In the morning, just as Chen Pingjiang's dream was about to reach its climax, he was woken up by some damn alarm.
Chen Pingjiang rolled over, still wanting to sleep, when he heard He Siyu pat the edge of the bed.
"Chen Ge, today is the old marketing professor's class."
"Oh."
Chen Pingjiang grunted, his eyes blurry as he glanced at his phone.
"It's already 7:40, no time, let's keep sleeping."
Hmm, getting dressed, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, then walking to class, how could twenty minutes be enough?
Since I'll be late anyway, I might as well not go.
Across from him, Zhao Shaoyang, sporting a messy bird's nest of hair, lethargically yawned.
He was already debating whether to go to class, and upon hearing Chen Pingjiang's words, his resolve immediately crumbled.
Sleepiness washed over him again, his eyelids fighting each other, and he flopped back onto the bed, mumbling,
"Then I'm not going either."
Close to eleven, Zhao Shaoyang leisurely woke up.
He had finally gotten enough sleep.
Struggling to get up, he called out,
"Chen Ge, what's for lunch?"
There was no response for a long time.
Zhao Shaoyang turned his head and saw that Chen Pingjiang's bed was neat and empty; he had long gone.
Looking around again, he realized he was the only one in the dorm.
Just then, Chen Pingjiang and Dong Tinghui walked into the dorm, laughing and joking, followed by Guo Dewen and two others, carrying stir-fried rice, stir-fried noodles, and other lunch items.
"Chen Ge, why are you back with Lao Dong and the others?"
Zhao Shaoyang asked suspiciously.
Chen Pingjiang had slept in again with him this morning and usually wasn't in the dorm during the day, so why was he back at this time?
Chen Pingjiang tossed the fried rice onto the table and smiled at Zhao Shaoyang:
"What's so surprising? Of course, I went to class. Do you think everyone's a bad student like you? Oh, you weren't there for roll call this morning, and the old professor said he'd deduct all your usual participation points. You can start preparing for the marketing make-up exam now."
Zhao Shaoyang was stunned, and after a long moment, he covered his head, on the verge of tears:
"Chen Ge, you're such a dog! I originally planned to go to class this morning, but I kept sleeping after hearing what you said."
Chen Pingjiang grumbled,
"Damn it, you wanted to skip class yourself and now you're blaming me? If I went to eat shit, would you eat it too?"
Seeing that he didn't believe him, Zhao Shaoyang immediately swore a curse:
"If I'm lying to you, I'll really eat shit."
Chen Pingjiang chuckled,
"Stop f***ing lying and freeloading, just prepare for your make-up exam, stinky little brother."
...
"We agreed to sleep in, but you secretly went to class. You're such a dog."
...
In the afternoon, Chen Pingjiang hid himself away in the library.
While Wei Xiaoqing's suggestion made Chen Pingjiang very happy, he also had to admit that he had been too focused on the preparations for Renrenwang recently, somewhat neglecting Xiao Chen Barbecue.
The importance of Xiao Chen Barbecue to Chen Pingjiang was self-evident; only with its continuous cash flow could Renrenwang grow faster and go further.
However, with more and more stores, the current single-store, solo-struggle and extensive management style would become increasingly inadequate, making standardization impossible.
It was very likely that the fourth or fifth store would falter, which was something Chen Pingjiang did not want to see.
Therefore, he had to take time to seriously write a document outlining the future development ideas and plans for the barbecue chain.
Why are there so many barbecue brands in later generations, yet so few chain brands with hundreds of stores?
Because barbecue itself is a food that is very difficult to standardize.
It's not like hotpot, where each store can use the same ingredients and seasonings, directly supplied by headquarters, and once cooked in the pot, the taste is almost identical.
Nor is it like a milk tea shop, with identical ingredients and fixed-ratio processing procedures.
Therefore, hotpot restaurants and milk tea shops can be replicated in large numbers, but barbecue shops are difficult.
It's like steak in a Western restaurant: each restaurant has its own flavor, each chef has his own flavor, and even each time it's cooked, it has a different flavor.
A good steak costs thousands, while a bad one costs tens.
The most crucial part is that a chef grilling steak, even with a thermometer and a meat probe, takes a long time to master making the same dish.
You can then imagine how difficult it is for a barbecue chef to grill over ten kinds of meats while maintaining a consistent taste.
The type of meat, the quality of the meat, the marinade, and the skill of the barbecue chef all determine how delicious a shop's barbecue is, and the same goes for stir-fried dishes.
Chen Pingjiang had no doubt that as Xiao Chen Barbecue expanded, problems would follow one after another.
Barbecue chefs leaving, new chefs grilling meat with a significantly different taste, or experienced chefs demanding raises with their unique skills, or even new stores failing due to poor taste, damaging the brand.
There are actually many nuances to small skewers.
For example, electric grilling, charcoal grilling, and even grilling with special wood result in vastly different textures and tastes.
However, the heat intensity of charcoal or wood grilling cannot be standardized; it relies entirely on the chef's feel.
Inconsistent Maillard reactions lead to vastly different textures.
It's like how semi-finished skewers taste completely different when cooked in an air fryer, an oven, or over charcoal.
For this, Chen Pingjiang called Ai Zhiwei to consult.
On the other end of the phone, Ai Zhiwei was constantly busy, saying,
"Boss, this is very difficult, almost impossible. Like our shop, business is so good, my grill is only two meters long, and I have to grill so much at once. The timing is all estimated. Each type of meat has a different grilling time, a different turning time, a different removal time, and the seasoning oil needs to be sprinkled evenly. You have to ensure both taste and speed of serving."
Chen Pingjiang thought for a moment and asked,
"Can it be quantified and standardized?"
"Well... it's not impossible, but if we do that, we'll need to hire more people. One person would be responsible for a fixed few types of barbecue, standardizing everything from ingredient sourcing, size, fire temperature, cooking time, brand of marinade, amount of ingredients, and flipping frequency.
And even then, it's not enough; every newly hired chef would need extensive and rigorous training before they're qualified, and they might just leave once they've learned everything."
Before Ai Zhiwei finished speaking, even if people didn't leave, the training costs and increased labor costs in the kitchen would far exceed what a low-priced barbecue shop near a school could sustain.
"Let's take it one step at a time,"
Chen Pingjiang thought.
The most urgent task was to first hire an experienced finance professional to register a formal catering management company, standardizing the management of all Xiao Chen Barbecue stores.
This would greatly alleviate Chen Pingjiang's worries.
A human resources person also needed to be on standby; he couldn't always recruit himself or rely on introductions.
Did you think that was the end of it?
Too naive!
With more stores, wouldn't unified procurement and distribution also require staff?
Otherwise, economies of scale couldn't be achieved, and ingredient quality couldn't be controlled.
What about menu development and pre-job training?
In that case, a larger office space would also be needed.
Chen Pingjiang felt a headache coming on just thinking about it!
"Damn it, making money is harder than eating shit! If someone gives me a large sum of money now, I'd even sell my ass for it,"
Chen Pingjiang grumbled.
Given another chance, he'd definitely go sell milk tea, just like in those rebirth novels he'd read before – one machine, two people, three recipes, four flavors, making tons of money.
(End of this chapter)
---------------------
Support me on P@treon
[email protected]/charaz
$3 -> 15 chapters in advance
$5 -> 30 chapters in advance
$10 -> 60 chapters in advance
Check my pinned post on P@treon