novelraw Chapter 168 - 102: Setting Sail: Cruise Through the Three Gorges!
Chapter 168 - 102: Setting Sail: Cruise Through the Three Gorges!
(ps: My body hasn’t been in good shape these past two days, my shoulders and neck feel uncomfortable, dizzy, might need some monthly ticket relief...)
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The idea of freshly stir-frying hotpot base materials surprisingly received such good feedback, even Li Younan and Chen Kunjie hadn’t expected it.
The tourists who came to watch were mostly attracted by Li Younan’s videos, and many were wandering nearby and drawn to stop by.
For people from other provinces, watching others stir-frying hotpot base materials is part of experiencing Chongqing culture, it’s quite interesting.
Many stood still and took out their phones to capture photos and videos.
Chen Kunjie’s parents and brother were also crowding in, watching Chen Kunjie stir-fry the hotpot base materials with a peculiar expression.
Chen Kunjie’s stir-fry method was naturally taught to him by Li Younan.
After all, it’s a system’s product, though at this point this pot was just a semi-finished product, the rich aroma had already caught people’s attention.
Li Younan and the others weren’t worried about other businesses noting down the steps and trying it themselves.
On one hand, knowing the steps without knowing the ratios and exact time for each step wouldn’t make replication easy.
Besides, most people attempting it definitely wouldn’t start with such a large quantity.
Different quantities mean significant differences in details.
Even taking it to the extreme, if someone perfectly replicated this hotpot base, it wouldn’t matter.
For a hotpot restaurant to do well, aside from taste, service, value, decor, and promotion are all important factors.
Moreover, Li Younan doesn’t think it’s a zero-sum game, even if there are similar hotpot restaurants, they likely won’t compete for the same group of customers.
Chen Kunjie had been stir-frying for a long time, he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Two honest-looking waitress girls each held a stack of flyers, handing them out to passing tourists, working tirelessly.
One even handed a flyer to Chen Kunjie’s mom: "Auntie, our hotpot restaurant officially opens at 5:00 PM, we guarantee all hotpot bases are freshly stir-fried, absolutely clean and hygienic."
Chen Kunjie’s mom accepted the flyer, looked at it with growing amusement, exchanged a glance with Old Chen, their expressions somewhat complex.
At this moment, it was Li Younan doing the live streaming, and the stream was gaining surprising popularity.
Such a stream of stir-frying hotpot base materials had over a few thousand viewers watching simultaneously.
Many thought it was a sales stream for hotpot base materials, commenting on the live chat: "Why isn’t the streamer putting up a purchase link? This hotpot base looks awesome..."
Li Younan smiled contentedly, it seemed to be gaining traction.
After the hotpot base was done, everyone started preparing to enter the shop.
The customers had long been impatient, after the first batch entered, Li Younan also got busy helping in the kitchen with food prepping.
The two waitress girls collected the menus from the customers, while outside a long queue remained.
Under such circumstances, they could only hand out numbers. Without a number machine, they had to write them by hand.
Chen Kunjie was busy writing numbers at the front desk, reaching up to number 40 or so.
Of course, those in line might not all wait to get seated, but undoubtedly, they’ll at least need a second seating today.
Afterwards, the scene turned somewhat chaotic like a battlefield.
Even handling just 8 tables of customers, as anyone experienced working as a waiter in a hotpot restaurant knows, ensuring rapid food service to all seated customers wasn’t that easy.
Luckily, Chen Kunjie grew up in a hotpot restaurant environment and is quite familiar with kitchen management.
The two girls weren’t new to waiting tables either, barely managing to hold things together.
Yet there were still customers urging: "Boss, could you hurry up? We’ve been waiting for over ten minutes, and we don’t even have our pot yet."
"Coming, coming, right away."
"Boss, a bottle of beer please."
"Boss, a bottle of Viyi please."
"Boss, add two more servings of beef tripe please."
Li Younan was a bit stressed, unsure whether to play waiter to relieve the pressure in the front hall, or lend a hand in the kitchen.
Fortunately, just then, Chen Kunjie’s dad and mom casually joined in.
Dad headed straight into the kitchen, while mom organized in the hall, kicking her idle brother: "What are you loafing around for? Hurry to the kitchen and help!
With the three of them, the situation gradually fell into order.
Though still hectic, it was an orderly chaos.
Chen Kunjie was both calculating bills and prepping food, busy to the point of almost breaking apart, yet a sense of security was evident.
On the first day of opening, without having any relatives or friends create a scene, there were still so many real customers, lively and bustling, a true grand opening.
A genuine grand opening.
The business will certainly get better and better in the future!
Li Younan, holding his phone, hadn’t yet closed the stream, wandered around the hall: "Folks, business today is going great, thank you all for your support."
The first batch of customers were mostly Li Younan’s fans, grabbing him for forced photos.
Since the hotpot base materials used were visible, everyone was assured, not fearing old oil or unsanitary conditions, no pre-prepared dishes.
On this basis, even a slightly higher price didn’t really matter.
The shop continued bustling till 11 or 12 at night, only then did the last table finish and get cleaned up.
The two waitress girls were thoroughly exhausted, slumped in their chairs.
The plate-washing aunt hadn’t turned off the faucet since the shop opened, planning to rest now, muttering: "Still two tables’ worth of dishes to wash." And: "Never been this busy even after so many years of dishwashing work..."