Chapter 44 Chapter 44 Trying Every Means to Attract Business
As a result of this turmoil, the chief officials involved were punished, while the minor officials who were not deeply involved were all fined and demoted.
The case involved a wide range of people, and even the chief official of the Guanglu Temple was detained. That was why Uncle Dong received the news so quickly.
The reason why this matter was told to everyone in the Zhen family was precisely because the court was short of people. If the cousin of the Dong family and the second son of the Zhen family could pass the imperial examination in the spring and be valued by the emperor in the palace examination, they would surely be able to secure a good future for themselves.
The people of Bianjing were unaware of the changes in the government, and every household celebrated the New Year with joy.
Baozhu and her eldest brother also planned the food to be served in the restaurant. The dishes were naturally all trendy, as the vegetables grown in the warm room were only for the imperial court and high-ranking officials, and ordinary people could never afford them.
Because vegetables are scarce in winter, they mostly consist of bean sprouts, radish, cabbage, yam, and leeks, and these are also the main ingredients in stir-fries. Meat is the main dish, and since mutton is expensive and unaffordable for ordinary people, chicken, fish, and pork are the main choices.
Fish is plump and delicious in winter, and the fish sold on the streets is fresh. Here are three dishes that are most suitable for the tastes of the people of Bianjing and are the easiest to prepare: crispy bone fish, grilled fish, and chopped pepper fish head. These dishes are easy to prepare, so you can prepare the fish in advance and cook them as soon as customers order.
Baozhu loves crispy fish because she can eat it without picking out the bones, something she can't stand. She made this dish for New Year's Eve dinner. The fish is crispy and fragrant, deep-fried and then stewed until it's so tender that even the bones are chewy and easy to swallow.
Others prefer grilled fish. The whole fish is cleaned, hung in the stove and grilled with fruit charcoal until it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Vegetables such as mushrooms and cabbage are placed underneath. After it is cooked, it is slow-cooked on a small charcoal stove. The dish is always hot until the end, and it is the best way to drive away the cold in winter.
There are more varieties of pork dishes. My brother is good at making braised lion's head, and this dish must be reserved as a specialty. The rest are greasy and meaty dishes such as osmanthus spareribs, crispy fried meat, braised pork belly, etc.
Since it's winter, a few more soups are on hand. Drinking a bowl of soup in the cold weather can make you sweat. Soups are available in large and small bowls, with the small bowls being enough for one or two people and much more affordable. Soups often involve fish, mutton, chicken, duck, or pork bones. Fish fillet soup and fish ball soup are delicious, and the traditional mutton offal and mutton bone soups are also available. Other less expensive options include seaweed and egg soup and pork bone and radish soup.
Besides steamed rice, the most common staple food is noodles. Bianjing residents favor noodles, so they order steamed cakes and steamed buns from Hu's Steamed Bun Shop. Since their own steamed cakes and steamed buns are not very good, it's better to order directly from the long-established shop. It's more convenient, and diners love it.
In addition, they also add home-fried chive pancakes, fried noodles in soup, and fried rice noodles. Except for some vegetables that need to be steamed or stewed, the rest of the toppings for the noodle soup and rice noodles are freshly fried.
Baozhu carved labels for these soups and staples, then nailed them one by one to the wall. Bianjing was awash with snack shops like this one, and if you wanted to keep customers coming, you had to first get them in, and then focus on the taste.
The people who come into the small shop are ordinary people. If they want to eat ordinary dishes, they can save money by buying some ingredients at home and making them. Since they go out to eat, they want to eat dishes that are not easy to make at home.
Zhen's Restaurant advertises its cuisine as a fusion of northern and southern cuisine. When Jiang Shi tries to attract customers, he also tells them that if they want spicy food or food with a lot of oil and sauce, he can tell them in advance. If they don't want onions, garlic, and cilantro, they can also mention it. Then the dishes served will all suit their taste.
Since it was a newly opened restaurant, it was natural to offer a profit margin to attract customers. Baozhu researched the menu and offered meals for one, two, four, and six people.
Baorong also learned a rough idea of woodblock printing from Yu Niangzi. Baozhu asked her to carve out various meals and print them on small pieces of colored paper. She also asked people to distribute them in crowded places such as the intersection of Wushi Xueguan Street and the government office.
If going far away doesn't work, even if the restaurant is delicious, you may come back once in a few days, but not every few days.
Therefore, it is more effective to distribute the notices at the government office at the nearby Wazi Street.
At that time, anyone who came to the restaurant with the coupons written on them could enjoy a good meal for a small price. The coupons had discounts written on them, and even if no one came to Zhen's Restaurant, the restaurant's reputation would be spread. Moreover, with so many coupons distributed, even if only one out of ten people came out of curiosity, Baozhu would still have made a good profit.
The original price of a meal for one person is 80 wen, but with a meal coupon it only costs 56 wen. You can choose one meat and one vegetable and get a bowl of pork bone soup. For the staple food, you can choose a steamed bun or steamed rice.
In addition to the one-person meal with one meat and one vegetable, there is also fried noodle soup and noodle soup, which are originally priced at 60 wen, but are only priced at 42 wen offline. You can choose one of them and get a cup of red bean wine for free.
A meal for two, consisting of one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and a soup, originally cost 100 wen, but now only 70 wen with a flowery paper meal voucher. The same applies to meals for four and six.
Baozhu inspected the shop inside and out. She had lights installed throughout the shop, making it exceptionally bright at night. She looked at the furnishings and rearranged the tables and chairs so that two more small tables could seat two people each.
So she went to the shop and asked them to make two more small tables quickly. This job was simple and easy. The boards were ready-made and they were delivered in one morning. Baozhu put the table and stools in place and felt relieved when she saw that it was not messy.
The shop wasn't big, with a small partition in front of the stove and a large window at the back, which reduced the smoke. Not only was a stove built, but a craftsman also built a baking oven where the chimney connected. It was simple, though. It didn't hinder cooking, and while it didn't feel cold in winter, it would be unbearable in summer.
Half of the long counter was used for cashiers, and the other half was for drinks. Behind the counter, shelves were filled with all kinds of jams and rock sugar. Although the shop was small, it looked clean and tidy.
The restaurant has not opened yet, and only a plaque with a sign reading "Looking for the Son" has been hung, which has attracted many people to look inside. Baozhu also took this opportunity to print some food paper flowers and distribute them to everyone.
During the New Year, they selected all the vegetable vendors and decided to have two of them deliver the freshest vegetables after the opening. The vegetables ordered by the two vendors were exactly the same, but they could have a comparison. They knew there were competitors and they didn't dare to fool people with inferior vegetables.
Baozhu and her elder brother also carefully selected two vendors to deliver meat and poultry every day. Although the food in the restaurant is diverse, most of the dishes can be prepared in advance. As long as the dishes are prepared, it only takes a moment to serve them in the pot. Noodle soup and rice noodles are even simpler.
There are also several stoves dedicated to stewing meat, steaming vegetables and other foods. Zhen Jia Dalang can take care of several stoves in an orderly manner by himself.
The date set for opening was the first of February, an auspicious day, so once the date was set, we just counted the days. Taking advantage of the good business in the first month of the year, we should focus on making more money from the stall at Zhouqiao.
The stall hired Liu Si and Wang Da as managers. She and her elder brother had been less involved these days, only checking in from time to time. Only when they saw that there were no mistakes in the accounts and the diners at the stall had no complaints were they completely relieved.
After the Autumn Examination, many more candidates arrived in Bianjing to take the exam. From September to October, Xu Niangzi's business of renting houses was extremely prosperous. In addition, the autumn business was busy with many merchants buying and selling. She was busy all day and only gradually had some free time at the end of the year.
This year, Madam Xu was the one who earned the most money in the Zhen family. On New Year's Eve, each of the Zhen family's children received a large gold ingot.
Everything was ready, and on the first day of February, at the auspicious time, the shop was opened, firecrackers were set off, and money was sprinkled at the door. Baozhu's voice was clear,
"Dear uncles, aunts, gentlemen and ladies, today is the opening of our shop. Anyone who comes into our shop and spends money will receive a free drink, a small dish and a small dish."
Some people had already received the meal coupons and came in with the coupons to order food. Just looking at the names of the dishes hung on the wall was dizzying. Some people were illiterate, so Jiang Shi read out the dishes to them. He had practiced the whole New Year, and he was very good at reading out the names of the dishes. With a simple introduction, the names of the dishes, such as steamed, stir-fried, fried, and boiled, made people drool.
Soon, the snack shop was packed with people. Although there was no room to sit, many people were willing to stay and wait for a drink and some snacks. Baozhu wrote numbers for people on small pieces of paper and placed many stools at the door. People sat on the row of stools under the eaves and waited for their numbers to be called.
Tea, water and dried fruits were placed on the high table. Jiang Shi was running back and forth, sometimes serving tea and water, sometimes announcing and serving dishes. The maid in the back who was in charge of washing dishes and sweeping the floor would wait patiently and come to wipe the table and collect the dishes as soon as the people left.
Baozhu was busy collecting money and making drinks, while her eldest brother's kitchen was scorching hot and the aroma of food filled the air. With each of them doing their part, the snack shop ran smoothly.
The diners in line had no complaints, as they were just sitting around doing nothing anyway, so they would look up at the restaurant from time to time. The dishes on the square tables were colorful, fragrant and delicious, making them salivate.
Jiang Shi was very discerning. If a group of three or five came, he would lead them to a square table and recommend a meal for four or six. If a person came alone or in twos or threes, he would lead them to a long table or a small square table and recommend a meal for one or two.
Baozhu was worried that seven or eight people might come at once, so she asked the carpenter to make a large round tabletop. If there were many people coming, for example, if the square table couldn't accommodate a family of several people, she would put the round tabletop on it and add a few more stools, so that many people could sit down.
Ordering dishes in this restaurant is much cheaper than in those restaurants. When someone saw the round plate, they privately calculated how much it would cost to order a table of food here. No matter how they calculated it, it was more cost-effective than in the restaurant. They already made up their minds that if they invite ordinary people to dinner in the future, it would be more cost-effective to come to this restaurant.
Not only does it taste good, but the most important thing is that the portions are generous and it’s cheaper than that restaurant.
Unlike restaurants, which charge too high prices and no one comes, restaurants are essentially small businesses. However, they offer shelter from the elements and the ability to accommodate a few more tables. These advantages mean a few extra coins per day. Even if there's no business all day, this money is still a necessary expense.
The rent of shops in this area is expensive. If you don't manage it well, the losses will be heartbreaking. Baozhu naturally doesn't want to lose money, so she can only put in all her efforts and find ways to attract business.
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