1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 48 Unsolved Problems

"It's Freddy." The man at the stall imitated Freddy's way of speaking. "Every time I see him recently, he mentions Chinese food. He says that after eating Chinese-style beef, he thinks it's a waste to see beef cooked in other ways. This guy is a real gourmet. He makes me curious."

He asked Ronan sincerely:
"Is there any way I can try the beef you cook?"

Ronan and Zoe looked at each other calmly.

Even people from other villages come to have dinner together?
After that, a few more people came and talked to Ronan. They also heard from Freddie that Ronan’s Chinese food was delicious.

Freddy's slaughterhouse supplies the entire Provence region. The people and clients he comes into contact with are either doing business related to "eating" or are people who love to eat. Whenever they meet, the topic of food cannot be avoided.

Ever since he tasted Chinese food, Freddy tells everyone he meets that he can't help himself from the sense of superiority that "I understand it while others don't."

This is a very ordinary matter and should end with a few words.

But last week Ronan sold a top-quality truffle worth more than 40,000 francs, and all the "gourmets" in Provence were talking about this topic.

At this time, Freddy's sense of superiority came back again.

"You mean the top-quality truffle at the market in Mena Village? Of course I know. The guy who sells it is the guy who can cook Chinese food. We were drinking together yesterday. He is my best friend."

The hot topic figure and the hot topic event point to the same person, so it is difficult for Ronan to keep a low profile.

"It looks like someone has already made the choice for you." Zoe said, looking at Ronan's profile.

After returning home, Ronan seriously considered the feasibility of doing things related to "eating" at the market.

Luo Tianhai is in the catering business. Ronan has been influenced by him over the years and has a superficial understanding of this.

He remembered that his father often said that site selection is extremely important for a restaurant.

For example, cooking Chinese food in a Chinese-populated neighborhood in Paris is a good choice.

Chinese cuisine is not very popular in Provence, but according to feedback from French people who have eaten dumplings, braised beef in soy sauce and chicken, they can accept this taste and like it quite well.

Moreover, the Mena Village Market has a huge flow of people, which also meets the prerequisites for catering.

After considering the objective factors, let’s look at the subjective issues.

This is more of a headache, as Ronan faces many problems.

First, no matter it is braised beef or mouth-watering chicken, the production process is relatively complicated, especially the beef in Provence is not cheap, it costs 70 francs per kilogram, and it needs to be sold at a very high price to make a profit. This leads to the second question - will anyone pay for such a high price?
The prices of many things in Provence are different from those in Paris. Stone furniture has given Ronan a great impression. After moving to Provence, Ronan seldom goes out to eat. He eats at home or at friends' houses. He does not understand the prices here, and even consulting his parents cannot help him.

However, gourmet food is different from truffles. There is no fixed price. Even if the food is delicious, if the price is too high, it will affect sales, and if the price is too low, it will be a waste of labor. There are so many things that one needs to know in advance.

The third and most difficult point is that neither Ronan’s hands-on ability nor the cooking conditions in his home support him in doing high-intensity gourmet work.

Ronan is very slow in processing ingredients and his knife skills are not good. It’s fine for people to eat it casually in private, but it would be embarrassing to sell it outside.

Before setting up the stall, a lot of preparation work needs to be done, but his kitchen is small and old and is not up to the task.

"It seems that the thing can be done, but my personal conditions cannot support it." Ronan gave the final conclusion.

As hesitant, he glanced at the calendar on the table.

March has already begun, and April will usher in a small travel peak due to Easter, followed by the travel peak of summer. Ronan does not have much time left to think and search, and the time can even be described as urgent.

Recently, he has had drinks with many people and chatted with many people, and his feeling is that Zoe's advice is indeed the best.

In Provence, things related to "eating" are the easiest to make money, and truffles and grapes are among them.

"Then give it a try?" Ronan stroked his chin. He couldn't think of a better choice and Freddy had already spread his reputation for him.

If you're not trying to make some money from this, do you really want to treat so many people to free meals?
The people of Provence don't know what 'politeness' means, they will really come knocking on your door!
Every time he receives a group of guests, they will consume two kilograms of his beef and five or six bottles of wine. No, no, no, I'm so scared!

After making the decision, Ronan worked through the three difficulties again.

In fact, the most difficult difficulty three is the easiest to solve.

Since he is slow in hands-on skills and not good at knife skills, then he can upgrade to the next level of [Cooking]. Anyway, he has no other choice now.

The experience needed for upgrading can be obtained by visiting a large number of restaurants in a large number of villages, which can solve the second problem - to understand the price situation in Provence in detail.

After visiting restaurants and cafes of all sizes, perhaps the first difficulty could be solved. Even if he still didn't know what to sell, he could ask his parents for help. There would always be a solution.

As for the food making environment
Ronan stood up, walked to the kitchen door, crossed his arms over his chest, and sighed repeatedly.

The kitchen should be the first part of the main building of the house. It is completely in line with the cooking habits of the residents hundreds of years ago and has nothing to do with modernization.

There was no exhaust fan, the stove was rusty, not to mention tiles and floors, which were nonexistent.

The kitchenware, stove, countertops, wall floors can all be upgraded, but the kitchen is too small and there is not enough space for operation.

He looked into the kitchen and then back at the empty dining room.

Huh?
The floor plan of the whole house appeared in his mind.

If the wall between the kitchen and the dining room is demolished, the area of the kitchen and the dining room will increase at the same time, allowing for a larger work surface.

Everything is ready. It's right outside the vineyard.

However, this would mean Ronan would face two even bigger problems.

How much will such a large project cost?

This is not a job he can do alone.
And it is still the peak period of "decoration", where can he find craftsmen?
Elena casually threw her newly bought off-white cold stone brooch on the table and took off her earrings in front of the dressing mirror angrily:

"You ignorant fellows, I have worn it for so many days and no one has praised it for being pretty. I bought it for 2000 francs, which is enough to buy a gold necklace!"

After a while of arguing, there was a knock on the door, and then a middle-aged woman poked her head in:
"Elena, someone is looking for you."

Elena doesn't have many friends, and the ones who come to her house are a few "ordinary girls" who are used to praising her to the skies.

Some of them naively hoped to get in touch with what Elena called the "upper class" through her, and some wanted to be her sister-in-law, legally or illegally. But no matter what the purpose was, they were people Elena looked down upon.

She casually put on a cloak, and when she saw that the person coming was Ronan, she immediately turned around and ran up.

I didn’t put on beautiful makeup!
Ronan had his back to the stairs. Hearing the noise, he turned his head and saw Elena running away. He tentatively called out:
"Elena?"

Elena turned around awkwardly and said with a stiff smile:

"Hello, Ronan."

Ronan showed a sunny smile:

"Hello."

Hello, Miss Irene, the most 'all-powerful' lady in Provence.

(End of this chapter)