21: Chapter 21 Production Capacity Pressure

Chapter Twenty-One: Production Capacity Pressure

The news that GS25 was expanding to two hundred stores arrived on a cloudy afternoon.

Kim Min-ho called, his tone as unhurried as ever: "President Wang, headquarters approved it. Two hundred stores, distribution starts at the beginning of next month. Everything's okay on your end?"

Chairman Wang Shunyi gripped his phone, glanced at the gray sky outside the window, and said, "No problem."

After hanging up, he stood in the office for a while. Two hundred stores. Two months ago, he was running himself ragged for a bag or two of noodles, and now he was delivering to two hundred stores. He wouldn't have dared to imagine this six months ago.

But the joy didn't last long before problems followed.

Jun-ho pushed the door open holding a sheet of paper, his expression not looking great. "Sunyi, I just did the math. For two hundred stores, thirty bags per store per week, that's twenty-four thousand bags a month. Our current production line is at full capacity with sixty thousand bags a month. It sounds like enough, but don't forget—sixty thousand is the total for fire chicken noodles, river snail rice noodles, and self-heating pots combined. Counting fire chicken noodles alone, it's only just over thirty thousand a month."

Chairman Wang Shunyi took the sheet and looked at it; the numbers were clear: monthly capacity for fire chicken noodles was thirty-two thousand, GS25's two hundred stores needed twenty-four thousand, leaving eight thousand bags. Other channels—online stores, night markets, small convenience stores—added up to fifteen thousand a month. A gap of seven thousand bags. And that wasn't even counting inventory turnover and safety stock.

"The gap is nearly 30%." Jun-ho circled the number. "And the river snail rice noodles and self-heating pots are also seeing growth. The production line is already fully scheduled; we can't add overtime."

Chairman Wang Shunyi put the paper down, sat in his chair, and spun around once. "What about adding equipment?"

"Adding a semi-automatic line costs thirty million, plus ten more workers, which adds ten million a month in wages." Jun-ho pushed the calculator over. "We have just over twenty million in the account; it's not enough."

The office fell silent for a moment. There was the sound of someone walking in the hallway, and Lee Eun-bi was outside answering a call, her voice kept very low.

"Let's talk to Xingchen," Chairman Wang Shunyi said.

The next morning, he went to Xingchen Venture Capital's office in Gangnam District. This time, he didn't have the receptionist lead him but walked in himself. He ran into Professor Kim in the hallway; the old gentleman pushed up his glasses and nodded with a smile.

Park Jun-hyeok was already waiting in the conference room. Two glasses of water were on the table, and documents were spread out, looking as if he had reviewed the materials in advance.

"GS25 expanded to two hundred stores?" Park Jun-hyeok got straight to the point.

"Distribution starts next month. But our production capacity can't keep up. We need to add a production line, and we're short thirty million."

Park Jun-hyeok didn't rush to reply. He flipped through a few pages of the document and then closed it. "What's your current monthly capacity?"

"Just over thirty thousand for fire chicken noodles, sixty thousand in total."

"And after the expansion?"

"fire chicken noodles can reach forty-five thousand, with a total of about eighty thousand. That'll be enough for a while."

Park Jun-hyeok leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. "Additional investment is possible. But the valuation needs to be renegotiated. Your performance has improved significantly over the past six months, and you've secured the GS25 channel. The valuation can't be based on the original figures anymore."

Chairman Wang Shunyi nodded. That was the truth.

Park Jun-hyeok pulled a sheet of paper from the folder and pushed it over. "We've done a preliminary internal estimate. The company's current value is around eight hundred million. We'll add thirty million, and our stake will increase from 35% to 38.5%. Yours will drop from 65% to 61.5%. Is that acceptable?"

Chairman Wang Shunyi picked up the paper and read it twice. An eight hundred million valuation was nearly three hundred million higher than six months ago. Xingchen wasn't being too greedy, but giving up 3.5% of the shares still stung a bit.

He didn't agree immediately and put the paper down. "Let me consider it for two days."

"Alright. But GS25 won't wait, so be as quick as possible."

After leaving Xingchen, Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't go back to the office but walked the streets for a long time. People were coming and going on the sidewalks of Gangnam District—office workers in coats, young mothers pushing strollers, old ladies carrying shopping bags. He walked to the entrance of a CU convenience store and glanced at the shelves through the glass—canhe spicy chicken noodles were on the second shelf, their red packaging very eye-catching under the lights.

He stood at the entrance for a few seconds before turning and walking away.

It was nearly noon by the time he returned to the office. Jun-ho was hunched over his desk munching on a sandwich. Seeing him enter, he swallowed his food and asked, "How did it go?"

"Eight hundred million valuation, thirty million additional investment, they take 38.5%." Chairman Wang Shunyi tossed his bag onto a chair and grabbed a sandwich, tearing open the wrapper and taking a bite. It was tuna, a bit fishy.

Chewing his sandwich, Jun-ho said indistinctly, "Three and a half points for thirty million isn't a bad deal. Plus, once GS25 rolls out, our valuation can go up even further."

Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't say anything. He finished the sandwich and took a sip of water. "Alright, tell him yes."

On the day the funds arrived, Jun-ho went to the equipment factory early in the morning. He called back in the afternoon to say the deal was done: thirty million for the semi-automatic line including installation, with delivery within two weeks. At the same time, the recruitment notice was posted: ten operators, low requirements, as long as they could work the night shift.

Hearing that a new line was being added, Park Jung-hoon came out of the workshop, flour still on his face, and asked Chairman Wang Shunyi, "Who's going to oversee the new line?"

"You. Hand the old line over to an assistant."

Park Jung-hoon was silent for two seconds and nodded. Without any grand declarations, he turned and went back to the workshop.

Two weeks later, the new production line was installed and tested. On the day of the trial run, Chairman Wang Shunyi stood in the workshop, watching both lines start spinning at the same time. The conveyor belts moved side-by-side, carrying noodle cakes forward. The sound of the machines was much louder than before, a buzzing roar that made the soles of his feet go numb. Park Jung-hoon stood by the new line, eyes fixed on every step, his hand occasionally touching the edge of the conveyor belt like a veteran driver touching a steering wheel.

Once production capacity went up, logistics became the bottleneck.

Previously, with fifty stores, Kim Dong-xu could manage on his own by motorcycle. Two hundred stores were spread across all of Seoul—Gangbuk, Gangnam, Gangseo, and Gangdong. A full circuit was over two hundred kilometers, and the motorcycle would run out of battery by the third store. Kim Dong-xu sent a message to the group: "Hyung, we need to change vehicles. The motorcycle can't handle it."

Chairman Wang Shunyi had Jun-ho rent a small truck with refrigeration for eight hundred thousand a month. He also hired two drivers, one named Choi and one named Lee, both in their early forties, who had driven large trucks and had steady skills. Kim Dong-xu became the logistics team leader, managing two people and one truck. They loaded the goods at six every morning and set off at seven; it took three days to cover all two hundred stores.

On the day the first batch of goods was sent out, Chairman Wang Shunyi went along for a ride. At 6:30 AM, before the sun was fully up, the truck left the factory, going first to Jung-gu, then to Mapo, and then across the river to Yeongdeungpo. Kim Dong-xu sat in the passenger seat, giving directions with a list in hand, while Chairman Wang Shunyi sat in the back, watching the shops along the street flash past the window.

At the first GS25, Kim Dong-xu got out, opened the cargo box, and carried two boxes of fire chicken noodles inside. When he came out, he held a stack of delivery slips and waved them at Chairman Wang Shunyi.

"President Wang, the first one's done."

"Let's go, next one."

It took three days to stock all two hundred stores. On the evening of the third day, Chairman Wang Shunyi stepped out of the last store and stood at the door to light a cigarette—he rarely smoked, but he made an exception that day. In the twilight, the convenience store's sign was lit up, and people were coming and going with smiles and laughter. No one knew that this young man smoking by the roadside had just placed his own noodles on two hundred shelves.

A month later, the sales data came out.

Monthly sales of fire chicken noodles at GS25 surpassed one hundred million, more than triple the amount from the fifty-store period. Several areas were sold out. A store manager in Mapo District called Kim Dong-xu, his tone both urgent and annoyed: "Can you send more of those fire chicken noodles? They sell out as soon as they arrive! Customers ask every day, and I don't know what to tell them."

When Kim Dong-xu relayed this to Chairman Wang Shunyi, his eyes crinkled into slits from smiling.

A few days later, Kim Min-ho's call came.

"President Wang, we've looked at the data; the performance is very stable. Headquarters is considering another expansion—five hundred stores. Do you have the confidence?"

Chairman Wang Shunyi gripped his phone, but this time he wasn't too excited to speak. He looked at the two non-stop assembly lines in the workshop and said, "I do."

After hanging up, he sent a text to his mother.

"Mom, our noodles are in five hundred convenience stores."

His mother replied quickly: "Sunyi, I'm proud of you. Keep it up."

He put his phone on the desk. It was already dark outside, and he was the only one left in the office. After sitting for a while, he stood up and took a walk through the workshop. Park Jung-hoon was still there, crouching by the old line to adjust the machinery with a flashlight in his mouth. Seeing Chairman Wang Shunyi enter, he took the flashlight out and grinned.

"Chairman Wang, not leaving yet?"

"Soon."

Chairman Wang Shunyi stood in the workshop for a while. The machines hummed, and the conveyor belts continuously sent noodle cakes forward. He reached out and touched a noodle cake that had just come off the line; it was still a bit hot to the touch.