Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 696 - 341 Beef and Saltpeter_1

Chapter 696: Chapter 341 Beef and Saltpeter_1

As a historical and cultural city, Gao City is quite rich in tourism resources, so it is exposed to foreign cultures more frequently.

Take this western restaurant, for instance. Its interior design is quite impressive. Perhaps it seems just okay to people like The Sixth Miss Guo, but for a country bumpkin like Yan Fei, the plentiful European style is truly something to behold.

So, he started off with high hopes, but never imagined the beef served as steak would taste even worse than ordinary beef. This made him exclaim, ’Is this what you call beef?’.

Yan Fei’s actions were too quick. He finished his steak before anyone else had taken a bite. Upon hearing his comments, the others sped up a little, taking a small slice and tasting it carefully. Meanwhile, The Sixth Miss Guo simply decided not to eat it, watching to see everyone else’s reaction.

The bodyguard took a bite: "Not bad!"

Nana tried a bite: "It does seem a bit different from what we usually eat, but I can’t tell in what way?"

Xu Xiaoyan was honest: "I can’t taste any difference. In any case, it doesn’t taste as good as the dishes he has made before..."

Observing that the three failed to make any concrete remarks, The Sixth Miss Guo cast her doubtful eyes on Yan Fei, and the others also turned to Yan Fei for his judgement.

Yan Fei was rather puzzled: "Can’t you guys really taste it? It’s just ordinary beef, not even steak. It’s been treated with saltpeter, which is why it tastes tender!"

"Saltpeter?" The Sixth Miss Guo instantly became alert. "Can we eat saltpeter?"

"Never mind, it’s just a small quantity added when cooking the beef to improve its texture!" Yan Fei started to eat up. Regardless of its taste, he didn’t want to waste it since it was far more expensive than ordinary dishes.

Little did they know about his carnivorous habits and his extraordinary sense of taste due to his unique constitution. None of these tricks could fool him, as he had been an apprentice to a chef for decades who specialized in beef dishes.

In fact, if he hadn’t been a chef himself and tasted beef from his own ranch, he might not have noticed any difference with the beef here.

After taking a couple of bites, he noticed that The Sixth Miss Guo and Nana weren’t interested in eating anymore. So he explained, "It’s nothing serious. Most chefs love to add some saltpeter when cooking meat. With it, the weight loss during cooking can be reduced. For instance, if you braise beef at home, you’ll get about five or six taels of cooked beef from a catty of raw beef. With the addition of some other ingredients, you can yield up to seven taels. Many restaurants do this, but they all measure it carefully and won’t add too much, so it doesn’t affect your health."

This trick is widely known, except to people like The Sixth Miss Guo who never get their hands dirty. It’s simple: if a catty of beef can yield two extra taels of meat, ten catties can yield an additional two catties. Cooked beef is generally more expensive than other meats, so the extra two catties bring a significant profit! It’s pure earnings. Why not earn it when you can?

In fact, adding a bit of saltpeter is pretty okay. There’s a miracle seasoning used by restaurants, whether for braised meat or soup. It’s hard to guard against. This miracle ingredient is poppy shells. Adding it to soups or meat over time makes people crave its flavor, which is far better than any customer retention program.

Xu Xiaoyan, after taking a couple of bites of beef, asked Yan Fei, "Are you still considering buying beef from this restaurant?"

While Yan Fei was still thinking about it, The Sixth Miss Guo said, "There’s no need to bother. Even if you ask, it’ll be no use."

Xu Xiaoyan was curious: "Why? This shop seems magnificent. Even though their beef isn’t great, isn’t it perfect for us to provide high-quality beef?"

The Sixth Miss Guo just smiled without speaking, hinting at Nana. Nana started to explain, "This restaurant has been in business for a while. From the beginning, it didn’t intend to use top-quality beef. It was marketing to general customers. You see, some people are obviously new here like us, and decided on what to order only after checking the prices. If they switched to your beef, would anyone come when the prices go up?"

Seeing their confusion, Nana added, "The positioning of this restaurant is for tourists and local middle-class customers. If the prices are too high, tourists would think they’re being ripped off and the spending power of the local middle-class crowd wouldn’t be able to meet the higher prices. I guess after raising the prices, there would be fewer customers here. For a restaurant this size, if the occupancy rate doesn’t keep up, the business will become worse. Trying to rebuild its reputation would risk losing even more money. So, we guess the restaurant’s decision-makers would not easily switch their beef supply and raise prices."

Yan Fei, upon hearing her explanation, only partially understood, asking, "What is occupancy rate? Does it mean the same as the seating rate?"

Nana explained, "Yes, it’s the seating rate. You know, when a restaurant has all tables taken, other potential diners would think that the food must be good and would rather wait to eat here. But if there are many vacant tables, others would think that the restaurant must have some issues. Do you get it now? This is simply the herd mentality of consumers."

"Okay, I get it!" Yan Fei nodded.

In essence, the reasoning is quite simple, as most people dining out do share this mentality. Hence, restaurants that start off well continue to flourish while those that begin poorly usually struggle to become profitable.

"Why can the provincial city restaurant we supply to now change their beef supply?" Xu Xiaoyan couldn’t help but ask.

"The situation at that restaurant is different. The foreigner there knew other foreigners to start with. Also, the female boss, she must be a big trader, knowing a lot of rich people. And given the small size of that restaurant, a few additional customers would mean a high occupancy rate!" Yan Fei didn’t need Nana to explain this, after all, from the very beginning when he dealt with the foreigners, he had a general understanding of the restaurant situation.

However, when Yan Fei wants to do something, he never gives up easily. After wolfing down his steak in a few bites, he called a waiter to take him to their boss.

The boss was not around, but a middle-aged manager was on duty. When he first saw Yan Fei, a trace of disdain flashed in his eyes, he didn’t even believe when he heard that Yan’s beef could be sold in Hong Kong.

Luckily, salesmen were not as prolific back then as they would become in the future, more numerous than the drifting white willows in late spring, so the manager patiently afforded Yan Fei an opportunity to explain.

Since he didn’t believe, Yan Fei didn’t bother to pull out the contract. He simply told him that the three customers dining outside were clients from Hong Kong. This finally convinced the manager.

However, even if he believed the quality of Yan’s beef, it was of little use. Upon hearing the price Yan Fei sold his beef to foreigners, the manager was instantly taken aback. He didn’t even mention the price in Hong Kong, which was even higher; Yan Fei didn’t even bring it up.

After staring blankly for a while, the manager finally stood up. Perhaps he realized that although this young man was not dressed up to snuff, he could sell beef at such a price in both provincial city and Hong Kong, he must be considered a successful person.

His attitude wasn’t as indifferent as before, quite enthusiastic actually, he said, "How about this! Leave a contact, we won’t switch our beef supplier easily for now, but leave a contact, maybe we can cooperate in the future!"

However, this last bit of enthusiasm was to no avail. Yan Fei left a pager number and then left. He knew that even if he had stayed, there wouldn’t be any chance, he wasn’t a fool!

As he walked out the door, Yan Fei was a bit disheartened, but the manager actually got up to see him off. Plus, his negative emotions always came quickly and left even faster. By the time he returned to his seat, he was all smiles again.

The people at the table were all curious, especially Nana who had been analysing half the time. They thought he had some good news and were embarrassed to ask. It was the bodyguard driver, who had become familiar with him during the lunch drinking session, that asked, "Brother Yan, do you have good news?"

Yan Fei: "No."

"Ah?" Three out of four were visibly disappointed, based on your expression it sure doesn’t look like it was a failure!

Xu Xiaoyan, who knew him better, knew that he went in with a low expectations, with the mindset of not losing anything if the talk failed. She giggled and said to the confused people, "Ignore him, that’s just how he is."

Yan Fei nodded: "Hmm."

Nobody understood the conversation between the two of them. What did they mean by that? What did his ’hmm’ mean?

They decided to finish eating quickly and leave!

After a big meal, they were lazily walking on the street in the evening. As they were walking, they noticed a small stall, selling small decorations on one side and some books on the other.

Initially, none of them were interested, but they noticed two students bargaining with the seller. Accidentally overhearing the price, the Sixth Miss Guo became interested: "Why are the books here so cheap?"

After expressing her surprise, she soon figured it out: "They are pirated, right? Let’s go take a look! Last time when I came, I didn’t have time for shopping because I was with them!"

Yan Fei, uninterested, said casually, "You, who is so rich, why do you need to buy pirated books?"

"What do you know!" The Sixth Miss Guo began heading toward the stand while pulling Xu Xiaoyan, all the while making excuses for herself. "I’m poor now! I spent over two hundred thousand on a restaurant renovation, I have to be frugal, you understand?"

So reading pirated books is being frugal? Yan Fei muttered to himself, "I’m just curious, someone like you actually reads books?"

"Why can’t I read books?" The Sixth Miss Guo felt underestimated. "I am also a student at Hong Kong University, alright?"

"You are a college student?" Yan Fei was now genuinely curious about this one who didn’t seem like a student at all!