Chapter 38: Chapter 36 Agreement Reached
Inside the church.
Hearing Yarlin’s response, William was slightly taken aback:
"Which two points?"
Pastor Yarlin pondered for a few seconds, then raised one finger:
"The first point is that the ketchup must first be arranged by the church for a two-week consumption observation to ensure it’s non-toxic before it can be sold.
If you’re worried about the formula being leaked, I can make a prepayment of five guineas on behalf of the district."
Upon hearing this, William exchanged a hidden glance with Little Niu and Xu Yun.
It was mentioned before.
The current average household income is about 0.65 guineas, and five guineas is nearly 8 years of income.
Translating to the future, this would roughly be equivalent to around 500,000 if a family’s annual income is 60,000.
This price is negligible for the potential market of ketchup. After all, bread and potatoes are staples in this era, and the market for ketchup across all of Europe must be measured in "ten thousand guineas".
But, the same thing applies.
When a product’s technical barriers can be easily overcome, no matter how large its potential market is, it’s hard to monopolize.
Especially in this tumultuous era—unless you nationalize it through policy, banning private production.
According to Xu Yun and the others’ previous estimates, without an authoritative guarantor, they could at most make 5-8 guineas.
Not to mention that Xu Yun is very clear about Yarlin’s track record, this priest truly is a person of upright character.
According to historical trajectory.
Six years later, Yarlin would receive a 150 guinea inheritance, but he left himself only 10 guineas for retirement, donating a part to the church per Protestant "tithes" and using the rest to help the poor.
Today, Grantham Town has a restored Charity Shop to commemorate this priest.
After Yarlin’s passing, Protestantism also established a Yarlin Fund in his honor. On the day the fund was established, Little Niu donated 40 pounds (by then, pounds had already begun circulating).
And that 40 pounds was the only time in Little Niu’s life where he received a physical receipt for a donation.
Facing the large sum of 150 guineas, Yarlin chose to casually donate it completely, let alone the unpredictable future of ketchup.
Thus, Xu Yun invisibly gave William a look, suggesting he could agree.
William apparently shared the same sentiment, quickly nodding:
"No problem, Pastor Yarlin."
Yarlin nodded slightly, picked up the cup on the table for a small sip, and continued:
"As for the second matter... the church wants a seventy percent stake."
"Seventy percent stake?"
William’s voice suddenly heightened a few notches, although he quickly regained his composure, the rise and fall of his chest still revealed his internal unrest:
"Pastor Yarlin, isn’t this ratio a bit too high?"
The ketchup formula came from Xu Yun, Little Niu acted as an intermediary, and William provided a relatively stable backing.
Therefore, disregarding the church, the internal profit distribution among the three parties should at least be 4:3:3, and if Xu Yun was persistent, taking half would be reasonable.
If the church holds a seventy percent stake, wouldn’t the actual share for one’s family be less than ten percent?
Seeing the somewhat agitated William, Yarlin waved his hand, signaling him not to rush:
"Mr. William, will you listen to me before deciding?"
He then paused and continued:
"The first issue is the material cost of the ketchup. Although I haven’t seen the specific formula, I’m sure it must include sugar, right, Mr. William?"
Upon hearing the word sugar, William immediately stopped speaking.
17th century Europe isn’t like the future, where you can buy a pack of sugar for two and a half.
During this period, sugar in Europe couldn’t even be considered a food; it was mostly used as medicine or to flaunt wealth and power by the rich and powerful.
The reason sugar was used as medicine primarily was because many people suffered from chronic malnutrition, and sugar had a high calorie content, making it an instantly effective ’magic potion’ in any circumstance.
At that time, 100 grams of sugar cost about 8-9 pence, equivalent to 1/20 of a family’s annual income.
The little sugar in Little Niu’s family was supplied by William and his wife as a reserve. Had Little Niu not been contemplating the problem of infinite sequences at the time, Xu Yun almost wouldn’t have been able to take it away smoothly.
If the church chooses to collaborate with William’s family, at least the market of a town like Grantham is in sight, and the initial production cost clearly isn’t a small figure—plus, it must be borne by the church.
Watching William’s gradually weakening posture, Yarlin once again smiled:
"Besides the cost, the Grantham District can offer superior channels—in the least, covering one-fifth of the East Midlands isn’t difficult.
Mr. William, you’re also a businessman; you should understand the difference between selling to a hundred and selling to ten thousand, right?"
Hundred sales earn a hundred percent, ten thousand sales earn ten percent, yet the latter’s profit is ten times that of the former, a calculation even Lilani would understand.
Thinking of this, William glanced at Xu Yun.
Xu Yun shrugged lightly, indicating he had no objections.
The two reasons Yarlin offered were quite sufficient, plus there’s no necessity for Xu Yun, whose earnings of any amount in this era couldn’t be taken back, to haggle excessively.
With this consideration, William had no choice but to give up fighting over the big picture and instead turned his attention to the minutiae:
"Mr. Yarlin, what you said is very reasonable, but I still think seventy percent is a bit high, how about a sixty-forty split?... And about the prepayment, I hope to receive at least eight guineas..."
In such a nickel-and-dime bargaining phase, William naturally changed the title from ’Pastor’ to ’Mr.’; after all, the term pastor might be a bit awkward in such a transactional setting.
Subsequently, the two engaged in a discussion and ultimately reached an agreement:
Yarlin, on behalf of the Grantham District, signed a ketchup profit-sharing agreement with William, with a share proportion of 6.5:3.5.
The parties will conduct a one-week consumption observation period, and if all goes well, will formally enter the mass production stage.
Meanwhile, Yarlin will pay William 7 guineas as a guaranteed prepayment, which is a prepayment aspect of the profit-sharing agreement but also carries a guarantee nature—meaning during the ketchup profit distribution, the church will first deduct 7 as a baseline before sharing, but if the total profit doesn’t exceed 7 guineas, William doesn’t need to return the amount.
Subsequently, the parties pressed their handprints on the agreement successively; in this era where civil law was gradually budding, such an agreement carried a very high legal effect:
A year ago, in March 1664, a commoner had just won a lawsuit against a nobleman in Wimbledon using a similar contract.
More than ten minutes later.
The three walked out of the church gate, Little Niu touched the three guineas in his pocket (two were his and one was Xu Yun’s meal provision), and couldn’t help but smile.