Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 249 Restaurant Positioning Selection: The First Wave is Workers? So That's How It Is (First Update)
"Judges' Explanation Panel"

The seven judges who were able to speak normally all breathed a sigh of relief as they faced the images in the control room.

After yesterday's competition, all seven judges experienced varying degrees of indigestion.

Cheng Hsieh-yun, being elderly, was in the most obvious condition, and at this moment, she was wrapped in a blanket and holding a cup of hot tea in the "commentary seat".

Among them, Ding Yongxing, the youngest, was in the best condition. Apart from slight bloating in his stomach, he had no other adverse reactions.

Facing the camera, Tan Zhifeng glanced at the others around him and smiled as he spoke.

"If you ask me, the next Hua 5 level competition should revert to the previous regional format. Otherwise, the pressure of seven of us facing over a hundred players is really considerable."

Yin Shengjiang took a sip of hot tea and then slowly exhaled.

"It's not that we're completely incapable, it's just that the second game was so close to the first, making it difficult for us to react quickly."

Hearing the two casually discussing the rules, Cheng Xieyun coughed.

"Alright, let's not dwell on the past rounds. Now it's the start of a new round, and we need to update the audience on the current situation."

"Come on, Xiao Ding, tell me about the contestants you're currently interested in!"

Upon hearing that he had been called out, Ding Yongxing quickly pulled up several screens.

"Thanks to a good night's rest, everyone is in much better condition."

"Faced with such ambiguous exam questions, many people have discovered ways to manipulate the situation."

"First, there's the 'gift group,' represented by Xia Ming. They're using eye-catching promotional tactics on top of their existing menu to attract diners' attention."

"Of course, there are categories within this. Yang Yanbin gave us 'napkins,' while Chen Xiaodong gave us 'wet wipes,' both of which fall under the service category."

"Luo Hui sent actual 'snacks,' while Lin Chao sent 'side dishes,' which were fish. That's the type of complimentary gift they were offering."

At this point, Ding Yongxing paused.
"But in reality, the things these people give away all require a certain cost to cover. Napkins, wet wipes, snacks, and side dishes all require you to purchase their other dishes before you can give them away."

"But Xia Ming doesn't seem to have any requirements regarding the water."

Upon hearing this, Tong Song coughed slightly.

"So, he's planning to supply an unlimited amount? Is that even possible?"

Tan Zhifeng, who was standing to the side, tapped on the table.

"Based on the typical kitchen inventory of a 'Chef's Hall,' there are 30 sets of standard glasses (6 in total), meaning there will be 180 glasses."

"Theoretically, these standard cups should be sufficient, but they might present some cleaning challenges."

"However, since it is equipped with a dishwasher, it can still meet basic needs for rotation."

Ding Yongxing nodded.

"That's true, because the 'Chef's Hall' banquet hall has a fixed capacity of 150 people, which means that 200 people couldn't possibly arrive all at once."

"This also closely simulates the current state of restaurant operations, since it is generally rare for a hundred people to order food and dine at the same time, except for company team building events that are booked in advance."

"Based on the detailed schedule we obtained, the 200 diners will actually enter the banquet hall in batches over an hour and a half, which effectively gives the contestants half an hour to catch their breath."

Upon hearing Ding Yongxing's words, Yin Shengjiang blinked.

"Actually, it doesn't take half an hour, because the contestants also need to process the returned plates. Although the kitchen is equipped with 5 dishwashers with 18 plates each, if the contestants use too many plates, we can't supply them all."

"This involves a contestant's considerations when choosing dishes."

In fact, all the judges knew that this question was to recreate the situation of the "back kitchen" to a great extent, but the difference was that the chef was playing a multi-talented role at this time.

They not only need to learn from the lobby manager how to attract customers through the menu, but also need to consider the intensity of cooking that one person can handle in a short period of time.

It's important to know that although the previous group of diners cannot communicate with the next group, all diners have the "good review" function.

Each diner has two electronic hearts, which they can give to a dish after their meal.

The top ten dishes with the highest total number of hearts will be projected onto the surrounding large screens.

If the number of hearts is the same, the dish that sells less will be selected.

In the first round, since there were no red hearts, the large screens around the perimeter scrolled randomly, meaning all 48 menu items received equal exposure.

As the judges explained, netizens gradually understood its complex comprehensive assessment mechanism.

Simply put, this is a real-life simulation game where you start as a roadside stall and grow into a chef's small restaurant.

Yes, leaving all the procedures to the chefs themselves indicates that a comprehensive evaluation of all processes is necessary.

Stir-fry! This is absolutely the king of stir-fry! Fast service, intense flavor, wide appeal, simply unbeatable!

[The person upstairs clearly has no experience running a restaurant. This question seems to be about comparing food serving speed, but upon closer examination, the first thing to consider should be the restaurant's positioning.]

[Positioning? What does that mean? Isn't the more you sell, the better? 1200 people can't possibly consume all that!]

[Don't be ridiculous! You think 1200 people will all order from your place? You're going to copy Brother Xia and serve only water? Every customer has their own preferences. When everything is unknown, you can't blindly gamble on customers' choices. Instead, you need to figure out what kind of people you want to make money from.]

[That's right, the logic is the same as opening a restaurant: first, define your positioning—whether it's a roadside stir-fry or a fine dining restaurant, the price fluctuations and profit margins will be different.]

[With 1200 customers, that averages out to 25 people per restaurant. Of course, in this kind of competitive environment, some restaurants make a killing, while others go bankrupt. If the menu doesn't suit the customers' tastes, you might not sell a single order.]

[I thought about it for a bit, why not just choose Michelin's beautiful rice dish for the exam question? We make hundreds of dollars per order, and the raw materials are cheap!]

[Is the person upstairs a college student? Don't they have any life experience at all? Michelin can raise prices because of its reputation and brand premium; that money goes into marketing and promotion. This competition didn't have any marketing or promotion.]

[Yes, there are some. "Celebrity chefs" have a natural advantage, perhaps because their fame is slightly wider and they get some initial orders. But after looking around, I found that Brother Xia is probably the most well-known.]

Xia Ming is only relatively well-known online; when it comes to real-life massage, I still prefer experienced masters! Master Lin Chao's technique is exceptionally steady.

[This is a problem that can't be solved by arguing; it's beyond simple calculation. It requires the chef to have extremely strong adaptability. This question is definitely more difficult than the previous two combined!]

Just like what netizens have said, this "kitchen menu" model is actually quite dependent on the chef's own ideas.

After some deliberation, Chen Xiaodong chose the "mid-range" pricing model.

In his opinion, an average of 450 yuan is enough to eat very well. Setting the price of a dish at around 200 yuan is more in line with the chef's effort and overall working hours.

In comparison, Yang Yanbin and Bai Heng were much more down-to-earth.

Bai Heng's family owns a small restaurant, so she knows that diners usually have a psychological anchor when it comes to food prices. "You can't bet that everyone is a white-collar worker with a monthly income of 20,000 yuan. Even if they are, how much they are willing to pay for a meal still needs to conform to their personal habits."

There are people who earn tens of thousands a day and run roadside stalls every day, and she feels that the average of 450 yuan is actually very unrealistic.

Xia Ming, who was preparing the ingredients, was well aware of this.

"What do you mean by 450 yuan per person!?"

"That means distributing 54 price coupons to 1200 people. How much room for manipulation is there in that?"

"It's possible that one person has 850 yuan, while another person only has 50 yuan, or even less."

Xia Ming knew that the organizers had divided the participants into six groups, which was definitely not simply to control the number of participants in a single match.

They are very likely testing the chefs' ability to adapt to changing situations by dividing the crowd.

"Suppose there are elderly people, children, even women, professional internet celebrities, all kinds of people, and their needs are different. You definitely can't cover all of them with one menu."

"So, the competition organizers are actually using this format to examine the chefs' self-positioning."

"Those who are a bit arrogant, who think their reputation and dishes are good, go for the high-end market and acquire more customers through positive reviews and word of mouth."

"For something simpler, we can cater to the general public. The chefs themselves will work harder, but by focusing on volume, they can still make a considerable profit."

"This doesn't even take into account the added value of the ingredients. If you can sell stir-fried vegetables at the price of sea cucumbers, then you're really capable. If you can't sell them, then you should just go and try your luck in the market."

"Or, you could take a different approach, finding ways to differentiate yourself from others in terms of dish name, menu style, chef's personal style, and service, creating your own 'unique feature' and attracting customers accordingly."

"Of course, there was an element of luck involved, but that was only at the beginning."

Xia Ming knew that the organizers' right to modify the menu was essentially a way of controlling the element of luck.

After all, two chances are enough for most rational chefs to find the right direction. If they really can't win in the end, they can't blame anyone else.

Therefore, for Xia Ming, preliminary probing was essential.

“I have a million ways to get money out of diners’ pockets, but to keep the total amount under control without any pressure, information gathering is also an indispensable part.”

Therefore, Xia Ming's initial menu had a very wide range of options.
The first dish is the famous "Glassy Chrysanthemum Cup".

The main reason is that this dish looks very expensive, which fits everyone's perception of high-end Chinese cuisine.

This segment targets users who spend a lot of time online, have high standards for cooking, or are people who have come to take photos and check in after participating in a judging competition.

In theory, it is possible for a company to pay a premium specifically for attractive customers.

In reality, he didn't expect to actually sell many portions of this dish.

After all, he set the price at 666 yuan.

"If the diners' money is really unevenly distributed, then the 666 yuan consumption may not actually be all that's needed for the most affluent group."

"After all, people who can acquire such a large amount of currency are likely to be of high status, and they are willing to pay a premium for food."

Xia Ming didn't set the price at 888 yuan, mainly because he didn't know how outrageous the allocation would be. After all, the total amount was only 54 yuan, and some people were well-off while others were not.

He even suspected that if a group of college students came, they might only have a few dozen yuan on hand.
After all, this is quite in line with the spending power of most college students.
If that's the case, then we can simply change the menu later using fixed points.

After all, Xia Ming looked around and found that the fixed points were essentially "procurement funds".

Every item in the menu is clearly priced, with the highest-priced ingredients even reaching 1000 points.

But for normal vegetables, like potatoes, the price is 0.7 points per jin (0.5 catties).

This is the price that wholesalers at the source of the vegetable market can get.
Of course, as a test menu, he also provided corresponding options for college students or working professionals.

Seafood Risotto: 40 yuan.

Medium-sized pork blood curd + rice + lemon water: NT$24.

Since he had already written this far, Xia Ming added lemonade as well, which cost 3 yuan a cup in a large cup.

That was around the time he created the basic test menu.

A group of construction workers, still covered in dust, gathered in the lobby at the entrance, led by the host.

"We welcome everyone to assist in this chef assessment."

"Later, we will distribute 'price coupons' worth 100 yuan to everyone. These coupons can be used as the same payment method as commonly used currency within the venue."

"The currency can be split and used normally, but the remaining amount cannot be taken away."

"Everyone, please don't be too reserved throughout the process. Just be yourself. The payment that we agreed on at the beginning will be distributed to everyone after you have eaten."

"If you have any needs or questions while on site, please feel free to ask our staff for help."

"Some facilities inside the venue are quite fragile, and smoking is prohibited throughout the event. Please be careful not to cause any unnecessary damage to the facilities."

Thank you all in advance!

After hearing the host's description, the workers below nodded repeatedly, indicating that they would absolutely not do anything reckless.

It's important to know that the competition was scheduled for noon, which is actually a time when everyone is eating and resting.

Now, in addition to giving each of them 800 yuan in lost wages, they are also given coupons and taken to eat at a restaurant cooked by a master chef.

This kind of treatment is absolutely hard to find even with a lantern.

After all, in order to save money to bring home, they are usually more frugal with themselves and rarely spend 100 yuan on a meal at once.

Even though some of them are in charge of "tunnel construction" and their monthly salary may be close to 10,000 yuan, most of them still can't bear to eat or dress well.

Of course, this isn't absolute. Some people live for the moment and want to relax every day after work.
Everyone has a different attitude towards life, and their final choices will also differ, which is normal.

While the workers were waiting at the door, Yin Shengjiang, who was on the judges' commentary panel, also received a more detailed job list for the workers.

Looking at the names of the jobs on the form, Yin Shengjiang frowned slightly.

"So that's how it is."

(End of this chapter)