1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 111 If the guests don't come, then go find them! (First update!)

"This braised pig's trotter is so delicious! Did Zhou Yan make it? How is he so good at it!" Meng Anhe exclaimed sincerely, holding a braised pig's trotter that was half-eaten.

Lin Jingxing and Lin Bingwen, brothers, each grabbed half a pig's trotter, their mouths and faces glistening with oil, and nodded in agreement:

"good to eat!"

“It smells so good!”

Tonight at dinner, Lin Zhiqiang brought back two braised pig's trotters, which surprised Meng Anhe and her two children greatly.

"Zhou Yan just launched this yesterday. I saw his sister sitting at the door eating it so deliciously. Knowing you like it, I ordered two from him yesterday," Lin Zhiqiang said with a smile. He doesn't like pig's trotters, but he bought them specifically for his wife and children.

"Zhou Momo's brother is amazing!" Lin Bingwen looked up at Lin Jingxing with a serious expression and said, "Brother, are you really not going to become a chef? Whether our family can eat braised pig's trotters every day depends on you!"

"I'm not going! I want to be a scientist!" Lin Jingxing rolled his eyes at him. "You love to eat so much, why don't you become a chef? That way you can eat braised pig's trotters every meal."

"Really?" Lin Bingwen was stunned, his eyes lighting up.

“Study hard! If you keep thinking about this and that, I’ll punch you!” Meng Anhe stretched out her fist and waved it in front of his face.

“Oh…” Lin Bingwen shrank his neck.

“Xia Yao must love it too. She loves braised pork ribs and braised pig's trotters the most.” Meng Anhe smiled. “It’s a good thing they live far away, otherwise their stomachs would definitely be ruined if they ate it every day.”

……

"Revenue of 501.2 yuan, profit of 262.6 yuan! Not bad, we've successfully broken through 500!"

Zhou Yan closed the ledger, beaming with joy.

With the addition of Comrade Lao Zhou, the revenue from braised meat and cold dishes has repeatedly broken new records, and today it has even successfully exceeded 150 yuan, becoming a major driver of the restaurant's revenue growth.

The reputation of braised dishes and cold chicken salad has spread rapidly in the past two days, resulting in rapid growth.

However, Zhou Yan was not overly optimistic, as such abnormal growth could peak at any time and then begin to decline rapidly.

Pig head meat costs 2.5 yuan per pound. Even if you only buy 3 ounces, it will still cost 75 cents. No one will buy it every day.

If you find it delicious, repurchasing it once a week is within a reasonable range.

For example, the sales of twice-cooked pork with garlic sprouts, which saw a rapid increase last week, have started to decline in the past two days. Zhou Yan has reduced the amount of pork belly prepared to avoid wasting ingredients.

Of course, this is also related to the new dishes on the menu. Customers will try new dishes, which will also impact some of the existing dishes.

Running a restaurant involves a highly dynamic process of ingredient procurement. As the owner, he handles the chef, procurement, and finance all at once, making daily inventory checks and forecasts before going to bed extremely important.

There are about six ounces of pig's head left today. I'll have Zhao Hong take it back for the old man and the others to have with their drinks.

The number of pig heads will decrease by one tomorrow.

The hot-selling pig liver received good feedback; many customers wanted to order it last night but couldn't. We'll order an extra six pounds tomorrow, increasing the supply by ten portions.

With the textile factory as his backing, this is probably the upper limit of his current revenue; it's unlikely he can achieve any significant breakthroughs.

Now, the number of customers who are not textile factory workers is gradually increasing.

For example, when eating noodles in the morning, you can see a few people who aren't wearing factory uniforms; they're probably teachers and civil servants from the town's schools.

There are fewer customers at lunchtime, but in the evenings, groups of three to five people come to dine together, which is a significant increase compared to last week, contributing several tens of dollars to the revenue.

This is a good thing, indicating that Zhou Erwa Restaurant is expanding its reach within the Suzhou area.

However, the people with the greatest spending power in the entire Suji area are the textile factory workers.

To earn more money, you need to consider high-net-worth clients outside of Suzhou's jurisdiction.

For example, Jiaozhou!
In this era when transportation was inconvenient and people relied on their legs and bicycles to get around, small restaurants in town were practically impossible to find.

Except for a few gourmets, even the most delicious food can be blocked by the journey.

If the guests don't come, he can deliver the food.

His grandmother used to sell braised meat in Suji, supplying braised meat to several restaurants in Jiaozhou. He still remembers that.

I wonder if those restaurants survived the turbulent times, and if the new owners are still willing to come to Suji to get braised meat.

Supplying restaurants means they're big clients, buying ten or twenty kilograms at a time. They just need to braise it, no need to cut it.

Even if the price is a little lower, it's still a good way to make money.

Zhou Yan is incredibly enthusiastic about making money.

Tomorrow I need to hire a bricklayer to build the walls and apply the whitewash; that'll be a big expense.

We plan to add some more furniture later, such as a wardrobe for Aunt Zhao so she can hang up her clothes and avoid them getting wrinkled when she takes them out to wear.

As the weather gets colder, Comrade Lao Zhou and Zhou Momo have run out of winter clothes, so we need to get them some.

It's a bit boring at night. If I could get a TV, even just to watch the news, it would make things a bit more lively.

Living in a small town means having very few channels to receive information.

We should still watch the news and open our eyes to the world.

In my past life, I only cared about making money. When I wasn't filming, I ate pork trotters rice three times a day. I died without ever spending the million in my bank account.

In this life, I earn money and spend it with my family, feeling that every penny I earn is meaningful, and I feel a great sense of accomplishment.

After counting the money and putting it into the money box, Zhou Yan hung a small lock on it, then ran to the kitchen, took out all the kitchen knives, and started sharpening them with a whetstone.

Shh! Shh! Shh!

Zhou Yan hunched over, holding a kitchen knife. The blade was being honed rhythmically back and forth on the whetstone, becoming visibly sharp and gleaming red under the light.

He had learned to sharpen knives from his master, but because his skills were so poor, his master never let him touch his knives.

But today, as he held the knife and stood before the whetstone, he felt a sense of oneness with the blade. With each stroke, he could grasp the optimal angle and force, and possessed an incredibly keen sensitivity to the knife's condition.

Three minutes later, he picked up the slicing knife in his hand.

A razor-sharp slicing knife

The system even gave an evaluation.

Zhou Yan: ?
These skills can even be linked together?

That's great. If I don't feel like cooking anymore, I can just carry a whetstone and go from street to street sharpening people's knives.

Sharpening knives is quite stress-relieving.

Zhou Yan picked up the second knife and began sharpening it again.

Comrade Xiao Zhou has four knives: a slicing knife, a cleaver, a boning knife, and another slicing knife.

The other slicing knife, which was originally unused, is now being used by Comrade Zhou to slice braised meat.

Comrade Lao Zhou wouldn't let him touch the butcher's knife, but he couldn't control the slicing knife; he sharpened them both up.

Rinse all the sharpened knives thoroughly with clean water, then dry them with gauze and insert them into the knife holder.

Looking at the gleaming blade, Zhou Yan lay back down to sleep, completely satisfied.

The tips and tricks from Wealth Mall are definitely worth learning!

It really works.

……

As dawn broke, Master Zhou and Master Zhou went out to buy groceries.

Aunt Zhao put Zhou Momo in her backpack and followed her out the door.

"Mom, we can just bring the bowl back on the way. Why did you take Momo out with you?" Zhou Yan asked, looking at Aunt Zhao sitting in the back seat of his father's car, puzzled.

“You don’t know anything. Your grandma treasures that set of bowls. If you put it in her basket and break it, you’ll be in for a beating,” Aunt Zhao laughed. “I’ll go with her and carry it back with me. I’ll return it to her as soon as I’m done using it.”

"Okay." Zhou Yan nodded and didn't say anything more.

Zhou Yan went to buy beef, and Zhou Miao took Zhao Tieying to borrow plates. By the time he finished buying the meat and came out, they had also returned.

Zhao Tieying held a blue cloth bundle carefully in her arms. When she saw Zhou Yan, she smiled and said, "I borrowed it. Your grandma said that if it's missing a piece, you have to kneel in the ancestral hall."

"Then you must hold it carefully." Zhou Yan became a little nervous upon hearing this, which showed how much the old lady valued it.

After loading the beef into Comrade Zhou's car, Zhou Yan didn't dare let him wander around aimlessly, and told them to go back to the restaurant first.

When he returned to the restaurant after buying groceries, a large blue-and-white patterned bowl was already placed on the table in the middle.

Zhou Momo leaned over the table, her eyes sparkling. Hearing a noise, she turned to look at Zhou Yan, pointed her round little finger at the bowl on the table, and said in a childish voice, "Brother, look, a beautiful bowl!"

Zhou Yan parked his old bicycle and also went to the table to take a look.

This bowl is indeed beautiful, with a delicate body, a warm white glaze, elegant blue and white decoration, and graceful floral patterns.

Zhou Yan didn't know much about porcelain and antiques, but he could tell at a glance that this was definitely a good item!
I've never seen this set of bowls on the table during holidays or festivals, which means it was a treasured possession of the old lady, which is why it's been preserved in such good condition.

Zhou Yan reached out to pick it up and take a look.

"Guoguo! Don't move!" Zhou Momo shouted nervously, glancing towards the kitchen and whispering, "Mom said if you dare to move, she'll spank you!"

"Little one, don't move. Adults can move a little." Zhou Yan picked up the bowl and glanced at the bottom. The six large characters 'Made in the Yongzheng Reign of the Great Qing Dynasty' were quite eye-catching.

If it were passed down for two more generations, it would probably be quite valuable. Zhou Yan decided that when he returned the bowl, he would remind the old lady to keep it safe and not let someone swap it for an enamel basin.

Fake antiques weren't so rampant back then, and items from the Shang and Zhou dynasties were rare, as were items from the previous week.

Carefully wrap the bowl and place it on the top shelf of the cabinet. The tableware problem is solved. Now we just need to wait for He Zhiyuan and the others to come and take pictures.

Every morning is the busiest time, with stir-frying meat sauce and toppings, pulling noodles, cooking noodles, making beef broth, and braising meat. The schedule is packed.

After closing for business in the morning, bricklayer Master Zhang and his apprentice brought bricks, cement, and river sand. During the break in business hours, they called two laborers to move the bricks to the second floor.

The cement and sand were mixed on the dam near the river, and then the workers carried it upstairs.

"Master Zhang, are we starting work this morning?" Zhou Yan offered Master Zhang and his apprentice a cigarette. Yesterday, he had said he would only be free in the afternoon.

“Since you need to stay here urgently, we’ll definitely arrange for you to stay here first,” Master Zhang said with a smile. “Today we’ll finish building the wall for you, and then we’ll plaster the other walls on the second floor with lime. The weather has been dry lately, so it will dry in two days if we ventilate it.”

“Okay!” Zhou Yan nodded. Of course, he hoped it would be as soon as possible, otherwise sleeping on the first floor all the time was not a good thing.

"You've started selling braised meat?" Master Zhang asked, glancing at the menu on the wall.

“Yes, it’s been on sale for three days now,” Zhou Yan nodded.

"I'll buy three ounces of pig's head meat tonight and let my old man taste it to see if it's authentic," Master Zhang said with a smile, before leading his apprentice upstairs to work.

The upstairs renovation is in full swing.

Around ten o'clock, He Zhiyuan arrived with Xiao Li, carrying a camera.

The small square table for displaying braised meat has been moved to the doorway, with the large, washed porcelain bowl placed in the center of the table.

"This blue and white porcelain bowl is so beautiful!" He Zhiyuan's eyes lit up as he looked at the bowl. "It would be perfect for filming beef stew with pork belly!"

Zhou Yan changed into Old Zhou's new chef's uniform and came out with a smile: "Editor-in-Chief He, shall we start filming now?"

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)