The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The store was bustling for a while and the staff were very busy. Four male staff greeted customers, while Greta and Amanda were responsible for weighing, packing and collecting money.

Min Xi, Yun Ji and Diego were busy baking, steaming and frying in the kitchen, but they were almost overwhelmed.

There were so many people at noon in particular that the snacks already prepared on the shelves were almost cleared out. There were even so many customers that no one noticed that the sugar characters on the sample birthday cake were damaged by a child.

As a last resort, Min Xi came over and reapplied the cream and wrote "Happy Birthday" again.

Yun Ji said, "Looking at the situation today, there will probably be quite a few people tomorrow. Can Diego handle it all by himself?"

Min Xi said, "It depends on the situation. If he's still so busy this afternoon, you can come and help him for a while tomorrow. At noon, let Gail or Jasper come to help. Anyway, there are fewer people over there at noon."

Yun Ji nodded: "This is the only way."

Min Xi brought the big cake that Fernando had ordered upstairs, and everyone shared the large cake together. The creamy and dense texture captured the hearts of many people, and everyone said that they would come here to order custom cakes for their family members’ birthdays in the future.

Min Xi was too busy at noon to cook for everyone, so he used bread and buns as lunch, and invited the baron and lord to eat with their friends.

But they didn't eat for free, as each of them bought at least two boxes of snacks when they left.

Fernando and Lord Mello each bought at least ten boxes, saying they were going to take them back as gifts.

There were still a lot of people in the afternoon, and we were busy until it was almost dark. The number of people gradually decreased. After all, these days, if you don’t go out to eat or party with friends, there is not much nightlife.

Min Xi counted the remaining snacks. There were only a few egg tarts and lava buns left, but there were still some of the others left.

This was done intentionally by Min Xi, because these two things are not easy to preserve, so he controlled the quantity when making them.

Min Xi went back to cook dinner and asked everyone to eat. After everyone went back to rest, he and Yun Ji returned to the dim sum shop and continued to work. They made a lot of biscuits, cakes, bread and twisted dough sticks. Diego worked tirelessly with them.

Min Xi said to Diego, "Diego, tomorrow you will mainly make egg tarts and lava buns. And see which of the other types sells the fastest, and make more of them. If the type sells less, make less of them. You can make these in advance at night, so you don't have to be so nervous during the day."

Diego nodded, "I understand, Boss."

Min Xi called two other shop assistants and assigned them tasks. One was responsible for greeting customers and the other was responsible for collecting money. Every bill collected had to be recorded, and Diego would check the accounts and summarize them in the evening.

It would be better to have someone in their own family to collect the money, but Diego had to be careful and he couldn't take care of both. Although there was no guarantee that outsiders would not embezzle, they still tried to minimize the loss. If the guy named Domit who collected the money was honest enough, it would be their blessing.

After closing, Min Xi and Yun Ji counted today's accounts. There was no record of how many orders were sold because Amanda was the one who collected the money today. She was illiterate and couldn't keep accounts. Of course, they completely trusted Amanda.

After counting the money, Yun Ji said, "Today's income is 2869 Swiss francs."

Min Xi asked: "After the discount?"

Yun Ji nodded, dialed the number on the abacus, and said, "If the discount is not included, it is 3180 Doris."

Min Xi quickly calculated that the gross income was close to 90 reais a month, and after deducting the cost, he could earn about 50 reais a month, or 600 reais a year. Of course, it might not be that much every day, after all, today Baron Fernando and Lord Melo bought the majority of it.

In other words, he could earn about 400 to 500 reais a year, which was much less than he expected, but the prices of many things were set in the restaurant and could not be adjusted.

Of course, for locals, earning four or five hundred reais a year is already a lot of money, after all, that's how much an average person earns a year. It's just that Min Xi set a too high goal for himself and wanted to earn more. Unless he goes somewhere else, no one knows his original price, so he can set a higher price.

That's fine. No matter how small a mosquito leg is, it's still meat. Any profit you can make is good.

Seeing that he was silent, Yun Ji asked, "Ninth brother, what are you thinking about?"

Min Xi came back to his senses: "I was thinking, I didn't make as much as expected."

Yun Ji said: "It's a small business, and we sell food, so the profit is naturally thin. But we can still make a few hundred reais a year, which is pretty good."

"That's right." Min Xi nodded.

This thing is originally a side dish, which is optional. For the rich, a few shillings is nothing, but for the lower class of society, they have to think for a long time before making a decision to buy it. Its price and properties determine that it cannot be popularized, and the money made is only from the rich.

However, I believe that as the dim sum shop becomes more famous, its business will get better and better. After all, the rich are not short of money. They may regard dim sum as daily consumables. After all, in the upper class, drinking afternoon tea is an established rule. How can you drink tea without snacks?

Yunji left 1000 Swiss francs in change for Diego and went back to the hotel.

Diego watched them leave, and was unwilling to go in for a long time. Min Xi looked back, and Diego was still standing there, looking as pitiful as a child abandoned by his parents. Min Xi couldn't help but sigh, this child is too sensitive, he is like this when they are nearby, if they return to China in the future, he will cry to death.

The next morning, Yun Ji went to the pastry shop to see if Diego could handle it. Fortunately, there were not many people in the morning. Diego was also diligent. He got up early to knead the dough and make the lava buns. He followed Min Xi's instructions to bake the egg tarts after 10 o'clock, because the eggs in the egg tarts would easily become fishy if they were cooled, so it was best to eat them while they were hot.

Diego is very hardworking and conscientious in his work, so he doesn't need to be beaten at all. Yun Ji helped to knead a few balls of dough, and according to Min Xi's instructions, he took Diego to several shops next door to deliver snacks to the neighbors. Yesterday, everyone was closed and few people were open, so there was no delivery. Today, he went to deliver gifts and make some friends, and hoped that the neighbors would take care of the business.

After ten o'clock, people started to come to the dim sum shop, including customers who had eaten there yesterday and neighbors. As for new customers, there were relatively few. After all, it takes time for a new shop to open and for people to know about it.

Of course, it is only a matter of time. Once the hotel starts promoting itself, many old customers will come to visit.

Diego and Yunji were busy at the dim sum shop, so Min Xi was busier because no one helped him make the staple food. He handed over the ingredients to Amanda and Greta, and kneaded the dough to make the staple food. In the future, the restaurant will not make desserts anymore, and will directly go to the dim sum shop to get them.

At lunch, when Gail and Jasper were taking orders for the guests, they also mentioned that the store would no longer provide dessert take-out service. If guests wanted desserts, they could go to their branch, the Oriental Gourmet Dim Sum Shop at No. 88, where they had a wider variety of desserts and could purchase them at any time.

The customers were really interested. Some of them just ate and went over. No matter if they wanted to buy something or not, they wanted to check it out. After all, sometimes they wanted to eat a certain dessert, but the store might not have it, because the variety of desserts in the store would change at any time.

Now that we have dim sum shops, basically you can have whatever you want to eat.

Within two days, the dim sum shop had many regular customers.

The tea room upstairs is very popular. People go there every day to consume. A pot of tea costs 80 reis, and some desserts can be bought. A few friends can spend most of the day there. Sometimes they even have desserts for lunch or dinner.

There are even ladies who come here to have a party, with several female friends, and some even bring their children to spend time here. In winter, there is such a good place to go, which can be sheltered from the wind and rain, with a fire, soft and comfortable sofas, hot tea and delicious desserts. It is really a rare leisure place.