"It smells delicious. How about you guys make some ingredients and make a casserole dish for our table?"
The diner was a foodie. When he smelled the delicious aroma, he was reminded of the hotpot he had eaten elsewhere, which was filled with fatty beef, mutton, bean curd, blood tofu, gluten, spinach, and tofu skin. He also had a packet of instant noodles at the end. It was so delicious.
Chen Xiaoying hesitated a little: "Then I'll go ask if there are enough ingredients for the hot pot."
When Chen Xiaoying went in and asked, Li Yutong was also quite surprised.
Hot pot ingredients have a lot of ingredients, and it would be troublesome to just fry a little at a time, so she made more.
"Yes, I'll give the customer some of what he wants to eat."
The first casserole dish of Chen Li Restaurant was sold out in this way. What Li Yutong didn't expect was that after that, whenever diners saw other tables eating casserole dishes, nine out of ten would order it.
Throughout the whole day, when Shen Jiaze, He Mingliang and others arrived, Li Yutong calculated in her mind that the casserole dishes sold in the afternoon far exceeded the barbecue rice they originally sold.
This casserole dish is also easy to prepare.
As long as you fry the hot pot ingredients in advance and add the various ingredients the guests want to eat, it can be served in less than a few minutes. It is convenient and quick. A casserole dish comes with a steamed bun. You can also add handmade noodles or instant noodles for an extra 50 cents. Diners are very satisfied with the meal.
"You guys share a big table, and I'll go to the kitchen to serve the dishes."
Shen Jiaze and his friends put the two long tables in the restaurant together to form a large table.
Induction cookers are not yet popular these days, so you can only use gas stoves.
A group of people put the gas tank aside, placed the hot pot pot on the gas stove, and all kinds of vegetables, meat slices, ham, and tofu skin were cut and washed in advance.
He Mingliang's mother Hao Cailing refused to eat: "I had this hot pot dish in the afternoon, so I wanted to go back and make some soup. Mingliang can go back by himself after he finishes eating."
Zhao Xueyan had also eaten. She was greedy to begin with, and when she saw that the guests liked it, she cooked a portion for herself as well: "I'll take Jiejie back to do her homework."
Li Yutong's grandmother Chen Xiaoying stayed behind and said, "I'll settle today's bill. Don't worry about me. You guys eat."
She is old, and although casserole dishes are delicious, she thinks they are too oily and greasy. She doesn’t understand why young people like them so much.
Shen Jiaze and the others sat down by themselves. At the table were Li Yutong, her sister Li Yuhan, Shen Jiaze, He Mingliang and He Zixuan.
"Wow, it's really delicious, not much worse than the Sichuan hotpot restaurant." He Mingliang often eats there, and after comparing, he thinks Li Yutong's tastes better.
Li Yutong wondered if he had eaten too much at other people's place and got tired of it, and was only eating what she made for the novelty, so he thought it tasted good?
"Shen Jiaze, what do you think?" This was the person she wanted to hear the opinion from first.
"Generally, the taste of hot pot will be a little bitter and astringent when it is cooked to the end, but yours doesn't taste bitter and astringent. It's pretty... not bad." Shen Jiaze was a little puzzled: "You really have a talent for cooking. Whether it's making steamed buns, barbecued rice, or stir-fried hot pot ingredients, you can cook them all tolerably well."
This opinion is very pertinent.
He Mingliang was busy eating: "Li Yutong, if you have money, you should open a hot pot restaurant. It will definitely be a hot business."
He has only eaten hot pot once. No matter what, he thinks: "If you open a hot pot restaurant in the future, the price should not be too high. If ordinary people can afford it, I guarantee that I will want to eat it every few days."
"If you all think it's delicious, then I'm relieved."
The reviews were all very high, and Li Yutong felt relieved. She couldn't help but wonder, could it be that he had completely given up the skewers shop and was going to open a hotpot restaurant instead?
To be honest, hotpot restaurants can make much more money than restaurants selling fried skewers or barbecue rice because they have a wider audience.
However, Hei Lao San’s people will come to collect debts. The business has just been opened for a short time and it has been disrupted. The business will definitely not be able to continue.
Then, she was still in school, and without her watching over her, she was afraid that her grandmother wouldn't be able to handle the situation on her own.
Shen Jiaze looked at Li Yutong's thoughtful expression for a long time, and he knew what she was thinking.
Everyone was enjoying the hotpot and when they were about to leave, Shen Jiaze stayed until the end: "I have money, I have as much as you want."
Li Yutong was stunned for a moment. She didn't want to get involved in money matters between her and him.
"It's okay, I'll do it myself. I'll keep my feet on the ground and do it slowly."
Shen Jiaze thought for a moment and said, "I'm not giving you charity. I can't spend all the money anyway. I'll put it in the credit union and save it. You can treat it as my investment. I'll provide the house and wages, and you'll provide the technology. If it works, we'll split the profits. If it doesn't, I think it's a small business, so there's not much loss. Just consider it as gaining experience."
Li Yutong looked at him in surprise, thinking that he was devoted to study and didn't understand the worldly affairs. Unexpectedly, he had his own opinions when talking about doing business.
However, the main reason is that he is rich enough, so he treats this as a game.
If you lose once, you can start over.
"I'll consider it, thank you." Shen Jiaze didn't want to refuse so bluntly. He just meant well.
In the following month, Li Yutong looked after the business in the store and observed how customers reacted to the casserole dishes, while also thinking about what kind of hot pot restaurant to open.
In later generations, there are various types of hot pot restaurants, with flavors including spicy, three fresh, tomato, etc. The business model includes a rotating hot pot, where the ingredients are placed on a flowing water table. Each customer has a separate small pot, and they take what they want from the plate on the water table.
There is also a kind of self-service hot pot, where the ingredients are placed in a large freezer. Each guest has the same small pot, and they can get what they want from the freezer.
After the ingredients are laid out, you can choose them by yourself and send them to the cooking table. After the chef cooks them, you can take them away and eat them directly.
Of course, the most common ones are like the Sichuan hotpot restaurants, with a big pot and several people sitting around it and eating happily.
Li Yutong was thinking about what kind of restaurant she should open. After much thought, she realized that since induction cookers are not yet popular and she can only use gas stoves, it seems that she can only open a hot pot restaurant with only one gas stove for each table.
Li Yutong has figured out how to open a store.
On the other side, Shen Jiaze had nothing to do, so he had someone investigate everything that happened in Laowagou Village.
"He's not even a local tyrant." Shen Jiaze thought Hei Lao San had a very powerful background, but it turned out that he was just a person who could only show off his power over ordinary people.
"This group of people, a total of more than 30 people." After the visitor explained the situation to Shen Jiaze, he added: "Hei Lao San's granddaughter is studying at the Municipal Technical College, majoring in textiles. I heard that she is now following the path of Lu Wensheng of the textile factory. She wants to ask her to work as a clerk in the factory office."
The girl from the village can work in the office of a state-owned factory where everyone is assigned a position, receive a pension when she retires, have benefits during festivals, and have no worries about food and clothing. At least Hei Laosan feels very satisfied with this. If she is lucky, and some small leader takes a fancy to her, she will definitely be the leader's wife in the future.