I was the Founding Father of the United States

Chapter 78 Luxury Goods

For Chen Wenbin, opening a restaurant in London is actually a bit of a double-edged sword.

Because London is a typical "thumbtack city," meaning that a very small number of nobles and wealthy merchants occupy the vast majority of social wealth, the middle class is very small, and the vast majority of the rest are poor people who were driven into the city by the Enclosure Movement and barely make ends meet.

Therefore, if restaurants want to make money, they can only go for the high-end market and earn money from a small number of middle-class and wealthy people, because the poor in London simply cannot afford slightly more expensive food.

However, the present is the present, and the future is the future. With the arrival of a long period of peace after the end of the Seven Years' War, Britain's textile industry and foreign trade will inevitably develop rapidly, and the number of middle-class people and nouveau riche will also grow rapidly.

Based on this analysis, creating a high-end fast-food chain brand seems to have a promising future, especially for middle-class people who have just started to have some money. They certainly want to imitate the lifestyle of the aristocracy and high society. They may not be able to learn anything else, but spending a little more money to eat a KFC meal seems to be a good way to highlight their status.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, this satisfies the human need for social respect and social recognition... In short, it provides a platform and channel for the nouveau riche to show off.

Any so-called high-end and luxury goods, services, and brands are essentially doing the same business: selling identity and the experience of showing off.

Thinking of those European luxury brands that made a fortune in the 21st century, Chen Wenbin's business acumen was stirred!

He could totally do this business!

France is currently the top country for luxury goods in Europe, and the legendary king of sales is Louis XIV, the Sun King who has been dead for almost fifty years... The ability of this king, who reigned for 72 years, to govern and fight is debatable, but his ability to do marketing, build brands, and create fashion is absolutely off the charts!

Through a lifetime of continuous effort, they have forcibly linked "fashion" with France and "romance" with Paris, monopolizing the aesthetics of the entire Europe!

He left France a vast fashion legacy, which continues to generate wealth and international influence for France into the 21st century!

Many of the French fashion elements that became common in later generations, such as lace, embroidery, ribbons, stockings, high heels, and feathers, were either created or introduced by him.

French industries such as perfume, jewelry, furniture, and textiles also rose rapidly during his reign, becoming pillar industries of France… Indeed, the luxury goods industry was a pillar industry of France in the late 17th century.

Even today, despite its defeat in the Seven Years' War, France remains a civilized high ground in the eyes of Europeans, and Paris remains the cultural and fashion capital of Europe. Royal families and nobles from various European countries still subscribe to the latest issue of "The French Courier" without fail to obtain information on the latest Parisian fashion trends.

As for Britain... its navy is stronger because of its pirate tradition. London is full of profit-driven merchants and slave traders. Although it has commercial vitality, it is far inferior to Paris in terms of food, clothing, lifestyle, and entertainment.

The most obvious example is King George III of Great Britain, who dressed like a French nobleman in private, demonstrating the immense cultural influence of France.

With France as a successful example, Chen Wenbin can simply learn from Louis XIV's methods.

The French indulge in culture and aristocratic pursuits, introducing fashion trends; Chen Wenbin can use technology for marketing and promotion.

For example, the spring carriage he is currently riding in is a high-end model that uses independent suspension and simple dampers.

Although the high cost of carriages (over £500 per carriage on average) and the difficulty in producing alloy steel leaf springs made them very expensive due to the precision required for the guide structure, making mass production difficult and affordable only for kings, nobles, and the very wealthy, the riding experience was indeed more comfortable and the bumps were greatly reduced. Nobles and the rich could not possibly refuse such an upgraded experience.

More importantly, the British upper class certainly doesn't want the French to collect their "intelligence tax" every day with high-end leather goods, clothing, and jewelry. If they could promote British-made luxury goods at this time... that business would definitely be very lucrative!

……

A little after 1 p.m., the group arrived in North Bloomsbury, north of London, about two miles from Westminster Abbey.

This land, along with the entire Bloomsbury Estate, was acquired by the Duke of Bedford (the Russell family) through marriage in the 17th century. However, development has been slow, and to this day there are only some property projects in the south near Westminster, and even the road was not completed until seven years ago.

Although this place is far from central London and surrounded by farms and open spaces, with farmers herding sheep grazing in the distance, it will certainly become part of the city in the future as London expands.

Therefore, Chen Wenbin plans to place all the companies and institutions here, including Robin Hospital, Robin Medical School, Robin Metals, Diana and Robin Investment Company, and London Medical Investment Fund, and build it into a satellite city with medical care and technology as its hallmarks, following the model of Robin City.

The Grosvenor family was able to be made barons by virtue of their properties in Mayfair and Belgravia, London. Chen Wenbin's descendants in Britain may well be able to become true British hereditary nobles by virtue of "Robin Medical and Technology City".

"...Buy this place!"

Standing on a high point overlooking the approximately 65-acre plot of land, Chen Wenbin instructed John Adams and Morris, who were following behind him: "Don't worry about whether it's 35 pounds or 40 pounds per acre. This land has already been fenced off, which will save us a lot of time."

Since the Russell family is willing to sell, let's acquire them as soon as possible!

"Yes, sir."

John Adams nodded and said, "I will talk to Mr. Russell... but I think we should be able to buy the land for under £38."

The Russell family has ambitious investment plans in the South. They intend to emulate Baron Grosvenor by developing properties in South Bloomsbury to generate rental income and offset losses suffered during last year's financial crisis.

Dr. James Bloom, who was standing nearby, laughed and said, "Last year's financial crisis did indeed cause considerable losses to many lords in London. No one expected that the Dutch Denevwe Bank would go bankrupt and be liquidated due to insufficient liquidity and inability to repay its debts!"

That's a big bank with assets of 1000 million Dutch guilders!

"If the Bank of England hadn't swiftly stabilized the London market by increasing lending, issuing more banknotes, and expanding bill discounting, we probably wouldn't be standing here chatting right now... because the British economy could very well have been dragged down by the financial crisis!"