Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

Today is only the first day, and after a brief interaction, Zhou Wen has gained a general understanding of Xiao Jie's personality.

"Brother... shall I go check on the rice balls?" Xiao Jie asked timidly. Anyone who didn't know better would think that Zhou Wen had bullied or scolded her.

Zhou Wen calmly replied, "Go ahead, it's not a big deal."

Xiao Jie nodded and went to the door to look at the rice balls.

Zhou Wen also brought out a plate of cold meat dish from the kitchen for the guests at this table as compensation.

The guests at that table hadn't taken it seriously at first, but they were slightly surprised when Zhou Wen brought the dishes to the table.

This was never a big deal to begin with.

After the restaurant closes for business.

"Brother..."

Zhou Wen comforted her, saying, "It's just a few plates, it's not a big deal. Sometimes other older brothers and sisters also accidentally break a few."

Xiao Jie nodded gently, but her expression still showed remorse.

"Brother, how about we deduct the cost of the plate from my salary?" Xiao Jie suggested.

Zhou Wen was stunned; he hadn't expected the girl to make such a request.

However, judging from the situation, if we don't do this, the girl might not be able to recover for a long time.

Finally, Zhou Wen verbally said, "Okay, then I'll deduct it from your salary."

Xiao Jie nodded.

Zhou Wen could also see that the girl's pressure had visibly decreased.

Of course, they won't deduct any money; it's just talk.

After dinner, Zhou Wen also took Xiao Jie home.

After returning home and washing up, I called Jiang Zhiyu.

In the past few days, Jiang Zhiyu has been calling me every now and then.

Sometimes they chat about ordinary things, and sometimes they consult Zhou Wen about certain matters.

"I checked on Baidu Tieba later, and there really were posts about the restaurant there."

Zhou Wen was not surprised by this. There are many customers in Guangdong Province, and Jiang Zhiyu's restaurant is located in a relatively prosperous area with a lot of foot traffic.

Zhou Wen also went to check it out in early September. The renovation progress on the first floor was about 80 percent complete, and the main work was on the second floor.

Looking from the outside in, you can tell that the interior is quite elaborate, which naturally attracts a lot of attention.

However, Zhou Wen doesn't have a computer yet, so he can't access the forum. Although he can access it on his phone, the experience is not great.

"When can we post on Tieba?" Jiang Zhiyu asked.

"You can send some posts every few days, and don't keep posting with one account," Zhou Wen said on the other end.

"Okay, got it..."

After chatting for a while, the two hung up the phone. This phone call seemed to have become a regular occurrence for Zhou Wen.

And so the days that followed continued.

……

……

After the success of Guo Bao Rou (sweet and sour pork), restaurants need to come up with new dishes.

Zhou Wen is also struggling with a decision regarding launching new products.

Zhou Wen knew that part of the reason the restaurant was doing well was because the food there was something that no one had ever tried before.

Zhou Wen wasn't sure if diners would accept some more home-style dishes.

Zhou Wen thought for a moment and decided that he could add some stir-fried vegetables and other dishes to the menu first. If they were home-style dishes, he would just write them down and then not do much promotion.

We will also promote some of the more distinctive local delicacies.

So Zhou Wen first added some dishes to the menu, such as stir-fried green vegetables.

As for new dishes, Zhou Wen plans to make Mao Xue Wang, which is also a Sichuan and Chongqing delicacy.

There's no need to worry about ingredients; the vendors who have been in contact with Zhou Wen most often all sell them. Just one phone call is all it takes.

The price of duck blood has also increased significantly, and the prices of poultry have been rising steadily since March.

However, since I've been a regular customer of the market vendors, the prices have hardly changed.

These days, the purchase volume of crayfish has also shrunk considerably, mainly because the peak season has passed, and September is the last month to wrap things up.

By October, the stock was basically sold out.

The main issues are high price, limited quantity, and difficulty in purchasing.

First, you need to prepare the duck blood by mixing water, duck blood, and salt, and then just let it sit.

The side dishes for Mao Xue Wang (a Sichuan dish) are usually sliced ​​meat, pork intestines, and tripe.

For example, you can replace the tripe in "husband and wife lung slices" with beef tripe.

Zhou Wen didn't follow all the traditional side dishes. For example, the pork intestines were troublesome to prepare and needed to be braised several times to remove the taste, which was really unnecessary.

Zhou Wen planned the following side dishes for a Maoxuewang (a Sichuan dish): meat dishes would include duck blood, sliced ​​meat, beef tripe, and ham; and vegetable dishes would include tofu skin, enoki mushrooms, and other vegetables.

For vegetarian dishes, you can prepare more, such as cold shredded vegetables, to give diners more choices. It's roughly a combination of four meat dishes and four vegetarian dishes.

This might be criticized by some diners from Sichuan and Chongqing for not being authentic, but there's nothing we can do about it.

At noon, as usual, Zhou Wen prepared to cook the spicy blood curd first, so that the people at the restaurant could try it.

To make Maoxuewang, you need to prepare all the ingredients beforehand, whether they are braised or cooked thoroughly.

Zhou Wen actually made many improvements to this Maoxuewang dish, since restaurants don't specialize in this kind of ingredient, so it can be considered a simplified version.

However, Zhou Wen believed that the taste would definitely not be bad.

Zhou Wen added two pieces of bread to the Mao Xue Wang (a spicy Sichuan dish) at the end.

To Zhou Wen's surprise, Xiao Jie, a local, loved spicy food just like Shi Ying, and couldn't stop eating it.

Although this spicy Sichuan-style spicy blood curd isn't particularly spicy, not drinking any water at all is quite extreme.

"What's wrong, brother?" Xiao Jie noticed Zhou Wen's gaze and wondered if she had eaten too much.

"Isn't it spicy?" Zhou Wen asked.

Xiao Jie shook her head: "It's not spicy, brother."

Zhou Wen nodded, somewhat envious of Xiao Jie who wasn't afraid of spicy food: "It's nothing, keep eating. There's still plenty of rice in the kitchen, you can get more if you're not full."

"Oh, okay, brother." Xiao Jie nodded.

Over the past few days, Xiao Jie's personality hasn't changed much, and Zhou Wen doesn't think that such a short time could have changed Xiao Jie's personality.

However, Xiao Jie is also trying very hard to adapt. Sometimes when Shi Ling and Shi Ying are too busy to serve the diners on time, Xiao Jie will pour them a glass of water first.

Of course, she also tried to communicate with the diners, but Xiao Jie, who is naturally introverted, ended up standing there for a long time, stammering and unable to say a word, her face turning red.