"We don't have much to do, business isn't good at all," someone chimed in. "Unlike you, you're busy from morning till night, with customers lining up to eat at your place."
One stone stirs up a thousand waves.
One person's dissatisfaction instantly ignited the dissatisfaction of many others:
"Yes, our shop is really quiet. We have very few customers every day. How can we compare to Jiuya?"
"Boss lady, you've done all the business by yourself. We're all starving."
“When the Grand Hyatt was doing well, our shops wouldn’t be in such a bad situation. Now that your company is the top dog on this street, our shops don’t even have bones to gnaw on.”
"Still gnawing on bones? I don't even have any soup left."
"At this rate, we'll have to close down sooner or later."
...
"Your business is bad, why don't you look for the reasons within yourselves and blame the owner's wife?" Boss Zhu couldn't stand it anymore. "Don't you know how to find other ways to make money? If customers don't come to eat, you can only blame the taste of the food."
"Mr. Zhu, you really have no idea how easy it is to talk when you're not the one suffering," someone scoffed. "Didn't your Grand Hyatt Hotel try all sorts of methods? In the end, you still had your business stolen by others."
"That only proves that I am not as skilled as others, that's a fact, and I have to admit it." Boss Zhu used to hire thugs to cause trouble at his restaurant, but after personally tasting Jiu Ya's dishes, he secretly had his wife, Bai Lili, join the Jiu Ya restaurant franchise.
In fact, not only Mr. Zhu did this on this street, but also about a dozen other owners, all of whom secretly found people to franchise Jiuya Restaurant.
These people have discerning eyes.
"That's right. If customers don't come to eat, it must be because our food is not good. You can't blame Jiuya Restaurant."
"Alright, everyone, stop talking nonsense here. Go back to your own work and don't disturb Jiuya's business."
...
Su Xiaonuan remained silent, listening to everyone's words and reflecting on her own actions. She felt guilty if she were to do all the business herself, taking away everyone else's livelihood.
As everyone was about to leave, she called them back. "Wait, everyone, don't go yet, I have something to tell you."
Everyone turned around, craning their necks to wait for her to continue.
"Everyone, I'm sorry, I stole your business. I apologize here." Su Xiaonuan clasped her hands in a chivalrous manner.
"Boss lady, don't mind some people's complaints. Business isn't good, so they might say a few unpleasant things. It's just something people say, don't take it to heart," someone said.
"I don't mind, I just want to make up for the losses I've caused everyone these past few days," Su Xiaonuan said earnestly. "If you don't mind, I'm willing to go to each restaurant to provide culinary guidance. I believe that everyone who can open a restaurant on this street has some skill. Although there are many restaurants, we can cook according to our own characteristics. Don't follow the trend, don't just make whatever dish sells well. That would make it unoriginal and a common dish. Do you think anyone would come to eat then?"
"How about cooking according to your own specialty?" Boss Zhu said. "That's a good suggestion. We come from all over the country, so we can cook the specialties of our hometowns. That way, there won't be any question of competing for business. Maybe some customers will even come to try the specialties of each restaurant to see what they like."
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.” Su Xiaonuan clapped her hands. “Based on your respective specialty dishes, I’ll teach you a signature dish that suits your restaurant. Of course, we business owners should also have professional ethics. Don’t always try to imitate other people’s specialties. Doing your own business well is the most important thing. As long as your customer base is fixed, no matter what you do, your business won’t be taken away by others.”
"Are you trying to exploit us business owners like韭菜 (leeks, a metaphor for being exploited)?" someone said indignantly. "Are you going to gather all the chefs from our shops together and set up some kind of chef training program?"
“It’s possible. I heard that Jiuya’s franchisees all have their chefs learn to cook from her. She really is a ruthless opportunist, making money off every single one of them. She’s made money from the branches, and now she wants to make money off us competitors.” One of the owners started shouting. “Don’t trust her, everyone. Protect your own wallets.”
"I'll teach each of you a signature dish for free. Is that what you call 'harvesting leeks'?" Su Xiaonuan looked around at everyone.
"Really free?" several voices asked in unison.
“Okay.” Su Xiaonuan nodded. “However, I can’t be in two places at once, so I can only go to one shop at a time, and only one shop a day. To be fair, I’ve decided to go from east to west. You can calculate the time yourselves, and I’ll arrange the schedule accordingly to see which shop it’s my turn on each day. You can make some preparations in advance. I can finish the lesson in a maximum of one hour.”
"good……"
Cheers and thunderous applause erupted.
"Everyone, please be quiet!" Su Xiaonuan pressed her hands down.
Immediately, the crowd fell silent, all craning their necks to look at Su Xiaonuan.
They looked at him with the same devotion as if he were a savior.
"It is a blessing that we can meet on this food street. Although we are all competitors, we can still work together to create brilliance. From now on, no one should imitate the signature dishes. I, Su Xiaonuan, also guarantee with my own integrity that I will never sell your signature dishes in my own store. Therefore, the signature dishes that I pass on to you in the future will be the exclusive property of your store."
"Boss lady, you're such a kind person."
"Good people will be rewarded. From now on, you'll be the boss of this street. We'll listen to whatever you say."
"It's truly good when everyone is doing well. I hope every shop can make money here and attract more diners." Su Xiaonuan cleared her throat. "To prevent arsonists from setting fires again, I plan to install large iron gates at both ends of the food street. As for the keys, I will have them distributed to each shop. The food street belongs to all of us, so we must do our best to protect its safety."
“No problem.” Boss Zhu had already been influenced by Su Xiaonuan. “Boss lady, I’m willing to contribute some of the funds for installing the iron gates on both the east and west sides, because my shop has the best decoration on this street. If it were to burn down, I would suffer the greatest loss.”
"Boss Zhu's suggestion is good; we can't let the boss's wife's family pay for it," someone suggested. "Why don't we do this ourselves and have the boss's wife take the time to teach us the signature dish?"
"Yes, we'll contribute money and effort so that the boss can focus on providing on-site guidance and training to us."
...
Su Xiaonuan couldn't even get a word in edgewise; she, the one who raised the question, was left out in the cold as everyone else gathered around Boss Zhu.
She shrugged and went inside the store.
Boss Zhu was a capable person. With him taking the lead in contributing funds, everyone followed suit and went to his shop. After calling to inquire about the cost of pre-installing iron gates, they wrote down how much each shop contributed in a notebook.
They demanded that the iron gate be installed tonight, and even assigned several people to oversee the matter.
"Boss lady, you're truly invincible with your benevolence!" The head chef gave Su Xiaonuan a thumbs up. "Look, these merchants have become our allies in an instant. From now on, they won't isolate our shop's people anymore."
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