Chapter 273: The First Customer

November 15. The 8th day of the 10th lunar month. An auspicious day for opening!

At 9:00 a.m., accompanied by a burst of firecrackers, the Grassland Beef and Lamb Capital Flagship Store officially opened!

Since Li Yi didn’t have many friends in the capital, aside from notifying Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua, he hadn’t told anyone else about the opening.

Consequently, the grand opening felt rather low-key and somewhat quiet.

However, Li Yi didn’t mind. After the fireworks, he led a few excited young men into the store.

Today was the first day of business at the new store. Although it wasn’t quite mealtime yet, the necessary preparations still had to be made in advance.

Li Yi first took a look in the kitchen. Dongzi and Shitou were washing vegetables—Chinese cabbage, potatoes, and sweet potatoes all needed to be cleaned and set aside.

In addition, fresh tofu, frozen tofu, glass noodles, and dried tofu sticks all needed to be prepared—after all, this was a hot pot and barbecue combo restaurant, so they couldn’t just serve meat.

At the same time, the beef and lamb in the freezer were taken out to thaw.

Although Li Yi had the foundry help build two simple meat-slicing machines—not the electric kind, but more like paper cutters—

While they work well, the only drawback is that they can’t handle meat that’s too soft or too tough—they work best with meat that’s just right.

On the other side of the kitchen, Qiangzi and Yongzi were preparing the dipping sauces.

For grilled and hot-pot meat, the dipping sauces are especially important.

Li Yi’s restaurant offers two types of seasonings for grilled meat: a dry rub and a sauce, both of which he had formulated himself.

Although the flavor can’t compare to that of famous restaurants, it’s actually pretty good for what it is.

The dipping sauces for hot pot, however, are much more complex. In addition to sesame paste, they include everything from chopped scallions and minced garlic to fermented tofu, chili oil, and crushed peanuts.

To be honest, Li Yi went to great lengths to source all these various condiments.

In recent days, besides preparing to open the shop, he’d also contacted several ticket scalpers in town and bought a large quantity of food ration coupons from them.

After all, most agricultural products still required ration coupons at the time; without them, he’d have to buy goods at inflated prices—at least a third more expensive.

Li Yi had a clear vision for the shop’s business model: he couldn’t operate it as a low-cost eatery.

Not only would the profit margins be slim, but the demand for supplies would be high.

Just like when he ran his liangpi and white-skin pancake business in Qingshan County, he went through at least fifty to sixty pounds of flour every day, and the consumption of other ingredients was no small matter either.

But in a place like the capital, he simply didn’t have the capacity to source that much in-stock supplies.

Therefore, if he was going to do this, he would focus on high-end dining—high quality, high prices, and high profits.

This approach not only addressed the issue of profitability but also solved the problem of supply shortages, sparing him the daily headache of dealing with various ration coupons.

Before long, the morning had flown by.

Dinnertime was fast approaching, but not a single customer had walked through the door yet, which naturally made the young guys a bit anxious.

“Bro Yi, why hasn’t anyone come in yet?” Qiangzi couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah, Brother Yi, we spent so much money—are we going to lose money on this?” Shitou said, sounding worried as well.

Although Dongzi and Yongzi didn’t speak, their expressions still betrayed a hint of worry.

However, Li Yi wasn’t worried at all. He smiled and said, “Why the rush? Just be patient. It’s still early!”

Li Yi had long anticipated the possibility of no customers showing up.

His restaurant was beautifully decorated; from the outside, it looked quite upscale, and ordinary folks wouldn’t dare step inside a place like this.

Of course, ordinary people weren’t Li Yi’s target customers anyway.

And since the wealthy hadn’t heard of the place yet, it was only natural that there were no customers.

That’s why Li Yi had asked Jiang Longcheng to invite his friends over for a meal. He was confident that once they experienced his unique “grill-and-hot-pot” dining concept, they’d be hooked and become regulars.

With a base of repeat customers, word of the restaurant would spread within their circles, and business would naturally follow.

But all of this takes time, so before Jiang Longcheng hosted his gathering, Li Yi hadn’t even considered the possibility of anyone walking in on their own!

“Brother Yi, we’re just getting a little anxious. We’ve poured so much money into this—what if no customers show up?”

Although the younger guys didn’t know exactly how much Li Yi had invested so far, they figured it must be around fifteen or sixteen thousand yuan.

After all, rent alone cost over 3,000 yuan, ordering tables, chairs, and tableware cost over 6,000 yuan, and renovations cost over 2,000 yuan.

Add to that the 2,400 yuan for the refrigerator and the 700 to 800 yuan for various meats and vegetables, and the total comes to 15,000 yuan.

And that doesn’t even include other miscellaneous expenses, such as ordering various alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, and purchasing uniforms for the staff.

With so much money invested, anyone would be worried for him.

Li Yi remained completely unfazed, smiling as he said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m not the type to take on anything I’m not confident about!”

“Besides, if I lose money, it’s my own money. What are you guys worried about…”

Just as he was speaking, a Volga sedan suddenly pulled up at the entrance. Four or five middle-aged men in overcoats got out of the car and walked into the shop.

As soon as they entered, Li Yi recognized them at a glance—the man leading the group was none other than Jiang Longcheng’s second older brother, Jiang Longyin.

Upon seeing Li Yi, Jiang Longyin smiled and said, “I heard your shop opened, so I came to show my support!”

“Welcome, welcome! Please come in!” Li Yi said with a smile.

To be honest, Li Yi really hadn’t expected that the first group of customers to walk through his shop’s doors would be the ones brought by Jiang Longyin.

Li Yi was well aware of Jiang Longcheng’s second older brother—a future powerhouse who would one day rule over an entire region.

Even now, he was no ordinary figure, and the fact that he had come to support a small-time operator like Li Yi left him feeling both flattered and a bit overwhelmed.

“The decor is quite unique. What kind of food do you serve here? Could you give us a rundown?”

The reason Jiang Longyin was here today was mainly because he’d overheard Jiang Longcheng calling his rowdy friends at home last night.

It wasn’t until he asked that he learned about Li Yi opening a restaurant, and subsequently discovered the bet between Jiang Longcheng and Li Yi.

Learning that Li Yi had actually started planning his restaurant ahead of schedule—and even predicted that rents for street-front shops in Beiguan Village would rise—sparked a keen interest in Li Yi as a person.

Coincidentally, a few colleagues at work had suggested going out for lunch, so on a whim, he asked his third younger brother for a reservation and brought them all here to Li Yi’s place.

“Our restaurant specializes in grilled meat and hot pot, though we also offer a variety of vegetables. I’ll demonstrate the specifics once the dishes are served!”

Li Yi was quite patient with his first table of customers.

“Alright!”

Since there were five of them, and given Jiang Longyin’s distinguished status, Li Yi invited them into a private six-person booth in the back.

Then, he had Dongzi bring out charcoal braziers and copper hot pot pans for everyone!

Next, Li Yi didn’t let them order. As the first customers to walk in on opening day, he decided to treat them to the meal.

He instructed the kitchen to prepare one pound each of beef and lamb suitable for grilling, as well as one pound each of thin slices of lamb and beef for hot pot.

In addition, he had the kitchen prepare some vegetarian dishes suitable for hot pot, such as vegetables and glass noodles.

Once the dishes were all served, Li Yi had the staff prepare several dipping sauces for them, and he personally demonstrated how to grill the meat.

There was no need to demonstrate hot pot—after all, there’s probably not a single person in Beijing who doesn’t know how to cook lamb in hot pot!

Soon, the lamb on the grill was cooked through.

Li Yi used scissors to cut the large pieces of lamb into smaller chunks, then signaled to everyone that they could eat, reminding them they could dip the meat in either dry seasoning or sauce.

For Jiang Longyin and the others, this was their first time tasting such a unique delicacy. Seeing the golden-brown lamb giving off an enticing aroma, they didn’t hesitate and immediately dug in.

The moment they put the succulent lamb in their mouths, they were all stunned.

They were all people of standing who had tasted all kinds of delicacies, but they never imagined that lamb grilled fresh like this could be so delicious.

Just then, Li Yi had Dongzi bring them some beer.

Grilled meat, hot pot, and beer—this combination would be a perfect match even forty years later, let alone in the 1980s. It was a winning combination!

In an instant, they were completely won over by this extraordinary feast.