By-Products

September began.

Hai Lu Feng Company sold Glass Eel in large quantities to surrounding areas, and all 7.6 million Glass Eel were sold out in less than a month.

The average price per Glass Eel was around 2.65 yuan, bringing in a total of 20.14 million yuan.

That first wave of returned capital covered the previous investment costs.

Going forward, 7.6 million Glass Eel would be produced every two months on average, meaning the Eel Farm would generate around 10 million yuan in revenue for the company every month.

At the same time.

Over at the Eel Cannery, the 5,000 female eels that had spawned were all slaughtered, processed, and frozen in August.

In fact, the meat from 5,000 processed eels amounted to only around seven tons.

The Eel Canned Food specifications customized by Hai Lu Feng Eel Cannery had a net weight of 150 grams, with no less than 65% solid content. That meant 100 grams of eel meat per can, and seven tons of eel meat could produce 70,000 cans of Eel Canned Food.

At that production line's efficiency, 70,000 cans of Eel Canned Food amounted to just half a month's output.

However, once the Eel Farm expanded later on, the cannery would also be running at full capacity.

Jiang Miao did not get carried away. He planned to continue expanding production and increase the Eel Farm to 200 mu.

Meanwhile, Li Xinhua, the management manager recently recruited for the Canned Food Factory, was in the middle of a headache.

The fourth floor of the Canned Food Factory was the R&D area.

Manager Li, food engineer Huang Jianye, Aunt Li from the company kitchen, and several assisting employees were experimenting with Braised Eel.

More than a dozen eel dishes were already laid out across the stainless-steel square table.

Those eel dishes had not been made by Aunt Li. They had been bought and packed from various food stalls in the city.

"This one tastes the best. Which place made it?" Li Xinhua glanced at the label, which read: A Xiong Farmhouse, Nanfen Village, Pu Bian Town.

Huang Jianye took out his phone and pulled up a video. "I filmed their kitchen before. There's footage of them cooking eel."

Everyone watched for a while before turning to Aunt Li.

"I'll give it a try and see whether I can make it."

The morning passed as they cooked Braised Eel, adjusted the ingredients, and tested the flavor.

It was already past eight in the evening.

The recipe after its twenty-third adjustment.

After rinsing his mouth, Li Xinhua picked up a piece with his chopsticks and put the eel meat coated in brownish-yellow sauce into his mouth. He savored it carefully for a while. "This time, the flavor is virtually identical."

After rinsing their mouths, the others also began tasting it.

"Mm, it really is almost identical. You can barely tell the difference."

A bald middle-aged employee set down his chopsticks. "There's still a slight difference. That food stall uses live wild eel, while we use frozen eel. But what's strange is that our eel doesn't seem to have much of a muddy, fishy taste. Did any of you notice any geosmin?"

Aunt Li shook her head. "No. I'm usually rather sensitive to geosmin. The eel from that food stall really does have a slight muddy, fishy taste. If it weren't covered in sauce, or if it were eaten cold, the taste would probably be very obvious."

What they did not know was that although the culled female eels from the Eel Farm had been frozen, they had been raised in the breeding pools for more than a month. Combined with the feed specially formulated by Jiang Miao, most of the Geosmin in their bodies had been depleted.

As a result, the muddy, fishy taste of those culled female eels had been reduced to an extremely low level. With the sauce masking it, even people highly sensitive to geosmin would find it difficult to notice.

Li Xinhua thought for a moment. "Let's run an experiment. Keep some warm, let some cool down, and freeze some before reheating them in a microwave. We'll also test several eel dishes from food stalls and compare the results."

"Sounds good."

Two hours later.

They compared the eel under three conditions: kept warm, cooled to room temperature, and frozen then reheated. They ran the same tests on five eel dishes from food stalls as well.

After the comparison, they noticed a clear difference.

Li Xinhua summarized, "The food stall eel is only suitable for eating hot. Once it cools down, the muddy, fishy taste becomes obvious. Our factory's eel, on the other hand, has no obvious muddy, fishy taste whether it's hot or cold."

"Manager, are you planning to use Formula No. 23?" Huang Jianye asked.

"Yes, we'll use this formula. But tomorrow, we need to try it in a large pot and see whether the flavor changes."

Huang Jianye suggested, "If that's the case, I'll prepare the ingredient list design as soon as possible."

"Alright."

Less than five days later, on September 15.

Before Mid-Autumn Festival, Li Xinhua arrived at the company carrying a large box of Eel Canned Food.

Jiang Miao happened to be eating in the cafeteria.

When he saw Li Xinhua carrying the large box, he had already guessed what it was. "Manager Li, the canned food has been developed?"

"Yes. I've conducted three trial production batches over the past few days. This was produced just today. Please have a taste, Chairman." As he spoke, Li Xinhua took a yellow can from the cardboard box.

Jiang Miao accepted the can and looked over the design. It was decent.

The can's surface had a lemon-yellow finish. Instead of bare tinplate, it featured lemon-yellow paint, the Hai Lu Feng Canned Food Factory logo, and the product name. The sides also had lemon-yellow paint, along with printed ingredient information, nutritional facts, the production date, and so on.

When he turned it over, the bottom had a pull-tab lid.

He slipped a finger through the pull tab, bent it, and pulled. The lid came open.

Inside the can was brownish-yellow sauce, large chunks of eel meat, and boiled Peanuts used as a side dish.

He picked up a large piece of fish with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth.

"Not bad. There really isn't any obvious muddy, fishy taste. Mom, give it a try."

Jiang Miao handed the can to his mother beside him.

His mother picked up a piece and tasted it, then nodded as well. "The flavor is a bit like that food stall in Nanfen."

"Madam, we imitated that food stall," Li Xinhua explained with a smile.

Jiang Miao immediately instructed, "Produce it according to this formula."

"Chairman, how much should we price each can?"

"Just keep it similar to the market price."

"In that case, I suggest a wholesale price of 12 yuan per can and a recommended retail price of 15 yuan."

"Fine." Jiang Miao nodded.

In truth, he did not care much about the Canned Food Factory's business. Canned food was destined to be a low-margin industry.

The cost of an eel can was not low. The eel meat alone cost 3 yuan, the Tinplate Canned Food container cost 0.8 yuan, packaging and printing cost 0.5 yuan, and ingredients cost 0.8 yuan. Those costs already added up to 5.1 yuan.

Then there were labor, premises, equipment depreciation, water, electricity, gas, transportation, and taxes.

The profit on each can was only around one to two yuan.

Seven tons of eel meat could produce 70,000 cans of Eel Canned Food. Even if they all sold, the profit would only be 70,000 yuan.

If the Eel Farm had not been continuously producing culled female eels, and if those culled female eels had not been difficult to sell directly, he would not have bothered setting up a Canned Food Factory.

Jiang Miao then thought of something else. "Oh, right, Manager Li. I'll have purchasing directly buy a batch and distribute them to all employees as Mid-Autumn gifts. One case per person."

"Sure. The three trial-production batches only have some appearance and printing issues anyway, so this is a good way to use them internally." Li Xinhua nodded.

That afternoon, the Canned Food Factory delivered dozens of cases of Eel Canned Food to headquarters.

Jiang Miao posted a notice in WeCom telling all employees to come collect their Mid-Autumn gifts that evening.

Each employee received one case of twenty-four cans of Eel Canned Food, a four-flavor mooncake gift box Jiang Miao had previously ordered from Sui Xiang Pastry in the city, and a 100-yuan red envelope as their Mid-Autumn gift.