Volume 1: Reborn in the 1980s, selling lunch boxes with my mother Chapter 82 Sister Fang's Lunch Box
Amidst the crackling sound of firecrackers, Jiang Tian’s boxed lunch business started again in the autumn of 1985.
Roadside stalls in this era did not have signs, but Jiang Tian insisted on using a long piece of wood and black ink to write a sign on it: Sister Fang’s Lunch, and placed it next to the lunch stall.
Worried that others might not see it, she asked her second uncle to help her cut a bamboo and make a flagpole. She buried it next to the door of her house and wrote a sign on it with yellow words on red cloth: Sister Fang’s lunch box.
The font is particularly large, and the flag flutters in the wind, so it can be seen from a long distance.
How could the simple folks in the 1980s resist the impact of this advertisement?
On the opening day, the one hundred box lunches they prepared were not enough to sell.
Such a big flag was erected on the side of the provincial road, and the land that Hu Qiongfang bought was right on a bend. When a truck reaches such a bend, it usually slows down to prevent overturning due to excessive speed. When it slows down, doesn't it happen to see the sign of "Sister Fang's Lunch"?
The food looked good, and when I asked the price, I learned that two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes cost two yuan, and two vegetable dishes plus rice and steamed buns only cost one yuan. Although the price is twenty cents more expensive than other boxed lunches, the boxed lunches here look good and smell good. Unlike some roadside stalls, the food there tastes almost like pig food. They are said to be meat dishes, but in fact they are just some shredded pork stir-fried.
Taking another look, the meat dishes in this restaurant look very greasy, especially the braised dried fish with fermented black beans. When it is too hot in the summer and the locals have no appetite, they cook a pot of mung bean porridge and drink three big bowls of it with the fermented black beans!
The other two were vegetarian dishes, but they were actually half meat dishes - the cabbage was added with lard, which looked greasy and much better than the boiled vegetables on other stalls. The edamame stir-fried with pickled vegetables also had some minced meat added, although not much, but it was still greasy.
Not only was the food good, Jiang Tian also found a group of "stooges" - she deliberately observed other restaurants along the provincial road, and seeing that there were more customers there, she estimated that it was time for the truck drivers and passengers to get off the bus to eat, so she asked her uncle to call all the workers who were building the house in the back to come out for dinner.
A group of workers filled up the several tables in front of the stall.
Most Chinese people like to join in the fun, especially when they go to an unfamiliar place and don’t know which restaurant is good? Just look at which restaurant has the longest queues!
Of course, this law was later broken by some businesses who liked to hire people to queue up to "create an atmosphere."
But now, in this day and age, it is very easy to tell which restaurant has the best food by looking at the number of customers at the restaurant during meal times.
In short, the drivers and passengers who were attracted by the eye-catching flag couldn't help but come over when they saw that the stall selling box lunches was full of people.
When I came here and smelled the fragrance of the food, I couldn't walk anymore.
Jiang Tian was in charge of cooking the dishes today. She had observed other lunch box vendors near the provincial highway and found that many of them cooked the same way as they usually do at home, not using oil or salt, and using clear soups. The main point was "just enough to fill your stomach".
Jiang Tian planned to engage in "differentiated competition".
They would rather a box lunch cost a few cents more, but the presentation and ingredients of the food would be better. Sure enough, among those who can drive a truck or take a bus in this era, at least half of them are willing to spend money on food.
Just now, a long-distance bus stopped in the open space in front of their house.
About forty or fifty people came in a crowd, and only a few chose the cheap vegan lunch boxes, while almost all the rest ordered lunch boxes with two meat and two vegetarian dishes for two yuan each.
Jiang Tian asked Hu Qiongfang to collect the money while she served the food.
Serving food is a technical job.
In her previous life, when Jiang Tian worked in a construction site canteen, she saw with her own eyes the chef fire an auntie who often shook the spoon when serving food.
Later, a new auntie came in. I don’t know if she had been trained by the master chef, but when serving food, she replaced the original big spoon with a small spoon. In fact, the portion size was no different from before.
The only difference is: the aunt before was a fool. No matter how many times I taught her, she would always scoop a big spoonful, and then find that she had scooped too much, and then try to shake it down again.
The workers have worked all day at the construction site and are already tired and hungry. Then, in front of them, you break a spoonful of vegetables into half a spoonful and throw away the meat slices. How can they not be angry?
Later, the auntie became smarter. She changed to a smaller serving spoon, scooped a spoonful first, and then asked if it was enough. The worker said it was not enough, so she immediately asked for another spoonful without saying a word.
Although the portions were obviously the same, the second auntie was portrayed as a kind-hearted person. All the workers on the construction site praised this auntie.
When Hu Qiongfang bought kitchen utensils before, she bought that big iron spoon. Later, it was discovered by Jiang Tian. Fortunately, it had not been used yet, so she took it to the store and replaced it with a long-handled iron spoon that she often used at home.
At first, Hu Qiongfang didn't understand why her daughter wanted to change to a small iron spoon.
It is obvious that a large iron spoon only needs one scoop to cook the dish, but if you use a small spoon, you have to scoop it again.
Now she probably understood.
While eating, several customers praised this restaurant for being "generous". The evidence was this - other restaurants that sell boxed lunches only give one spoonful of the same dish, and don't give more if requested. But this restaurant's boss was really generous. He gave them one spoonful, and fearing that they wouldn't have enough, he added another spoonful.
There were also a few customers who bought vegan lunch boxes, and they showed off their lunch boxes to others, saying that the owner of this store was a kind man who, seeing that they didn't eat well, took the initiative to add two spoonfuls of meat soup to their lunch boxes!
Although it was just vegetable soup, it was still oily after all. Moreover, when Jiang Tian scooped the soup for them, she was very generous and gave them a little bit of meat and vegetables. Although there were only two or three slices of bacon and a few green peppers, it tasted much better than the watery box lunches they had before.
After preparing the meal, Jiang Tian took some time to look for her second uncle.
"Uncle, I see that they all listen to the driver when they come down to eat. How about you buy me a few packs of cigarettes? I'll find a chance later and give a pack of cigarettes to the driver and the ticket seller. Just as a token of my appreciation?"
Hu Jianjun almost threw away the cigarette butt in his hand.
Is this girl probably a spirit?
How old are you? How come you even understand this?
Jiang Tian respectfully handed over a big unity.
You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. If you don't take the opportunity to please these truck drivers, who will bring guests to their homes for dinner next time?
If the payment was not collected in plain sight of other customers, she would not even charge the drivers and conductors for their meals.
Hu Jianjun took the money unhappily, ran to the small shop across the street and bought a pack of "Tuanjie" brand cigarettes with filters.
This kind of cigarette is often used by them when they entertain guests at banquets, and it costs 70 cents a pack.
He also learned a trick from his niece and bought mid-range cigarettes and gave each of them two packs!
Calculated this way, it is equivalent to returning the money for the lunch box to the other party.
