HLM -Chapter 815 In Sunset Town, It Works!

Hou Wenyuan and his wife had come to talk to him about buying a house. They wanted to purchase a small building in the town center, renovate it, and open another Haidilao branch.

“Of course, if we could buy a piece of land and build our own structure, that would be even better,” Hou Wenyuan added at the end.

Wang Bo shook his head. “Selling land is out of the question. How about this — I can choose a plot for you and have a building constructed according to your requirements. What do you think?”

The land in Sunset Town was his lifeline. It wasn’t about the money — the land was tied to the Heart of the Lord. Who knew what kind of consequences might occur if he sold it?

He wasn’t going to take that risk!

Hou Wenyuan still preferred to buy a piece of land. Clearly, he shared that deeply rooted Chinese sentiment toward land ownership. He tried to persuade Wang Bo: “Really, if you’re willing to sell, we can pay above the market price.”

He had a good eye for business. After studying the speed of Sunset Town’s development and its current situation, he keenly sensed the commercial potential hidden within the town.

Wang Bo’s own business acumen was no worse — he saw an opportunity in Haidilao as well.

Due to New Zealand’s eating habits, some of Haidilao’s signature products couldn’t even be served there — things like duck intestines, goose intestines, duck blood, beef tripe, lamb stomach, or pork maw. None of those could be put on the dining table.

However, Sunset Town had large stocks of such ingredients. The offal from slaughtered cattle and sheep had been cleaned and stored in the cold storage facility Wang Bo rented in Auckland. If these could be sold to Haidilao, it would make for a tidy profit.

Wang Bo was fully aware of this, so as the conversation went on, he began subtly promoting the idea.

“To be honest,” he said, “I welcome Haidilao coming to Sunset Town. First, it’ll enrich the town’s dining scene, and second, it’ll promote Chinese cuisine. But I’m not too optimistic about its prospects. I just hope you’re making this investment with a calm and rational mindset.”

He wasn’t exaggerating — Haidilao and other Chinese restaurant chains hadn’t been doing too well in New Zealand. Perhaps Chinese food had novelty appeal, but the prices were simply too high.

Having lived in New Zealand for a long time, Wang Bo understood the local cost of living well. New Zealanders didn’t dine out often. Even when they did, they preferred fast-food places. An average meal cost around 20 NZD per person.

Like in Europe and America, fast-food chains were everywhere across New Zealand — McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, and the like. A burger or sandwich with a Coke cost less than 10 NZD.

And New Zealanders loved buffets. With abundant grains and produce, local buffets were cheap. A lunch buffet could cost as little as 10 NZD per person.

Dinner and weekend buffets were pricier, around 20 NZD per person, but they often included lavish seafood like lobsters and crabs.

By contrast, Chinese restaurant chains like Haidilao charged premium prices. According to professional restaurant media outlets Wang Bo sometimes read, Haidilao’s average spending per customer in New Zealand was between 80 and 100 NZD.

Frankly speaking, New Zealanders were unwilling to pay that much for a “foreign” hotpot meal. In China, Haidilao’s per-person cost was about the same — around 100 RMB — but there, dining out was a major part of household spending.

New Zealand families were different. For them, food was a basic necessity, not an indulgence. Their main expenses went toward travel and shopping.

Sure, there were high-end restaurants in New Zealand — like Sprays in Sunset Town, where a meal could cost over 200 NZD per person.

But Sprays offered something unique — rare, high-quality beef and lamb dishes not found elsewhere, rich in both taste and nutrition.

In other restaurants, even if you spent 100 NZD per person, you’d be getting organic vegetables, premium imported meats, and top-quality seafood.

Haidilao, on the other hand, used ingredients sourced from the local market. New Zealanders weren’t fools — why would they spend so much on ordinary ingredients?

After listening, Hou Wenyuan said, “I understand. But you should know, Haidilao is built on its superior service. New Zealanders care about service quality, and ours is the best.”

Wang Bo nodded. “You’re right. But you should also know that Sunset Town is full of tourists — many of them from Asia. I doubt they’d have much interest in your hotpot.”

At that point, he realized he was meddling too much. They wanted to invest — clearly, they saw potential in Sunset Town’s business environment. Who was he to lecture them?

So he quickly added, “I might sound a bit pessimistic — that’s only because our town hasn’t had a single Chinese restaurant yet. I’d love to see a strong brand establish itself here, so I’m probably overthinking.”

Hou Wenyuan was a pleasant man. He smiled kindly. “I understand. And thank you for your advice. It’s true — our brand’s expansion in New Zealand has hit a bottleneck.”

In China, Haidilao’s service was legendary. But in New Zealand, it didn’t translate well.

Their value-added services — like polishing shoes or giving manicures to customers waiting at the door, providing free snacks, offering phone sleeves and lens wipes at the table, and even putting on noodle-tossing performances — were all popular back home.

However, New Zealand had strict restaurant health regulations, enforced by an extremely rigid health department. If any sanitation issue was found in a restaurant, it was immediately investigated and fined.

Offering shoe polishing and manicures in a dining environment was considered unsanitary. Those services were banned, and that’s part of why customers found Haidilao’s reputation exaggerated and inconsistent with reality.

After a long discussion, Hou Wenyuan looked at Wang Bo. “Mayor Wang, do you have any clever ideas? I’d like to open a hotpot restaurant here in Sunset Town that earns great reviews. I also noticed there isn’t a single hotpot place in town — don’t you think we have a chance to make a big splash?”

Wang Bo looked at him and said, “If you want to make a name for yourselves, I suggest lowering your prices…”

Hou Wenyuan shook his head. “Sorry, that’s not possible. We’re a franchise. There are certain policies from headquarters we have to follow — pricing is not within our control.”

Wang Bo replied, “Then you’ll have to choose different ingredients — ones that can justify those prices. For instance, the meat from our Sunset Ranch.”

Hou Wenyuan was familiar with the ranch’s reputation. He and his wife nodded. “We’ll try using Sunset Ranch’s meat products. That’s one of the reasons we chose this location.”

Wang Bo added, “Not just meat — you can also serve duck intestines, beef tripe, and other such ingredients.”

Hou Wenyuan hesitated and shook his head. “That might not be possible.”

Wang Bo interrupted him. “It’s not possible elsewhere, sure. But here in Sunset Town — I make the rules!”