Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

The first day of business went very well, even exceeding Xu An’s expectations.

The restaurant had prepared a full fifty meals, but they were all sold out before one o’clock. The serving trays on the hot food counter were scraped clean, right down to the last drop of sauce. Of course, all the rice and soup were gone too.

But the most surprised person wasn’t Xu An, it was Granny Xu.

From the moment the first customer walked in, Granny Xu stood up to take their money and didn’t get a chance to sit down for the next half hour. The customers just kept coming, one after another.

Before the restaurant opened, she had guessed business would be good from the daily increase in bento box orders, but she never imagined it would be *this* good.

They sold a full fifty meals in-store, delivered over a hundred takeout orders, and she heard they sold another sixty-plus at the entrance of that one construction site.

That was over two hundred meals in total! Figuring a profit of two-fifty per meal, they had made five or six hundred yuan in a single lunch rush.

In just two weeks, they could cover the costs of staff, rent, and utilities. Everything after that would be pure profit.

It wasn’t that she’d never heard stories about street vendors making a fortune, but she’d always figured it was just back-breaking work for spare change. You only see their success, not their struggles.

But now, watching Xu An, her own grandson, make five or six hundred a day just from this bento box business, Granny Xu finally understood what "a monthly income of over ten thousand from a street stall" meant—it really wasn’t a dream.

Xu Lili was thinking the same thing as Granny Xu. She even regretted saying she didn’t need a salary, just meals.

’Look at Anzi’s sales numbers. Does he look like he’s short on cash?!’

Just from serving food, clearing plates, and wiping tables for a single lunch rush, she was completely exhausted. Her right hand was even trembling a little now.

But no one else was faring much better.

Take Zhou Qi, for example. As a chef before, he just worked in the kitchen. He cooked when there were orders and slacked off when there weren’t.

Who would have thought that at Xu’s Fast Food, they would cook all the orders at once, and then he’d have to come out and serve the food himself!

Liang Dani used to only deliver orders for the Hai City Nautical College. She could just hop on her bike, make the delivery on time, and someone would be there to collect the money for her.

Once the money was counted and the food was handed over, she could just get on her bike and head back.

Who knew that delivering door-to-door would mean learning routes, finding people, and settling payments? Going from one house to the next like this was a race against the clock.

Then she remembered that the orders she delivered today were only a third of the total volume, and it would only increase from here. A wave of despair washed over Liang Dani.

Seriously, making a living is tough as nails. The ancients weren’t kidding.

Xu An had taken on the vast majority of the delivery orders himself. He pedaled so hard sparks nearly flew from his bike just to get them all delivered before the scheduled times.

Now, back at the restaurant, Xu An could finally take a short break.

He pulled out his phone, which had been beeping all morning, opened QQ, and scrolled down two pages without reaching the end of his messages.

*Sigh!*

After a sigh, Xu An took out a pen and paper and started writing down all the order quantities, addresses, and delivery times from his QQ messages. Then, he began planning the next day’s delivery routes based on those three factors.

Truly manual navigation!

Tomorrow’s orders included five new customers, and the total quantity was up by seventeen meals compared to today. The growth trend was looking pretty good.

But if it kept growing, he would have to consider hiring more people.

But adding more staff meant costs would also shoot up, and his little restaurant couldn’t afford to support too many people yet.

BEEP BEEP.

The QQ notification sound suddenly went off. Xu An casually opened the chat window and glanced at the name at the top of the chat box: Old Han.

’Boss Xu, you’re a local. Know of any summer jobs available?’

’A summer job? You’re staying on campus for the summer instead of going home?’ Xu An casually typed a reply to Old Han.

’My parents went on a trip, so I’d just be home alone anyway. I might as well find some work and earn some spending money. Got any good leads, Boss?’ Old Han asked again.

Xu An was about to reply, ’I don’t know of any summer jobs either,’ when his typing hands suddenly froze.

’Wasn’t I just thinking about hiring? A summer job, part-time... isn’t that a great option?!’

He could model it after the delivery apps, paying by commission. They get paid for what they deliver, so he wouldn’t have to worry about new hires driving up his costs.

Part-time, of course, would mean no base salary. They’d earn as much as they delivered. The more they delivered, the more they’d make. It was a win-win!

’I need someone to help deliver orders here. Would you be interested?’

’How’s the pay?’

’Fifty cents commission per meal. You earn as much as you deliver, and it includes one free lunch.’

Old Han quickly did the math in his head. Handing out flyers only paid twenty yuan a day. At fifty cents per meal, he would only need to deliver forty meals to make twenty yuan.

Liang Dani used to deliver fifty or sixty meals in one go, which would earn her thirty yuan per trip. Plus, it included lunch, and one of their meals was worth eight yuan! This job was definitely doable!

’Thirty yuan a trip. Make three trips and that’s ninety yuan. Plus free food... making over a hundred a day isn’t a dream!’

’I’ll do it! I can start tomorrow!’ Old Han replied in a flash.

’Our current delivery area is a one-kilometer radius around the Hai City Library construction site. You can familiarize yourself with the routes first to make your job easier. Oh, and you’ll need to provide your own bike. I’ll supply the foam containers.’

Seeing Old Han’s "Okay" pop up, Xu An put down his phone and sighed again. He’d only just opened a small shop, yet he was already showing the potential to become a Zhou Bapi.

「Four in the afternoon.」

The short break was over. The crew got moving again, starting to prep for dinner.

The main reason was that since they had a storefront, it felt like a waste of rent to keep it closed in the afternoon.

So, they decided to stay open. As long as they were open for business, they should be able to make at least a little something.

Therefore, Xu An didn’t have high hopes for the afternoon service. He set the meal count at just forty, which included dinner for the seven people at the restaurant—five adults and two children.

The seven of them sat eating at a table closest to the entrance. The two little ones were slow eaters; the others had already finished, but their bowls were still half-full.

Granny Xu wanted to help feed them, but they refused, clutching their bowls tightly and insisting that they were grown up now. They were big kids, and big kids had to eat by themselves.

Unable to persuade them, Granny Xu gave up and let them eat at their own slow pace.

Some nearby residents, not wanting to cook dinner in the hot weather, came over looking for a fast-food place to grab a quick bite.

They saw the cluster of congratulatory flower baskets in front of Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant and ambled over, curious to see what kind of food this new place was selling.

Just as they reached the entrance, they saw two small children happily eating from their bowls.

A second glance revealed that the food in the children’s bowls was identical to the food on the hot counter. This immediately made them want to give it a try.

’It’s cheap, the food looks good, and the owner’s own kids are eating it. This place definitely isn’t trying to rip anyone off. It must be trustworthy.’

With this thought in mind, many passersby walked into Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.

A little after six o’clock, all the food the restaurant had prepared was sold out.

Zhou Qi and Liang Dani helped clean up for a while, and when their shifts ended, Xu An sent them home.

He had intended to let Sister Lili go home too, but Xu Lili saw the mountain of unwashed bowls and chopsticks and refused to leave, staying behind to help everyone else.

Xu Kang and Xu Le didn’t finish their food until six-thirty. Once they were full, they started getting drowsy and dozed off with their heads on Granny Xu’s lap.

Meanwhile, Granny Xu sat behind the cash register, holding an old abacus in one hand. Her other hand was a blur of motion, making the beads fly with a loud CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.

Today’s total revenue was—2,213 yuan!

Profit after deducting the cost of ingredients was—700 yuan!

If they could maintain this income every day, the monthly revenue would be—66,390 yuan!

After deducting the cost of ingredients, labor, rent, and utilities, the remaining profit would be—14,000 yuan!

This meant that Xu An would only need another month and a half to earn the twenty thousand yuan and fulfill the promise he made to himself.

Granny Xu looked up at the busy Xu An, feeling once again that her grandson had truly grown up.