1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 223: Get a professional team!

Of course Ronan understood Blanco's 'hidden meaning'.

What he meant was that Lourmarin had finally survived the cold winter and was about to welcome spring.

"But a lot of preparations still need to be made before spring arrives." Ronan also looked at the charming valley in the distance.

Blanco paused while flipping through the menu and said seriously:

"If you encounter any difficulties or need any help, feel free to tell Sylvie and she will help you solve it."

Ronan smiled and said:
"Lourmarin needs proper parking and more shops for people to spend their time in. You have no idea how many complaints like this I heard today."

On the first day of opening, there were many areas of inadequate preparation, which resulted in a very slow 'table turnover' time today.

Ronan and Louis, who are good at dealing with people, spent the whole day outside comforting the waiting guests. They chatted with many people and heard many "suggestions for improvement" from them.

In addition to complaining about the long waiting time, their biggest complaint is the difficulty of parking in the village of Lourmarin.

Also, it only takes ten minutes to visit all the shops on the commercial street, so there aren't many places to kill time.

Blanco's frown relaxed a little, but not completely.

The reason for the relief is that the problems Ronan mentioned are all "sweet troubles", which shows that the commercial street has achieved the effect they expected.

The reason why it cannot be completely alleviated is that these two problems cannot be solved immediately.

The large number of customers visiting the restaurant caught not only Ronan off guard, but also the government.

In the past, the biggest attraction of Lourmarin was the castle outside the village. Cars could be parked nearby, and tourists could visit the castle and then walk around the village. This was a very reasonable travel route.

The government never thought of building a dedicated parking lot near the commercial street, thinking that there were enough parking spaces on the main road.

And more shops cannot solve the problem in a short period of time and will have to wait until the Commercial Street 2.0 plan is launched.

But both formal parking lots and new shops require financial support, and Lourmarin does not have that much money now.

Blanco sighed:

"We are evaluating the feature suggestions you made."

If you want to obtain funding, you have to find a way to get support from the Vaucluse Tourism Bureau, which has a large budget.

Blanco has been so busy lately because he is dealing with this matter.

Ronan poured Blanco a glass of pink wine as an appetizer before dinner and said with a smile:
"it is good."

Blanco's wife joined her husband at the restaurant a few minutes later.

Ronan didn't want to disrupt their couple's dinner.

Blanco also thought that today was not a good day for a chat, and Ronan should be busy with more important things. They agreed to come again in a few days and have a good chat then.

At 7:, there was no one waiting outside who needed Ronan's comfort, so he went to the kitchen to help.

As soon as Zoe saw Ronan, she broke down and said:
"We really have no ingredients this time. We have to close."

Ronan looked at the mess in front of him and said with a headache:

"What a horrible day."

The first day of business was not only 'terribly', but also extremely long.

The restaurant opened at around 9 o'clock in the morning, and it was also past 9 o'clock after seeing off the last wave of customers and finishing the cleaning. However, no one was in the mood to "celebrate" and they just wolfed down their work lunch.

However, the scene of eating at work was also very chaotic. Luo Tianhai said that the reasonable staffing of a restaurant of more than 300 square meters should be around 25 people, but there were more than 40 people sitting here eating. All of these people came to help today.

In the backyard, the father and son finally had time to have a good chat.

Luo Tianhai swallowed the last bite of rice and said angrily:
"Today is such a mess. It's all my fault."

Even though Ronan reminded him many times that the number of customers was not as small as he had imagined, he was still not fully prepared.

The first is the issue of manpower.

Ronan called a lot of people to help, but because Luo Tianhai was busy cooking, he had no time to assign work to them, so everyone was busy with whatever they saw. As a result, the work that could be done by 25 people took more than 40 people to barely handle.

The second problem is that the food preparation is seriously insufficient.

All day long today, Ronan kept placing orders with various suppliers, but it would take time for the last-minute orders to be delivered, so he had to ask his friends to help him go out and buy them first.

Theo who went to buy groceries had not returned yet, so Fabian set out again to buy flour. Then they met Pierre who was buying olive oil on the road. It was no exaggeration to say that the situation was a complete mess.

The third question is -

Ronan also finished the last bite of rice and said incoherently:
"The biggest problem is that you are too busy. Even if my mom and I occasionally help to cook a few dishes, it still doesn't help. You simply don't have the time and energy to 'see the big picture'."

The most important person in the operation of the restaurant is not Ronan, but Luo Tianhai.

But today, his "central brain" was tied tightly to the stove.

Even if the preparation of side dishes, vegetable cutting and plating were all arranged, he would still be too busy if he was only responsible for cooking.

We were lucky enough to have a smooth first day of business!

Luo Tianhai said angrily and amusedly:
"I thought the restaurant would only be half full. I'm the chef, and it's enough for you to help me occasionally. I didn't expect that there would be a constant flow of customers today."

Ronan put the bowl down:

"You've been too 'stingy' lately. I clearly reserved three stoves, but you insisted on taking them all by yourself."

Luo Tianhai laughed and said:
"Gaga ga! I'll go in and recruit workers now!"

There is no nightlife in Lourmarin.

But at nearly 10 o'clock, Ronan's restaurant was still brightly lit.

The hot scene of the restaurant made Luo Tianhai full of confidence in the business situation. He only used "temporary workers" because he was not confident in the business situation and to save costs, but now he can definitely recruit a professional team.

The people who came to help also guessed what Ronan and his son were going to say next, because the restaurant was so popular that there would definitely be a few lucky guys in the village who would be able to get a decent job.

However, they were greatly shocked by the number of workers Luo Tianhai was recruiting.

"Everyone has seen what happened today. Our restaurant is very popular and customers have given very good feedback after dining there. However, the problem has also been exposed - there is a lack of staff in both the kitchen and the front office."

Luo Tianhai sat down at a table, looking at the content he had just discussed with Ronan on his notebook and said:

“所以我们想招几个正式员工：领班1人，负责统筹前厅的工作和迎宾；服务员7人，每人服务20个餐位；后厨洗碗工2人、甜品助手1人、凉菜厨师1人、打杂3人、切菜3人、炒锅师傅2人——”

The above 20 people, plus Feng Zhen who works at the cashier, Leah who makes desserts, Ronan who fills in wherever needed, and himself, are the entire "main force" of the restaurant.

Cornell almost choked on his meal:

“You want to recruit 20 people?”

There is basically no recruitment in the village of Lourmaran. If there is, they will only look for relatives and friends. Many farmers can only go to other villages to "work" during the slack season.

But even a 'big company' like the Morley Brewing Cooperative doesn't have that many job opportunities.
Luo Tianhai closed the book and explained:

"This is the number determined after taking into account Ronan's and my training efforts and the current scale. The restaurant's manpower will continue to be optimized in the future. If all goes well, the number of employees may expand to 30-35 by next spring."

From the intensity of publicity, we can see that Ronan has high hopes for this restaurant. On the basis of "profitability", the restaurant will strive for higher and farther goals.

Luo Tianhai knew very well that in order to achieve higher goals, he had to refine the capabilities of his employees.

After hearing Luo Tianhai's "job recruitment declaration", the scene was in chaos.

The residents of Luberon are starved of jobs.

Maybe there are, but they are all in big villages. There are almost no opportunities to work close to home!
Who doesn’t want to make more money?

Everyone volunteered to recommend themselves.

Henry raised his hand excitedly:
"I can do anything! I'll go wherever there's a shortage of people!"

Cornell's 'shameless' recommendation of himself:

"Can I be a waiter? I will serve customers well, I swear!"

Theo put out his cigarette and said seriously:

"Excuse me, is there anyone more suitable to be the foreman than me?"

Luo Tianhai looked at Ronan somewhat awkwardly, as if asking for help.

Ronan pressed his hands down, signaling for silence. He had something to say:
“We need full-time staff.”

The ones who were shouting the loudest immediately fell silent when they heard the word "full-time employees".

Henry asked cautiously:

"Do I have to work full-time? Can I work full-time for a few months and wait until spring?"

His voice became smaller and smaller.
Ronan's eyes told him that there was no room for negotiation on this matter.

Ronan patiently explained the reason to everyone:

"Starting tomorrow, my father, Leah and I will train our employees, so everyone is actually in a 'part-time work and part-time study' state. We hope that the staff can be more stable."

"Leah is going to teach everyone how to make desserts?"

"Lao Luo and Ronan teach us how to cook Chinese food?"

"seriously??"

The scene became chaotic again.

In the eyes of the farmers, Ronan, Luo Tianhai and Leah all have special skills, unlike them.

If these people are willing to teach them things, wouldn't we be able to be as good as these people?

Pierre, who was sitting further away and drinking with Lucas, couldn't help but interrupt:

"Ronan, but it's hard to find full-time people in Lourmarin. At least it's hard to get 20 people together in a short period of time. Farmers are not good enough, and other men also have their own jobs. They may have to think about it before giving you an answer."

Seeing that his younger brother Ronan was in trouble, 'Big Brother' Lucas took the initiative to say:

"Tomorrow morning, Pierre and I will go to the village and ask around, and gather the men for you as soon as possible."

Ronan shook his head:

"No need to wait until tomorrow."

He walked up to Nicola and Flossie who were sitting with Leah and asked seriously:

"Nicola, Flossie, would you like to come to the kitchen and help Leah and me?"

Lucas was so scared that he almost dropped the cup next to him:

"You're looking for a woman?"

In Luberon, even if women work, they work with the men in their families, or do manual work at home to supplement the family income.

Louis smiled and put his arm around Leah's shoulders:

"Why not? Leah is now a formal pastry chef, and she will go to Avignon to take the CFPP exam next month."

Ronan asked the Lourmarins who all had different expressions in the room, not understanding:

"It has nothing to do with being a man or a woman. A family can have two incomes. What's wrong with that?"

(End of this chapter)