54: Hot

“Let’s not eat here; restaurants in malls and supermarkets are usually very expensive!” another elderly woman said, being frugal.

“Come on, let’s go take a look, maybe Feihuang Supermarket is different?” someone suggested.

Everyone thought it made sense.

They went forward to ask about the prices of the dishes.

“What? Stir-fried pork for five yuan a bowl?”

“What? Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs for three yuan a serving?”

“What? Green vegetables for one yuan a serving?”

“What? Rice for fifty cents a bowl?”

The elderly women were all stunned.

This was the cheapest restaurant they had ever seen, without a doubt.

They had always thought that “eat your fill for eight yuan, eat well for ten yuan” was just a slogan on the roadside.

Now they knew that such a restaurant truly existed in the world.

They could see the busy chefs inside through the glass.

There were huge automated vegetable washing machines, and huge automatic dishwashers and sterilizers.

The shelves were filled with washed vegetables, and many chefs were busy but orderly stir-frying dishes.

All cooking steps, all oil and seasonings used, were open and transparent.

They didn’t know if it tasted good, but it was truly hygienic and healthy.

One elderly woman exclaimed, “Look at the oil they’re using, it’s even better than the oil I use at home!”

The others all opened their mouths wide, looking on in disbelief.

Feihuang Restaurant refreshed their understanding.

“Let’s eat right here!” someone suggested.

Everyone immediately agreed.

Normally, people their age didn’t like eating out.

They worried that the oil used in outside restaurants wasn’t good or hygienic, and that restaurant prices were high.

Now, Feihuang Supermarket offered cheap and hygienic food, so they had no reason not to try it.

As a result, when they were getting their food, the young waitress, with a smile on her face, asked:

“Would you like low-salt, low-oil, special dishes for middle-aged and elderly people?”

The elderly women were a bit surprised: “You even have special dishes for middle-aged and elderly people here?”

The waitress smiled and said, “Our employees also eat here, and many of our employees are middle-aged and elderly.”

“So, naturally, we made dishes that suit their tastes.”

Upon hearing this, the elderly women were overjoyed and all expressed their desire to try them.

The waitress helped them get their dishes and personally delivered them to their table.

The six elderly women sat at the table and sighed, “The service at Feihuang Supermarket is truly impeccable!”

“That young lady looks so friendly!”

Everyone nodded.

They had been to many supermarkets, and compared to the service at Feihuang Supermarket, it was truly a world apart.

There was no comparison whatsoever.

They were even more sincerely impressed by Feihuang Supermarket’s human-centered approach.

Everyone tasted the dishes on the table, and they felt very ordinary.

However, whether it was because the tableware was exquisite, or because they were cured by the waitress’s smile, they found it quite good to eat.

“Not bad! I think it tastes good!”

“At home, to cater to my son and daughter-in-law’s tastes, I have to add more oil and spice.”

“What we’re eating now truly suits our taste!”

Everyone ate quite satisfactorily.

When they finally settled the bill, the six of them had only spent thirty yuan.

Five yuan per person!

Oh my goodness!

No matter how reluctant they were, this price made them very satisfied.

They were a bit curious, did the supermarket make money at this price?

One elderly woman pulled a waitress aside and curiously asked, “The dishes are sold so cheaply, do you make any money?”

The waitress, with a smile, replied, “There are many things we don’t make money on!”

“Some are just to give back to our customers.”

“And Feihuang Restaurant is mainly for our employees, and then for sales; we don’t rely on this to make money.”

“So the dishes are sold very cheaply, almost the same price as when you buy vegetables at the market, or even a little cheaper!”

Everyone did the math.

Indeed.

For a family of five buying groceries, with both meat and vegetables, it usually cost fifty yuan a day.

And eating at Feihuang Supermarket seemed to also cost only fifty yuan.

Moreover, the variety of dishes here was extremely wide.

In addition to these stir-fried dishes, they also had soups.

The elderly women watched as one pressure cooker after another was opened, containing large amounts of fragrant soup.

Several employees eating together would carry a pressure cooker, pour the lotus root and pork rib soup into a huge bowl.

Then they happily carried it away.

The elderly women curiously asked, “How much is this big pot of lotus root and pork rib soup?”

The waitress smiled and said, “Pork ribs are twenty-four yuan a pound, lotus root is three yuan a pound.”

“This pot of soup used one and a half pounds of pork ribs and two pounds of lotus root.”

“Plus labor and seasoning costs, it’s a total of forty-five yuan!”

The elderly women were astonished.

A pound and a half of pork rib soup would cost at least one hundred and twenty yuan outside.

Here, cooked dishes were sold at the price of raw vegetables.

Even if they went to the market to buy ingredients and painstakingly cooked it themselves, the cost of the ingredients might even exceed forty-five yuan!

One elderly woman exclaimed, “Such good-looking pork ribs, only twenty-four yuan a pound?”

Upon hearing this, the waitress knew that this elderly woman often bought groceries.

The waitress explained, “Because we at Feihuang Supermarket also sell vegetables, when you buy vegetables at the market, the price will be higher than ours.”

Makes sense.

Everyone nodded.

Vegetable sellers always need to make some money, right?

And Feihuang Supermarket?

It sells vegetables itself.

It could choose to make money twice, once from selling raw vegetables and once from selling cooked dishes.

But Feihuang Supermarket chose to only make money once.

Perhaps it didn’t even make money once!

What a good supermarket!

The elderly women quickly called people.

Why cook at home, isn’t it better to eat here?

As Feihuang Restaurant opened, customers who were tired from shopping at Feihuang Supermarket would directly eat at the restaurant.

No one praised the food as delicious, only feeling that it wasn’t bad, just ordinary!

...

Three days passed, and Feihuang Restaurant became popular!

Zhu Daqiang felt bewildered.

How did the restaurant suddenly become popular?

He hadn’t even promoted it!

He was still worrying about how to improve the taste of the restaurant’s dishes, so how did it become popular?

The restaurant’s food wasn’t delicious!

There was a very obvious gap compared to the dishes in those outside restaurants.

Anyone who has been in the catering business knows that taste is the most important thing for a restaurant.

But Feihuang Restaurant’s dishes tasted ordinary!

Zhu Daqiang immediately went to investigate and then realized that Feihuang Restaurant became popular not only because of its cheap prices but also because it used less oil.

You could eat it without getting tired of it!

Immediately, Zhu Daqiang hurriedly reported the news to his boss.

“Boss, our Feihuang Restaurant is popular!” Zhu Daqiang shouted.

“The restaurant is popular?” Qian Ziyong looked up at Zhu Daqiang, feeling bewildered.

The restaurant’s taste was very ordinary, how could it become popular?

Zhu Daqiang gave a thumbs-up and said, “Boss, I know now why you don’t specifically hire chefs!”

“Hmm?” Qian Ziyong asked.

He didn’t specifically hire chefs because he was worried that professional chefs would make the dishes too delicious, making the restaurant popular.