Chapter 329: Pay Grade
Beiguan Village. Grassland Beef and Lamb Grill & Hot Pot Restaurant!
Long Zhanjun was at the front desk organizing the private room reservations for lunch. Over the past few days, several departments from the district government had come to eat at their restaurant; they always called ahead to let them know so they could be prepared.
Meanwhile, Li Yeqiao was busy handling the accounts.
Every morning, the restaurant made a large bulk purchase. Upon returning, regardless of the amount spent, all expenses had to be reported to Li Yeqiao for bookkeeping.
After a period of adjustment, the restaurant’s key managers now work together seamlessly.
Long Zhanjun is primarily in charge of operations and oversees the big picture!
Li Yeqiao handles the financial side of things, while Liu San’er manages procurement and gathers market intelligence.
As for Dongzi, Qiangzi, Shitou, and Gangzi, the four of them were the shop’s main reception staff!
Working together, they complement each other perfectly, and the shop’s business is booming.
“Ring-ring-ring!”
Just as everyone was busy, the shop phone suddenly rang!
Long Zhanjun immediately put down the order form he was holding and picked up the phone.
“Hello, Beef and Lamb Grill & Hot Pot Restaurant… This is the Investment Promotion Bureau. About 15 people. Got it…”
After hanging up, Long Zhanjun immediately jotted down the reservation details on a sheet. He would pass the information on to the kitchen shortly so they could prepare in advance.
Just as he finished, Dongzi came out of the kitchen and asked, “Brother Long, how many tables have we booked for lunch today? I need to check if we have enough marinated beef and lamb.”
“Seven private rooms and eight tables in the main dining area!” Long Zhanjun replied.
“Looks like we’ll need to marinate another whole lamb!”
“That’s not enough. Marinate another 30 jin of beef, and some pork belly too!” Long Zhanjun instructed.
With the experience from the past few days, he knew that when guests came here to eat, their appetites were much bigger than usual.
So when preparing the food, he had to make sure to prepare plenty!
Better to have guests leave some food on their plates than to tell them we’re out of something when they order.
“Got it…”
Just as he spoke, Dongzi glanced outside and froze in surprise!
Long Zhanjun instinctively followed Dongzi’s gaze and caught sight of Li Yi pushing open the door, with several women trailing behind him.
The two of them immediately rushed over to greet them!
“Brother Yi, Sister Na, what brings you here?” Dongzi asked, sounding a bit excited.
“Hehe, I was worried you guys might be swamped, so I brought Zhang Zhqing and Feng Zhqing along!” Li Yi said with a smile.
Long Zhanjun immediately replied, “Well, you’ve come at just the right time—we really are swamped!”
“Looks like business is going well!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Yeah, it’s really going well!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “Dongzi, call everyone else out here. Let’s have a quick meeting before the crowds start rolling in!”
“Got it!”
Actually, there was no need to call them out—hearing the commotion outside, the guys in the kitchen had already come out to see what was going on.
When they saw it was Li Yi back, they all dropped what they were doing and ran out.
Soon, everyone was gathered and seated around a large round table!
Li Yi looked around at everyone and said, “Before we start the meeting, let me introduce the ladies here to you!”
“Li Na, my third older sister—she’ll be helping out at the shop from now on!”
“Zhang Xinyao… Feng Qian… An Hong…”
After briefly introducing them, Li Yi immediately turned to Long Zhanjun and asked, “Big Long, how’s business been at the shop lately?”
“Business has been excellent. We’re running at 70 to 80 percent capacity every lunch and dinner, selling at least eight sheep and one cow a day, plus several hundred pounds of pork and chicken!” Long Zhanjun replied.
“Huh, business is that good?” Li Yi asked, somewhat surprised.
He remembered that when he left, the shop could only sell two or three sheep a day.
It had only been a few days, yet sales had tripled or quadrupled—that was a pretty rapid pace!
“I don’t know what’s going on these past few days, but we’ve been getting a lot of people from the district government. Sometimes it’s just three or four tables, but other times we get as many as seventy or eighty people!”
Long Zhanjun continued, “Whenever they show up, all of us are running around like headless chickens, so I’d say these ladies arrived just in time!”
Hearing Long Zhanjun’s words, Li Yi felt a little more confident.
The district government is Jiang Longyin’s turf. Without his say-so, most organizations wouldn’t even give his little shop a second glance!
Don’t get me wrong—the food here tastes great and the menu is pretty innovative, but when it comes to class, it’s really not that high-end!
Heading into the city center, there were plenty of century-old shops!
Although they’ve all been nationalized, their standards haven’t dropped—his own shop clearly couldn’t hold a candle to them.
Most importantly, the majority of the district’s government agencies were located in the city center.
Just think about it—why would they skip the nearby, high-end restaurants and go all the way out here? There must be a reason.
If I’m not mistaken, this must have something to do with the Jiang family—they’re probably returning the favor!
“Mm, I understand!”
Li Yi then added, “Whether they’re district leaders or ordinary citizens, anyone who walks into our restaurant must receive attentive service and a warm welcome—we can’t give anyone the impression that we’re playing favorites!”
“Got it!”
“Is there anything else going on at the store?”
Long Zhanjun replied immediately, “I was actually just about to call you to discuss hiring, but I guess there’s no need to talk about that now.”
“But I think we need to add some equipment in the kitchen—otherwise, we’re really going to be short-handed!”
“What kind of equipment?” Li Yi asked right away.
“First, a refrigerator, and then various plates, bowls, and so on!”
Li Yi had already thought of this when he heard the shop sold seven or eight sheep a day, so he said right away, “You take care of that!”
“Alright!”
“By the way, how much money is in the account? Is it enough to buy a refrigerator?” Li Yi asked again.
Li Yeqiao replied immediately, “Excluding this morning’s expenses, there’s currently 18,312 yuan, 6 jiao, and 4 fen in the shop’s account—though we haven’t deducted the staff’s wages or the utility bills yet!”
Hearing Li Yeqiao’s words, Li Yi was secretly taken aback.
When he left, he had only left 1,500 yuan in the store as working capital, and the remaining 15,000-plus yuan had all been deposited.
In other words, in just over ten days, the shop had recouped more than 16,000 yuan—an average of 1,500 to 1,600 yuan per day.
An Hong, Zhang Xinyao, and the others were equally stunned. Although they didn’t know the exact profit margin, hearing Li Yi and Li Yeqiao discuss figures in the tens of thousands left them deeply impressed!
“Since we have enough money, let’s buy a few more refrigerators. We’ll definitely need them in the store!” Li Yi said.
“Alright!”
Then, Li Yi looked at everyone and said, “Taking advantage of this opportunity today, I’d like to reiterate our store’s wage standards. Currently, we have an eight-tier wage system: Tier 1 is 60 yuan, Tier 2 is 80 yuan, Tier 3 is 100 yuan, Tier 4 is 120 yuan, Tier 5 is 150 yuan, Tier 6 is 180 yuan, Tier 7 is 240 yuan, and Tier 8 is 300 yuan!”
“Feng Qian’s salary is set at Level 2; Dongzi, Qiangzi, Shitou, Gangzi, Liu San, and Zhang Xinyao are set at Level 3; Li Yeqiao is Level 4; and Long Zhanjun is Level 5!”
“From now on, last month’s salary will be paid on the 15th of each month. The finance department will handle the direct payment then—no delays allowed!”
Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned by Li Yi’s generosity.
Long Zhanjun, Li Yeqiao, Liu San, and the others had heard Li Yi mention the salary issue before and knew how much he was paying them.
But they never imagined that Long Zhanjun’s monthly salary of 150 yuan wasn’t even the highest.
And he was only at Level 5—there were still Levels 6, 7, and 8 above him, with the highest pay reaching 300 yuan a month, which was equivalent to an ordinary worker’s annual salary.
The rest of the group hadn’t heard a word of this from Li Yi and were left completely speechless.
This was especially true for Feng Qian and Zhang Xinyao—they never would have imagined that Li Yi had called them to Beijing just to pay them such high salaries.
An Hong felt the same way. She had always known that Li Yi had made a fortune; after all, with Wang Anguo, the captain of the criminal investigation team, around, many things couldn’t be kept from him.
And as Wang Anguo’s wife, An Hong naturally knew some of the inside details.
But she never imagined Li Yi would be so flush with cash that he’d pay his staff such high salaries.
Even the most ordinary person could earn a hundred or eighty yuan—far more than she made as a permanent employee at the textile factory.
For a moment, her gaze toward Feng Qian and Zhang Xinyao was filled with envy.
If it weren’t for the fact that she simply couldn’t stay in Beijing for long, she would have wanted to work for Li Yi herself.
What An Hong didn’t know was that Li Yi was currently thinking the same thing: how he could recruit her to his team!
Unfortunately, though both of them were thinking the same thing, neither of them said a word!