Chapter 38 – Three Provinces, Three Supply Problems
By the end of summer, both La Trattoria Italiana and Patriot Burger had a footprint that made his accountants nervous and his managers excited.
In three provinces, the numbers now stood at:
La Trattoria Italiana – 24 stores
Patriot Burger – 19 stores
Each city center had at least one branch, and in some busier areas, there were two — because, in his words, "If we can't win with taste, we can win by being the only thing people see when they turn their head."
But stretching operations beyond his home province was creating headaches he claimed to enjoy. The cold storage facility in his capital city was now groaning under the strain of supplying three provinces. Trucks were making overnight runs, burning fuel like a leaking oil drum, and managers were complaining about "supply gaps" whenever the weather turned bad.
Chen Hao looked at the maps and delivery schedules, then tapped the table with a grin.
"Easy fix. Buy more land in each province, build more cold storage. Maybe add a few warehouses for fun."
His finance director's pen slipped. "For… fun?"
"Yes," Chen Hao said with the seriousness of a man explaining why clouds are fluffy. "If we don't, our customers will suffer. And we can't have that. Besides, spending big on logistics is the fastest way to make our profit line cry."
Within weeks, he had purchased three large plots — one in each province — ignoring the cheaper option of renting existing facilities. The construction contracts were signed before the ink on the property deeds had dried.
At the same time, he doubled down on property buying for his restaurants. Of the 43 total locations, 37 were now fully owned properties, while only 6 were leased — mostly in high-traffic spots where the landlords refused to sell.
The expansion wasn't just physical. He hired local teams in each province to handle operations, insisting they report directly to headquarters. Officially, it was to "keep the brand consistent." Unofficially, it meant he could monitor just how much money he was "losing" in each area.
What he didn't notice — or pretended not to — was that the new cold storage plan wasn't just fixing supply issues. It was building a backbone that made future national expansion ridiculously easy. His logistics manager privately told the regional teams, "The boss thinks he's just wasting cash. In reality, he's giving us the kind of infrastructure big chains dream of."
And so, across three provinces, the group's foundation quietly solidified — one oversized warehouse and overpriced plot of land at a time.