MTL - Reborn As a Top Student In the 1990s

Chapter 41 Competition among peers

Chapter 42 Competition among peers

On the first day of school at Jingtan No. 1 Middle School, my uncle organized a group of friends to stand at the school gate and hand out flyers to passing students one by one. On the red paper, the name, location and various dishes of the small restaurant were written.

The students were very surprised to see the flyers, and they all said they would go and take a look.

 At ten o'clock in the morning, the restaurant was ready to light the opening firecrackers. As the red silk was unveiled, the large gilded characters on the plaque - "Youth Restaurant" were revealed, and the onlookers couldn't help but praise it!

Because Fang’s father was a public official, he could not do this in private, so the small shop was opened in the name of Fang’s mother.

 On the first day, most people came to watch the excitement, but not many people ate. Although during the lunch break, many students did come to taste the food and thought the food was very good, but after two or three days in a row, there were fewer and fewer students.

Auntie felt very distressed when she saw the leftover food, but they had to rely on a few of them to clean up the leftovers every day, and they gradually couldn't eat anymore.

 After school, Fang Qing came to the restaurant to understand the situation and finally discovered the problem.

“Mom, how much food do you bring to others every time?”

 Fang’s mother recalled, “It’s about half a spoonful for a dish, and if it’s a meat dish, it’s less. What’s wrong, is there a problem?”

Fang Qing sighed, "Mom, the price is too little. The price we set is not cheap, so no one will come to eat."

But Fang’s mother felt that the price should not be too low. Finally, when several people were deadlocked, Fang Qing came up with a new idea.

 The price has been reduced, but the set meal has been changed. In addition to one meal, an extra bowl of soup is added for free, and side dishes are available for self-service. At the same time, because students did not want to wait for a long time in the store, we customized a batch of lunch boxes and launched a variety of rice bowls, which can be taken away at any time.

 But since the last attempt, many students are reluctant to try it again. Except for the occasional people who come in to try it and have a few repeat customers, the customer flow is still very small. Several restaurants around them laughed when they saw this, knowing that they didn't have the ability. Now they can rest assured. I believe that this store will be closed soon.

Just when Fang’s mother and aunt were at their wits’ end, Wen Ning came to the door with a group of students.

“Auntie, I heard you opened a store, let’s come over and try it out.” Wen Ning greeted politely and found a seat to sit down.

Fang’s mother was very happy and hurriedly recommended delicious options to them. After each student finished ordering, auntie quickly prepared rice and vegetables and served them quickly.

 A group of children all said it was delicious after taking a bite, and started to enjoy it hungrily. Mother Fang served them each egg drop soup for another night, and the group of students felt comfortable and full.

Before leaving, Fang’s mother said that she would not be charged for the treat today, but Wen Ning declined several times and secretly kept two yuan.

Unexpectedly, the next day, this group of students came again. This time they did not eat in the store, but took them away, and ordered ten boxes at once. This made my aunt very happy, and she added a lot more to each lunch box. The students happily carried away the dishes.

The rice bowl quickly became popular in the school. Many students were fed up with the same potatoes and cabbage served in the cafeteria, and rushed out of the school to try it. For a while, there was a long queue at Fang's restaurant, and many people even ended up eating it. I was upset because I arrived late and didn’t buy anything.

 Fang’s mother prepared twice as much food the next day, and all of it was sold out by the afternoon! This made my eldest aunt and my mother Fang very happy. This was the first time that they felt selling something was so satisfying! That night, Fang's mother went home to check the running water, and found that she had sold more than fifty yuan that day. After deducting labor, water, electricity and rent, she made a net profit of more than ten yuan!

Fang’s mother was so excited that she didn’t expect that opening a restaurant would be so profitable, so she went to buy more ingredients with great enthusiasm the next day, preparing to increase her reserves again. But Fang Qing stopped her mother's action.

"Mom, you can prepare more ingredients, but not all of them will be made into dishes. Moreover, there are many people in the store now because students still think it is fresh. Once the freshness wears off, the number of customers will be much less. Preparing too much will be a waste. of."

But Fang’s mother had just tasted the sweetness and could not listen to Fang Qing’s words. She still increased the amount of ingredients the next day. Although most of them were sold that day, within a few days of this, the number of students suddenly decreased.

Looking at the dark sky outside the window, but there was still more than half of the food in the pot, Fang's mother suddenly regretted it.

“It’s all my fault. I wish I had listened to my children that day. It’s a pity that there are so many dishes left.”

 Finally, Mother Fang and Auntie packed up all the food separately. Those who could give it away were given away, and those who could not be eaten were given to beggars on the roadside.

After this period of training, Fang’s mother and aunt finally figured out the students’ preferences, eliminated some dishes, and concentrated on making the popular ones, and the store’s income gradually stabilized.

 But as Fangjia Restaurant gets better and better, the surrounding merchants gradually have opinions. However, due to reasonable competition, they can't say anything. They can only go around the store and say a few sarcastic words.

Fang Qing finished class that day and quickly ran to the store to help. However, there were obviously fewer students today than in the past few days. Fang Qing thought it was because the dishes were single and the students didn't like them. But after asking around, he found out that Fang's family cooks food at the restaurant next door. The rice bowl sold well and was quickly imitated. A series of common dishes such as tomato fried egg rice bowl, pepper and potato rice bowl, and a series of common dishes were all made into rice bowl. It was easy to make and cheap, and it quickly attracted a large number of customers. Students, there are naturally fewer people in the Fang family.

Auntie saw that several restaurants next door had left a person at the door to recruit passing students to come in and taste them. Now there were fewer students coming to Fang's house to eat. My aunt was so angry that she threw down her apron and went up to argue, but Fang Qing hurriedly pulled her back.

“Auntie, don’t be excited. Competition among peers is normal. They can steal our sales methods and there is no way to stop them.”

Auntie sat down angrily, "But why are they so shameless? They still stand at the door and grab people. Many students originally wanted to come to our place, but now they have all been dragged away. Bah! Shameless!"

Fang Qing looked at the waiters outside the door who were wooing the customers, waving their handkerchiefs proudly, looking at them from time to time, with an expression on their face that was both flamboyant and in need of beating. Fang Qing sighed.

“Auntie, don’t worry. If they want to learn, let them learn. If we can’t sell rice bowls, we will change them to new dishes. I don’t believe it. They can learn anything I do!”

 Then the surrounding merchants discovered that the "Youth Restaurant" was closed for three days, which made the surrounding restaurants extremely happy. They knew that these new country bumpkins were no match for them.

In the next few days, Fang Qing asked her mother to study her best braised noodles at home, how to keep the noodles in the lunch box without clumping for a long time, and also asked her eldest brother to taste it many times to determine the appropriate amount and taste of the noodles. The whole family couldn't eat another bite of braised noodles, and Fang Qing's new product was finally ready.

 (End of this chapter)