plan for the promotional video based on Zhang Yahui's description.