Chapter 918 Virgin Mary
“It’s delicious! It’s so delicious! I give this dish a hundred points!”
The change in thinking is so wonderful.
When Zou Guodong tasted the hot spring egg and meat sauce Doria rice in the store, he finally gave out his heartfelt praise.
And this is exactly what Ning Weimin is happy to see.
"Not bad, right? Lao Zou. Now you understand why I asked you to come?"
"I understand, I understand."
Zou Guodong, who was still immersed in the taste of the food, said with satisfaction Wiping the corners of his mouth, he expressed all his feelings about the ups and downs of his mood, from black to pink.
“Yes, it’s true! When I came here, I was worried that there wouldn’t be a decent restaurant here. After all, everyone’s usual thinking is – Western food = Western = Modern = Noble = Affordable. But I didn’t expect the location of this restaurant. Although it's terrible, the environment in the store is actually okay. It's comfortable and has a small atmosphere. The smell of rotten fish and shrimp outside seems to have been isolated. When I sat down to order, when I saw the menu, I was worried that it was too cheap. I couldn’t eat any decent food. I didn’t expect it, but it tasted really good! Especially this dish, I have to say I’m not sure if it’s Italian food, but I really like the taste of this dish. ! ”
“Haha, Mr. Zou, you are right. The core advantage of this restaurant is its excellent value for money! The Western food that is more delicious than it is not as cheap as it is, and it is not as good as it is. Eat. So despite the poor location of this restaurant, there are still a large number of customers who come to the restaurant and even climb over the vegetables to become loyal repeat customers. I wonder if you have noticed this? It spans age groups and occupations, and the customer base is broad and caters to both young and old..."
"Yes, yes, not only students, employees, but also the elderly, housewives, even single people, friends gatherings or family dinners can come here. And the key is that no one here will feel that consumption is not enough. Come on, I think that although the amount of food we ordered is a bit exaggerated, it is not lacking for everyone else. There is not a pair of cups and plates on every table, especially those who are married and bring their children, even if they don’t have any in their pockets. How much is it? You can wave your hand and say "whatever you want" here. As a father and someone who has walked home just to save a few cents on the ticket, I can understand that this is the biggest thing. "
This time, before Ning Weimin could finish his words, Zou Guodong agreed again and even added something.
However, he also focused the problem on the most sensitive place.
“...But the question is, how does this restaurant do it? For one thousand yen, you can have a reasonably sumptuous meal, and for two or three thousand yen, you can have a party with friends. For five thousand yen, you can have a good meal. You can order a dazzling array of dishes for just 1,000 yen. How can this restaurant make money? The price is low, the environment is good, and it’s Western food. This is great news for diners. Why do I feel that the owner of this Western restaurant is not here to make money? ? This is obviously for charity! What Salia, just call her Virgin Mary..."
"Haha!" This is the first time Ning Weimin has fully felt Zou Guodong's sense of humor, I couldn't help laughing at this.
But after laughing, he had to work hard to peel off the cocoon and reveal the secret to Zou Guodong very patiently.
"Mr. Zou, actually you are not the only one who is curious about how Salia can still make money while maintaining such prices and quality. To tell you the truth, I was also very surprised at first. Because I work in catering, and the purpose of coming here is to open a restaurant. But like you, I couldn’t figure out the cost at first. Or rather, it’s because I work in catering. I just don’t understand this account. It’s not because of anything else, but because according to a report issued by a professional evaluation agency in Japan, the average profit of Japan’s catering industry is only 10%..."
"Ah! What? So low!"
Zou Guodong couldn't help shouting in surprise, "If this is the case, why are you still staying in Japan? You might as well go back with me..."
"Don't be anxious, just listen to me. I never fight with uncertainty. I investigated these situations clearly before I went abroad."
Ning Weimin waved his hand to tell Zou Guodong to calm down. He picked up the red wine and toasted him. After drinking it, he continued to talk.
“It’s true that the Japanese catering industry is fiercely competitive. Especially in Tokyo, labor, rent, and ingredients are all cheaper than in our country. And there are many choices for customers. There are too few restaurants in the capital. , there is no shortage of customers. But Japan is not like that. There are all kinds of high-end, mid-range and low-end restaurants from all over the world. If you want a restaurant to be profitable, it must be in a good location and have good decoration and service. The taste of the food must not be bad, and there are often promotions and advertising. These are all costs. "
"According to what I know, the average cost of catering in Japan is. The biggest factor is food. Food in Japan is relatively expensive, which accounts for at least one-third of operating costs. The second largest factor is labor, which ranks third. Expenses, including advertising and promotions, are about one-fifth. And then add 10% of the rent, so there is only a dry single-digit profit. But later, I've been here more times and I've been to other branches of this restaurant, and I gradually figured it out."
When he said this, he found that Zou Guodong's eyes were obviously paying attention.
I was pleased to say that I didn’t want to talk too much about it, and just told the core content directly.
"The easiest thing to figure out is the cost of housing. As you can feel when you arrive, Salia's store location is extremely poor. The owner of this restaurant never chooses a prosperous store in a prime location. He even goes the other way. When choosing In terms of location, most of his stores are located in third-rate corners of third-rate shopping malls, and the rents are super cheap. They also specialize in picking up restaurants that have gone bankrupt, and then just change the signs and open them with simple interior changes. , greatly reducing the decoration cost and decoration time. So in this item, Salia saved 5%.”
“The second thing is also very intuitive. We occasionally do some activities, but our expenses are limited, and we almost never advertise because this store targets ordinary people who can't afford Western food. We don't want to make money from high-end customers, so we rely on customers' word-of-mouth to spread the store's name. They are all repeat customers who come here because of the good quality and low price. They don't care about the bad location of the store, and they are really willing to actively promote this store. And people who have never eaten there often become the ones who have eaten there. So Salia can also save 15% on advertising and marketing." Zou Guodong nodded and calculated the numbers in his mind. "Then... plus the due profit, this is 30%. It is basically close to the domestic situation. But it is not enough to support such a cheap price. You just said it is the average situation in the industry, I think In this way, Salia will not pay at most. From this point of view, the bulk of the savings lies in the latter two items. "Yes" Ning Weimin nodded first. Asked suddenly. "Mr. Zou, have you ever counted how many waiters there are in this restaurant?"
Zou Guodong was immediately stunned by this guy.
He quickly turned his head to look, and after a while he looked back, and then confirmed with Ning Weimin in an extremely shocked tone.
"No way? There are actually...only three people! Such a big restaurant! According to common sense, if there are not ten people, there must be seven or eight!"
"Hey , this is the strange thing. To tell you the truth, I just figured it out recently. It happened to be that Fuji TV was incredibly low. I went to Salia's main store to do a program. In order to appease the customers' concerns about the low prices, Salia's boss made a special appearance to introduce the restaurant's operations from the customer's perspective. Things that can’t be found. I figured out how Salia worked so hard and finally saved money on her teeth through various methods.”
At this point, Zou Guodong’s eyes were obviously more urgent. He couldn't help but urge, "Stop talking nonsense and speak quickly."
"Haha, okay, I'll tell you what I said."
Ning Weimin smiled, "In order to achieve this, Salia took a different approach in terms of business model and adopted the 'self-built supply chain' + Central Kitchen' model. Salia has many chain stores, and the company distributes all semi-finished products, that is, pre-made dishes. When the business is open, the kitchen of each restaurant only needs to do simple processing. Salia's boss is there. It is said in the show that 'Salia's kitchen does not have a kitchen knife'..."
"What? There is no kitchen knife? Then...is this still a kitchen? You just mentioned the supply chain, the central kitchen, and each restaurant has its own kitchen. What does this mean? Please explain it more clearly to me. Why do I feel that the cost has increased with the addition of an extra kitchen? ?”
It was completely unimaginable to see Zou Guodong, and he seemed a little unable to digest such information.
Ning Weimin suddenly realized that this was the gap between the times.
Terms that everyone will know in the future are still relatively unknown knowledge in this era.
For this reason, he thought about it carefully and finally found a fairly suitable angle and example.
"Let me just tell you this. This central kitchen is the real kitchen. It is responsible for frying and frying. It is the place where the chef works. It is also the only kitchen for Salia. So this kitchen does The products are not made for one restaurant, but for all of Salia's restaurants. As for the kitchens in each restaurant, they are actually simplified. Not to mention that there are no chefs, and there are not many kitchen functions. It just needs to have refrigeration storage function and heating function. To put it bluntly, Salia's store can basically achieve fool-proof operation. Even during busy lunch hours, the entire restaurant can be done by just two or three people. By the way, you can eat. Have you ever experienced airplane food? Just think of Salia’s model as airplane food…”
“Ah! That’s it!”
Don’t say that, Zou Guodong. Sure enough, it suddenly dawned on me. "I finally understood that all the dishes are prepared in one place and then distributed to other restaurants. If there are customers to eat, the waiters are like stewardesses, just heat the food and bring it out. Well, a plane is so big Even the two stewardesses can take care of many guests. Not to mention, this saves trouble and there is really no need for a chef in the kitchen. This is a brilliant idea! This is like a food factory. So cool!”
"Where else!" Ning Weimin saw that Zou Guodong finally understood and was able to continue.
“The Japanese’s refined operation is admirable. Salia’s boss racked his brains to figure out how to eliminate time waste and save money. In order to control labor costs, Salia implemented full-time and part-time The simultaneous employment model focuses on the assessment of 'person-hour turnover', that is, the turnover that an employee can achieve in one hour, and pays attention to the labor efficiency per unit of time."
"This boss also boasted in the program. He introduced a series of tips for efficient work. For example, he specially designed a mop that can automatically discharge water to improve the efficiency of mopping. His waiters do not use trays to serve dishes, because the trays can only serve one or two dishes at a time, but directly use their hands. He can serve three or four plates at a time and then go back to the kitchen to collect the empty plates. He also invented a homemade cutting machine for cutting tomatoes. Put the tomatoes on the machine and you can cut them immediately. The whole process only takes a few seconds. "
Hearing this, Zou Guodong couldn't help but exclaimed again.
“Ouch, why does it sound like an assembly line to me? The Japanese are really smart, they actually use people as machines. This is to extract the value of labor to the greatest extent! How can one exploit people to this extent? Come on, this Japanese capitalist is no worse than Zhou Papi in "The Chicken Crows at Midnight""
"No, no, your metaphor is a bit inappropriate. The Japanese pay wages, and they don't ask employees to work overtime for free. You can only say that they are smart..."
Ning Weimin Interface Said, "Just like in terms of material supply, the Japanese boss's calculations are also very good. Since Salia modeled her Western food business on Kentucky and McDonald's, she started a chain store operation. This can not only make more people More people know their brand, which can also effectively reduce the cost of purchasing ingredients. The owner of this restaurant has successfully reduced the supply chain by taking advantage of the fact that his restaurant consumes a large amount of ingredients. The ingredients used by Salia are either directly supplied by manufacturers or provided by their own farms. Even if they have to be imported, they are purchased in large quantities at discounted prices. In this way, labor costs are saved by 15%. The cost of ingredients is saved by 15%. On the contrary, Salia's turnover rate is twice that of other restaurants. Do you think this is a high profit? ”
(End of this chapter)