1984: Starting from a bankrupt Sichuan restaurant

Chapter 41 Seeing people makes my shit hook itch!
"Uncle Lin, you've come at the right time. I was just about to change the menu tomorrow. We won't be selling noodles at noon and in the evening; we'll be selling stir-fries and braised dishes instead," Zhou Yan said with a smile. "We'll have braised pork ribs and braised beef with dried bamboo shoots, stir-fried beef with minced pork and pepper, crucian carp with mint, and braised beef that can be served as soup or a main dish. That'll be four dishes and one soup. If there aren't too many people, that should be enough."

The three noodle toppings and sauces were quite tasty, each a fine dish on its own. The braised beef was also delicious. Lin Zhiqiang pondered for a moment and asked, "Xiao Zhou, is this braised crucian carp with mint flavor a new dish you learned? How does it taste?"

"Don't worry about that. As long as you like the taste of agastache, you'll be satisfied with this fish," Zhou Yan said confidently.

“Okay, I trust you. There are seven of us, so we’ll just order these five dishes.” Lin Zhiqiang said with a smile, “After I get off work tomorrow night, I’ll pick up the two kids and come over for dinner.”

"Okay, I'll prepare the groceries for you tomorrow." Zhou Yan nodded, watching Lin Zhiqiang leave with a smile on her face.

The menu hasn't even been changed yet, but they've already opened for business. Uncle Lin really is his uncle.

Back at the shop, Zhou Yan found a ten-centimeter-wide strip of wood, borrowed some tools from the security department next door, and then cut the strip into twenty-centimeter-long wooden signs. He punched a hole, hung a rope on it, and wrote the dish name and price on each sign.

Tear down the original menu, nail a row of nails to the wall, hang the signs for the three types of noodles together, and hang the other dishes in a separate row.

Zhou Yan pondered for a while when writing down the price.

The braised beef with bamboo shoots and stir-fried beef with two kinds of peppers are priced at 1 yuan, but the braised pork ribs with three liang (150 grams) seems a bit small, as this is a pure meat dish, while the braised beef with bamboo shoots has bamboo shoots making up more than half of it.

In the end, he increased the amount of pork ribs in one serving to half a pound, and the price of braised pork ribs rose to 1.6 yuan, with the cost accounting for 1.1 yuan.

Even Zhou Yan couldn't help but sigh at the pricing; it was incredibly reasonable.

This is the limitation of the times. Such delicious braised pork ribs, if it were in later generations, he would dare to sell it at double the cost and then double the price again, selling it at a high price and at a high quality.

Suji is an important economic town in Jiaozhou. Jiaozhou Textile Factory is the leading enterprise in the silk industry in southern Sichuan, generating more than ten million US dollars in foreign exchange annually. It is profitable and is still expanding rapidly, with a large workforce and high wages.

Many workers come to the factory from Jiaozhou every day to work.

In a typical small town, it would be impossible to open a Sichuan restaurant at this critical juncture.

Farmers don't have money in their pockets to buy your 60-cent bowl of noodles.

The crucian carp with mint is 2 yuan per serving, while the beef with pork belly is still sold at 0.6 yuan per serving.

The sign was hung on the wall, and the red lettering was eye-catching and attractive.

The fixed menu has been replaced with wooden signs; this is Zhou Yan's preparation for introducing new dishes tomorrow.

To minimize waste and ensure that all the ingredients prepared each day are used up, he controls the amount of ingredients purchased in the early stages.

Once the dish is sold out, remove the sign and move to the clearance section so customers can order what's left.

This not only makes it more convenient for customers to order food, but also avoids the hassle of repeated confirmations between the front desk and the kitchen.

If you don't have a refrigerator, this is the best way to ensure the freshness of your ingredients.

Once the business stabilizes, the daily consumption of various vegetables will stabilize, and then gradually increase until a balance is reached.

Food waste directly impacts a restaurant's profits, and Zhou Yan would never consider eating the unsold food himself; that would be far too unprofessional.

"Xiao Zhou, what's all this banging around for?" Luo Weidong, the head of the security department, peeked inside from the doorway and asked with a smile.

"Section Chief Luo, I'm changing the menu. We're planning to start selling braised and stir-fried dishes tomorrow," Zhou Yan replied with a smile, tidying up a few tools.

"New dishes, huh?" Luo Weidong walked in, looked at the wooden sign hanging on the wall, and said with a smile, "There aren't many options, they've been quite cautious this time."

Zhou Yan's gift of a bowl of braised beef noodles brought him closer to the security department. Luo Weidong also tried the noodles once, and found them to be quite delicious.

However, when Zhou Yan's restaurant first opened, Luo Weidong also ate there once, and the food was really hard to describe.

There are dozens of dishes on the menu, but I haven't seen anyone say that any of them are delicious.

This time, however, he was smarter and changed the topping to braised dishes and the meat sauce to stir-fried dishes, aiming for stability.

The price isn't cheap.

The braised beef in the cafeteria costs 80 cents a serving with a ticket, which is 20 cents cheaper than at Zhou Yan's shop. Last time he ate beef and bamboo shoot noodles, and the taste was undeniably better than the cafeteria's. The extra 20 cents was acceptable.

"I'll take the tools back with me. I'll try your fish next time I come." Luo Weidong took the tools from Zhou Yan.

"Thank you, Section Chief Luo," Zhou Yan said with a smile, seeing Luo Weidong out the door.

After sweeping the floor, Zhou Yan went out and found a reliable fish stall, arranging for twenty crucian carp to be delivered to the restaurant at noon the next day.

He wanted eight-ounce crucian carp, good quality farmed fish, which would be perfect for making crucian carp with mint.

Zhou Yan wrote another notice and posted it on the wooden board, stating that starting tomorrow, Zhou Erwa Restaurant will only serve noodles in the morning.

All preparations were complete, and the sun was already setting.

Zhou Yan lay down on a recliner by the door to rest. The textile factory was closed today, and there were no vendors at the entrance; it was deserted.

Only at the newly moved-in stall across the street, Zhou Liangliang and his wife were busy wiping down the tables, chairs, and benches.

Zhou Yan's lips curled into a sneer. This guy really moves fast. He came to inspect the place yesterday, and he's already moved his stall here today.

Zhou Liangliang also noticed Zhou Yan sitting at the restaurant entrance and said with a smile, "Zhou Yan, we're setting up a stall here. We're family, you shouldn't mind, right?"

"What do I care? It's a textile factory area. You can set up your stall if you want. Can I stop you?" Zhou Yan laughed.

He doesn't have that kind of scheming friend.

Zhou Yan glanced at the sign hanging on the stall: hot pot + noodles. This guy wanted both, so he bought it from him.

However, the more this happened, the less optimistic Zhou Yan was about him.

This guy couldn't get any soup at Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai's stalls, so he thought moving to the entrance of the textile factory would kill him.
Moreover, I hadn't seen him selling noodles before, so I guess he added it on the spot because he saw that his noodle business was doing well.

This was within Zhou Yan's expectations. Even if it wasn't Zhou Liangliang, it would have been Zhou Mingming or Zhou Tiantian. That's how it's always been when you're setting up a stall.

Zhou Yan enjoyed the breeze for a while, then went inside to cook dinner.

“I don’t see Zhou Yan is nervous at all. Is our business really better than the docks selling hot pot here?” Zhou Liangliang’s wife, Wu Guihua, whispered.

"Don't worry, Zhou Yan sells it for six cents a bowl, and we sell the same soup pot and noodles for five cents, which is one cent cheaper than him. Business will definitely be better!" Zhou Liangliang said confidently.

I finished the preparations today and contacted the noodle factory. I'll deliver the noodles to them tomorrow morning.

On the first day of selling, he didn't order much, just thirty catties of flour, enough to make a hundred bowls.

……

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Comrade Xiao Zhou rode his old bicycle out to buy groceries.

Today's noodles, toppings, and meat sauce are only enough for eighty people. If they don't sell out in the morning, the rest will be their work meals.

Add three extra pounds each of beef brisket and hanging tenderloin; this is the amount needed for ten servings of braised beef with dried bamboo shoots and double-pepper beef.

We ordered an extra four pounds of pork ribs, enough for eight servings.

Braised pork ribs are delicious, but most people prefer the oily and fragrant twice-cooked pork. The bones are just extra and expensive, so it's not worth it.

On the first day, he was rather conservative, considering it a success if he could sell all the prepared vegetables.

Anyway, there's a minimum of 100 servings of braised beef, so customers will always have something to order.

Aunt Zhao had no objection to the new menu and fully supported Zhou Yan's plan.

However, when she arrived at the restaurant on the back of the bicycle and saw Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua, a couple simmering bone broth across from her, she frowned and said, "When did they move here? They're so eager to get their hands on someone! They want to spread their wings after seeing someone jump off a cliff! Aren't they afraid of getting hurt?"

(End of this chapter)