Chapter 302 - 174: Breaking the Circle Plan

Chapter 302: Chapter 174: Breaking the Circle Plan

It was a fact of life: cold dishes sold poorly in the winter, and hot soups sold poorly in the summer.

When the weather turned cold, no one wanted to eat tooth-numbingly cold dishes, and on hot days, no one could stomach a greasy, hot soup.

No matter how good they tasted, sales would inevitably drop.

Braised dishes were a bit better, but in the dead of winter, when the fat congealed, even something like pig’s head meat wouldn’t sell well.

Piping hot braises and stir-fries would be comparatively more popular in the winter.

Adjusting the menu’s focus with the seasons was something any competent restaurant owner needed to do.

Of course, there were no shortage of willful owners who only ran seasonal businesses.

For example, some mutton soup shops only opened for the autumn and winter. Once the weather warmed up in the spring, they would close down completely, waiting for the temperatures to drop the following autumn before reopening.

After bundling the money and putting it back in the box, Zhou Yan closed the ledger. He took a wooden plaque from the cabinet and wrote "Mapo Tofu" on it. He paused, then wrote down the price: 0.8 yuan per serving.

A single serving of Mapo Tofu used one catty of tofu and one liang of top sirloin for the meat topping. Factoring in the beef bone stock, seasonings, and other miscellaneous costs at about ten cents, the profit margin was nearly fifty percent.

The price was the same as the Explosive Pork Liver.

Zhou Yan predicted that Mapo Tofu would become the restaurant’s star dish this winter.

The two plates of Mapo Tofu served tonight had been scraped clean.

When it came to how well a dish paired with rice, only the Huo Xiang Carp on the menu could compete with it.

After hanging up the plaque for Mapo Tofu, Zhou Yan’s gaze fell on the Braised Beef with Dried Bamboo Shoots. This braised dish was a customer favorite, selling thirty-five servings a day—almost double the Braised Pork Ribs—and it sold out every single day.

Zhou Yan planned to try making Braised Beef with Potatoes tomorrow. He’d make a serving as a staff meal first for everyone to taste. If the flavor was good enough, he could consider adding it to the menu.

Uncle Zhong Yong had held nothing back when teaching him this dish. Zhou Yan already had a foundation from making the Braised Beef with Dried Bamboo Shoots, plus experience with braised potatoes. He was quite confident in his Fire Control, so it shouldn’t be hard to pick up.

Potatoes and dried bamboo shoots each had their own unique flavor. Giving customers another option was definitely a good idea.

It couldn’t be helped. The Braised Pork Ribs were expensive, came in a small portion, and were full of bones. In this day and age, it just wasn’t very cost-effective.

In contrast, the Braised Beef with Dried Bamboo Shoots had a generous portion size, and the delicious bamboo shoots were great with rice, making its value for money immediately obvious.

[DING! Main Quest issued: Operation: Breakout! Zhou Yan Restaurant already has an excellent reputation and a high degree of fame among the textile mill employees, but the customer base outside of this group has yet to be developed! Please actively expand to new customer groups and help the restaurant break out!]

[Quest Details: Attract 200 customers from outside the textile mill employee group! Accept: Yes/No]

[Quest Reward: Unknown]

Just as Zhou Yan hung up the plaque, a Main Quest notification popped up in the corner of his eye.

’Operation: Breakout?’ Zhou Yan thought for a moment, then chose to accept the quest.

Zhou Yan Restaurant currently catered mainly to the textile mill employees. Although some customers had recently started coming from town to eat, their numbers were still small, and it hadn’t created a large-scale breakout effect.

However, if the Sichuan Cuisine magazine article could build up the restaurant’s reputation, it might bring in some new customers.

Besides that, he had to continue taking reservations for the weekend. That was the best way to quickly expand beyond the employee circle.

Normally, textile mill employees wouldn’t arrange to eat with their colleagues at a restaurant outside the mill on a Sunday. They would bring their families and friends. Every single one of them would count as a qualifying new customer.

「...」

The next morning, at the crack of dawn, Zhou and Old Zhou got up to buy groceries.

Today, Zhou Yan increased the supply of Kneeling Beef by another ten bowls to try and meet customer demand. He also requested an extra two catties of beef tenderloin to make the beef topping for the Mapo Tofu.

When Zhou Yan and the others rode their bikes back to the restaurant, they saw a thin figure standing at the entrance. A back basket rested by his feet. When the figure saw him, he grinned, revealing a set of straight, white teeth.

"Lai Fu? What are you doing here?" Zhou Yan stopped his bike, looking with surprise at Lai Fu, whose cheeks were flushed red and whose head was steaming in the cold air.

The back basket was stuffed full with two slabs of tofu, a basket of dried tofu, and a large bundle of dried tofu skin.

"Didn’t we say I would go pick it up? Why did the kid deliver it all the way to the restaurant?" Zhou Miao also looked surprised.

Zhou Yan parked his bike, took out the ledger, and flipped to a page, quickly writing: "Lai Fu, what are you doing here? Didn’t we agree my dad would pick up the dried tofu and tofu skin?"

Lai Fu took the pen and paper and quickly wrote back: "You guys are busy, so I brought it over. Grandma said she won’t be selling tofu at the bridgehead for a while. She said it’s more important to focus on making the tofu and dried tofu that Yan needs."

Zhou Yan read the note and nodded thoughtfully. ’This must be a decision Mrs. Sun made after careful consideration. Her health isn’t good, and Lai Fu is too thin. They can’t afford to wear themselves out just to earn money.’

Eight catties of dried tofu skin, ten catties of dried tofu, and twenty catties of tofu. Just from his order alone, their income was 14.4 yuan, with about half of that being profit.

Zhou Yan reached into his pocket for the money.

Lai Fu wrote again: "Grandma said not to take the cash. Just put it on the account to pay off the debt first."

Zhou Yan looked at the written words and nodded with a smile.

Just then, Zhao Hong and Zhou Lihui arrived. They helped carry the things into the restaurant and poured Lai Fu a bowl of water.

"Lai Fu doesn’t look like he has much meat on his bones, but he’s surprisingly strong. It couldn’t have been easy carrying all that stuff to the restaurant," Zhao Hong said, looking at Lai Fu with a touch of pity in her eyes.

Although they were of the same generation, Lai Fu was the same age as Huihui, so in her eyes, he was just a half-grown kid.

Lai Fu drank the water, expressed his thanks, and left with light steps, the empty back basket on his shoulders.