GBP Chapter 142 Official opening
Chapter 142 Official opening
He Zhijun grinned foolishly, oblivious to the oil stains on his cheeks, and probably didn't even notice them. Sister Wang and Grandma next to him lowered their heads, trying not to laugh. It was the first time they had seen him act so silly, and they had to admit, he was quite cute.
The next day, He Zhijun went to work as usual, Jingyan went to the dock to pick up the meat, and Sister Wang and her grandmother took the child directly to the shop. By the time Jingyan pushed the meat back, Sister Wang had already prepared breakfast, and the lobby on the first floor had been cleaned.
After breakfast, Jingyan chopped all the mutton, while Sister Wang took the braised pork and ribs that had been marinating overnight out of the pot and put them into separate bowls. She then separated some of the braising liquid, added soaked soybeans and dried chili peppers, and began to simmer it over low heat to make noodle soup.
After a short while, the aroma slowly wafted out. Once it was confirmed that the soup was almost ready, it was simmered over the remaining heat, as long as the soup was kept hot.
After cutting the mutton into small pieces, Sister Wang had almost finished her work. She and her grandmother sat at a table in the lobby, watching over a pot of mutton and starting to skewer it with iron skewers. He Chaoli, who was already a young boy, told his younger siblings to play nearby and then joined in to help skewer the mutton.
Seeing that they were doing a good job, Jingyan stopped paying attention and turned to the kitchen to start making today's braised meat. After all the meat was in the pot, Jingyan checked the time; it was almost ten o'clock. She then took her family to the shop's entrance.
They changed the "Closed" sign to "Open for Business," then hung two strings of firecrackers on the lintel. After lighting them, Jingyan quickly covered her ears and dodged away. After a series of loud crackling sounds, all that remained was the smell of gunpowder and a pile of red paper scraps on the ground.
Jingyan then lifted the red cloth off the plaque above the shop's entrance, revealing the name "Good Taste Barbecue and Braised Meat Shop." Grandma stood across the street, looking at the shop's signboard with a hint of nostalgia in her eyes.
Now that the store has officially opened, there's no need to set up a stall outside to attract customers today. Jingyan was about to go inside when she turned back and saw her grandmother standing on the side of the street. She turned back and took her arm, saying, "Grandma, let's go home."
Grandma came to her senses after being helped up: "Okay, let's go back. Back then, my family owned shops on two streets. I loved wandering around there when I was a child. But later my father sold them all, and even the factory was confiscated. If my father were still alive, he would be very happy to see your shop open."
Jingyan helped her grandmother into the shop, comforting her, "Grandma, the darkest time is over. Let's look forward. Things will get better and better. Take good care of yourself. When your great-grandchildren grow up, let them start their own company. Then you'll be able to see the family's glory again."
Grandma was genuinely amused this time: "You, as a mother, really don't care about your own children. You put so much pressure on these little ones, aren't you afraid of scaring them?"
"Pressure is what drives motivation," Jing Yan replied casually. "Besides, even if one child isn't enough, we have three. As long as the three siblings work together, we should be able to build a company, right?" Jing Yan sounded a little less confident at the end.
There was no way she could do it; as a mother, she definitely didn't have the ability. If something went wrong with the child's inheritance and he only inherited the stupid part, then that request would indeed be difficult. However, her joking and nonsense dispelled her original feelings of longing.
The first day of official opening was after noon. Although the island is not small, the places where people have settled are relatively concentrated. So, once the news spreads, it can be known by at least half of the people on the island, if not the whole island.
So when family members were out buying groceries to cook dinner, they passed by here and, seeing the red paper scraps all over the ground, they immediately remembered the barbecue that the neighbors had been talking about the day before. Curious, they walked in, looked around, and timidly stepped into the shop.
Sister Wang reacted the fastest, immediately getting up to greet someone as they entered: "Hello, would you like noodles or braised meat?"
The woman, dressed simply but in relatively new clothes, stood somewhat awkwardly at the doorway with an empty shopping basket slung over her shoulder: "I heard your shop sells cooked food. My husband is inviting his colleagues over for dinner today. Do you have any snacks to go with drinks? How much are they? Are they expensive?"
Sister Wang replied with a smile, "Our braised pork belly and braised ribs are both great appetizers. The pork belly is very flavorful, and the fat makes it even more fragrant. As for the ribs, there is no fat, so they are also great for those who like to gnaw on bones. Come, please sit down for a moment, and I'll cut you some to try first."
He led her to an empty table near the door. Although the woman was a little nervous, she sat down gracefully. She looked around and saw the menu board behind the cashier. She got up and went over to take a look: "These prices aren't cheap."
She was just talking to herself, so Jingyan moved closer and explained with a smile, "Sister, you know we need coupons to buy anything these days, but where are ordinary people like us supposed to get so many meat coupons? So we can only find ways to buy expensive meat."
Raw meat is expensive, and considering the losses during braising, plus the various spices, labor, and other miscellaneous costs, this price is already quite reasonable. We're running a business; we can't not make a profit, can we?
The woman was a little embarrassed that her words had been overheard, and hurriedly explained, "I, I know, I was just making a remark, I didn't mean anything else."
Jingyan smiled at her: "It's okay. We always have to explain this a few times at first. Once everyone has tried it, they'll naturally stop bringing up the price. You don't need to worry about it. To be honest, when I was calculating the costs and setting the price, I also thought it was too expensive."
There was no other way; lowering the price meant losing money to gain market share. Back then, we were selling from home in Haishi, and at first, everyone thought the prices were too high. But later, business was pretty good, and no one complained about the prices anymore. This time, it's just a change of location, and we've learned from our experience.
The woman smiled gently. Sister Wang handed her a small plate with a small piece of pork rib and two slices of pork belly, along with a pair of chopsticks: "Try it first."
The woman was surprised: "You give me this much just to taste it?"
Sister Wang laughed: "Try both of them, that way you'll know which one you want to buy. They're both meat, so they're expensive. If you buy something that's not what you want, it'll damage my reputation, and you won't feel good about that either."
The woman put the basket on her arm at her feet, took the plate, and first gnawed on the spare rib that she only had one bite left. She savored it carefully, nodded, took the water glass that Jingyan handed her, took a sip of water to cleanse her mouth, and then tasted the pork belly. However, she only ate one slice of pork belly before handing the plate and chopsticks back to Sister Wang.
"The ribs are perfect for kids, the meat is tender but not falling apart. The pork belly is great for men to enjoy with drinks, it's presentable and the flavor is excellent. So, I'll take two pounds of pork belly and one pound of ribs."
Jingyan then asked, "We'll chop the ribs into small pieces for you, and do you want us to slice the pork belly for you?"
The woman's eyes widened: "You can offer this service?"
Jing Yan smiled and nodded: "Of course, otherwise you would take a big piece home. If the slices are not uniform and the sizes are too different, the presentation will not be very good. Here, it only takes a little time and is a quick and easy thing to do."
The woman nodded repeatedly: "Then I'll trouble you. Thank you. Please cut it for me."
Sister Wang turned and went into the kitchen. Jing Yan said again, "You didn't bring a lunchbox or anything. If you want to buy more next time, bring a lunchbox and we'll add some more braising sauce to it. When you get home, you can make noodles or hand-pulled noodles, add the braising sauce as a topping, and add a couple of blanched green vegetables. It tastes pretty good."
The woman thought about it and agreed. Somewhat timidly, she asked, "Do you have a lunchbox here? Could you lend me one to hold the braising liquid? I'll wash it and bring it back later. Can I pay a deposit?"
Jing Yan thought about it and agreed: "You're my first customer, so this request is no problem. As long as you don't mind that my lunchboxes are old, they're all clean. You can give me a one-yuan deposit, which I'll refund when the lunchboxes are returned. If you're not going out today, that's fine too. You can bring them over whenever you have time to go grocery shopping tomorrow or the day after."
The woman paid readily. Sister Wang came over with two brown paper bags and put them in her shopping basket. Jingyan said, "Sister Wang, take a lunchbox and fill it with some braising sauce for this lady to take back. She paid a deposit, and we'll refund it when she returns the lunchbox." Sister Wang nodded and went back to the kitchen to fill it with braising sauce.
After seeing off the first customer, Sister Wang was a little excited: "The first customer bought three catties! If we have a dozen or so customers like that today, we can sell out. Did we not prepare enough stock?"
Jing Yan shook her head: "The consumption situation of the people on the island is unclear at the moment. The weather is hot now, and if we make too much, it will easily spoil if we can't sell it. It's better to have less to sell than to have leftovers. Let's see how the business continues in a month or two. After October, when the weather cools down, we can try to increase the quantity. Now is not the time."
Sister Wang expressed her understanding and stopped the discussion. At four o'clock, Jingyan went to the yard to light the charcoal for the barbecue and began preparations. At this time, people started to come into the shop.
Some people who don't want to cook dinner will come over to buy some to try something new, and others who had meat skewers yesterday will come back to have a bowl of noodle soup and half a pound of braised meat. People who can afford to go to restaurants are generally not short of money.
As more and more people entered the store, Sister Wang, Grandma, and He Chaoli were all extremely busy. Even four-year-old An'an helped her great-grandmother serve the braised dishes. Some customers found it quite unusual to see such a tiny little bean running around like this, so no one complained about the speed of the service.
When He Zhijun returned from get off work, the pressure on the kitchen was finally relieved. Grandma went back to the kitchen to make more lamb skewers, Sister Wang was in charge of cooking noodles and cutting braised meat, and He Zhijun and the two children were in charge of serving the dishes. For a while, the hall was bustling with activity, giving the illusion of a booming business.
They barely made it through the day. Apart from the broth left in the pot, all the dishes they wanted to sell were sold out. Everyone was slumped in their chairs, unwilling to move. After a while, Jingyan got up to go to the kitchen to cook noodles: "Let's have some soup noodles for dinner tonight. I forgot to save some for ourselves because we sold out so fast."
Grandma raised her arm and waved her hand weakly: "It's okay, I'll just eat whatever I want. I just want to finish cleaning up and go home as soon as possible. I'm too tired."
Sister Wang stood up: "Then I'll clean this up, and then we'll tidy up the kitchen before we go back."
He Zhijun also stood up: "Sister Wang, let me help."
An'an was still young, and when he heard that there was no food for his family, he pouted and wanted to cry. But then he remembered that he was a boy, and he held back his tears. He pouted and said in a small voice, "But I want to eat meat."
Jingyan looked at his little expression, tapped the tip of his nose, and laughed, "They're all sold out, but the braised pork bone sticks aren't for sale. We'll keep them for ourselves. How about we each take a bite later?"
As soon as An'an heard there was meat, she didn't care whether it was ribs or big bones, and her eyes crinkled with laughter. At that moment, she couldn't hold back the tears in her eyes and they fell down. Her laughing and crying at the same time amused the adults in the room.
After finishing the tasks, everyone had a bowl of hand-pulled noodle soup and a braised pork bone, which they enjoyed very much. After eating, they cleaned up the kitchen together, and then sat down at the table to rest. Jingyan spoke up:
“This won’t work. I didn’t expect all the traffic to be concentrated in the evenings. The few of us are definitely not enough. Besides, Grandma is getting old. She can help out occasionally, but if it’s like this every day, she’ll be exhausted in no time. We need to hire more people.”
Putting aside everything else, the metal skewers need to be cleaned, the meat skewers need to be skewered, and the hand-pulled noodles need to be made. Sister Wang is already very busy with the cutting and preparation, and adding these other tasks simply won't do. When Xiao Li goes back to school, things will be even more difficult.
"While things aren't too hectic right now, let's recruit people and get them familiar with the process for a few days. That way, things will be easier for us later. The kids are still growing; they can't just eat whatever we have every day."
He Zhijun was quite supportive of hiring: "How many should we hire?"
Jingyan looked at Sister Wang: "Sister Wang, you have more say than I do when it comes to work. Given our situation today, how many people do you think should help?"
Sister Wang thought for a moment: "We need at least three. The kitchen needs to be cleaned frequently, since it's food that goes into our mouths. The kitchen must be clean. Bring some skewers; one person should be enough."
There's also a dedicated noodle maker who kneads, rolls, and cooks the noodles, plus prepares the noodle soup and places it at the serving area. These two don't need to leave the kitchen. I'll handle the braised meat cutting and preparation. When they have time, they can also help serve the dishes or lend a hand.
As for waiters, it would be best to have one, preferably a young man with good stamina who can handle running around.