“Uncle Lin, your timing is perfect. I was just preparing to change the menu tomorrow. We won’t sell noodles at noon and in the evening, we’ll sell stir-fried dishes and braised dishes instead.” Zhou Yan said with a smile, “Braised pork ribs and Beef and Dried Bamboo Shoots are two braised dishes, Minced Beef with Double Peppers is a small stir-fry, plus a dish of Fragrant Fish. Qiao Jiao Beef can be served as soup or as a dish. That counts as four dishes and one soup. If there aren’t too many people, it should be enough.”
The three kinds of noodle toppings and toppings had good flavor and could be dishes on their own with no problem. The Qiao Jiao Beef was also tasty. Lin Zhiqiang pondered and said, “Xiao Zhou, is this Fragrant Fish something new you learned? How does it taste?”
“Don’t worry about that. As long as you can get used to patchouli, this fish will definitely satisfy you.” Zhou Yan said with full confidence.
“Alright, I trust you. There are seven of us, we’ll order these five dishes.” Lin Zhiqiang said with a smile, “Tomorrow after work in the evening, I’ll pick up the two children and come over for dinner.”
“Okay, I’ll get the dishes prepared for you tomorrow in advance.” Zhou Yan nodded, watched Lin Zhiqiang leave, and a smile appeared on his face.
Before the menu was even changed, he had already opened a tab. Uncle Lin really was like his own uncle.
Back in the shop, Zhou Yan took out a long wooden board ten centimeters wide, went to the Security Section next door to borrow a few tools, came back and sawed the long wooden strip into wooden signs twenty centimeters long, drilled a hole, tied a rope, and then wrote the dish names and prices on each piece of wood.
He tore down the original menu, nailed a row of nails on the wall, hung the three noodle signs together, and hung the other dishes in another row.
When writing the prices, Zhou Yan pondered for quite a while.
He priced Beef and Dried Bamboo Shoots and Minced Beef with Double Peppers at 1 yuan, but using three taels of meat for braised pork ribs seemed a bit little. That was a pure meat dish, while in Beef and Dried Bamboo Shoots the dried bamboo shoots accounted for more than half.
In the end, he increased the pork ribs in one portion to half a jin, and accordingly raised the price of braised pork ribs to 6 yuan, with a cost of 1 yuan.
At this pricing, Zhou Yan could not help sighing. It was too conscientious.
This was the limitation of the times. With such delicious braised pork ribs, if it were in later generations, he would dare to sell it at multiple times the cost, both expensive and popular.
Su Ji was an important economic town of Jia Zhou. Jia Zhou Textile Factory was the leading enterprise in the silk industry of southern Sichuan, earning more than 10 million US dollars in foreign exchange a year. Its benefits were good, it was rapidly expanding, had many workers, and high wages.
There were also quite a few workers who came from Jia Zhou to work at the factory every day.
If this were an ordinary small town, it would be impossible to open a Sichuan Restaurant at this point in time.
Farmers had no money in their pockets to eat your sixty-cent noodles.
Fragrant Fish was 2 yuan per portion, and Qiao Jiao Beef was still sold at 6 yuan per portion.
Once the signs were hung on the wall, the red lettering was eye-catching and good-looking.
Replacing the fixed menu with wooden signs was Zhou Yan’s preparation for launching the new dishes tomorrow.
To reduce loss and ensure that all the ingredients prepared each day could be fully used, he would control the purchase volume of ingredients in the early stage.
When a dish was sold out, he would take down its sign and move it to the Sold Out Section, and let customers order from what remained.
This made it convenient for customers to order and also avoided the trouble of repeated confirmations between the front and the back kitchen.
Without a refrigerator and while needing to ensure the freshness of ingredients, this was the best method.
Once business stabilized and the daily consumption of each dish became steady, he would gradually increase it until it reached a balance point.
Ingredient loss was directly related to the restaurant’s profit. Zhou Yan would never hold the idea that whatever did not sell he would just eat himself. That would seem too unprofessional.
“Xiao Zhou, ding ding dong dong, what are you up to?” Head of Security Section Luo Wei Dong poked his head in at the doorway and asked with a smile.
“Section Chief Luo, I’m changing the menu. I’m planning to start selling braised dishes and stir-fried dishes tomorrow.” Zhou Yan answered with a smile and put away the tools.
“New dishes, huh.” Luo Wei Dong came in, looked at the wooden signs hanging on the wall, and said with a smile, “Not many varieties this time. You’re being quite cautious now.”
The complimentary bowl of Qiao Jiao Beef Zhou Yan had given had brought him closer to the Security Section. Luo Wei Dong had also come once to eat noodles, and the flavor was indeed very good.
But when Zhou Yan’s restaurant had just opened, Luo Wei Dong had also come to eat once. Those dishes were really hard to compliment.
There had been dozens of dishes on the menu, and he had never heard anyone say any one of them was delicious.
But this time he had grown wiser. Toppings turned into braised dishes, sauce became stir-fried dishes, seeking steadiness.
As for the prices, they were not exactly cheap.
With a ticket, the canteen’s braised beef was eighty cents per portion, twenty cents cheaper than in Zhou Yan’s shop.
Last time he had eaten Beef and Dried Bamboo Shoots noodles. The flavor was excellent, indeed better than the canteen’s. Paying twenty cents more was acceptable.
“I’ll just take the tools back. Next time I’ll come try the fish you make.” Luo Wei Dong took the tools from Zhou Yan’s hands.
“Thank you, Section Chief Luo.” Zhou Yan said with a smile and walked him to the door.
After sweeping the floor, Zhou Yan went out once, found a reliable fish stall, and arranged for twenty crucian carp to be delivered to the restaurant tomorrow at noon.
He wanted eight-tael flat crucian carp, good-quality farmed fish. This size of crucian carp was just right for making Fragrant Fish.
Zhou Yan then wrote a notice and posted it on the wooden board, stating that starting from tomorrow, Zhou Er Wa Restaurant would only provide noodle dishes in the morning.
When all preparations were done, the sun was already sinking in the west.
Zhou Yan lay on the lounge chair at the doorway to rest. Today the textile factory was not working, and no one had set up stalls at the entrance. It was empty.
Only at the newly moved-in stall opposite, Zhou Liangliang and his wife were busy wiping tables, chairs, and benches.
The corner of Zhou Yan’s mouth curled in a sneer. This guy was really quick. He had come to inspect yesterday, and today he had already moved his stall over.
Zhou Liangliang also saw Zhou Yan sitting at the restaurant door, and said with a squinting smile, “Zhou Yan, we moved over here to set up a stall. As family brothers, you wouldn’t mind, right?”
“Why would I mind? This is the textile factory’s place. If you want to set up, then set up. Could I stop you?” Zhou Yan said with a smile.
He was not that kind of fake-friendly brother.
Zhou Yan glanced at the sign hanging on that stall. Soup pot plus noodles. This guy wanted it all and planned to poach his customers.
But the more like this he was, the less optimistic Zhou Yan felt about him.
This guy had not managed to get any soup business next to Zhou Jie and Zhou Hai’s stalls, and now he thought that by moving to the textile factory entrance he could put Zhou Yan out of business?
And previously he had never sold noodles. It was probably a last-minute addition after seeing Zhou Yan’s good noodle business.
This was within Zhou Yan’s expectations. Even if it was not Zhou Liangliang, there would be some Zhou Mingming or Zhou Tiantian coming. Stall setting had always been like this.
Zhou Yan enjoyed the breeze for a while, then went in to cook dinner.
“I don’t see Zhou Yan being nervous at all. Will our soup pot business here really be better than at the dock?” Zhou Liangliang’s wife, Wu Guihua, whispered.
“Relax. Zhou Yan sells at sixty cents a bowl. We will sell the same soup pot and noodles at fifty cents, ten cents cheaper than him. Business will definitely be good!” Zhou Liangliang said with full confidence.
He had finished the preparations today and had also made arrangements with the noodle factory. Tomorrow morning they would deliver noodles to him.
For the first day, he did not want too much, just thirty jin of fresh noodles, enough for one hundred bowls.
...
At dawn the next day, Comrade Xiao Zhou rode off on his Bicycle to buy ingredients.
Today the noodles and toppings and sauces were prepared for eighty servings only. If they were not sold out in the morning, the rest would be their work meals.
He ordered three jin more each of beef brisket and tenderloin. That amount would make ten portions of Beef and Dried Bamboo Shoots and Minced Beef with Double Peppers.
He ordered four jin more of pork ribs, enough for eight portions.
Braised pork ribs were delicious, but most people preferred the oily, fragrant Twice-cooked Pork. Bones were purely superfluous, and the price was higher, not cost-effective.
On the first day, he was relatively conservative. If he could sell out all the dishes he had prepared, it would count as a success.
In any case, there were still one hundred servings of Qiao Jiao Beef as a safety net, so customers would definitely have something to order.
Auntie Zhao had no objections to launching the new menu and strongly supported Zhou Yan’s plan.
But when she sat on the back seat of the Bicycle and arrived at the restaurant, seeing Zhou Liangliang and Wu Guihua across the way boiling Bone Broth, she frowned and said, “When did they move over here? Seeing someone’s pit makes their butt itchy. Seeing someone jump off a cliff makes them want to spread their wings. Not afraid of falling flat on their faces.”
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