Daddy's Gourmet Shop-Chapter 234 - 226: Tackling the Most Pressing Problem Head-On
"Boss, two servings of Yellow Croaker Noodles, both with rice noodles, two servings of stir-fried crab cakes, a portion of Honeyed Ham..."
Lin Zifeng reported the newly received orders to Huang Tao.
"Got it!"
Huang Tao rolled up his sleeves and continued cooking the delicacies in the pot without a moment’s pause.
Before the dishes were even out of the pot!
New orders came flooding in again.
In short.
The speed of serving dishes couldn’t keep up with the speed of ordering.
It’s a little past 11:50, right at the lunch rush, the working folks with a little cash in their pockets had been working all morning; the professors from Lijiang University with a little cash had been teaching all morning; the students from Lijiang University without much cash but with morning classes had been attending lectures all morning. Who wouldn’t want to come to the Delicious Restaurant to reward themselves with a good meal?!
Besides, the Delicious Restaurant unveiled two new dishes this noon: Honeyed Ham and West Lake Vinegar Fish, so they definitely had to come over and try.
Like the West Lake Vinegar Fish, if you miss it at noon, you might have to wait a good while for it again!
So, even though they knew the quantity was limited to just thirty pieces, they came with a hopeful mindset.
What if the customers ahead of them didn’t like the dish and didn’t order it, and it was just their turn to enjoy it?
Unfortunately!
The imagination was beautiful, but the reality was harsh.
As soon as they arrived, they found out that the West Lake Vinegar Fish had already sold out.
Even so, they continued to queue up as always.
After all, there was still the new Honeyed Ham in the store!
But soon, the Honeyed Ham also ran out, and they were ruthlessly out of stock.
Hmm~
No worries, there were still Dongpo Pork and others!
Even if those were gone...
Having some braised delicacies for comfort is fine too!
Everyone had an unyielding attitude and continued to wait in line.
When Huang Tao heard the system notification sound, he paused for a moment, but his hands didn’t stop moving.
[Ding Dong!]
[The system detects that the host intends to expand the store.]
[Side Quest Triggered: Please expand the shop area by at least fifty square meters within a month. Completing the task will earn you a chance to draw prizes. (ps: Countdown begins!)]
When that familiar "Ding Dong" sounded, Huang Tao’s first reaction was that a task had come.
He thought it was a task regarding the Honeyed Ham dish.
But who knew the system would address the most pressing issue directly.
Expand the shop space!
Luckily, the system seemed fairly humane, giving a month’s deadline.
Actually.
With business booming and more dishes being added, needing larger premises became a problem he had to face.
Lately, he had been occasionally checking out the rental information near West City Old Street shops.
Around West City Old Street, most are shopfronts from self-owned houses, either rented out for businesses or run small businesses by the homeowners themselves.
Currently, there are no available rentals.
However, if he chose premises outside West City Old Street, the entire Delicious Restaurant would have to move.
Huang Tao was reluctant.
After all, this was where the Delicious Restaurant first developed.
Plus, he had formed attachments with the neighbors on West City Old Street.
Besides, his home and the kindergarten Xuanxuan attended were also near West City Old Street.
If a new branch was to open, it could be anywhere.
But on West City Old Street, he still wanted to keep it as the first store for Delicious Restaurant.
Therefore, the expansion task issued this time could only be on West City Old Street.
So.
He turned his attention to houses left vacant after the owners moved out of West City Old Street.
For example, the house next door to his store, unoccupied and with no rental on the ground floor.
It seemed to have been empty for many years.
Whenever he came to purchase something around West City Old Street, he’d glance at the house, its main gate always tightly shut.
Last time when renting his store, he curiously asked his landlord about the situation of the neighboring house.
Unfortunately, the landlord wasn’t an original resident of West City Old Street. When he bought the two-story house, he had never encountered the neighbors.
Just heard that they had moved out of West City Old Street long ago.
But where to, the landlord didn’t know either.
Huang Tao thought, since his landlord wasn’t aware of the neighboring situation, he probably wouldn’t have the contact either.
So, he’d have to ask Jiang Guowei or the long-term local neighbors.
This matter would have to wait until he finished his busy work.
...
Jiang Guowei and his wife Chen Wenli were sitting at their store counter, each with a bowl of steamed white rice, ready to enjoy lunch!
However, earlier, around ten-twenty, Jiang Guowei went over to the Delicious Restaurant to get a serving of West Lake Vinegar Fish and two single servings of Honeyed Ham, along with a bowl of health-boosting fish soup to take home.
If it weren’t for his good friendship with Huang Tao, he might not have gotten these limited and popular new dishes!
"Wife, I’m telling you, if it weren’t for Boss Huang saving them for me, we couldn’t have had these two new dishes first thing at noon!" Jiang Guowei said as he considerately handed his wife chopsticks and a spoon.
Chen Wenli expressed gratitude, saying, "Boss Huang is such a good person, always thinking about us with his good food, not only saving it for us but also giving us discounts. Make sure you help him with his store’s moving or anything else we can do to help in the future."
"You don’t need to tell me, I’ll definitely help more!"
Jiang Guowei nodded with a smile, glancing outside at the queued crowd, unable to help but marvel, "Boss Huang’s business is really thriving, even making our entire West City Old Street lively; you hardly ever saw this many people here before!"
Chen Wenli laughed, "Exactly, our Old Street, which had become quite lonely over the years, is now bustling daily; it’s lively."
The transformation in West City Old Street is quite gratifying.
Not to mention the residents nearby who love the food from the Delicious Restaurant, the foot traffic brought by the restaurant has even increased shop rental prices along the street.
A lot of people from other streets or towns often come to the Delicious Restaurant at West City Old Street for meals.
In turn, their convenience store’s business, and that of other shops, had improved a lot too.
"Hurry and try, or it’ll get cold."
The couple enjoyed Huang Tao’s dishes with their homemade steamed rice.
Jiang Guowei picked up some fish with his chopsticks, tasted it, and with a satisfied expression, said, "Delicious."
Chen Wenli picked up some fish, tasted it, then after half a minute, took another bite. After savoring it, she nodded repeatedly, "The flavor is special: sour, sweet, and fragrant. So delicious!"
Then, they tried the Honeyed Ham.
It had both the mellow fragrance of ham and the light sweetness of rock sugar.
The lean meat was tender, and the fatty meat was soft and glutinous.
The stewed-to-softness lotus seeds and honey dates were exceptionally sweet and fragrant.
Delicious!
