Chapter 42: Competition among
  Peers On the first day of school at Jingtan No. 1 Middle School, my uncle organized a group of friends to stand at the school gate and hand out flyers to passing students. The red paper listed the name and location of the small restaurant, as well as the various dishes.

  The students were very curious about the flyers and said they would go and check it out.

  At 10 a.m., the restaurant, which was ready, lit firecrackers to celebrate its opening. As the red silk was unveiled, the gold-plated characters on the plaque - "Youth Restaurant" - were revealed, and the onlookers couldn't help but praise it!

  Because Mr. Fang was a public official, he couldn't do these things privately, so the small restaurant was opened in the name of Mrs. Fang.

  On the first day, most people came to see the fun, but not many came to eat. Although many students did come to try the food during the lunch break and thought the food was good, after two or three days, the number of students actually decreased.

  My aunt felt bad looking at the leftover food, but they had to rely on the few of them to clean up the leftovers every day, and they gradually couldn't eat anymore.

  After school, Fang Qing visited the restaurant to investigate and finally discovered the problem.

  "Mom, how much do you usually serve?"

  Fang's mother recalled. "About half a spoonful of each dish, and even less for meat dishes. What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

  Fang Qing sighed. "Mom, it's too little. We set the prices high, and no one will come."

  But Fang's mother insisted the prices couldn't be too low. Finally, when they were at a stalemate, Fang Qing came up with a new idea.

  The price was lowered, but the set menu was revised. In addition to the meal, a free bowl of soup was added, and side dishes were served as needed. Also, because students didn't want to wait in the restaurant for long, they customized a batch of lunch boxes and introduced various rice bowls, allowing students to take them away at any time.

  However, since the last attempt, many students have refused to come back. Aside from a few repeat customers who occasionally come in to try it, customer flow remains low. Seeing this, the surrounding restaurants smiled, knowing they couldn't handle it. They could now rest assured that the restaurant would close soon.

  Just when Fang's mother and aunt were at their wit's end, Wen Ning arrived with a group of students.

  "Auntie, we heard you opened a restaurant, so we came to try it out," Wen Ning greeted politely and found a seat.

  Fang's mother was delighted and busily recommended delicious dishes. After each student ordered, auntie quickly poured rice and vegetables and swiftly served them.

  The children all praised the deliciousness and devoured them eagerly. Fang's mother also served them a bowl of egg drop soup, which the students devoured to their heart's content.

  Before leaving, Fang's mother offered to treat them all. Wen Ning, after much demurring, secretly left two yuan.

  Unexpectedly, the next day, the students returned, this time for takeout instead of dining in the restaurant. They ordered ten boxes at once, much to the delight of auntie. She packed each box with extra dishes, and the students happily took them away.

  The rice with gravy quickly became popular on campus. Many students were tired of the same old potatoes and cabbage in the cafeteria and rushed out of the school to taste it. For a while, there was a long line at Fang's restaurant. In the end, many people were upset because they came too late and couldn't buy it.

  Fang's mother prepared twice as much ingredients the next day, and it was all sold out before the afternoon! This made my aunt and Fang's mother very happy. This was the first time for them to feel so happy selling things! That night, Fang's mother went home to count the cash flow and found that she had sold more than 50 yuan that day. After deducting labor, utilities, and rent, she actually made a net profit of more than 10 yuan!
  Fang's mother was so excited. She didn't expect that running a restaurant could be so profitable. So the next day she went to buy more ingredients with full enthusiasm, ready to increase the stock again. But Fang Qing stopped her mother's action.

  "Mom, you can prepare more ingredients, but not all of them. Besides, the store is busy right now because the students are still enjoying the new food. Once the novelty wears off, the flow of customers will drop significantly, and preparing too much will be a waste."

  But Fang's mother, having tasted success, refused to listen to Fang Qing's advice. The next day, she increased the amount of ingredients again. Although most of the food was sold that day, after a few days, the number of students suddenly decreased.

  Looking out the window at the darkening sky, with half a pot of food still left in the pot, Fang's mother suddenly regretted it.

  "It's all my fault! If only I had listened to my child that day, it would have been a shame to have so much food left over."

  In the end, Fang's mother and her aunt packed up all the food, giving away what they could give away, taking home what they could eat, and giving away what they couldn't finish to beggars on the street.

  After this period of training, Fang's mother and her aunt finally understood the students' preferences, eliminated some dishes, and focused on the popular ones. The store's income gradually stabilized.

  As the Fang Family Restaurant grew in popularity, surrounding businesses gradually began to express dissatisfaction. However, they couldn't say anything about the reasonable competition, so they could only wander around the restaurant and offer a few sour remarks.

  One day, Fang Qing rushed to the restaurant after class to help out, but there were noticeably fewer students than in previous days. Fang Qing assumed it was because the menu was limited and the students weren't interested. But after asking around, she learned that the neighboring restaurants, seeing how successful Fang Family's rice bowls were, quickly copied them, offering dishes like scrambled eggs with tomatoes and shredded potatoes with hot peppers. These common dishes were quickly replaced with rice bowls. The simplicity and affordability of these dishes quickly attracted a large number of students, and the Fang Family restaurant naturally became less crowded.

  My aunt noticed that the neighboring restaurants still had someone at the door, specifically soliciting passing students to come in and try their food. This led to even fewer students coming to the Fang Family restaurant. My aunt was so angry that she threw down her apron and tried to confront Fang Qing, but Fang Qing quickly pulled her back.

  "Aunt, don't get excited. Competition among colleagues is normal. They learned our sales method by stealing, and we can't stop them."

  Aunt sat down angrily, "But how can they be so shameless? They stand at the door to snatch people away. Many students originally wanted to come to our place, but now they have all been taken away by them. Bah! Shameless!"

  Fang Qing looked at the waiters outside the door who were soliciting customers, waving their handkerchiefs proudly, glancing at them from time to time, with expressions on their faces that looked arrogant and asking for a beating. Fang Qing sighed.

  "Aunt, don't worry. If they want to learn, then let them learn. If the rice with toppings doesn't sell, we'll try a new dish. I don't believe they can learn anything I do!"

  The surrounding businesses soon discovered that the "Youth Restaurant" had closed for three days, which delighted the surrounding restaurants. They knew these new country bumpkins were no match for them.

  Over the next few days, Fang Qing had her mother stay home to study her signature braised noodles, figuring out how to keep them from clumping in the lunch box. She also had her eldest brother taste test them several times to determine the right amount and flavor. By the time the whole family couldn't eat another bite of the braised noodles, Fang Qing's new product was finally ready.

  (End of Chapter)