Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

"So we can’t wait, not even a little!"

Chu Yueyue also found this issue a bit troubling.

Despite all the promotions they did for the hotel, even going as far as inviting the Kimchi girl group to create buzz, and having a Michelin Chef oversee the event.

In reality, the vast majority of guests were primarily attracted to their restaurant.

The Kimchi girl group actually doesn’t have much influence in the West; their main market is still in the East.

Over here, even the combined reputation of four or five girl groups can’t match that of a Michelin Chef.

The distinctive feature of a Michelin Chef is simply delicious cooking.

This results in most guests wanting to try the restaurant’s food, which is why there are such long queues right now.

Last week there were lines too, but not as ridiculously long as they are now.

"We need a new model that can simultaneously satisfy the dining needs of a large number of guests, without adding more staff, while still ensuring fast service and large portions."

"Waiting time is unavoidable, but it must be significantly less than it is now, and the quality must be stable, so we can retain our customers."

Wang Ziqin scratched his head, looking troubled, "This sounds like a dream, where can you find a method that does both? Cooking is slow when there are fewer people, how can it be fast, plentiful, and good? We’re not robots."

"I understand the logic, but methods are always thought up by people; we should try as much as possible to think in this direction, we can’t just stop because it’s difficult, right?"

Honestly, Chu Yueyue also felt this idea was a bit unrealistic.

Efficiency is directly proportional to the number of people involved in tasks related to manual labor; she’s never heard of one person doing the work of seven or eight, even ten or more people, both quickly and well.

Uh, wait, one person doing the work of dozens?

"I’ve got it!"

A flash of inspiration struck her, and she smacked her palm on Wang Ziqin’s shoulder, causing him to grimace in pain and almost cry out.

Despite her usual slender and frail appearance, when she got excited, her grip wasn’t any weaker than his.

"Thought of a great idea? Your husband is all ears~"

He’s quite straightforward; when it comes to brainpower, it has to be his wife, over the years she’s given him plenty of good ideas, and at times like this, just honestly shower her with compliments.

"It’s actually quite simple; we’ve been overthinking it."

Chu Yueyue couldn’t help but laugh as she spoke, feeling incredibly foolish.

"Let me ask you, what’s an essential condition for restaurant service?"

"Ah?"

Wang Ziqin scratched his head, "Chefs, waiters, ingredients?"

"Cook with air?"

"Oh, oh, and cookware."

Cookware?!

Wang Ziqin was stunned, and then suddenly realized, smacking his leg hard.

"Right, if we can’t change the number of people, why not change the size of the cookware!"

"So you’re saying we should make big pot dishes?"

He’s not dim-witted, being the heir to a chain group and the regional general manager; he has brains, just not as quick as Chu Yueyue’s.

With a little hint from his wife, he immediately grasped the key point.

"Exactly, Western cuisine can be mass-produced because of the large capacity of the cookware equipment, whereas Old Lin’s food truck has small pots, limiting capacity and naturally leading to low service efficiency."

"If we could cook like the rural areas in our country, making big pot dishes where one pot serves dozens, even hundreds of portions, wouldn’t the efficiency improve?"

"A banquet, huh? Sounds interesting, I haven’t been to one for years."

"If we could let these foreigners experience Great Xia’s banquet culture, it might become a hit."

Chu Yueyue nodded in agreement, "I’ve already thought of the title: [Shocking! Suspected Great Xia Culture Theft, Foreigners Having a Collective Beach Banquet?]"

"Good, good, good, my wife really knows her stuff, this title will surely go viral; I’d definitely click in to see what’s going on."

"Isn’t Lucas doing social media? Look, we have the right time, place, and people, plus the Olympics buzz; it would be unreasonable if we don’t get popular!"

The mere thought of it got them both excited, eager to rush to the food truck and pull Lin Chen out to discuss this.

Being business-minded individuals, they quickly calmed down, returned their expressions to normal.

"No rush, we have queues now, so let’s work on the details while we’re waiting."

"Old Lin mentioned that he learned Western cuisine after coming here, and recently began self-learning Chinese cuisine through videos; from his current skills, he certainly has talent in this area."

"The difficulty of big pot dishes differs from regular stir-fry, requiring stricter standards for chefs, I’m not sure if he can do it."

"He can definitely do it, the problem is how long practicing will take. With the restaurant’s current business model, there probably isn’t much free time for him to practice, especially since dinner guests arrive at random times."

"Does anyone he’s hired know how to cook big pot dishes? Did you check their resumes?"

"Uh... How would I know? The restaurant is managed by others, I don’t understand it, why interfere."

"True, perhaps it’s better to ask in person later. However, if we make dishes in large pots, how will customers settle their bills and dine?"

"Maybe we could make it like a buffet, pay for a ticket to enter? An assembly line feast?"

"Limit it to two hours? That seems doable, and it adds a mysterious ’blind box’ feel, guests never knowing what the next dish will be. But this could lead to flavor issues."

"Oh, right, that’s something to think about. Why are foreigners so troublesome, with allergies and vegetarian diets? Unlike us Great Xia People, easy to fool, eat whatever is given, if not, stay hungry."

"So I think having just Old Lin might not be enough; at least two chefs should be cooking simultaneously to speed up serving and address both meat and vegetarian dishes."

"Then the location needs upgrading; eating a great feast feels better outdoors, the land in front can be fenced off to add more tables and benches."

The more they discussed, the more focused they became, completely oblivious to the passing time.

"Ahem, what are you two discussing so intently? How about we pick our dishes and find a seat before continuing the chat?"

Lin Chen had noticed them long ago, but didn’t expect them to be muttering for so long without acknowledging him, yet still followed the crowd moving.

When it was finally their turn, these two continued chatting, not realizing they could pick their dishes.

Helplessly, Lin Chen had to interrupt their conversation.

As the top boss, it wouldn’t be appropriate for Dais Elsa or other staff to intervene, so he, the head chef, had to step in personally.

"Huh? It’s our turn already?"

The two were startled, realizing they unknowingly had reached the front of the line.

Instinctively checking the time, more than forty minutes had passed.

Fortunately, they’d mostly completed discussing the ’great feast’ plan, with most details ironed out, just needing confirmation with Lin Chen.

Chu Yueyue gave him a look, then picked up a plastic basket to choose her food.

Wang Ziqin got the hint, looking up at Lin Chen.

"Old Lin, can you cook large pot dishes? We’ve discussed for a while now and feel the current model is inefficient. If large pot dishes are possible, dining efficiency could greatly improve, and waiting wouldn’t be as long."

"Large pot dishes?"

Lin Chen was taken aback.

He hadn’t considered this approach.

He’d seen videos of countryside feasts, and they were interesting, with many sharing their experiences online—the lack of experience causing some to miss out on food, while others boast about eating and taking away extra.

"But dear President Wang, we are a high-end restaurant, won’t cooking in large pots lower our standards?"

Wang Ziqin waved grandly.

"Eh~ That’s incorrect. What high-end restaurant? When did I define us as high-end?"

"Restaurants merely provide meals for guests to fill their stomachs. As long as Jonathan handles exquisite dishes, we can make tasty, plentiful, filling, and fresh food outside to amaze the foreigners. Isn’t that great?"

Lin Chen shook the strainer inside the pot while contemplating the feasibility of President Wang’s plan.

He was aware of the long lines due to high traffic but felt helpless to change it, only easing the situation somewhat with a number system.

Unexpectedly, the mention of large pot dishes opened a new world to him.

"Let’s discuss specifics later, don’t let me delay your serving now, give me a call when finished."

"Alright."

Chu Yueyue handed over two full baskets of food she wanted.

"One soup, one dry, medium spicy, you know."

"Got it, Elsa, mark their number with a star, so I don’t mix it up later."

The medium spicy level for Great Xia People differs from that for foreigners, a whole level apart.

"By the way, do you have sesame paste here? Can you make Northeast sticky chili soup?"

"Not yet, that needs clay pots. I plan to try regular options first, and if they sell well, I’ll innovate."

"Oh~ alright then."

While Lin Chen was intensely busy at the food station.

Over in Amiens, Lunard finally appeared in his food truck.

The truck was supposed to set up in the morning but instead appeared around noon, causing regular burrito buyers to fear it wouldn’t appear today.

"Hey, isn’t this Old Lunard? Where did you vacation these days?"

Seeing the familiar figure inside the truck, regulars greeted him.

Lunard warmly responded and pointed to a bucket of red chili oil on the table.

"Where else? Went to learn from Lin’s team. They hosted a vibrant Kite Food Festival last weekend, two Michelin Chefs visited to learn from Lin as well."

"Look, this is a secret sauce I’ve learned—spicy and sweet mixed Great Xia flavor chili oil!"