Yu Xin grew more and more engrossed as she spoke.
Similarly, Ji Zhe and Chu Hai listened with increasing focus.
After explaining the entire business model and presenting some preliminary data, she pivoted sharply and posed a question.
"President Ji, President Chu, when you're traveling for business and want to find an authentic yet affordable local restaurant, what do you usually do? Do you check newspaper ads, take hotel recommendations, search online slowly, or ask a local for advice?"
The question caught the two investors off guard.
They were accustomed to dining at the star-rated hotels where they stayed, so they hadn’t given it much thought before.
But as they put themselves in the scenario Yu Xin described, they immediately realized how troublesome it could be.
No matter where they traveled for work, finding a good meal—especially local specialties—seemed to require a lot of time spent searching or asking around.
For example, after arriving in Bright Pearl City, they had wondered where to try some authentic local cuisine but never considered looking it up online.
The internet was just too cluttered and unreliable these days.
While they were still mulling it over, Yu Xin pressed her advantage. She slid a pre-prepared laptop toward Ji Zhe and Chu Hai.
"President Ji, President Chu, it’s 10:30 a.m. now. How about we have lunch right here in Sister Yutong’s office today? This way, you two can experience firsthand how Wanlong Group Purchase solves this dining dilemma."
"Please go ahead and enter our website URL to place an order yourselves—give it a try?"
Ji Zhe and Chu Hai exchanged glances, both intrigued.
No matter how impressive the theory sounded, nothing compared to hands-on experience. This preparation was thorough.
Chu Hai took the mouse and began typing the website address.
Yu Xin guided him from the side: "President Chu, the process is very simple—just like any regular website."
As Chu Hai entered the URL and hit enter, the page loaded instantly.
For its time, Wanlong Group Purchase’s interface was remarkably clean. The top navigation bar clearly displayed categories like [Food], [Supermarket], and [Lifestyle Services].
Of course, the simplicity was partly due to the limited number of merchants on the platform. Most services were sourced from Wanlong Group’s own resources.
For instance, the supermarket section only featured Wanlong Supermarket, while the food category had just one brand: Yuyuefang Restaurant. Lifestyle services were even simpler—if you needed temporary help, Wanlong Group would send someone directly.
Still, despite the limited options, the homepage’s featured images were beautifully designed, showcasing mouthwatering dishes from Yuyuefang.
"It looks very intuitive, and the dishes seem plentiful," Ji Zhe remarked, leaning in for a closer look.
"President Chu, could you try searching for ‘Bright Pearl City specialties’ or any cuisine you’re interested in?"
Chu Hai typed in the keywords and clicked search.
The page refreshed instantly, listing seven or eight restaurants offering relevant group-buying deals and à la carte options.
Each restaurant displayed enticing food photos, along with prominent original and discounted prices, as well as addresses.
Below that was the most crucial feature: genuine user reviews.
Of course, a closer look would reveal that all these restaurants shared the same name—they were just different branches of Yuyuefang.
However, each branch had distinct signature dishes.
This was the result of Yu Xin’s monthly cooking competition, which had created variations in each location’s specialties.
In the food industry, especially for chain restaurants, maintaining consistency across dishes was notoriously difficult. Unless they relied on pre-made meals, different chefs inevitably introduced variations in flavor and technique.
Currently, Yuyuefang’s only truly standardized dish was its signature Small Fish Pot—a feat that had required immense time and effort.
Apart from cold dishes like Osmanthus Lotus Root, which could be centrally prepared and distributed, most hot dishes were left to each chef’s expertise.
These signature dishes were evaluated monthly through a chef competition, with a structured system for menu updates and incentives.
Ji Zhe and Chu Hai naturally noticed that all the restaurants belonged to the same chain but found it understandable.
After all, the platform was just starting out—limited merchant participation was expected.
Wasn’t that what funding was meant to address?
Next, the two selected a few appealing dishes, clicked "Buy Now," and chose delivery.
The page jumped to the order confirmation screen, automatically linking the package details before proceeding to payment.
"How do we pay?"
"We support online banking—currently, we’ve only integrated with one bank, China Merchants Bank. In the future, we’ll develop our own payment system."
"Of course, cash on delivery is also an option."
They nodded and selected cash payment, as this was just a trial run—no need for complicated card-binding procedures.
After finalizing the order, the page displayed a success message.
The entire process—from opening the website to completing the order—took just minutes. Smooth, clear, and transparent.
"This experience… incredibly seamless! Much simpler and more straightforward than I imagined!"
"The only question is how long delivery will take. Timeliness is crucial for this, right?"
Yu Xin nodded. "Absolutely. Optimizing delivery efficiency requires a lot of data, which we can only refine through ongoing operations. Right now, our primary goal for the food service is to attract customers to dine in-store through discounted group-buying deals."
The entire demonstration wrapped up in under an hour—just as their ordered meals arrived.
By future standards, this speed might seem ordinary or even slow, but for Ji Zhe and Chu Hai, it was nothing short of astonishing.
This was their first time experiencing what "delivered within the hour" truly meant.
What’s more, the food arrived piping hot, with excellent heat retention.
Most importantly, the flavors blew them away—takeout that tasted this good was unheard of.
After lunch, Ji Zhe and Chu Hai left Wanlong Group’s offices.
Even back at their hotel, the two felt like they’d stepped out of a dream.
"Wanlong Group is full of surprises. I already thought Miss Liu was impressive, but her team—those girls can’t be older than eighteen or nineteen, can they?"
"Truly, women hold up half the sky."
"President Chu, do you still feel like you were ‘kidnapped’ earlier?"
"Kidnapped? I’d gladly be ‘kidnapped’ like this a few more times. If this project succeeds and goes public, our firms stand to make a fortune!"
"So, are you coming back to Bright Pearl City next time?"
"If you’re coming, I’m coming!"
"Hahaha…"
