Chapter 118: Seventeen Restaurants on One Street
"Sang Yu, she's able to make a pretty accurate guess based on just a few details without even entering the Sang family. She's definitely smarter than you."
Sang Yongnian was deeply impressed by Sang Yu. In fact, as her second uncle, he seldom had the opportunity to meet her. He mostly just caught a glimpse of her at family dinners during festivals.
In the past, his impression of Sang Yu was just that of his good-for-nothing younger brother and his taciturn daughter. However, his behavior during exile changed his opinion of her greatly.
"Of course, our Yu'er is the smartest." When he said that he was not as smart as Sang Yu, Sang Yongjing did not think there was anything wrong with it, and was even quite proud of it.
Sang Yongnian couldn't bear to watch, and asked with one hand on his forehead, "Did she say anything else?"
"You said you were in a bad mood, so I bought you some cakes to try."
Sang Yongjing thought back to what Sang Yu had said, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that his daughter was truly an genius, and that everything she said was right.
"...Does she have a way to solve the Sang family's current predicament?" After a long silence, Sang Yongnian slowly opened his mouth and asked the question that was lingering in his mind.
"Second brother, shouldn't this be easy to solve? Now that the restaurant is open, there will naturally be a steady flow of money coming in. By then, there's no need to worry about money."
Sang Yongjing didn't understand why he was worried. The restaurant business was booming and it was obvious that they could make a lot of money. It shouldn't be long before the Sang family would no longer be short of money.
"Fourth brother, if you were smarter, you wouldn't be in your thirties and still not even pass the imperial examination."
Sang Yongnian looked at him with eyes full of sympathy. He didn't know how his fourth brother could give birth to such a smart person like Sang Yu.
"Second brother! We agreed not to expose other people's secrets!" Sang Yongjing blushed.
He really made great efforts for this. He studied hard for several years and finally passed the imperial examination and qualified for the metropolitan examination. Unfortunately, he stopped there and never passed.
"Besides, aren't we talking about money? Don't change the subject."
"Okay, let's talk about money. The Sang family is indeed short of money, otherwise they wouldn't have let me come out to work in such a sick state."
Sang Yongnian didn't mean to make fun of him, so he just started talking about the restaurant.
"Looking down now, don't you think there are a lot of diners coming and going? Business is booming."
"Yes." Sang Yongjing nodded repeatedly. He felt that the restaurant business must be extremely profitable.
"Alas, that's all appearance," Sang Yongnian sighed. "I had someone do a count before we opened. Do you know how many restaurants and taverns there are on this street alone?"
"How many?"
"Seventeen in total."
"Wow!" Sang Yongjing was shocked. When he came here, he did see many restaurants on both sides of the street, but he didn't expect there would be so many.
"We just opened today. With food delivery and discounts, this floor is only about 70% to 80% full. If we don't deliver food and discounts in a few days, I'm afraid we won't even be 50% full."
Sang Yongnian did not stay in the backyard today, nor did he sit alone on the third floor. The reason he sat on the second floor was to observe the flow of people.
I thought that with all the promotions, the business would be booming today, but I didn't expect that the place would be completely empty.
The various vegetables and meats prepared in advance may not be consumed completely. After being left overnight, they will no longer be fresh and cannot be used to cook, which will damage the reputation of the restaurant.
The loss of food alone must be an astronomical figure. Even Chen Kang, who was in the kitchen, thought of this, so Sang Yongnian naturally would not have failed to think of it.
"Then... is there no other way to attract customers?" Sang Yongjing asked tentatively.
In his mind, his second brother is a business genius and there is no problem he cannot solve.
"No." Sang Yongnian answered very straightforwardly.
"But didn't our restaurant do very well in Beijing before? Why is it that after we moved to a new location..." Sang Yongjing stopped talking because he realized something was wrong.
Sang Yong laughed, feeling helpless. "You said we were in the capital, but we have no status now. We have no power, no influence, and no money. My eldest brother only lets me run the restaurant, but I can't afford to spend the money."
What is the most important thing in a restaurant? The chef’s skills are only second. The first is relationships and background.
Whether a restaurant can be run successfully does have a lot to do with the chef and the dishes, but the most important thing is to have someone supporting it behind the scenes.
The general public has a blind herd mentality.
If a restaurant is frequented by celebrities and wealthy people, even ordinary people will think that this restaurant must be a high-end place that only top people can enter, and they will think that if they have money in the future, they must go to this restaurant for a meal.
Those who are not celebrities or wealthy but have some wealth at home will take the initiative to come to this restaurant to eat, maybe they can make themselves familiar to the upper class.
The restaurant wants to make money, and it is these people's money that it makes.
The amount of money that individual customers who dine on the first floor spend on a meal and the profit they can make may not even be enough to pay the workers' wages.
"How about hiring a few skilled chefs?" Sang Yongjing suggested.
Sang Yongnian rolled his eyes at him and said, "You're going to give me money?"
The good chefs are all in other people's restaurants. If you want to poach them, you have to pay extra money. This amount of money is not a small amount, and Sang Yongfeng is reluctant to spend it.
Sang Yongjing shook his head repeatedly, clutching his waist tightly as he spoke: "I don't have any money."
He had just received a tael of silver from Sang Yu this morning, and he couldn't just hand it over casually.
"I don't intend to take your money. Go back and ask Sang Yu if there is any good way to help the restaurant attract customers."
Sang Yongnian couldn't help but roll his eyes again. His good-for-nothing brother now had another bad habit: he was extremely stingy.
He just said this casually and didn't place his hopes on Sang Yu, but Sang Yongjing took it to heart.
Knowing that the vegetables and meat they'd prepared wouldn't be sold out today, Sang Yongnian asked Chen Kang to pack some for Sang Yongjing to take home. Not only him, but the Sang family probably wouldn't need to buy any more groceries for the next two days.
During this trip, Sang Yongjing not only ate cakes, visited his second brother, and had a meal, but also brought home a large basket full of various vegetables and meat. He hummed a little tune all the way and was in a very good mood.
I was thinking, "Second brother, this restaurant is doing great. I don't have to go to the mountains to pick wild vegetables and catch pheasants anymore. I can just go to the restaurant every now and then to ask for food. The food I bring back is enough for the whole family to eat for several days."
Sang Yu watched him take out one vegetable after another from the backpack, especially the last piece of fatty pork weighing more than ten pounds, and her mouth opened wide.
"Dad, you won't spend all the money I gave you at once, will you?"
She doesn't mind spending money to improve the family's food, but she can't buy so much at once. What if the food goes bad if she can't finish it?
"I didn't spend any money. Look, this tael of silver is still here." Sang Yongjing looked proud. He took out the tael of silver that Sang Yu gave him in the morning from his waist and shook it in his hand.
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