Chapter 200

Chapter 200: Someone Who Dares to Charge Even More Than She Does

The young lord went to Yiluan Charity and learned that only fifty portions of spicy strips had been made; if they wanted more, he would have to wait until dinner. After all, Red Luan’s main job was still seamstress, and making spicy strips was only a side thing.

He felt helpless but knew he could not force it, so he went back and told Xiao Gen Ban the truth. Xiao Gen Ban looked disappointed, then quickly grew excited and said: “In that case, tonight’s customers are settled!”

At noon break, Red Luan heard that the spicy strips were already sold out. She clicked her tongue and said: “There really are a lot of rich people.” She did not dislike having more money, so she decided to send another fifty portions that evening. It was not that she refused to make more; the special food boxes were not enough. She had to custom order more boxes before she could raise output.

After returning, Xiao Gen Ban told the customers that the spicy strips were sold out. When they complained, he added that there would be spicy strips again at night. To show his apology, he sent a pot of wine to each table that had missed out. The wine was not given in vain, because that evening the noon crowd came back again. Some brought friends, and some came alone. Because of this, the restaurant’s business was double the usual.

In the past, having five or six tables at dinner was already good. Today, it jumped to more than ten tables. Some of these customers were not from the noon crowd. Seeing most tables order a new dish called “spicy strips,” and hearing people ask for more, the ones who had not tried it grew curious and ordered it too. Xiao Gen Ban’s place was not a famous restaurant, but it had been aimed at a higher-end crowd from the start. There were not many diners, yet most could afford a tael or two of silver, so they ordered the spicy strips without much worry.

Except for one table that could not eat spicy food and did not keep ordering, the rest tried the dish and, as expected, added more. Soon, the evening’s fifty plates sold out again.

On the first day, spicy strips brought in 100 taels. Red Luan took 70, the young lord netted 20, and the restaurant netted 10. But that was not the most important thing. The key was that the noon customers returned at night, so many other dishes and good wines also sold well. Counting everything, that night’s turnover alone went past 100 taels. After costs, the net profit was still 60 to 70 taels. Adding the noon wave, the total net for the day reached a full 80 taels, not even counting the 10 from the spicy strips.

Usually, this restaurant only made about 20 to 30 taels a day. Today it nearly tripled that, not even counting the extra 10 from spicy strips. The shopkeeper hurried to report all this to Xiao Gen Ban, and he was stunned. His family had other businesses and did not rely on this one restaurant to earn big, but nobody dislikes making more money, right?

Also, do not be fooled by the usual 20 to 30 taels. That number only subtracted ingredient costs. It did not subtract labor, like the chef, the shopkeeper, and the waiters’ pay, or firewood, or the candles used at night. After all that, the daily profit fell by another one or two taels. Even for someone with some assets like Xiao Gen Ban, that still hurt.

Now, subtracting those fees from 80 taels a day felt much better. He even thought that even if other expenses rose by half, he would not feel bad. And this was only the first day.

On the second day, the restaurant’s earnings doubled again. On the third day… the fourth day… by the seventh day, this once-unknown small restaurant had become the hottest place in the Capital City. Old customers brought in new ones, new customers brought in even more, and with word of mouth spreading, the spicy strips became truly famous. The restaurant’s net profit rose from 80 taels on day one to several hundred taels a day. On the best day, it even topped a thousand.

Red Luan’s supply of spicy strips also rose from 100 portions a day at the start to 300 a day later. She refused to make more. Yu Zhi Yi, who knew nothing about business, asked: “Wouldn’t selling more be better? You would earn faster.”

Red Luan lifted one finger, shook it, and smiled with a secretive look as she said: “Scarcity makes things precious. If people eat their fill all at once, it will not feel valuable anymore.” She pouted and said: “To be honest, I do not even want to offer 300 portions. In a few days, I plan to say I am too busy and set it back to 100 a day.”

Yu Zhi Yi did not understand business, but seeing that Red Luan had her own plan, she did not argue. Even with only 100 portions a day, Red Luan would still bring in 70 taels daily, which is 2,100 a month and over 20,000 a year. That was not small at all.

She opened a food box and said: “Here, try it. This is something new I just worked out.”

A few days later, Red Luan really did cap the sales of spicy strips. At once, both the young lord and Xiao Gen Ban complained nonstop. The young lord was especially full of grief. He was counting on spicy strips to make money. In the past few days, he had been taking in 60 taels a day from them. Now he only had 20. [Does she even know how I am getting by?]

He looked at Yu Zhi Yi with a wronged face and said: “You are just going to let her go back on her word like this?”

Yu Zhi Yi, speechless, said: “Red Luan is not a full-time cook, so of course she cannot make spicy strips for you every day. Besides, whether it is 100 or 300, in the short term spicy strips are still your one-of-a-kind draw. Even if you lose 200 portions, you can still make money off other things.”

The young lord fell silent. Yes, the restaurant did not lack other ways to make money. But he did. Twenty taels a day was really not enough for him.

Xiao Gen Ban also felt the pain. Losing 200 portions of spicy strips meant losing an easy 20-tael profit every day. After thinking it through, he quickly came up with an idea. If the amount went down, the price could go up. Soon, the customers learned that the low price of the past days had only been a launch discount for a new dish. Now that the launch period was over, spicy strips would be 3 taels per portion.

When Yu Zhi Yi heard this, even she could not help complaining and said: “That is really black-hearted.” She knew the spicy strips’ ingredients from Red Luan. While spices and bean oil were valuable, the total value of those for a hundred portions would not be over half a tael. The soybeans used to make the strips were only two copper coins per jin. Spread across each portion, the base cost was only a few copper coins. She had finally found someone who dared to charge even more than she did.