Chapter 188: Proposed to Open a Store

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

“Why?”

Li Qing came behind them in his chef’s uniform. Xu Le looked helpless as he pushed him into his shop. “There are so many customers waiting, and you have the cheek to leave the kitchen to those apprentices? What if there’s a problem with the taste of the dishes?”

Li Qing asked, “Tell me quickly, why can’t they operate for a long time? How long will it take for them to close down?”

“It’s said that it can cook many types of cuisine, but the ingredients are all frozen and not fresh enough. I saw a lot of defrosting ingredients in the sink beside just now. The taste between live and frozen seafood is vastly different. Even if they add more seasoning to enhance the freshness, it will be difficult to hide what they are lacking deep down.”

“If they went to so much trouble to try to make our business, why did they cut down on the quality of ingredients?”

“It’s expensive.”

Xu Le said in concise words.

Li Qing entered the kitchen doubtfully. It was almost time for dinner and there were more people entering the store. Lu Yuxi stood at the front desk and helped. Xu Le washed his hands, put on his apron and hat, and entered the kitchen to start cooking.

Li Shengsheng had just eaten breakfast and was quite full. However, when he saw the plates of fragrant dishes, he couldn’t help but say, “I want to eat them too! This West Lake Vinegar Fish and Lotus Chicken Slices are my favorite!”

“Wait, wait, wait. There are a lot of customers. Wait a minute.”

Xu Le waved his hand to ask him to wait. Li Shengsheng looked at the hall that was almost full and said, “No!”

“There’s the Crispy Yam Duck here. I guarantee that the taste will definitely stun you. Take it first. It’s from the table that ordered too many dishes.”

Xu Le handed the plate over. Li Shengsheng looked at the six or seven golden bars on the plate. He pursed his lips and said, “Petty, is that all you’re giving me? Are we still good brothers?”

“Don’t eat it if you don’t want it.”

Xu Le pretended to take it back when Li Shengsheng snatched it away.

“Who said I don’t want it anymore?”

As he spoke, he found a nearby spot and started tasting the dish. The golden yam on the outside was crispy and fragrant, and the duck meat inside was moist and sweet. There was a hint of gravy, and there was a lingering taste left behind.

In less than five minutes, the plate of Crispy Yam Duck was completely gone. Li Shengsheng wiped the oil off his fingertips, feeling satisfied and shocked.

“It’s too awesome! I’ve eaten at a lot of stores. The duck is even more sauce-flavored. Whether it’s fried, steamed or wrapped in scallions and roll, I’ve eaten all kinds of duck before, but this is really the best I’ve ever eaten!”

Li Shengsheng was full of praise and his eyes became fixed. If not for the fact that his stomach was really too full to eat, he would definitely order another serving of something else.

“How much?”

He took out his phone and was about to pay when Xu Le said, “There’s no need. We’re all friends. You can come to my place to try anything in the future, but you have to queue.”

“But there’s such a long queue?” Li Shengsheng did not stand on ceremony and said. “Then I’ll freeload at your house in the future.”

After saying that, he wanted to help carry the plates, but Lu Yuxi stopped him with a crying face. “Sit down, please! Be careful, don’t get into any danger.”

Li Shengsheng had a very serious blood clot. Once he had a small wound, it would not stop the bleeding and he would need to be hospitalized. The situation was much worse than imagined.

Soon, Zhang Tong returned with news that the situation had stabilized. Other than the storeowner coming over arrogantly to mock him, nothing serious happened.

After being busy for more than an hour, Xu Le realized that the chefs he had recruited were all very reassuring. They were smart, hardworking, and had high comprehension skills. Hence, he changed out of his chef’s uniform and said, “I still have something on today, so I’ll go back first. Call me if anything happens.”

“No problem.”

Li Qing called the chef beside him to take a rest and another group of people started their shifts.

“There’s a lot of customers, and the meals need to taste good and be served fast. They’ll basically be exhausted in two or three hours, so I thought I’d split up into two groups and switch. This way, not only will it be efficient, it won’t tire anyone out.”

Xu Le nodded. Although he felt that Li Qing’s arrangement was very good, he couldn’t help but fall into deep thought as he looked at the price on the menu.

“We can’t continue like this. If they realize that the business model is wrong, they will quickly adjust their direction and it will be exactly the same as the one in my store. At that time, the competition will be too great.”

Xu Le thought about it and waved goodbye to Li Shengsheng. “Remember to come to my house for soup the day after tomorrow. I made a big jar of ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’.”

“Alright!”

When he reached home, the breakfast he carried had already turned cold. Xu Le placed the meat dumpling in the steamer to heat it up and stuffed the rest into the microwave. When he went to knock on the bedroom door, there was no response for a long time. He pushed the door open and saw that Shen Hui and Xu Zhexian were long gone.

“Where are they?”

Lu Yuxi was changing into slippers in the entryway when her gaze landed on the note on the cabinet.

“I think your parents went out to meet friends. They’re not coming back today.”

“Oh.”

Xu Le was disappointed for a moment. Then, he remembered that they had many chef friends in the country. It was not easy for them to come back, so they definitely had to gather more frequently.

Therefore, he stopped being sad and took out the frozen soup from the fridge and said, “Let’s continue recording. This tutorial isn’t finished yet.”

“Yeah.”

Lu Yuxi set up the camera and said, “Why don’t you consider changing the operation style of the store?”

“How so?”

“When I went to take a look just now, the Six Shrimp Noodles were served. Think about it. One serving of rice bowl is at most 30 yuan. Tomato egg soup and West Lake beef soup cost not more than a dozen yuan. But dishes like Six Shrimp Noodles, Braised Saddle Bridge, and those that are especially complicated and expensive to make are easily three to four hundred yuan. The price difference between the two is too great.”

Xu Le had also thought of this. He raised his eyebrows and gestured for Lu Yuxi to continue.

“You can consolidate all the home-cooked dishes and long-lost dishes, like the braised onions from before, Buddha jumps over the wall, and fermented cod. When a new store opens, there will definitely be people who will come because of the dishes’ reputation. Then, you can limit the number of servings per person or limit number of customers, or the store will only open a few days a week, and customers need to make an early appointment…”

“I know.” Xu Le naturally understood the business model. He hesitated for a moment and said, “But will we be suspected of hunger marketing?”

“As long as the food is delicious enough, it’s worth that price. Besides, many traditional dishes at state banquets are time-consuming, let alone long-lost, only you know how to cook.”

Xu Le nodded and agreed with her suggestion. “I’ll take a look again. Maybe we can really do as you said.”

“That’s right. There are more chefs in the store now. You can allow takeouts for dishes like rice bowl, cold dishes, and soup. That way, more people can eat without queuing.”

However, after another round of discussion, they all felt that the suggestion of selling the dishes separately was not bad.

“Okay, let’s keep recording. The frozen soup has become like jelly gel. There’s a layer of yellow grease floating on it. It’s best to use a wooden spoon and scrap the layer away. That way the soup won’t get greasy.”