Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

The rice grains were distinct, and the flavors of the ingredients were fully infused into the rice.

Fried rice is typically high in oil and salt, but this bowl of fried rice is more about the aroma of oil and rice.

It tastes and feels better than what I make myself.

His gaze then shifted to the bowl of soup, and he took a sip.

"This soup... tastes surprisingly good."

Today, the restaurant is serving corn and pork bone soup, and each bowl comes with two small pieces of corn.

"It's so sweet, very juicy, and the flesh is plump." Wang Guosheng's eyes lit up after taking a bite of the corn.

There is no doubt that this is all fresh corn.

The soup has a hint of sweetness, and it's an absolutely perfect match for the fried rice.

But a simple bowl of soup is not enough. Our own shop also has stewed soup, but the taste is incomparable.

Not to mention that the soup is free. Most customers probably only take a sip or two of their own soup and then leave it aside.

Looking at the young boss, Wang Guosheng felt a mix of emotions. He had been making fried rice for so many years, yet he couldn't compare to a young man.

As Wang Guosheng walked out of the restaurant, his face showed disappointment and melancholy.

There's no comparison, absolutely no comparison.

While service and hygiene issues can be improved later, after eating the fried rice again, I realized that this is a fundamental difference in taste.

At the same price, if other restaurants offer better taste, service, and ambiance, why would diners choose your restaurant?

Perhaps the only good news for Wang Guosheng is that "Zhou's Restaurant" is some distance from his own restaurant.

……

"Why are you back so late?" Wang Guosheng's wife questioned.

"Something came up and I was delayed." Wang Guosheng didn't mention that he went to Zhou's Restaurant.

After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Should we clean up the shop a little?"

"Cleaning? Don't we clean every day?" Wang Guosheng's wife rolled her eyes.

Wang Guosheng looked at the stove, which hadn't been cleaned in a long time and was covered in grease and vegetable scraps, and said, "I mean, should we clean the shop a bit more thoroughly?"

"What's wrong with you? Don't you know how tiring it is to clean this place? I usually do all the cleaning in the store myself. If you think it's not clean enough, go clean it yourself."

Wang Guosheng was about to say something more, but after being rebuked by his wife, he swallowed back what he wanted to say.

She sighed silently. On the way back, she had actually thought of many plans and even started to fantasize about what would happen next.

It seems like this has been how things have been all these years...

……

"Zhou's Restaurant" has been open for about seven or eight days, and the surrounding people know that this restaurant, which was on the verge of being sold, has reopened and is even doing quite well.

However, there is still a significant difference compared to before, with the store's highest daily turnover reaching only around 800.

However, the number of customers and the turnover in the following days remained within a certain range, fluctuating up and down.

This is partly due to the limited menu at the restaurant, and the dishes they sell are not particularly expensive.

In the following days, a problem arose that gave Zhou Wen a headache.

The name "Zhouji Restaurant" has caused some misunderstanding.

Restaurants are usually places where people cook, drink, and chat. Some passersby will notice the restaurant if they see that it looks good, and think about bringing some friends to try it next time.

When the person arrived at the store, they found that there were only three dishes, all of which were staple foods.

Even if the food tastes tempting, people can't just sit there and eat with only a bowl of noodles or rice each.

Especially in the last two days, more and more customers came to the restaurant wanting to order some dishes, only to find that this restaurant was not the same as the one they had been looking for.

Zhou Wen even took the time to tear down the menu hanging on the wall.

As for the four-character signboard at the entrance, Zhou Wenye couldn't possibly remove the four characters "Zhou's Restaurant," as that would be tantamount to ruining his own reputation, not to mention that the signboard cost a considerable amount of money.

You can't get fat in one bite. The restaurant is just starting out and will definitely have main dishes in the future.

……

Time flies and it's already April, and the temperature is gradually rising.

In provinces like Fujian, the temperature has already reached around 27 or 28 degrees Celsius.

After serving tomato and egg noodles for a few days, Zhou Wen decided to add some more to the menu.

This time, we're still going to focus on noodles.

If Zhou Wen remembers correctly, in Fujian Province in 2007, you could probably search all over the surrounding villages and towns and not find a single shop that served cold noodles.

Sometimes Zhou Wen was quite puzzled as to why a food like cold noodles was popular in the cooler north, rather than in provinces like Fujian and Guangdong, where summers are extremely hot.

Although there are drinks like four-fruit soup and herbal tea to cool you down in the summer, there isn't much cooling food available.

There are actually quite a few recipes for cold noodle soup bases, and different shops have different recipes, but the main thing is to bring out the sweet and sour taste of the soup base.

Shi Ying was also there when I went grocery shopping this time; she had offered to come along on her own initiative.

Zhou Wen wanted Shi Ying to rest well and prepare for the day's work, but the girl wanted to come along and help out.

The most common side dishes for cold noodles are beef, eggs, and vegetables such as cucumber.

A pound of beef costs nearly thirteen yuan. If we were to judge the portion sizes in restaurants today, it would typically consist of three to five thin slices of beef.

One pound of raw meat can be cooked into about thirty or forty bowls of cold noodles.

But Zhou Wen naturally couldn't just give him a few thin slices of beef. The recent customer traffic had given him some confidence, so this time he bought two pounds of beef at once.

"Boss, what other dishes do we need?"

"Cucumbers, leafy greens, white radishes, and some other vegetables."

Upon hearing this, Shi Ying wanted to help, so she started looking around the stall and picking cucumbers into her bag. Zhou Wen noticed this, shook his head, and gently called out, "Shi Ying."

"Boss, what's wrong?"

Zhou Wen smiled and said, "That's not how you buy vegetables."

As she spoke, she took out the cucumber that Shi Ying had picked out, and while gently squeezing the cucumber with her hand, she explained, "Don't choose the kind that feels soft and mushy, has wrinkled skin, and is a bit yellow. Those aren't very crisp. If you want to buy one, buy the kind that is bright green and firm when you press it."

Shi Ying blinked, then looked at the cucumbers she had picked out. None of them were up to standard, and she smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

Shi Ying always believed that the bigger the vegetables, the better, indicating that they were grown better.

After that, they would stand quietly by and watch, and Zhou Wen would take the opportunity to teach them some grocery shopping tips.

"We buy the heavier white radishes like these; those that feel light are probably already mushy."

……