Chapter Seventeen Business Classics

  The excellent five-flower pork, with fat and lean meat intertwined, glazed with a caramelized sugar color, steamed to perfection, with the aroma of eight-spice powder wafting up, filling the nostrils with its rich fragrance.

  At noon, the hungry guests saw that they couldn't help but stand behind the two large steamer baskets and shout loudly:

  "For ten cents, you can have a dish without meat, but with a spoonful of meat soup. For twenty cents, you get one meat dish. For thirty cents, you get two meat dishes. Rice is one cent per bowl, and soup and pickles are free!"

  You can see the past took a sign in the past, that fellow used a wooden spoon to scoop out a full spoonful, the amount is very sufficient...

  Guests who see this, those who are hungry and impatient directly sit down to pay for the meal. Those who are more particular will calculate it there. This bowl of meat is about two taels or so. Nowadays, pork costs fifty or sixty cents a catty, so just the meat is already very cost-effective. Not to mention that the other family's cooking is meticulous and thoughtful, how much labor cost is added? Rice has long been over ten cents a dou, one cent per bowl is indeed reasonable.

  Besides, those who come here to stroll and shop are either wealthy idlers from all over or merchants from outside the city who have come to purchase goods. Who would care about a few coppers? Sit down and eat!

  For ten cents, there are two vegetarian dishes. The soup and pickles are free of charge. I thought the soup was just a soy sauce water, but it turned out to be a bone broth that had been simmered for a long time. The pickled vegetables were finely chopped and marinated in vinegar, which tasted exceptionally refreshing.

  What's more important is that the table and chairs are clean, and the bowls and chopsticks are also clean. The used wooden plates and dishes were taken outside to be washed, and someone followed them to see how they were cleaned. It turned out that after wiping them down, they were soaked in boiling water again, and couldn't be cleaner.

  Let's sit down and eat, the stir-fried vegetables are authentic, the crispy fried meatballs are tender inside, the sweet and sour sauce is refreshing and appetizing, the braised pork melts in your mouth, full of rich flavor. Not to mention the soup made with bones, fresh and fragrant, the pickled mustard greens with vinegar, salty and sour just right, the rice is also fragrant, the grains are plump and full after careful rinsing.

  It doesn't cost much, but the food tastes like a restaurant's. Outside it's cold and windy, but coming into this delicious restaurant to drink some hot soup and eat a comforting meal, my belly is full and I feel warm and cozy all over.

  Near noon, the streets in the south, even passersby were lured into Meitai Hall by those distributing flyers. Once they walked in, few didn't sit down to eat.

  It's not a holiday, and those who can come to this street to buy and stroll around are not the kind of poor households that struggle to make a living, nor are they the kind of wealthy people who can easily go to a restaurant for a full table of wine. Eating at a stall is embarrassing, and going home to eat is too much trouble. This delicious and affordable restaurant just meets their needs.

  "There are so many people on the street, and at lunchtime, not a few people have a difficult expression on their faces. They all say they can't find a suitable place to eat. Going to the Zhongxing Building is too expensive for them, buying from vendors is something they're unwilling to do, and going home to eat is too much trouble. Our place is just right."

  Wang Tong explained his strange behavior to Zhang Shiqiang, saying the above reason.

  Zhang Shiqiang was dressed in casual clothes, staring at the store. He now admired Wang Tong's incredible ability to open this delicious restaurant after wandering around on the streets for a few days, and it was packed with customers. What kind of skill did he have to achieve such a magical effect?

  Not to mention that a spacious and warm shed was built in just a few days. It's easy to say, but first dig holes on the ground and drive wooden stakes, then make a framework of the house. Except for doors and windows, the walls and roof are all made of sandwiched wooden boards, with wood shavings and rags stuffed inside. The principle is not difficult, but how did you think of it? It's also amazing.

  This seemingly mysterious method and idea, to Wang Tong, is nothing more than revisiting the old routine of market research analysis from years ago, and then conducting market segmentation based on consumer demand.

  The more information people come into contact with, the more complex their psychology becomes. In comparison to the modern era of information explosion, the psychology of ordinary people during the Wanli period was much simpler.

  Seeing such a bright and clean, beautifully priced fast food restaurant appear, it's natural that customers are flocking to it. Just thinking about the sensational effect of modern foreign fast food landing in China can lead to this conclusion.

  As for those quickly assembled houses, they are just variants of simple houses. Knowing the general principle and having abundant labor and materials, they can be built very quickly.

  Wang Tong's only concern was that the thugs he had invited were not well-trained, so he had Ma Widow keep an eye on the women's side and Zhang Shijiang keep an eye on the store.

  He himself ran around on Nan Street, checking if there were any flaws in the way those men distributed flyers.

  Wang Tong was busy running around, while the shopkeepers and apprentices on both sides of Nan Street looked on in amazement, they had all been doing business for many years.

  Seeing a young man wanting to run a restaurant, I couldn't help but sneer in my heart. This South Street isn't without its history of opening restaurants, but they've all closed down because they can't compete with the Zhongxing Building. This young man was boasting at the dinner table, saying he wouldn't sell expensive dishes, wouldn't sell alcohol, and wouldn't take on banquet orders. If that's the case, then there's no way to make money in this line of work.

  Everyone in their hearts is laughing, but today when the business opened, the merchants on South Street collectively decided that everyone should go and present a plaque, just to make an appearance.

  Who would have thought that this ill-mannered Jin Yiwei didn't even post a notice, nor did he set off firecrackers, and yet he opened for business with such fanfare, completely disregarding the etiquette of doing trade.

  However, this little Jin Yiwei is a kind and righteous person, so everyone doesn't gossip about him behind his back. When the shop can't hold on anymore, everyone lends a helping hand to support him.

  No one had expected that such a strange opening, sending out yellow paper, would make business boom like this. The thoughtful shopkeeper sent an apprentice to buy a meal there and inquired about the price.

  The rice may not be as good as the one made by Master Fu, but at least it's not bad. Those who eat won't notice anything, but the boss and the accountant will calculate.

  Ten cents, twenty cents, thirty cents in price, calculated with the cost of labor for dishwashing, almost all can have a profit of two to five cents. The money is not much, but looking at the crowd on the street rushing in that direction, the more people there are, the greater the profit will be. Ah, turning stones into gold, turning stones into gold!

  "Sir, these leftover dishes were also bought with money. It's okay to sell them again at night after heating them up, why give them away cheaply to these people?"

  The sun is west, at lunchtime has passed, the first day of business of the Delicious Pavilion upstairs and downstairs just have a rest, regardless of whether it's the cooking woman or the outside shouting man, they are all resting and eating in the house.

  They ate the leftover dishes from noon, and on the first day of opening, they had to prepare more ingredients. The male and female laborers who came here to work had never seen such a sumptuous meal before, with meat and vegetables galore, and they ate with great relish.

  Wang Tong and Zhang Shijiang sat in the corner, but Zhang Shijiang looked a bit heartbroken, nodding his head while whispering suggestions. Wang Tong nodded along, not lifting his head as he said:

  "Eat if you eat, can't they be full and let them steal food!?"

  Yesterday I walked around under the city wall of Xi'an, imagining how to attack and defend it, interesting. Next I'll head to Shaanxi Museum, update will be late this afternoon.