Starting a new chapter in life

Chapter 141 Shop Trial Operation

Upon receiving the meat, Jingyan pushed it back to the shop's courtyard in a cart. Sister Wang, Grandma, and their three children were already waiting in the shop. Everyone was prepared to start cooking in the shop soon, as most of the rice, flour, and cooking oil were stored there.

Back at the shop, Sister Wang was preparing breakfast. Jingyan took advantage of the early hour to prepare the pork belly and ribs that needed to be braised, put them in a special spice packet, and braise them first. Then everyone started eating breakfast.

After dinner, He Chaoli played with his younger siblings in the yard. Jingyan sliced ​​the beef, and Grandma and Sister Wang helped skewer it. They only had three hundred iron skewers brought back from the Great Northern Wilderness, enough to skewer seven and a half jin (approximately 3.75 kg) of mutton.

Since it was her first time making this, Jingyan didn't dare to stock up on too much meat. It would be a pity if it went bad and couldn't be sold. These days, freezers are still rare items. Regardless of whether you can buy them or not, these days, you can forget about getting them for less than a thousand yuan.

Jingyan felt that they didn't need this expensive item right now. They would prepare a small amount each day, and once it was sold out, that would be it. They could increase the quantity as needed when customer traffic increased in the future. They didn't plan to keep any leftover meat.

"Isn't this a bit too little for just a few iron skewers? Where can we get some more?" Grandma asked as she put on her clothes.

Jing Yan shook her head: "I bought these from a scrap metal recycling station in the Great Northern Wilderness. They were sold to me as scrap metal by other barbecue restaurants before the Cultural Revolution. The old man at the recycling station saw that the iron skewers were well-preserved, so he couldn't bear to give them away and kept them separately, which is how I ended up buying them."

"If I'd known things would turn out this way, I should have bought the rest before I left. I doubt there's any left here. I went to the scrap yard twice before, but anything related to metal is usually taken away within three days of arriving at the recycling center; there's no chance of finding anything I can get."

"Why does this thing look so familiar?" Sister Wang looked at the iron skewer from all angles, feeling like she had seen it somewhere before.

Jing Yan replied casually, "Yes, on the bicycle."

The group suddenly realized, but bicycles are so valuable these days, to dismantle them? Haha, that's a joke.

Jingyan suddenly remembered the bamboo skewers that were commonly used at barbecue stalls, and her eyes lit up: "Grandma, I remember there should be places around here that produce a lot of bamboo, right? If we could get bamboo skewers, it would be even more convenient, and we wouldn't have to clean the skewers and maintain them every day."

Grandma thought for a moment and said, "Well, Yixian County nearby is indeed a bamboo forest town. Every household there knows how to weave things from bamboo, so making bamboo sticks shouldn't be difficult. But how are you going to price them? After all, they're disposable. If the price is too low, they might not make them, and if the price is too high, it's not worth it for us."

Jingyan thought this made sense: "Yes, mutton is 60 cents a pound now, and we can only make forty skewers from one pound. Adding all the seasonings and charcoal, the cost price is 2.5 cents a skewer. If we sell them for 5 cents a skewer, we can make half a profit."

However, if we use bamboo skewers, they're disposable, and people might not be willing to do it for a penny each, not to mention our profits would be reduced. Let's wait until Zhijun comes back tonight and discuss it together, see if he has any ideas.”

Grandma also thought this was unreliable, nodded and continued dressing: "How much lamb did you buy today?"

"For now, I've ordered 30 jin each of pork belly and pork ribs every day, and only 15 jin of mutton. That should be enough to make about 600 skewers. That's all for now. By the way, Sister Wang, the broth we leave after braising the meat is going to go to waste. How about we add some soybeans, dried red chilies, or something, and adjust the seasoning, and sell it as braised meat noodles? What do you think?" Jingyan said, then looked at Sister Wang.

Sister Wang is skilled at making noodles, and the noodles she rolls are especially chewy. She was about to nod, but then hesitated: "Then, should we go and buy some vegetables to keep on hand? It would be good to have a few greens in the noodles to garnish them."

Jing Yan nodded: "That's true. I was thinking of making some braised eggs, but it's a bit troublesome to get eggs on the island right now, so I'll hold off for now and do it another time. But if we're making braised pork noodles, then we really need braised eggs. We don't need many per bowl, just half an egg."

After slicing the mutton, Jingyan took a brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote "Trial Operation" on a large wooden board with a rope hanging from it. She then set it aside to dry. The menu hanging behind the cashier on the first floor of the lobby also listed the following: Braised pork belly 4 yuan/jin, braised pork ribs 3.5 yuan/jin, mutton skewers 5 fen/skewer, braised meat noodles 3 mao/bowl (about 2 liang of noodles).

Jingyan isn't very confident about the business's prospects right now. She'll start with a small quantity and a limited variety. Once things stabilize, she thinks she can add some cold dishes like fried peanuts and smashed cucumbers. As for stir-fries, forget about them. They're time-consuming and labor-intensive, and they might not even be as profitable as those few dishes. Her family has already invested a lot, and there's no manpower to make too many things.

Other shops open early in the morning, but Jingyan's shop had been busy all day and the braised meat wasn't flavorful enough, so she decided to try selling grilled lamb skewers first. When it was almost time to leave work in the afternoon, Jingyan moved the barbecue grill to the outside of the shop's courtyard, lit the charcoal fire, and then casually set off a string of 500 firecrackers at the door before starting to grill the skewers.

While the sound of firecrackers piqued people's curiosity, it wasn't as enticing as the aroma of barbecue. This location was on the inner side of the commercial district, so there was a relatively large flow of people, and some single men with a sweet tooth followed the smell of barbecue to get there.

By this time, Jingyan had already grilled more than forty skewers. Outside the door, there was a large dining table and several chairs. The three children were sitting on the chairs, swinging their little legs, and eating the meat skewers from the plate with relish. The ones in front of He Chaoli had a little bit of chili powder sprinkled on them, while the other two children were too young to have any chili added.

Seeing that it was barbecue and noticing the children happily eating nearby, someone couldn't help but ask, "What kind of meat is this? How much does it cost?"

When Jingyan saw someone asking, she quickly replied, "Pure mutton, five cents a skewer. You can buy one to try first. If you like it, you can buy more. If you don't like it, it won't be a waste. Anyway, I'm grilling here, so I have some all the time. Oh, by the way, to ensure the freshness of the ingredients, we only have six hundred skewers a day for now. Once we're done, we'll stop."

Those who were originally watching from the sidelines, upon hearing that there was a limit, quickly took out a dime from their pockets and handed it over: "I'll have two skewers to try."

"Can you eat spicy food?" Jing Yan asked casually.

“Just a little bit,” the guest replied.

Jingyan took two skewers from the handful of meat in her hand, sprinkled some seasoning on them, and grilled them a little longer. Under the sizzling oil, the seasoning released its aroma along with the oil. Jingyan handed the two skewers over: "Please try them. After you finish eating, please throw the skewers in this bucket. Thank you!"

The customer took the meat, immediately picked up a piece, and exclaimed, "The meat is tender and flavorful, delicious!"

Once the first person buys it, others will follow suit. Some just want to try it out, buying two or three skewers to satisfy their meat cravings. Others, with money in their pockets and no wife to keep an eye on them, will buy eight or ten skewers at a time.

After about a hundred skewers were emptied from the bucket, Sister Wang quickly took the bucket away, replaced it with a new one, and went straight to the shop to refill the skewers and continue making the next batch of meat skewers.

After the customers gathered, Grandma smiled and led the three children back into the shop. Some people looked at the shop behind Jingyan and asked curiously, "Do you own this shop? Will you be selling meat skewers from now on?"

Jing Yan replied with a smile, "Our shop mainly sells braised meat, but of course we also have braised meat noodles and barbecue. Today is my first day trying it out. The braised meat still needs to absorb the flavors, so we didn't start selling it today."

We'll officially open for business tomorrow at around 10 AM. Everyone can come in and buy our food then. There are tables in the main dining area for those who want to dine in, and private rooms on the second floor for those who want a private gathering. Everyone is welcome to come and support us!

Now even more people are talking about it. "Your main product is meat, right? Is it expensive?"

Jingyan then introduced the prices of various items. The cost of living in Haishi is generally higher than in Beidahuang, and the workers here receive significantly better treatment than their counterparts in Haishi. Although things aren't exactly cheap, people are much more accepting of them.

People are already craving the taste of braised pork, saying they want to come and try it after get off work tomorrow night. Jingyan couldn't help but smile as she looked at so many people. It seems that the first shot of opening the store was not a dud. Not bad, not bad.

When He Zhijun came over after get off work, he saw a crowd gathered outside the shop and thought something had happened. After squeezing through the crowd, he saw Jingyan grilling meat skewers. He stood next to Jingyan and asked, "Jingyan, is there anything I can help you with?"

Jingyan looked up and saw him come back, and was very happy: "I'm almost out of meat skewers here. Go to the kitchen and see how many Sister Wang and Grandma have made, and bring them over to me first. I'll grill some more for you later."

He Zhijun affectionately patted her head and said, "I don't want to eat it. Sell whatever you can. I'm going to check on Grandma. I'll help with the skewering later." Without waiting for Jing Yan's reply, he turned and went into the yard.

A customer waiting for meat skewers watched He Zhijun's disappearing figure and asked, "Who is that?"

Jing Yan replied with a smile, "He's my husband. He works at a shipyard and came over to help out right after get off work."

The man suddenly realized, "No wonder you can open a shop here. So you're also a family member of an employee on the island. That explains it."

Jingyan didn't reply, continuing with what she was doing, while casually asking each buyer if they wanted it spicy or not, keeping herself very busy.

Six hundred skewers were almost sold out in about three hours. Jingyan didn't plan to sell any more, so she hung up a "Closed" sign on the door and carried the equipment outside back inside with He Zhijun.

The barbecue grill was carried to the front yard. Jingyan looked at the remaining forty or so skewers and said with a smile, "We won't sell these. Let's have a taste ourselves. It's not like we're the ones who make this stuff and haven't even tried it yet." As she spoke, she started grilling skewers and even asked Sister Wang to cut the leftover steamed buns into slices and grill them directly on the charcoal fire. And let me tell you, the slightly charred, golden-brown steamed bun slices were really delicious.

The three children had already eaten quite a few lamb skewers to attract customers, and they all said they were full. But after their great-grandmother fed them a piece of steamed bread, each of them managed to eat another piece, making Jingyan both amused and exasperated: "If you want to eat more, I'll make you some tomorrow. Don't stuff yourselves to death."

He Chaoli sensibly took his younger siblings inside to play, while the remaining adults ate and summarized the business of the evening. "We only have three hundred iron skewers, which is too few. Fifteen catties of mutton is about six hundred skewers, and we have to do it in several batches to skewer them all. It takes too much time. It would be great if we could get more iron skewers," Jing Yan said while grilling the meat skewers in her hands.

He Zhijun finished eating the meat skewer in his hand, staring thoughtfully at the iron skewer: "Actually, if it's a steel factory, making iron skewers shouldn't be a big problem," he suddenly said.

"You can get your hands on iron skewers?" Jing Yan asked, puzzled.

“The shipyard has a steelmaking workshop. If we want to make them, we need to make a mold, pour molten iron into the mold to form the initial shape of the stick, then quench it, and finally grind and polish it. That’s about it. However, if we really want to contact a steel mill to do this, it will cost a lot, and we may not have such a large demand,” He Zhijun said thoughtfully.

Jing Yan tilted her head in confusion: "What do you mean?"

"The shape of the iron skewers is simple, but a mold for making them costs at least three to five hundred yuan. Add to that the amount of iron used and various processes, plus grinding and polishing, and even calculating the cost based on a worker's daily wage, it would cost at least one yuan per person per day. These processes require at least six people, meaning six yuan a day."

We can produce about five or six hundred pieces a day. Let's say we need two thousand, which would take four days. The wages alone would be twenty-four yuan. Plus, the iron used—two thousand pieces would require about two hundred jin of pig iron, which costs three hundred yuan.

This doesn't even include venue and equipment costs. Just a rough estimate would be close to 1,000 yuan for 2,000 pieces. Of course, the more you make, the lower the price will be, but we don't have that much demand.

Jingyan thought for a moment: "Zhijun, our restaurant can accommodate at least twenty tables. Let's say eight people per table, that's one hundred and sixty people. If each person gets ten skewers, two thousand skewers are only enough for one round."

Although we're assessing based on the maximum quantity, I think we can make more. Four thousand sticks would cost around 1500, which would reduce the cost price from 50 cents per stick to 38 cents. I believe that one day we'll be able to sell four thousand sticks a day. Zhijun, can you find a factory willing to make these for us?

He Zhijun pondered for a moment: "Our shipyard's steel workshop is not operating at full capacity right now. I'll go talk to the director of the steel workshop tomorrow. If he's willing to take over, then there shouldn't be any problem. As for the price, I'll negotiate it."

Jingyan was overjoyed. She put down what she was holding and gave him a big hug: "Zhijun, having you is truly the luckiest thing in my life." After saying that, she kissed him on the cheek, leaving his face covered in oil.