The year 1881 was a year of development, and the material lives of the citizens of Vienna became rich and colorful.
Ferdinand, with his wild imagination, went further and further down the path of a cunning businessman, with various schemes that kept people on their toes.
Shuanghui Food Group's product range expanded, including a wide variety of noodles, numerous brands of biscuits, and various flavors of potato chips, among others.
Bakers also officially moved into supermarkets, and various pastries made their dazzling debut, catching the attention of Viennese citizens and greatly facilitating people's lives.
Of course, this also enriched Ferdinand's wallet, as Volvo had already entered the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with its footprint spread across every major city.
Naturally, Shuanghui Food Group, along with the supermarkets, transformed from a shell company into a truly reputable one, becoming one of the leading food processing companies in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
As Christmas approached, Volvo became even busier.Under Ferdinand's urging, Franz, in a daze, began preparing for the Christmas activities.
Ferdinand couldn't afford to relax; several supermarkets in Vienna were already undergoing renovations, mostly copying Volvo's style.
Some tried to be innovative, but Ferdinand automatically ignored them.Attempting innovation without understanding anything was a death wish and posed no threat at all.
It's imaginable that a large number of supermarkets would emerge in Vienna in 1882.Ferdinand's monopoly era was about to end, and a period of flourishing competition was on the horizon.
Ferdinand estimated that the next three to five years would be the golden age for supermarkets, as competitors were still in the learning and exploration phase.
Within five to ten years, it would gradually transition to the silver stage, with increased competition and thinning profits.However, Volvo's dominant position was already established, and newcomers would find it difficult to challenge in the short term.
After ten years, his supporting industries would be perfected, and with a complete industrial chain, he could maximize profits.
Reviewing the gains of 1881, Volvo, which opened on June 18th, had opened thirty-six new branches in nearly half a year, slightly exceeding the plan.
At the same time, it contributed a net profit of 30,000 pounds to Ferdinand, with the profit primarily being consumed by opening new stores.
The average monthly profit per supermarket remained around 800 pounds, which was astonishing and Ferdinand's largest source of income at the time.
Shuanghui Food Group Co., Ltd. also performed very well.After the restructuring of the flour mill, thanks to the rapid expansion of sales channels, its monthly profit grew from an initial 300 pounds to the current 1,000 pounds.
The newly established noodle factory had average sales.
Despite Ferdinand introducing many brands, Europeans were not accustomed to using chopsticks, though Italian pasta sold well.
Initially, it suffered slight losses, and now its monthly profit was only around 100 pounds, which greatly disappointed Ferdinand.
Fortunately, this was just a small factory with about a dozen people, and it hadn't blindly expanded its scale, otherwise, it wouldn't be profitable now.
However, the snack processing factory performed well, with products like popcorn, potato chips, and various biscuits selling well.Since its establishment, the snack processing factory had expanded twice and now employed over eight hundred people.
Among Ferdinand's industries, its scale was second only to Volvo.Its current monthly profit was as high as 8,000 pounds, with significant room for further improvement.
Throughout 1881, Ferdinand created an industry worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, but his pocket only increased by a mere less than 10,000 pounds in cash.
Christmas arrived, and exquisite Christmas trees were placed in front of Volvo, with a dazzling array of food displayed inside the counters.
Santa Claus, wearing a red pointed hat, a large red robe, and a white beard, held a gift bag, waved to people, and presented bags of food to passing children.
The supermarket also launched holiday discount promotions, with a wide variety of goods marked at discounted prices, attracting passersby.
This was entirely Ferdinand's arrangement, based on how Christmas in Austria was celebrated in later generations.
It seemed to have a good effect, as many goods were snapped up, leaving only rows of empty shelves and exhausted sales clerks in the supermarket.
Christmas was the most important holiday in the West, and Ferdinand's family was no exception.
They were invited to Schönbrunn Palace and enjoyed a Christmas dinner with a group of relatives in Vienna.
Afterward, the family sang and danced under the Christmas tree and exchanged Christmas gifts, filling the entire scene with a warm atmosphere.
As the clock struck midnight, Ferdinand and the others stood up, lit candles, recited the Bible in unison, wished each other well, and then sang Christmas carols.
The first widely known Christmas carol originated in Oberndorf, Salzburg, Austria.
After singing Christmas carols, Ferdinand left Schönbrunn Palace to attend Mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.
Inside the church, a tall Christmas tree stood, with a sparkling star at its top, pointing the way for the "Three Kings of the East"—Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior—to Bethlehem.
The streets and alleys of Vienna were now filled with children singing Christmas carols, going from house to house to spread good tidings.Nobles and capitalists, for once, were generous.
All workers were given time off, and many even received Christmas gifts.At least those who worked for Ferdinand received a Christmas gift, which included some factory-produced snacks and some slow-moving products.
Since Ferdinand's factory produced food, these were valuable gifts for the impoverished workers.
If it weren't for Butler Karl's timely reminder, Ferdinand would have almost given out year-end bonuses.Fortunately, he reacted in time, as raising workers' wages without authorization in that era would incur the hostility of capitalists.
After a lively Christmas, Ferdinand was woken up by Princess Clémentine the next morning.Sleeping in was a bad habit Ferdinand had developed in his previous life, and Princess Clémentine detested it, believing it would erode one's willpower.
Ferdinand resisted a few times without success and eventually obediently complied.
He had thought Christmas might be an exception, but reality told him otherwise.
Morning exercises were also a tradition of the Koháry family; the lives of military nobles were not as easy as rumored.
Aside from a very few exceptions, most German nobles adhered to tradition and were strictly disciplined from a young age.
They had to learn much more than ordinary people, with almost no happy childhoods.
The nobility of Vienna had begun to decay, but mostly these were newly rich upstarts.
Their pursuit of pleasure tarnished the reputation of the entire aristocratic circle.
Truly established great nobles had exceptionally strict demands on their descendants, beyond what ordinary people could imagine.