Chapter 188 - Malicious Competition (2/2)

“No problem.”

Li Qing called the chef beside him to take a rest and another group of people started their shifts.

“There’s a lot of customers, and the meals need to taste good and be served fast. They’ll basically be exhausted in two or three hours, so I thought I’d split up into two groups and switch. This way, not only will it be efficient, it won’t tire anyone out.”

Xu Le nodded. Although he felt that Li Qing’s arrangement was very good, he couldn’t help but fall into deep thought as he looked at the price on the menu.

“We can’t continue like this. If they realize that the business model is wrong, they will quickly adjust their direction and it will be exactly the same as the one in my store. At that time, the competition will be too great.”

Xu Le thought about it and waved goodbye to Li Shengsheng. “Remember to come to my house for soup the day after tomorrow. I made a big jar of ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’.”

“Alright!”

When he reached home, the breakfast he carried had already turned cold. Xu Le placed the meat dumpling in the steamer to heat it up and stuffed the rest into the microwave. When he went to knock on the bedroom door, there was no response for a long time. He pushed the door open and saw that Shen Hui and Xu Zhexian were long gone.

“Where are they?”

Lu Yuxi was changing into slippers in the entryway when her gaze landed on the note on the cabinet.

“I think your parents went out to meet friends. They’re not coming back today.”

“Oh.”

Xu Le was disappointed for a moment. Then, he remembered that they had many chef friends in the country. It was not easy for them to come back, so they definitely had to gather more frequently.

Therefore, he stopped being sad and took out the frozen soup from the fridge and said, “Let’s continue recording. This tutorial isn’t finished yet.”

“Yeah.”

Lu Yuxi set up the camera and said, “Why don’t you consider changing the operation style of the store?”

“How so?”

“When I went to take a look just now, the Six Shrimp Noodles were served. Think about it. One serving of rice bowl is at most 30 yuan. Tomato egg soup and West Lake beef soup cost not more than a dozen yuan. But dishes like Six Shrimp Noodles, Braised Saddle Bridge, and those that are especially complicated and expensive to make are easily three to four hundred yuan. The price difference between the two is too great.”

Xu Le had also thought of this. He raised his eyebrows and gestured for Lu Yuxi to continue.

“You can consolidate all the home-cooked dishes and long-lost dishes, like the braised onions from before, Buddha jumps over the wall, and fermented cod. When a new store opens, there will definitely be people who will come because of the dishes’ reputation. Then, you can limit the number of servings per person or limit number of customers, or the store will only open a few days a week, and customers need to make an early appointment…”

“I know.” Xu Le naturally understood the business model. He hesitated for a moment and said, “But will we be suspected of hunger marketing?”

“As long as the food is delicious enough, it’s worth that price. Besides, many traditional dishes at state banquets are time-consuming, let alone long-lost, only you know how to cook.”

Xu Le nodded and agreed with her suggestion. “I’ll take a look again. Maybe we can really do as you said.”

“That’s right. There are more chefs in the store now. You can allow takeouts for dishes like rice bowl, cold dishes, and soup. That way, more people can eat without queuing.”

However, after another round of discussion, they all felt that the suggestion of selling the dishes separately was not bad.

“Okay, let’s keep recording. The frozen soup has become like jelly gel. There’s a layer of yellow grease floating on it. It’s best to use a wooden spoon and scrap the layer away. That way the soup won’t get greasy.”