31: Chapter 31 New Year's Planning

Chapter 31: New Year's Plan

On the last day of the New Year's holiday, Chairman Wang Shunyi couldn't stay at home, so he wandered into the office in the afternoon.

The streets were still cold; most of the shops in Hongdae were closed, with only convenience stores and cafes keeping their lights on.

He pushed open the office door; it was pitch black inside, quiet enough to hear the sound of water flowing through the heating pipes.

He turned on the lights, walked to his desk, sat down, and stared blankly for a while.

He hadn't been idle during the holiday.

On New Year's Eve, he had a video call with his mother. She asked how the business was going, and he said it was going well. His mother smiled and said, "Your dad is listening right here; he says you should take care of your health."

He gave a hum of acknowledgement and didn't say anything more.

After hanging up, he sat alone on the sofa. The year-end music festival was playing on TV, very lively, but he didn't take any of it in.

From the first to the third day of the Lunar New Year, he went over last year's data again and again.

Six billion in sales, 1.2 billion in net profit, twenty employees, eight products.

The numbers looked good, but he knew clearly in his heart that this was just the beginning.

If he slacked off this year, by this time next year, he might not even reach half of that.

He took his notebook out of his backpack, turned to a blank page, and began to write this year's plan.

He wrote and crossed things out, wrote and crossed things out again, working until dark when the streetlights outside turned on, before he finally stopped.

The notebook was filled with scattered notes that looked like a draft, but his mind was much clearer now.

On Monday morning, he arrived at eight o'clock.

There was no one in the office yet. The coffee machine at the front desk made a humming sound as it preheated. He poured himself an Americano, brought it to his desk, opened his computer, and organized the notes he had written during the holiday into a proper plan.

After nine o'clock, Zhang Junhao pushed the door open, carrying a thermos in his hand, wearing a black down jacket with a scarf wrapped tightly around him.

He saw Chairman Wang Shunyi and paused in surprise.

"President, why are you here so early today? Didn't you want to sleep in during the holiday?"

"I couldn't sleep. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year." Zhang Junhao unwrapped his scarf, hung it on the coat rack, walked to his desk, and sat down. "What are you working on?"

"This year's plan." Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't even look up. "Take a look."

He handed the organized pages to Zhang Junhao.

Zhang Junhao took them, leaned back in his chair, and flipped through them page by page.

When he reached the second page, he frowned slightly, but said nothing and continued reading.

Park Min-ji arrived at nine-thirty.

She was wearing a beige coat, her hair tied up, and light makeup on; she looked very energetic.

After entering, she greeted Zhang Junhao first, then walked over to Chairman Wang Shunyi and glanced at his computer screen.

"Working on the plan?"

"Yeah. Take a look at this too." He handed another printed copy to her.

Park Min-ji didn't sit down; she stood there flipping through the pages and suddenly said, "Overseas markets?"

"Yes." Chairman Wang Shunyi looked up. "Starting with cross-border e-commerce. China, Southeast Asia, testing the waters first."

She looked at him, didn't ask anything else, took the plan, sat next to Zhang Junhao, and the two of them started reading together.

When they finished reading, Chairman Wang Shunyi turned on the projector and displayed the plan on the white wall.

The three of them sat around the small conference table, which held three cups of coffee and an unopened box of rice cakes—Kim Tae-min had left them there in the morning, saying they were homemade and meant for everyone to share.

"Let me go over the general idea first." Chairman Wang Shunyi stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker. "The core for this year revolves around four directions."

He wrote four phrases on the whiteboard: Market Deepening, Product Innovation, Team Building, and Overseas Exploration.

"Market Deepening—channels like GS, CU, and Homeplus cannot just be satisfied with stocking our products. We need to fight for better positioning, more promotional resources, and closer cooperation. Additionally, we need to build a consumer database, collect feedback, and analyze purchasing behavior. Brand awareness is still insufficient; we need to keep pouring money into marketing this year."

Zhang Junhao nodded and scribbled a few notes in his notebook.

"Product Innovation—we released five new products last year; we need to release at least five this year. There are three directions: Healthy Food series, continuing the path of the mildly spicy fire chicken noodles; Local Specialty series, combining delicacies from various parts of Korea; Convenient Food series, such as instant porridge and instant soup. Also, we could consider co-branded products, collaborating with other brands or IPs."

When Park Min-ji heard "Local Specialty," she interjected, "Jeonju bibimbap flavor? Jeju black pork flavor?"

"Yes, something like that." Chairman Wang Shunyi drew a line under "Local Specialty." "You think about a few directions first, and we'll discuss it in detail later."

"Team Building—expanding from twenty to fifty people this year. We need to add staff in R&D, channels, marketing, customer service, finance, and administration. Additionally, we need to build a training system; we can't have newcomers arriving with no one to guide them."

He wrote this down, put down the marker, turned around, and looked at them.

"Finally, Overseas Exploration." He paused. "This is the hardest and most important part. The Korean market is too small; to grow big, we must go out. My idea is to start with cross-border e-commerce. Taobao Overseas, Shopee, Lazada—register shops and list products first to see the reaction. For initial logistics, we'll use international courier services; the cost is higher, but it's simple to operate. If sales stabilize, we'll consider building overseas warehouses."

"Which products should we push first?" Park Min-ji asked.

"fire chicken noodles and river snail rice noodles. Both have already been proven domestically, and overseas consumers have a high acceptance of spicy flavors. Especially in China; river snail rice noodles are originally Chinese, but our recipe is a bit different from theirs, so we can test the waters."

Zhang Junhao put down the rice cake he was holding and brushed the crumbs off his hands. "What about the budget for the overseas market?"

"Initial investment will be small. Let's start with 200 million to test, mainly for platform entry fees, logistics costs, and promotion fees. If the data isn't good within three months, we'll scale back."

Park Min-ji thought for a moment and said, "The issue of brand awareness. Overseas consumers don't know 'Shunyi Foods'; how do we get them to trust us?"

"That's why we need to create content," Chairman Wang Shunyi said. "Emphasize that it's original Korean import, and showcase quality and safety. Find local influencers and KOLs to promote it to build awareness quickly. This all requires money, but in the beginning, we can test on a small scale, finding a few small to medium-sized bloggers to try it out."

The three of them discussed for over two hours.

The sunlight outside moved from the east to the south, shining on the conference table, making people's eyes ache.

Kim Tae-min came in once to deliver water, but seeing them busy, he didn't dare stay long; he put the water down and left.

Finally, they finalized a few key tasks for the first quarter.

January: Overseas platform entry; register on Taobao, Shopee, and Lazada first. Post job advertisements; add staff in R&D, channels, and marketing. Discuss new cooperation plans for the year with GS, CU, and Homeplus to fight for better terms.

February: Release a new product, starting with the Local Specialty series. The first batch of new employees will join; training must keep up. Spring Festival promotional activities—this cannot be delayed; we must start preparing the week after next.

March: Review initial data from overseas markets and adjust if necessary. Release another new product, focusing on the Healthy Food series. Launch the brand image upgrade plan; update packaging, logo, and the official website uniformly.

Zhang Junhao recorded these points in his notebook, closed it, and took a sip of his now-cold coffee. "This pace is okay. But there's one thing I've been worried about."

"Park Chan-hyeok?" Park Min-ji said for him.

"Yes." Zhang Junhao put down his cup. "Last year he tried spicy chicken noodles and self-heating rice, and neither worked, but he won't give up. Will he be brewing up a big move this year?"

Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't respond.

He remembered Park Chan-hyeok's face—always smiling, but there was something in his eyes that made people uncomfortable.

Although those tricks last year didn't hurt their core, they were truly disgusting.

Trademark lawsuits, reporting them to authorities, sending people to take photos at the factory gate—he used every dirty trick in the book.

If Shunyi Foods moves up to the next level this year, he definitely won't be able to sit still.

"I will keep an eye on him," Chairman Wang Shunyi said. "But he does his thing, and we do ours. As long as our products don't collapse and our channels aren't lost, he won't be able to stir up much trouble."

At two in the afternoon, there was an all-staff meeting.

Twenty people packed the conference room; those in the back didn't have chairs and stood against the wall.

Choi Min-ju brought her camera and took a few photos from various angles, saying she wanted to post them on social media.

Chairman Wang Shunyi stood in front of the whiteboard and went over the four directions he had discussed with Zhang Junhao and Park Min-ji that morning.

He didn't read from a script; he just stood there, speaking as thoughts came to him, occasionally writing a few keywords on the whiteboard.

"Last year we did six billion," he said. "This year, the target is 15 billion."

There was some whispering below, but it quickly quieted down.

"15 billion won't just fall from the sky. It requires every one of you to work a little harder and do a little better."

He glanced at Kim Tae-min, who was standing in the corner. "Tae-min, this year the team needs to expand to fifty people; you'll have to work hard on the hiring."

"Understood, President." Kim Tae-min nodded.

"On the R&D side, we need to release at least five new products this year. Yilin, quality cannot be relaxed; no matter how many new products we release, if the quality drops, it's all over."

Zheng Yilin nodded vigorously.

"Min-ju, social media needs to keep gaining followers, and the content must be interesting; don't just keep posting ads. Consumers aren't stupid; if you keep posting ads, they'll unfollow."

Choi Min-ju smiled. "Understood, President."

He said a few more words, then stepped back and looked at everyone.

"We made it through last year. This year might be even more tiring, with more overtime. But I guarantee—every bit of effort will be rewarded. This isn't an empty promise; it's real—year-end bonuses, promotion opportunities, room for growth. Shunyi Foods is not just mine; it belongs to everyone."

The conference room was silent for two seconds.

Then Zhang Junhao clapped his hands, and the others followed suit.

The applause wasn't loud, but it was sincere.

After the meeting, Chairman Wang Shunyi returned to his office alone.

Outside the window was the gray sky of Seongdong-gu; in the distance, there were a few residential buildings with colorful quilts hanging on the balconies.

He stood by the window for a long while, then sat back in his chair, opened his notebook, and wrote a line in very small letters under the first-quarter task list: "Take care of yourself. Don't get sick."

After writing it, he felt it was a bit ridiculous, so he crossed it out.

But the crossed-out marks remained, and the words could still be seen through the scribbles.

He closed the notebook, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.