"Uncle Lin, you’ve co at the perfect ti. I was just about to change the nu tomorrow. Instead of noodles for lunch and dinner, I’ll be selling stir-fries and braised dishes." Zhou Yan said with a smile, "I’ll have Braised Pork Ribs and Braised Beef with Dried Bamboo Shoots, which are braised dishes. Then there’s the Double-Pepper Minced Beef stir-fry, and a Huo Xiang Carp. The Kneeling Beef can be either a soup or a main dish, so that’s four dishes and a soup. It should be plenty if there aren’t too many of you."
The three noodle toppings were delicious, so turning them into standalone dishes was no problem. The Kneeling Beef was also tasty. Lin Zhiqiang pondered for a mont. "Zhou, this Huo Xiang Carp, is it a new dish you’ve learned? How does it taste?"
"Don’t you worry about that. As long as you can handle the taste of huo xiang, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied with the fish," Zhou Yan said, full of confidence.
"Alright, I trust you. There are seven of us, so we’ll order these five dishes." Lin Zhiqiang said with a smile, "Tomorrow evening after work, I’ll pick up my two kids and co over for dinner."
"Okay, I’ll prepare the ingredients for you tomorrow." Zhou Yan nodded and watched Lin Zhiqiang leave, a smile spreading across his face.
’The nu isn’t even changed, and I’ve already got my first big order. Uncle Lin is really looking out for .’
Back in the restaurant, Zhou Yan found a long wooden board, ten centiters wide. He then went next door to the security office to borrow a few tools. After returning, he got to work, sawing the long board into 20-centiter-long wooden plaques. He drilled a hole in each, tied a string through it, and then wrote the na of a dish and its price on each plaque.
He tore down the old paper nu, hamred a row of nails into the wall, and hung the plaques for the three noodle dishes together, with the other dishes in a separate row.
When it ca to writing the prices, Zhou Yan pondered for a good while.
He priced the Braised Beef with Dried Bamboo Shoots and the Double-Pepper Beef at 1 yuan. But for the Braised Pork Ribs, using three *liang* seed a bit stingy. It was a pure at dish, whereas the bamboo shoots in the beef dish made up more than half of it.
In the end, he increased the amount of ribs in a single portion to half a *jin*, and the price for the Braised Pork Ribs subsequently rose to 1.6 yuan, with the cost of ingredients accounting for 1.1 yuan.
Looking at this pricing, Zhou Yan couldn’t help but sigh. ’It’s too generous.’
’This is just a limitation of the era. If this were the future, he’d dare to sell such delicious Braised Pork Ribs at double or even quadruple the cost—expensive, but still a bestseller.’
Suji was an economic hub in Jiazhou, and the Jiazhou Textile Factory was the leading enterprise in Southern Sichuan’s silk industry. It generated over ten million US dollars in foreign exchange annually, was highly profitable, and was still expanding rapidly. It had many workers, and their wages were high.
Many workers even commuted from Jiazhou city to the factory every day.
If this were any ordinary small town, it would be impossible to open a Sichuan Cuisine restaurant at a ti like this.
Farrs wouldn’t have the money in their pockets to eat your sixty-cent bowls of noodles.
The Huo Xiang Carp was two yuan per serving, while the Kneeling Beef was still priced at sixty cents per serving.
He hung the plaques on the wall. The red lettering was bold and eye-catching.
Replacing the fixed nu with wooden plaques was part of Zhou Yan’s preparation for introducing the new dishes tomorrow.
To reduce waste and ensure that all the ingredients prepared each day were sold out, he planned to control the amount of ingredients he purchased in the initial phase.
When a dish ran out, he would just take down its plaque, letting custors know to order from the remaining options.
This made it convenient for custors to order and also avoided the hassle of the front-of-house having to repeatedly check with the kitchen.
With no refrigerator, this was the best way to ensure the freshness of the ingredients.
Once business stabilized and the daily consumption of each dish beca consistent, he would gradually increase the quantities until he found the right balance.
Ingredient waste directly affected the restaurant’s profits. Zhou Yan wouldn’t entertain the thought of ’if it doesn’t sell, I’ll just eat it myself.’ That would be far too unprofessional.
"Zhou, what’s with all that DING DING DONG DONG? What are you up to?" The security office chief, Luo Weidong, stood at the door, peeking inside and asking with a smile.
"Director Luo, I’m changing the nu. I’m getting ready to start selling braised dishes and stir-fries tomorrow," Zhou Yan replied with a smile, gathering up the tools.
"Adding new dishes, huh?" Luo Weidong ca inside and looked at the wooden plaques hanging on the wall. He chuckled and said, "Not too many options. You’re being pretty cautious this ti."
The bowl of Kneeling Beef that Zhou Yan had given him had helped build a good relationship with the security office. Luo Weidong had also co for noodles once, and the flavor was indeed excellent.
However, when Zhou Yan’s restaurant had first opened, Luo Weidong had eaten there once, and the food... well, the less said, the better.
There were dozens of dishes on the nu, but you never heard anyone say a single one was good.
But this ti, he seed to have wised up, turning toppings into braised dishes and sauces into stir-fries. He was playing it safe.
As for the prices, they weren’t cheap.
The braised beef in the cafeteria was eighty cents a portion if you had a al ticket, which was twenty cents cheaper than at Zhou Yan’s place.
Last ti, he’d had the beef and dried bamboo shoot noodles. The taste was impeccable—definitely better than the cafeteria’s. An extra twenty cents was acceptable.
"I’ll take the tools back myself. Next ti, I’ll co try your fish." Luo Weidong took the tools from Zhou Yan’s hands.
"Thanks, Director Luo," Zhou Yan said with a smile as he saw Luo Weidong out.
After sweeping the floor, Zhou Yan went out and found a reliable fish stall, arranging for them to deliver twenty crucian carp to the restaurant tomorrow at noon.
He ordered flat carp, each weighing eight *liang*, a good quality fard fish. This size of carp was perfect for making Huo Xiang Carp.
Zhou Yan wrote another notice and posted it on a wooden board: Starting tomorrow, Zhou Yan Restaurant would only serve noodles in the morning.
With all the preparations complete, the sun was already setting.
Zhou Yan rested on a reclining chair at the entrance. The textile factory was closed today, so there were no vendors at the gate, and the area was deserted.
Only the newly moved-in stall across the street was active, where Zhou Liangliang and his wife were busy wiping down tables, chairs, and stools.
The corner of Zhou Yan’s mouth curled into a mocking smile. ’That guy sure moves fast. He was scoping the place out yesterday, and today he’s already moved his stall over.’
Zhou Liangliang also saw Zhou Yan sitting at the entrance of his restaurant and said with a wide grin, "Zhou Yan, we’ve moved our stall over here. We’re clansn, so you won’t mind, right?"
"What’s there for to mind? This is the textile factory’s property. If you want to set up shop, you set up shop. It’s not like I can stop you," Zhou Yan laughed.
’I don’t have any two-faced ’brothers’ like him.’
Zhou Yan glanced at the sign hanging on the stall: "Hot Pot Noodles." ’This guy wants to have it all. He’s really asking for it.’
But the more it was like this, the less Zhou Yan thought of his chances.
’This guy couldn’t even get a share of the profits while set up next to Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai’s stalls, and he thinks moving here in front of the textile factory is going to put out of business?’
Besides, he had never seen him sell noodles before. He probably added them at the last minute after seeing how well Zhou Yan’s noodle business was doing.
This was all within Zhou Yan’s expectations. Even if it wasn’t Zhou Liangliang, it would have been so Zhou Mingming or Zhou Tiantian. That’s just how it was with street vending.
Zhou Yan enjoyed the breeze for a while longer before going inside to cook dinner.
"Looks to like Zhou Yan isn’t nervous at all. Will our hot pot business here really be better than at the docks?" Zhou Liangliang’s wife, Wu Guihua, whispered.
"Don’t worry. Zhou Yan sells his for sixty cents a bowl. We’ll sell the sa hot pot and noodles for fifty cents—ten cents cheaper than him. Business is bound to be good!" Zhou Liangliang was full of confidence.
He had finished the prep work today and had already contacted the noodle factory. They would deliver the noodles to him tomorrow morning.
For the first day, he wasn’t ordering much—thirty *jin* of fresh noodles, enough to make a hundred bowls.
...
The next day, as dawn was breaking, Comrade Zhou set out on his roadster bicycle to buy groceries.
Today, he only prepared enough noodles and toppings for eighty servings. Whatever didn’t sell in the morning would beco their staff al.
He ordered an extra three *jin* each of beef brisket and sirloin tip, the amount needed for ten servings of Braised Beef with Dried Bamboo Shoots and Double-Pepper Beef.
He also got an extra four *jin* of pork ribs, enough for eight servings.
Braised Pork Ribs were delicious, but most people preferred the greasy, fragrant Twice-Cooked Pork. The bones were just superfluous, and the high price made it a bad deal.
For the first day, he was being conservative. Selling out of all the dishes he prepared would be considered a success.
In any case, he still had a hundred servings of Kneeling Beef as a backup, so custors would always have sothing to order.
Mrs. Zhao had no objections to the new nu and was very supportive of Zhou Yan’s plan.
But as she arrived at the restaurant on the back of the bicycle and saw the couple, Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua, across the street simring bone broth, her brow furrowed. "When did they move here? See soone taking a shit and your own asshole itches! See soone jump off a cliff and you want to spread your wings! Aren’t they afraid of taking a tumble!"
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