Roland pondered for a while before he remembered that the Joint Chamber of Commerce was a cooperative supply and marketing organization under his leadership. Its main members were businessmen from several large islands in the Fjords.
Although they had reached a basic consensus during the negotiations last autumn, the Chaos Drinks produced by Evelyn were still far from being able to be sold in bulk at that time. Therefore, the Chambers of Commerce only brought back a few bottles of samples and had not officially started selling them. This time, they should be here for this matter.
Because of the winter offensive and the desert action plan, and the entire Western Region was preparing for the unification of the kingdom, he had temporarily forgotten about the Joint Chamber of Commerce. Now that they had taken the initiative to come to him, it saved him a lot of effort.
"Show them to the reception hall. I'll be there soon," Roland ordered. After Barov left, he turned to Nightingale and said, "Go and inform Tilly and Vendy to come to the castle. After all, this is the first business cooperation between the Witch Union and Sleeping Island."
As soon as he walked into the reception hall, several businessmen immediately stood up and bowed to him.
In addition to his old acquaintances Margaery, Gammon and Marlan from the Crescent Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce, Roland recalled the names of the others. They were Nibelung from the Shallow Water City Chamber of Commerce and Atiyer from the Sunset Island Chamber of Commerce.
As soon as they sat down, Nibelung said eagerly, "Your Majesty, the samples we brought back last time caused a great sensation among the merchants on the island. Everyone who tasted it praised its novel taste. I bet that as soon as it starts selling, Chaos Drinks will become the most successful product in the history of the Fjords! "
"And it's not just a drink," Atiyer echoed. "For example, that bottle of fiery red spicy juice. Although it doesn't quench your thirst, it's particularly delicious when poured on steamed fish or barbecued meat. At the same time, it can also be used to drive away the cold and refresh the mind. The effect is even more effective than your white wine. At least the latter makes you dizzy and can't be enjoyed while sailing, but the former doesn't have this problem at all!"
"Indeed," Margaery nodded with a smile. "Not only those merchants, but also many explorers have noticed Chaos Drinks. After all, a drink that can drive away the cold and keep warm without any side effects might be able to save their lives during a shipwreck. "
"Therefore, I suggest that different Chaos Drinks be priced differently," Atiyeh continued. "Products with special effects like this can be sold at a higher price with a little promotion. Moreover, they are less than one bottle after another."
He was obviously using it as an energy drink. Roland glanced at him approvingly. Sure enough, businessmen who were successful in the Fjords all had good marketing foresight. Through a small number of samples, they realized that this was actually a general category of various products with obvious differences. For such goods, pricing them according to their characteristics was the best way to squeeze out their value.
"Since the response is so good, we can proceed with the next step of the sales according to the contract we signed earlier." Roland clapped his hands and said, "Whether it's the order amount or the distribution ratio, you should have no objections. However, you need to pay 30% of the payment in advance. You should have brought enough Golden Dragon, right? "
Since the main terms of the Joint Chamber of Commerce had been negotiated before the New Year, there were not too many details that needed to be discussed in detail. The main purpose of inviting Tilly here was to witness the result and show that he did not tamper with the distribution amount. After all, she not only promised to stay in Neverwinter in the future, but also promised to move the witches of Sleeping Island to the Western Region in batches. He had to show his sincerity.
According to the "win-win bet" during the Months of Demons, 30% of the advance payment and the final sales amount would belong to the reward fund, which would be shared by City Hall, the Witch Union, and Sleeping Spell.
"Of course, Your Majesty." Nibelung grinned. "This time, my ship didn't even have a box of goods. Apart from the craftsmen and sailors, the rest are all shiny yellow coins."
"Then let's go and check the goods now," Roland said with a smile.
...
The beverage factory specially built for Evelyn was located opposite the alcohol factory. However, it was more like a well-guarded warehouse than a factory.
It did not cover a large area. The first floor was only about 100 square meters. It was made of brick and concrete and had no windows on all sides. The only entrance and exit was a thick iron gate, which was guarded by the recruits of the First Army. It looked like a military important place.
Roland led the merchants through the courtyard gate and into the bungalow. They went down the stairs into the basement, where their field of vision suddenly widened. The area underground was about three or four times larger than that above ground. Rows of neatly arranged wooden shelves made it look like a manor wine cellar. In order to avoid irreparable damage caused by fire, neither open flames nor electric wires were allowed here. Instead, they used a patio to provide illumination, so it was still a little dim.
Two layers of round wooden barrels were placed horizontally on each row of wooden shelves. Of course, not every barrel contained Chaos Drinks. Evelyn could only produce one barrel of Chaos Drinks a day. So far, she had only produced a little more than 100 barrels — in addition to those that Roland had monopolized and those that were distributed to the members of the Witch Union every month.
Roland knocked on the barrel, and a dull sound came from inside. "This place can provide 20 barrels of Chaos Drinks a month. On average, each Chamber of Commerce can produce five barrels. No matter how long you sell them out, as long as the output doesn't change, the number will be the same. So it doesn't matter whether you come once every three months or once every six months. This time, you can take away a total of 100 barrels of Chaos Drinks. They're all on the first row of wooden shelves. If there's no problem with the inspection, I'll send someone to transport them to the dock area. "
"Don't you want us to taste it?" Gammon asked in surprise.
"It's not wine. The longer it is kept, the more mellow it tastes." Roland shrugged. "Some Chaos Drinks can be stored for a long time, but it doesn't mean that all of them are like this. So after brewing, the first thing to do is to sterilize and seal it."
"Kill... sterilize?"
"They spoil like food. The hotter the weather, the faster they spoil. Sterilization can prevent this process. As for how it's done, you don't need to know. You just need to know that once the barrel is opened, the drinks inside won't be able to maintain their best taste." He spread out his hands. "You can choose to sell them as soon as possible or store them again. As long as you put them in a cool place, they'll be fine for a month or two."
"But... as Atiyer said, every batch of Chaos Drinks is different. There will always be some that are better than others. How are we going to choose?" Gammon asked hesitantly. "Can you order someone to divide each barrel into four equal parts and seal it? Then we won't have to worry about which barrel to choose. "
"That way, Soroya and Lily's task will be several times more." Roland thought to himself, "For this kind of thing that takes up industrial production resources and brings no obvious benefits to myself, it's naturally better to make it as simple as possible. "Sterile sealing is not an easy thing to do. And after dividing them into four equal parts, each chamber of commerce will have a small and complicated stock, which is not good for the sales. As for the taste... "He paused." Just in Graycastle, the demand for drinks in the Northern Region and the Western Region is completely different. The taste that is not popular here may be very popular in another city. As you often transport goods, you should be very clear about this. "
"Uh, this..." Gammon was speechless.
"It's impossible to let you taste the taste first. Otherwise, it would be troublesome enough to distribute and coordinate the supply. Moreover, the contract is based on barrels, and there is no mandatory purchase quantity. If there is a temporary lack of taste and no one asks for it, Neverwinter will suffer a loss." Roland secretly curled his lips. After all, for Evelyn, the magic power paid for each barrel was the same.
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