Rebirth 07: Starting with Saving a Bankrupt Restaurant

While Zhou Wen went to the kitchen to cook, Li Lichun started chatting with his coworkers.

"Let me tell you, the restaurants are completely different now. The food tastes so much better than before."

"Old Li, is it really as amazing as you say?" a coworker laughed, clearly thinking that Li Lichun was exaggerating.

"Can't you smell the aroma? Look at the hygiene here, it's so much cleaner than those restaurants outside, it makes people want to eat." Li Lichun said seriously.

"It's just a bowl of fried rice, I don't know why Old Li has been nagging about it all afternoon." Another coworker joked, "I remember when the restaurant had problems, you scolded Old Li quite a bit."

Li Lichun waved his hand: "Hey! One thing is one thing. The food at restaurants is really good now, you can ask Lao Wang if you don't believe me."

Li Lichun is a straightforward person who says what's on his mind. It's true that Zhouji Restaurant had problems in the past, but its current success is genuine.

Old Wang didn't explain, he just smiled and said, "You'll know when the food is served."

The other three workers were joking, but they were actually secretly looking forward to it.

To preserve the flavor, Zhou Wen did not cook the rice all at once, which resulted in inconsistent serving times.

"Uncle, here are your two bowls of fried rice and soup. The remaining bowl of rice and two bowls of fried noodles will take a little longer, please wait a little longer."

"Wang Xiao, Ye Hong, you two eat first. I'm not very hungry yet. I'll chat with Lao Li and the others for a bit longer."

After exchanging a few polite words, the two bowls of fried rice were distributed among the group.

"How does it taste?" Li Lichun asked after the two of them took a bite.

One person remained silent, simply eating with their head down; the other raised their head and gave a thumbs-up, the outcome of which was obvious.

The worker who didn't get any food looked at the other two workers who remained silent and focused on their food, and suddenly felt a pang of regret.

He swallowed hard, looked away, and craned his neck to look into the kitchen, his eyes filled with longing.

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long; the rest of the rice and fried noodles arrived quickly.

"It tastes good, has plenty of side dishes, and the portion is generous. It's really delicious." After saying that, the person didn't say anything more and also buried his head in his food.

Li Lichun and the other person then began to sample the fried noodles.

"Old Wang, Xiao Zhou's cooking skills are amazing now! This stir-fried noodle dish has great wok hei (wok aroma) and the taste is simply divine." Li Lichun tapped the rim of his bowl with his chopsticks, his face visibly satisfied, clearly enjoying the meal.

Old Wang nodded in agreement: "If it keeps tasting like this, we might have to queue up every time we come to eat here in the future."

The group didn't chat any longer and began to enjoy the food in front of them.

Strangely enough, even though there were diners in the restaurant, you could hardly hear them talking; most of the conversations were just people slurping noodles and eating.

"Wang Xiao, are you full?"

Wang Xiao patted his stomach, somewhat reluctant to stop: "Is that enough?"

The portion of fried rice is definitely enough.

"I'm almost there too, but I'm still a bit craving it. The fried noodles that Brother Li and the others were eating looked pretty good. How about we order another bowl and share it?"

Wang Xiao glanced at the fried noodles and said without hesitation, "Okay!"

"Boss, we'd like another bowl of fried noodles."

……

"Honey, what do you want to eat for lunch tomorrow?"

The little girl pouted and thought for a moment, then happily exclaimed, "I want fried rice again tomorrow!"

"You want fried rice again?"

"Mmm! The food is delicious, and there's so much meat!"

The man smiled, not surprised by the answer.

Zhouji Restaurant's fried rice and fried noodles are indeed delicious, and not only do they taste good, but the environment is also clean and the service is very attentive!

Of course, the most important thing is that my own daughter loves to eat it. Perhaps the only downside is that the fried rice and fried noodles are too oily and salty, which is not good for children to eat too much of.

It would be nice if there were some lighter foods available.

……

Some passersby, drawn by the aroma wafting from the restaurant and seeing its clean and hygienic appearance, were momentarily tempted.

"This 'Zhou's Restaurant' looks pretty good, how about we give it a try?"

"Try it? Don't you know what's wrong with this restaurant? Not only is it expensive, but the ingredients are also problematic."

The person who asked shook their head, a look of disappointment on their face: "Oh, I see. It smells quite nice."

Nevertheless, there were some new faces in the shop, though not many.

By around 8 p.m., there were no customers left in the restaurant.

Fried rice and fried noodles don't take much time to cook, and the time it takes for diners to eat them is also short.

Zhou Wen was also quite tired. He got up at nearly six in the morning and spent his time buying groceries, making soup, stir-frying vegetables, serving dishes, and cleaning. He had to handle all these big and small tasks, leaving him with very little time to rest.

But there's nothing I can do about it; I'm the only one working at the restaurant now.

Fortunately, it was all worth it. On the first day of reopening, the situation far exceeded Zhou Wen's expectations. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to sell a single bowl of rice that day.

After cleaning the front hall, the next step was to go to the kitchen to check the ingredients.

There was still some rice left, but Zhou Wen couldn't keep it, since it was already a day old.

The remaining alkaline noodles were stored in the refrigerator; if they don't sell by noon tomorrow, they will need to be thrown away.

Most of the other ingredients have been used up, and the remaining amount is enough to make about six or seven bowls of rice.

Finally, it was time to tally up the day's earnings.

A total of 24 bowls of fried rice and fried noodles were sold, with each bowl of fried rice costing seven yuan, for a total profit of 167 yuan.

There was also soup, which was complimentary, but it was different from the soup served at restaurants.

The ingredients are all fresh; pork bones cost eight yuan per pound, and each bowl of soup contains at least two pieces of radish.

After calculating it this way, the profit will be reduced again. After working all day, he may only earn about 100 yuan. However, this still makes Zhou Wen very satisfied.

As I said before, making money isn't the priority right now. Getting customers back and focusing on the taste and other aspects is what's important.

After finishing everything, Zhou Wen used the remaining ingredients to cook himself a bowl of rice.

After finishing my meal, I thoroughly cleaned the kitchen, sat in the front hall for a while, then went out for a few walks to relax. When it was almost time, I went back upstairs to the second floor of the shop, took a quick shower, and then lay down on the bed.

As soon as I got into bed, fatigue swept over my whole body, and I drifted off to sleep in just a few breaths.

……

The next day, it was the same time and place as always, the same farmers' market.

This time, I bought all the ingredients for the day at once, so I wouldn't have to go out again in the afternoon and could give myself some rest time.

Today, Zhou Wen plans to make some changes to the soup, which actually means changing the ingredients for stewing the soup.