Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

Chapter 588: Chapter 500: Booming Business and Endless Streams of Customers

"Oh my gosh..."

He wiped the corner of his mouth and quickly picked up his phone to call his wife for a video chat.

The phone rang twice and was immediately answered.

"Hello?"

"Honey, look! It’s absolutely amazing, this Old Lin is something else!!"

He turned the camera to focus on the exquisite food on the table. Wang Ziqin’s gaze was tightly fixed on the background of the image, and upon seeing his wife had indeed returned to the hotel, he inexplicably felt relieved.

"......"

On the other end of the phone, Chu Yueyue fell into half a minute of silence after realizing the display of food on the table.

"What else? Show me the menu."

Her tone was noticeably a little hurried.

Wang Ziqin didn’t dare to slack off and quickly ran back to the entrance to show her the menu board.

"Hmm, the menu looks great, very appetizing, and the presentation of the dishes is top-notch. I bet after today the restaurant’s reputation will be further enhanced."

"I’ll have the marketing team come over to take pictures right now, make sure the kitchen staff hurry up and don’t mess up, we need to serve on time!"

As soon as the call ended, Wang Ziqin smiled and returned to the table area, nodding and smiling at Helena.

"From today onwards, business is definitely going to get busier, it’s going to be tough on you all. Once this month is over, I’ll give you bonuses!"

"If there’s not enough staff, feel free to hire more, if the budget is inadequate, report it, make sure all guests’ needs are perfectly covered."

"If any issues arise, I won’t deduct your pay to maintain your work enthusiasm, but I hope you can adjust and rectify immediately to prevent the same issue from happening again."

"If similar issues repeatedly occur in a short time, those who need to be fired will be fired, those who need training will be trained, Helena, you understand what I mean, right?"

Facing the man who suddenly became serious, Helena tensed up, and her spirit became tight as well as she nodded solemnly: "Rest assured, Manager, I know what to do, I’ll ensure we provide perfect service to the guests!"

"Alright, if you have something to do, you can go ahead, don’t mind me. Oh, by the way, the kitchen should have some of these in stock, right? I’ll go to the kitchen and pack some to take to my wife to taste, so as not to add any unnecessary work to you."

"It’s no problem, Mr. Wang, we don’t have much to do right now, just checking utensils and arrangements, I’ll help you pack whatever you need, save you from having to wash your hands and sanitize."

Maybe it was the news about bonuses at the end of the month, Helena’s smile became increasingly radiant, and she immediately turned and led Wang Ziqin towards the kitchen.

While walking, she suddenly felt two intense and wandering gazes lingering on her plump behind and long legs.

"?"

Her pace didn’t stop for a moment; she continued walking forward, but a hint of puzzlement clearly emerged on her face.

It hadn’t seemed like anyone was looking at her two or three minutes ago, why the sudden boldness now?

She found it hard to understand.

Behind Helena, Wang Ziqin unconsciously licked his dry lips, silently shifting his gaze downward, settling on those white calves.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take a few more glances, but one has to know their limits, enough is enough; looking any longer might get him misunderstood as harassing a female employee.

"Admiration, it’s simply appreciation for the charm of the opposite sex!"

He comforted himself this way while also feeling deeply satisfied with the high-quality waitress team at the restaurant.

"Who recruited the new waitresses this time?"

"Dais and I each recruited separately, but the chef was involved in the interviews."

"Hmm, the quality is excellent, the standard must be maintained going forward. Of course, the priority should be the attitude and character over appearance; no matter how pretty, poor attitude is a waste."

"We think the same way!"

Wang Ziqin and Helena chatted casually while walking, easing the awkward atmosphere.

He didn’t stay long, he packed a few pastry items from the kitchen and left. These things will keep at room temperature for a day or two, perfect for snacks, afternoon tea, or a midnight snack.

As for the other dishes, he’ll come to the restaurant next time to eat them on-site.

It’s worth mentioning that the restaurant’s takeout boxes have been upgraded from the previous kraft paper series to transparent, degradable plastic meal boxes, allowing the food inside to be clearly visible through the plastic bags.

Wang Ziqin chose not to leave through the side door but returned the way he came, deliberately lifting the food in his hand, facing countless curious eyes as he walked out the main entrance.

"????"

"What’s the food he’s holding? It looks kind of tasty!"

"Who is he, why can he enter the restaurant ahead of time to pack food?"

"Judging from Helena’s attitude, this person should be hotel management."

"Today is the official first day of opening after all. It’s normal for management to check the progress, but the fact that they even pack some food to take away shows that it must be really good!"

"My God, how has it only been ten minutes? I feel like I’ve been waiting for two hours!!"

"Hungry, so hungry, I feel like I could eat a whole cow right now."

Feeling countless eyes fixed on the food in his hands, Wang Ziqin smiled, deliberately slowed his pace, and walked leisurely along the queue.

As he walked, he gradually realized something was wrong.

Why is there no end to this line??

He walked all the way to the hotel entrance, and still hadn’t seen the end, only saw the long line turn a corner at the entrance and stretch back a bit.

"Ridiculous!"

Since the restaurant opened, he had never seen a queue like this before; conservatively estimated, there must be at least 200 people, right?

Since when did foreigners get so into the hype?

"No, this situation must be communicated to Old Lin in advance. Otherwise, it could easily lead to customer dissatisfaction if they queue for ages and get nothing!"

Thinking of this, he quickly turned back with the bag, ran next to Lin Chen.

"What the hell??"

Receiving the news, Lin Chen was also baffled, turning his head suddenly, sure enough, he saw the line of diners at the restaurant entrance stretching all the way to the hotel entrance, the end nowhere in sight.

Sweat broke out on his forehead, feeling inexplicably under immense pressure.

"Thanks, Old Wang, that was a close call!"

With that, he immediately dropped the rolling pin in his hand: "Dais! Elsa! You two, come here!"

"See that line of diners over there?"

"This is the toughest challenge we’ve faced since opening!"

"Elsa, go inform Helena about this situation, tell her to speak to the kitchen to prepare more dishes, whatever is needed put it on a list immediately, I’ll call John right away."

"Dais, adjust the strategy, go introduce the dishes to the customers now, distinguish between the buffet and ala carte queues, to avoid confusion."

"The barriers can also be removed, the more space we can utilize, the better."

"Also, go fetch a few buckets of ice water and bring it out for the thirsty customers."

"Oh, by the way, how long until meal service begins... half an hour? Great, have all the waitstaff hurry up and eat, afterwards head to the kitchen to help."

"In twenty minutes, having over twenty people helping wash and prep vegetables, even if it’s just handling lettuce and scooping avocados, it’s a huge help, let them do the most tedious tasks!"

With Lin Chen’s instructions, the atmosphere turned tense instantly, and all the waiters carried their buns and savory pancakes heading into the restaurant.

It might take a while if eaten dry, but paired with a glass of milk, the battle could be over in two or three minutes.

Having just assigned the tasks, Lin Chen pulled out the walkie-talkie from his waist: "Jonathan, Jonathan, respond please."

After a few seconds of silence, a muffled male voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie: "This is Jonathan."

"Now there are at least over two hundred guests lining up at the entrance, and it’s likely to keep increasing. I’ve sent the waitstaff in to help, assign them the most tedious tasks, cut up dozens of boxes of avocados, wash and cook the potato mash, clean the lettuce, you get it?"

Breads and pastries can be managed with the bread maker and mixers, only requiring shaping and proofing. These don’t need constant supervision.

During this time, chefs can handle other ingredients, sauces, and side dishes.

The most troublesome jobs in the kitchen are often the seemingly simple salads and mashed potatoes.

Vegetables delivered by suppliers come in cardboard or plastic crates, to ensure freshness, they’re usually not pre-washed, even if they are, dust and dirt from transport can get on them, so the kitchen must rewash them before use.

These vegetables need to be washed at least three times to ensure there’s no residual grit or soil on the leaves, taking at least ten minutes, with time increasing based on usage.

During washing, the vegetables need to be hand-torn into bite-sized pieces, consuming more time.

Then the vegetable pieces need to be spun dry in a dehydrator, finally placed in plastic boxes lined with kitchen paper, wrapped with cling film for refrigeration.

The whole process, if done by one person, takes about an hour at least, two people can cut it down to thirty-forty minutes.

But the entire washing process requires bending over, which can easily lead to back pain, affecting the chefs’ later work.

The avocado-potato mash is the same, all avocados need to go through slicing in half, pitting, scooping, mashing — once you grasp the method, it’s low on skill, high on time.

A box of avocados is about 12-15, and once mashed, serves 8-10 people, mixed into the mashed potatoes, it dilutes enough for about twenty servings.

Basically, assuming each guest serves themselves a spoon, over two hundred guests would need at least ten boxes of avocados, and with a further two hours of continuous supply, the stock has to at least double.