Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 54 You don't actually think I spent so much money just to sell soup for two hours, do you?
[How much? 8 yuan for a small bowl, 10 yuan for a large bowl. The Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef must be desperate to win!]

[A bowl of pork blood and tofu soup costs only a few cents to make, yet you're selling it for ten times the price. Even drug dealers can't make money faster than you!]

[A meal of three meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a soup for 23.8 yuan is reasonable, but isn't 10 yuan a bowl of soup a bit too expensive?]

I think it's alright. A bowl of lotus root soup in Hubu Alley costs 25 yuan, and it only has a few pieces of bone and a little lotus root. If the soup is good, what's wrong with 10 yuan?

[The person upstairs is from Shanghai; their IP address is correct, so I can't criticize them at all.]

Not to mention that most of the viewers in the live stream were quite frightened, the young people at the scene also hesitated a bit.

He's a programmer, and with his income, he can afford a 10-yuan soup, but he just feels there's a disconnect between the price of fast food and the price of soup.

But thinking about the taste of the soup earlier, the young man frowned.

"Then let's have a small portion."

"it is good."

Xia Ming took out a small bowl, stirred it with a soup spoon, and the pig's blood tofu at the bottom floated up. He seized the opportunity, scooped it out with a spoon, then put the lid on and handed the soup to the young man.

"It's packed up."

The young man looked at the small bowl of soup, which contained nearly half a bowl of pig's blood and tofu, and his expression improved slightly. He grunted, took the fast food, and left.

Seeing the young man's actions, the people in line behind him started to discuss it amongst themselves.

"I really bought it, but isn't it a bit expensive?"

"It's alright. This is considered a popular street, so 10 yuan for a bowl of soup isn't unreasonable."

"How about we order a bit more, three meat dishes and one vegetable dish? I'd like to try the soup."

Listening to the chatter of the people in line, Xia Ming didn't stop. He turned around and ladled out several bowls of soup for the middle-aged group sitting behind him.

"Sorry, I was too busy cooking just now, this is your soup."

There was a woman behind me who was about to bring it up, but then the soup was served, so she shut up.

When the middle-aged men saw the number of bowls of soup, they quickly swiped their hands and each got a bowl.

There was an older man who clearly loved his wife more. After receiving the drink, he let his wife drink it first. His wife happened to be the one who didn't like turtles much before.

"Jun'er, you drink first, just leave me a couple of sips."

"Ah."

Wu Jun nodded, took the soup from her husband, and looked at it. She found that there was only a thin layer of oil on the surface of the soup, with two pieces of pig's blood and two pieces of tofu trembling slightly underneath. It looked like a rather sweet soup.

She brought her lips to the edge of the soup and slowly poured it in. The soup slid into her mouth along the edge of the bowl, and Wu Jun felt a slight warmth at first.

Next comes a subtle black pepper flavor with a hint of sourness. The expected sweetness is not present. The soup is quite strong, but not overly pungent.

Immediately afterwards, she felt two chunks enter her mouth. One was slightly chewy and refreshing, undoubtedly tofu. The other was bouncy and delicious, with an extremely tender texture on her tongue. Then, small pieces of pig's blood seemed to spread along the outer texture, and she felt a strange richness in her mouth.

This rich flavor, without a trace of fishiness, intertwines with the salty and slightly sour taste of the soup, and goes straight down the throat and into the stomach.

Gulu, Gulu.

After only a couple of throat movements, Wu Jun could no longer feel that smooth sensation. She slightly opened her eyes and found that she had drunk all the pig's blood and soup in the small bowl.

She couldn't even remember how she ate the second piece of pig's blood tofu. At this moment, she was surrounded by a sense of loss, like Zhu Bajie who swallowed a ginseng fruit in one gulp, only to be forced to stop abruptly after just tasting it.

She glanced at her husband, who was still rummaging through a small bowl of turtle meat, and gently nudged him with her hand.

"This soup is so delicious, I finished it before I knew it."

"It's okay, just finish it."

My husband didn't mind. He thought that no matter how good a bowl of pig's blood and tofu soup was, it couldn't be that good. But the King Turtle Chicken was really delicious. He hadn't had enough and wanted to have another serving.

But just as he continued to stir his chopsticks, Wu Jun nudged him again, and that's when he realized what was happening.

"Wife, would you like another bowl?" Seeing Wu Jun nod, the uncle didn't hesitate and called out directly.

"Boss, another one, please."

Just as he was about to say the numbers, he suddenly noticed that his friend who was with him was also giving him a wink.

"One, two, three. Never mind, why bother with all that? Boss, just give us one small bowl each."

Xia Ming, wearing a mask, smiled and nodded at the eight people behind him.

"Okay, 8 yuan a bowl, 8 small bowls, that'll be 64 yuan in total. Please wait a moment, it'll be right there."

Seeing the group of middle-aged men behind them, who were clearly tourists, order eight bowls in one go, the people in line finally realized what was happening.

"That's something. I'm quite curious about it."

"Baby, let's not rush. Let's order three meat dishes and one vegetable dish to try first. If it's good, then we'll order more."

"Ah."

With the group of middle-aged men behind him acting as a live advertisement, Xia Ming clearly felt that many more people were ordering three meat dishes and one vegetable dish.

He didn't feel taken advantage of by taking the free soup; on the contrary, he was quite pleased.

"Free is the most expensive. Just two or three sips are not enough for ordinary people. After they finish drinking it, they will have to come back to buy more soup."

That's right. He didn't start this fast food business with the intention of selling boxed meals. How much money can you make from boxed meals? Only soup is profitable.

With a little turtle blood, a little pig blood, and some tofu, the cost of this soup is shockingly low.

Let alone selling it for 8 yuan, you can make a lot of money even if you sell it for 8 mao.

The gross profit margin of over 80% on grilled skewers is negligible compared to the soup. Xia Ming's cost is only the first 6 bowls of soup; every additional bowl sold after that is pure profit.

As for why we didn't choose to sell soup from the beginning?

Of course, it's because this doesn't fit most people's consumption habits. As we analyzed before, most people who frequent food streets are there to fill their stomachs or have something to eat. If you set up a stall to sell soup, even if the soup is delicious, you won't have many customers.

Not to mention that a small bowl of pig's blood and tofu soup costs 8 yuan. Even if you want to let passersby try it, the passersby have to be willing to accept it.

Therefore, instead of waiting for passersby to discover the deliciousness of the soup, it's better to first gather them together with affordable and practical fast food, and then gradually guide them to buy the soup.

It sounds simple, but it's full of details. First of all, "Overlord Turtle Chicken" is a gimmick. Its purpose is to attract customers. Not to mention the whole street, even within a radius of dozens of miles, this is the only place where you can eat this dish in a fast food restaurant.

After quickly accumulating popularity, the second step is user screening. Just as Wu Jun doesn't like to eat turtle, there will always be people who don't like to eat blood. No matter how magical Xia Ming's pig blood tofu soup is, it can't overcome the natural physiological resistance.

Therefore, in order to make the advertising cost of fast food more worthwhile and to select more precise users, apart from the two honest dishes "stir-fried pork with chili" and "braised fish chunks", all other meat dishes have more or less the shadow of blood.

He even added chicken blood to his stir-fried chicken giblets.

This is why you have to have three meat dishes to get free soup. First, having three meat dishes means the person doesn't mind blood dishes. Second, it raises the bar for getting the soup.

Xia Ming knew that if the recipient had no concept of value for what he gave, it was as good as giving it away for nothing.

This is why many urban restaurants still list complimentary dishes on their menus even though they are not worth the listed price.

As the saying goes, "It's a fool not to take advantage of a bargain." For just 5 yuan more, you can not only get more meat and vegetables, but also drink soup that costs 8 yuan a bowl. This is such a good deal.

He had already checked that his stall was about 50 meters away from the nearest convenience store. Because of the platform's discounts, Xuewang's door was crowded with delivery drivers, making it difficult for people in line to choose other drinks.

After this selection process, those who ultimately receive the soup are basically diners who can accept pig's blood. Only at this point can the full value of the magical pig's blood and tofu soup be realized.

Of course, there are limitations to this approach. The best time to sell fast food is between 12:00 and 1:30. Once this wave of customers leaves, his magical pig blood tofu soup will never sell as well as it does now.

The other players in the live stream who were close to him also noticed this. Just as everyone was waiting for Xia Ming's aura to fade, he was scooping soup while shaking his head.

"These guys don't think I spent 1300 yuan just to sell soup for two hours, do they?"

(End of this chapter)