Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 57: Shifting Psychological Anchors, Squeezing Residual Value, and the Magical Pig Blood Tofu Powder Strikes!
"Boss, how much is this ice cream?"

"Boss, I'd like a cucumber one. No cucumber flavor? Okay, then I'll get a mango one!"

"This shaved ice is so delicious. It's true that Fengfan Street is a rip-off. Shangbixiang Street is much better. I was able to eat such a delicious shaved ice as soon as I walked in."

"Checking in, I bet this ice cream shop will become a huge hit. I don't even know what this 'frozen' stuff is, it's so unique."

Listening to the chatter of the girls next to him, Xia Ming, who was making ice syrup, smiled slightly.

This "turtle jelly" might become a hit, but this stall definitely won't become a hit, because he won't be setting up a stall here after today.

Thinking of this, he looked up at the four or five people queuing in front of the stall.

We also have to thank that young man who loves his girlfriend. Right after he ordered the first strawberry shaved ice, while it was being made, another couple came in, and seeing that someone was buying it, they came over to ask.

It was obvious that their city didn't have ice syrup, so out of curiosity, and on the recommendation of the boy next to them, they bought a watermelon.

And so, one serving after another, Xia Ming's ice cream business gradually expanded.

Ultimately, the key lies in the quality of the dish itself. Although it is turtle jelly, after processing, it retains very little turtle flavor, hidden beneath the saltiness, which is almost imperceptible to the average person.

The addition of the sour plum base, the low temperature provided by the ice syrup, and the slightly "hard" texture of the glutinous rice that is not completely crushed are all added to the overall texture.

It achieves a smooth and creamy texture, with a balanced sourness. In terms of texture, the "softness" of the shaved ice is paired with the "moistness" and "chewiness" of the turtle jelly, and finally a touch of "firmness". The flavors are layered and blended, and the freshly cut fruit is refreshing. It is indeed much tastier than a simple ice cream cone.

Opinions on the price of 10 yuan vary. Boys are unlikely to spend much, but for girls, especially those traveling, a cup of milk tea often costs 8 to 9 yuan, and in some areas it has even cost 20 to 30 yuan. Once they develop a consumption habit, the price of 10 yuan becomes much more acceptable.

Compared to soup, ice cream uses fresh fruit and coconut milk, so its profit margin is definitely not as high.

The queue isn't as long as for fast food, but this thing is good because it lasts a long time.

Fast food can only be sold for 1 to 1.5 hours, but ice cream can be sold all afternoon. More importantly, turtle jelly, which is the source of its unique taste, has no cost in essence.

Although the large pot of "Overlord Turtle and Chicken" didn't make much money, it still covered the cost of the chicken and turtle. So, the turtle jelly was essentially zero investment.

Furthermore, while ice broth may not be as profitable as soup, it still yields three to four times the profit, which is still high compared to other teams.

Right now, only Team Two's cold seafood, Team Four's cold shrimp, and Team Five's cold rabbit skewers can rival it.

As for the mojito from "Team One," which has a similar profit margin to his soup, it has already bowed to reality, with the price dropping from 18 to 11, and the non-alcoholic version also dropping to 9.

Finally, it's going to sell.
Xia Ming is unaware of this. If he knew, he would definitely laugh and say that it would be better to sell "Lemon Seven" for 7 yuan. Although the profit margin seems to be less than 3 times, it would definitely sell better than it does now.

Similarly, the prices of the same "Team One" bracelets have also dropped by 20% to 35%, finally reaching a reasonably priced range. Some wealthier people, seeing that they are pure bracelets with novel designs, will still buy them to try.

Compared to Team One's strategy of selling discounted food to survive, Team Three fared much worse. Chen Xiaodong's original idea was to sell "smoked chicken" and "pork chops" separately after lunch was sold out, but when they tried to put it into practice, they found that it wouldn't work.

There are too many competitors, including braised dishes, fried chicken, and fried skewers. Some people in the Hunan region still don't like Master Shao's pork chops, thinking they are too sweet, and the ranking has started to drop.

Right now, he's putting out a fire and trying to make another sauce with the ingredients he has to get through the afternoon.

Unlike Team Three, Team Five is currently having a very successful time.

As the third-generation inheritor of "Husband and Wife Lung Slices", Wang Qingrui's skills are absolutely top-notch. His chili oil is authentically made, and he even made some special modifications for people from Hunan.

At lunchtime, people would just buy a little to join in the fun. In the afternoon, when people were out shopping, they couldn't resist having a small portion of the chili oil.

Chef Wang didn't stick to weighing. To maximize profits, he launched a set meal that mixed several ingredients together, which not only increased speed but also boosted sales. As for the slight profit margin error, he considered it advertising.

The popularity of sliced ​​beef and tripe in chili sauce also boosted Chef Li's sales of savory glutinous rice balls and fermented rice wine. The high profit margin of the drinks helped to recoup the costs.

The cold-served rabbit, however, remains lukewarm in popularity, perhaps because it doesn't quite suit local tastes. At this moment, Chef Dong is communicating with Chef Wang to see if they can bundle it with other dishes and launch an upgraded set meal, at least to cover the cost of the rabbit. Under these circumstances, Team Five quickly overtook them and is now in second place.

For now, that's all.
Third place: Team Three
Fourth place: Team One

Fifth place: Team Two
Sixth place: Team Four
That's right, the four teams consisting of Shuai Xiaojian, Zeng Huaijun, and Luo Luo are still at the bottom.

This is also related to their product selection. Cold-served shrimp has high profit margins but sells slowly, pan-fried dumplings sell only sporadically after noon, and braised rice noodles are now completely unsellable.

Even the live stream audience started to defend the fourth team, saying that Chef Shuai Xiaojian was inflexible and, although he could make delicious food, he lacked a down-to-earth, authentic feel.

Shuai Xiaojian, however, was in no hurry. He even left his own stall and wandered around the other stalls, especially Team 5, Team 6, and Team 3. He paid extra attention to the food storage every time they opened it.

He eventually circled back to his stall, looked at the sky, and sighed.

"Sell it! Sell as much as you can, then you can go home tonight!"

At 4:30, Xia Ming was the first to hang up a "Sold Out" sign in front of his stall.

"Sorry, we're out of shaved ice today. To be precise, we're out of our special frozen dessert. Thank you for your patronage!"

Upon hearing that the ingredients were sold out, the tourists who had come for the special ice cream were somewhat disappointed, and then slowly dispersed. Soon, there was no one left in front of him.

Xia Ming took out an ice cube tray and sighed.

"There must be over 100 servings of this. If they're all sold out, we'll break even just from the ice cream alone. As for the rest, we'll see how much more we can sell tonight!"

As he spoke, he pulled over the bucket from the previous "Overlord Turtle Chicken" incident, cleaned it thoroughly, and poured in the water he had prepared earlier. The large plastic bottles he had bought for a few cents each came in handy at that moment.

Without any unnecessary steps, after boiling the water, Xia Ming took out his last two ingredients.

"Vermicelli", "aspic", and "fish skin".

This aspic isn't made from pork skin. To attract customers, his stir-fried pork is all lean meat. Although he sacrifices some texture, it looks more substantial!

This aspic is fish scale aspic, so it naturally comes from those few grass carp.
Although the freezing process is a bit more complicated than that of turtle, it's free!

At this moment, Xia Ming cut the aspic into small pieces, added the sauce and mixed it, then put it back in the refrigerator. He did the same with the fish skin.

Xia Ming lay there for a while, then, estimating that it was about time, he got up.

"There's still such a big pot of soup, how can we waste it?"

As he spoke, he took out the last piece of red paper, wrote "Overlord Turtle Chicken Pig Blood Powder" on it, and stuck it on the ice syrup.

He had just finished posting when he saw three familiar faces. That's right, the company trio had sneaked out to hunt again around 5:40. This time, they had a clear target and headed straight for Xia Ming's stall.

"Boss, quick! I've been craving it this afternoon. Give me a serving of three meat dishes and one vegetable dish, with soup included!"

Hearing this, Xia Ming shrugged.

"All the fast food is sold out, that's all!"

Upon hearing that there was no more fast food, the three of them couldn't hide their disappointment. Just as they were about to turn and leave, Xia Ming called them back.

"Fast food is gone, but we have noodles for dinner."

"Magical Pig Blood Tofu Noodles, only 11 yuan a bowl, plus you can choose one cold dish from 'pork skin jelly' and 'fish skin'. Don't miss this opportunity!"

(End of this chapter)