Rebirth in 1980, the rise of the golden age

Can an ice cream factory make money?

The answer is definitely to make money.

But there are also many constraints.

The most important of these is the problem of cold chain transportation, which cannot be solved in the short term.

It’s okay in winter, but once summer comes, without special cold chain vehicles for transportation, the ice cream produced cannot be transported far.

If this problem is not solved, it will be difficult for the ice cream factory to develop.

Not to mention selling products to other cities, it is almost impossible to even leave Teng County.

This is why it is difficult for people in one city to eat ice cream produced by cold drink factories in other cities.

"Building a factory is not cost-effective. The refrigeration equipment alone costs a lot of money. The investment is too high and the profit is too small."

"I'm not planning on opening an ice cream factory."

Li Youcai directly rejected Li Youjie's proposal.

"You said you wanted to sell ice cream. How are we going to do that? We can just make it at home. Let's not talk about how much we can make. Who will sell it?" Li Youjie was a little confused.

Li Youjie had seen people selling candied haws in the alley with a straw stick on their shoulders before.

But how much money can he make from selling ice cream at one cent a stick in a day?

Li Youjie, who had seen Li Youcai earn thousands of yuan a day, simply looked down on the business of making a few yuan a day.

Li Youcai understood that what his brother said made sense.

Without production equipment or refrigerators, they can't make much ice cream by hand.

There is no way to even mention the output, let alone making money.

If they want to increase production, they need more people to help them make ice cream.

The first person Li Youcai thought of was the members of the brigade.

Aren’t all of them ready-made labor? As long as he teaches everyone the method of making ice cream and lets every household help him process the ice cream, the problem of production can be solved.

As for sales, Li Youcai thought of doing direct wholesale.

“Just because we don’t build a factory doesn’t mean we can’t sell ice cream.”

"I have an idea."

"Let's buy some lunch boxes to use as molds, and then buy the raw materials for making ice cream. Then we'll build a few temporary stoves in the old factory building, put up big pots, and make ice cream right there."

"During the day, we set up a stall in front of the factory and sell the goods wholesale, packing them in plastic bags and selling them for one yuan per kilogram."

"There's no commission, and it doesn't require too much cost. Just give enough quantity and you won't have to worry about not being able to sell it."

"If we don't have enough manpower, we can find a few people in the team who can cook and pay them."

Li Youcai expressed his thoughts.

"Hire someone? Wouldn't that make you a capitalist? That won't do." Li Youjie's heart started beating fast when he heard that Li Youcai wanted to hire someone.

"Who says hiring people makes you a capitalist? The government has regulations that as long as you don't have more than eight people, you're not a capitalist. At most, you're just hiring helpers, and the government allows it."

The capital line is 8 people, but this has been clearly documented.

"Really?"

"Really." Li Youcai was very sure.

As long as you are not considered a capitalist, you can do this.

Li Youjie also felt at ease.

It's easy to find a few people to help.

Since the freezing weather began, the members of the cooperative could no longer catch frogs and crayfish, and their income was cut off again.

They all returned to hibernation again.

As long as they are paid, a lot of people will rush to do it.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to the county town to buy lunch boxes and ingredients for making ice cream, and then bring them back to experiment."

"Okay, I'll pull the cart and go with you tomorrow." Li Youjie was eager to go together.

After Li Youjie left.

Chu Xinyan wiped every corner of the house with linen.

The doctor said Duoduo needs to live in a clean and hygienic environment, and Chu Xinyan has been thinking about it.

After sweeping the floor, Li Youcai wet the bumpy ground with clean water to prevent dust from rising.

"I'll buy some alcohol tomorrow and disinfect the house thoroughly."

"Hold on a little longer, and we'll build a new house in the spring. We'll pave the floor with cement, replace all the furniture, and keep the house spotless."

Following the doctor's instructions, Duoduo took the medicine.

On the second day.

Li Youjie pulled a cart and came to the county town with Li Youcai.

In the supply and marketing cooperative.

An aluminum lunch box costs one yuan and fifty cents each.

Li Youcai bought one hundred.

It was packed with ropes and placed on a cart.

A bag of 2 jin (approximately 8 pounds) of Dragon brand milk powder costs 10 yuan, and Li Youcai bought bags.

Fresh milk costs 2 yuan per pound, and Li Youcai ordered 6 pounds. In order to buy fresh milk, Li Youcai also specially bought two new iron buckets.

I ordered 10 pounds of bulk corn starch.

40 kilograms of white sugar.

Five large plastic bags.

With these things, the two brothers returned home.

"Youjie, please wash out some of these lunch boxes first. I want to try to make some more." After returning home, Li Youcai arranged the purchased materials one by one.

"Okay, I'll do it now."

Li Youjie untied the rope net, and the full aluminum lunch boxes suddenly piled up like a small mountain.

Chu Xinyan didn't let Duoduo go down to the field to prevent the little one from causing trouble.

I went to the kitchen and asked, "Do you need me to do anything?"

Li Youcai thought for a moment, then said, "Please weigh the sugar for me. Weigh out the sugar in half-jin (approximately 100g) pieces, and the flour in half-jin (approximately 100g) pieces. Put them in a separate pile."

"Okay, I can do this." Chu Xinyan was very happy to be able to help.

There was a portable scale at home. Chu Xinyan followed Li Youcai's instructions, took out the scale and started weighing the sugar and corn starch she had bought.

Li Youcai lit a fire and started making ice cream.

This time I am not making it for eating, but to find the best taste and calculate the production cost.

If you add too much milk, it will be too greasy, but if you add too little, the milky flavor will not be enough.

The same goes for sugar: too much is too choking, too little is not sweet.

Finding a balance between taste and cost is not an easy task.

Li Youcai tried again and again.

Every time you make a box of ice cream, calculate the cost of the ingredients for that box.

Li Youcai produced more than twenty boxes in a row.

After freezing.

The two brothers took spoons and tasted the ice cream one by one.

“This milk tastes weak.”

“This isn’t very sweet.”

“This is so sweet.”

······

"This box is good. I think it's very good. You can try it too."

Li Youcai took the ice cream that he thought was most suitable and asked Li Youjie and Chu Xinyan to try it as well.

Chu Xinyan scooped a small piece with a spoon, put it in her mouth, and then nodded: "Well, I think this is delicious, sweet and fragrant."

Li Youjie also tasted it. It was rich in milk flavor, sweet but not greasy, and had no ice chips.

It feels pretty good too.

“I think this is good, too.”

Seeing that both of them agreed, Li Youcai continued, "I calculated the cost of this box to be 5 cents, and I plan to sell it for one yuan."

After tasting more than 20 boxes of ice cream, I finally decided on a more suitable ratio.

According to the final production ratio, the cost of making a box of ice cream is about 5 cents per lunch box.

However, the overall quality of the ice cream is much better than that sold in the supply and marketing cooperatives.

And in terms of quantity, this lunch box contains more than 10 ice cream sticks.

Li You feels that the price of one yuan is still very competitive.

"We can make 5 cents from selling a box. If we hire more people to help us, we can make at least a few hundred boxes a day. This business is good, brother!" Li Youjie counted on his fingers.