Beiguan Village. Grassland Beef & Lamb Grill & Hot Pot Restaurant!
Just as he had settled Jiang Longyin and the others, before Li Yi could even return to the front desk, he saw Lin Jianguo walk in with a group of middle-aged men. The two leading the way were carrying a plaque.
As soon as they entered, Lin Jianguo said with a smile, “Brother Li Yi, congratulations on your grand opening! May your business thrive!”
“Thanks, Director Lin. Please, come on in!”
“I wasn’t sure what to bring, so I had this plaque made—hahaha!”
Li Yi saw the four gilded characters “Prosperous Business” carved on the side and immediately replied with a smile, “You’ve gone to a lot of trouble, Director Lin. I’ll gladly accept your gift. Today, I’d like to treat you all to a taste of our shop’s grilled and boiled meat!”
“No need to treat us—we’re here today to support your business. We wouldn’t let you pay!” Lin Jianguo said with a smile.
“Hehe, Director Lin, there’ll be plenty of chances for you to spend money later. This meal is definitely on me!”
Li Yi looked up and saw more acquaintances arriving outside. He immediately called out to the staff inside, “Dongzi, take care of Director Lin and his group!”
“Got it!”
Just as he had led Lin Jianguo and the others into the private room, Ye Jianhua walked in with a few young people.
Upon entering, Ye Jianhua placed a wooden carving ornament he was holding on the table in front of Li Yi and said with a smile, “Wishing you a grand opening!”
“Thanks. What brings you here in the middle of the day?” Li Yi asked with a smile.
“I came specifically to support you. I knew Old Jiang wouldn’t be able to make it at noon, so I came ahead of him!” Ye Jianhua said.
“Hahaha, welcome, welcome! But let’s be clear—this meal is on me!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“That won’t do—then we’d just be freeloaders!”
“Just come by more often to support my place, and that’ll do!”
“Alright, alright, you’re the boss—you call the shots. Hahaha!”
After that, Li Yi led Ye Jianhua and the others into a private dining room in the back!
Just like with Jiang Longyin and the others earlier, as soon as the charcoal brazier and copper pot were set out, the seasonings and condiments were mixed, and the meat was grilled and dipped.
In an instant, the aroma filled the entire private room!
After a round of cooking, everyone—from Lin Jianguo, who had arrived earlier, to Ye Jianhua and the others who came later—was won over by this unique delicacy.
Over the next hour, although no new customers arrived, the young staff were kept busily entertained.
Calls for more meat and side dishes, or for water and wine, echoed from the three private rooms from time to time—it was incredibly lively!
Just past one o’clock, Jiang Longyin and his group were the first to finish eating, then emerged from the private room with rosy cheeks.
Li Yi immediately asked with a smile, “Finished eating?”
“Yeah, this place is pretty good, kid. Let’s settle the bill!” Jiang Longyin said with a smile.
“No need to pay. As our first table of customers, your meal is on the house!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Hahaha, is that even possible?”
Jiang Longyin didn’t insist on paying, but turned to Li Yi and said, “The dishes here look simple, but they taste really good. As far as I can tell, this place is one of a kind in Beijing right now!”
“Keep up the good work. If you run into any trouble, come find me at the district government office!”
“Alright!” Li Yi replied with a smile.
A middle-aged man standing next to Jiang Longyin also smiled and said, “You’ve got guts, young man. Not bad. We’ll be coming here often!”
“You’re most welcome!”
After seeing Jiang Longyin and his group off, it wasn’t long before Lin Jianguo, Ye Jianhua, and the others had finished their meal as well!
Although both groups offered to pay the bill, Li Yi refused both.
“They came to celebrate your grand opening—how could you be so stingy as to not even treat them to a meal? That wouldn’t do at all!”
Although the bill wasn’t settled, Li Yi still asked them if they were used to this style of grilled and hot-pot meat.
The answer was, of course, a resounding yes. These days, aside from massive restaurants, grilled meat is rarely available.
What’s more, Li Yi’s place not only served grass-fed beef and lamb but also pre-sliced pork belly and chicken, all paired with special sauces—the flavor was simply out of this world.
The hot pot lamb at his restaurant was also unlike anywhere else, especially with the wide variety of condiments—far superior to the single-flavored chive blossoms found in old Beijing, and capable of satisfying almost any palate.
So, almost all the customers raved about the meal!
After seeing off these three tables of guests, while the young staff were cleaning up, Li Yi did a quick calculation.
Those three tables—a total of 17 people—had consumed 16 pounds of beef, 12 pounds of lamb, 11 pounds of pork, and 4 pounds of chicken, for a total of 43 pounds of meat.
I have to say, these guys really have a huge appetite.
Their consumption of meat, in particular, was simply staggering—yet they barely touched the vegetables!
Oh, and they also drank five bottles of baijiu and over 40 liters of beer.
If calculated at the standard rates, they would owe 172 yuan for food and 17 jin of grain coupons, plus an additional 87 yuan for drinks.
That comes to a total of 259 yuan, which averages out to 15 yuan per person!
In other words, the average spending per person at his restaurant is around 15 yuan.
Li Yi then calculated the costs and profits: the total cost of ingredients was about 80 yuan, while the purchase price of the alcohol was 58 yuan, bringing the total cost to 138 yuan!
Excluding rent, labor, and utility costs, with an investment of 138 yuan and revenue of 259 yuan, that’s nearly a 100% profit margin.
Is that expensive?
The answer is definitely yes—it’s expensive!
After all, people’s incomes haven’t gone up yet. For the average person earning 36 or 37 yuan a month, this kind of spending is definitely not cheap.
No, it’s actually incredibly expensive—you could even call it extravagant.
But Li Yi wasn’t worried about a lack of business; after all, this was the capital, the imperial city since ancient times, where the one thing that was never in short supply was wealthy people.
Besides, the people who just came in don’t represent the average per-person spending.
Under normal circumstances, the per-person spending would never reach such a high level.
After all, these people had come today specifically to show their support for him, so they didn’t give a second thought to how much they were spending—they simply ate and drank to their hearts’ content.
By the end of the meal, each person had consumed an average of two and a half pounds of meat, while they barely touched the vegetables.
Most importantly, everyone who came today was a man.
If half of them had been women, the total bill would have been at least a third lower.
According to Li Yi’s estimates, excluding alcohol, a per-person bill of 8 yuan per meal at Grassland Beef and Lamb would be considered reasonable.
But in any case, judging by current spending, the restaurant has essentially met the standards Li Yi set for a high-end establishment.
It wasn’t that Li Yi didn’t want to open a small shop affordable to ordinary people—it was simply unnecessary.
After all, not only are supplies scarce these days, but there are also extremely strict requirements regarding labor—any business with more than eight employees is treated as a capitalist enterprise.
If he were to open a small shop, it would be too small to be worthwhile, and anything slightly larger would require hiring staff.
Chefs, kitchen helpers, waitstaff, and so on—eight people might not even be enough. Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?
A barbecue and hot pot restaurant like this is much better—fewer staff, higher prices, and plenty of profit!
More importantly, by establishing the brand early on, he could easily expand into a chain once the timing was right.
All in all, Li Yi was already very satisfied with the current situation.
Just as Li Yi was crunching the numbers, Dongzi and the others finished up, and they all gathered around!
“Bro Yi, how much did we make in total just now?” Qiangzi asked curiously.
“Not a single penny!” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“What? That can’t be right—didn’t those people pay?”
“It’s not that they didn’t pay—it’s that I didn’t ask for it!”
“Why didn’t you take it? We opened this place to make money, didn’t we?” Qiangzi frowned.
“Hehe, today’s our first day in business. Everyone who came to eat was a friend showing their support. They gave us face, so we had to give them face too. That’s why I waived the bill for all three tables at lunch!”
Li Yi continued, “On the surface, I lost money, but I won their hearts. Plus, since our food is top-notch, I’ve won over their stomachs too. Don’t you think they’ll come back often to support our business?”
Dongzi said thoughtfully, “Isn’t that like saying you can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing the lamb?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Although that’s not quite the right expression, it’s pretty much the same idea.”
Seeing that the younger guys still had questions, Li Yi immediately cut them off and said, “Alright, you’ll see if what I’m saying makes sense tonight.”
“What you need to do now is hurry up and restock our ingredients. Dongzi, go get two more sheep right away—I’m afraid what’s left in the fridge won’t be enough for tonight!”
“Shitou, go to the market and get another 20 pounds of pork belly, and bring back two chickens too!”
“Got it!”
…….