Chapter 1874: Free Things Are The Most Expensive
“Boss, this time we have better food than last year, but the crowd has gone to Mamy Restaurant. On top of that, these customers were all holding the food bought there, eating and walking, and completely ignoring us. This won’t do,” the worker at a pancake shop, which was diagonally in front of Mamy Restaurant’s stall, said depressedly.
A middle-aged man with a big, round belly stroked his bare head, and felt like pulling his hair off.
Smore Pancakes managed to emerge as one of the popular stalls in last year’s Delicacy Extravaganza due to its crispy pancakes, affordable price, and acceptable texture.
On top of that, they made a name for themselves with their popularity at the Delicacy Extravaganza last year. Within a short span of a year, they turned from a street stall to a shop with 10 branches in Chaos City. They could be considered a legend of Chaos City’s world of delicacies.
They obtained an even better spot in this year’s Delicacy Extravaganza, close to the entrance. Smore was already prepared to make it big, and deployed all the outstanding employees from the various branches. On top of that, he prepared a lot of ingredients, with the hope that they could make a miracle happen again.
Despite opening up many branches within a year, only Smore knew that behind all the glory, the fried pancakes were not sustainable. After the hype from the Delicacy Extravaganza died down, the income of the branches started declining, and some of the branches were even starting to make a loss.
Therefore, Smore had to make Smore Pancakes big again in this year’s Delicacy Extravaganza. His ultimate goal was naturally to make it into the Delicious Cuisine Rankings.
As long as they managed to get into the top five, Smore Pancakes would not have to worry about business for the coming year, and might even be able to open another 10 branches. In any case, copying another shop was a brainless thing, and he was adept at it.
However, Mamy Restaurant had dashed all his hopes and dreams.
The lining-up rule that was unheard of and the live stream on the screen were thought to be means that would chase customers away, but Smore did not expect customers to flood in wave after wave.
From morning until now, there would be at least 2000 customers who had lined up in front of Mamy Restaurant’s stall. As for those who stood by to watch out of curiosity, the numbers even reached tens of thousands.
As for Smore… From morning until now, the total number of fried pancakes they sold in total was less than 1,000.
This was not 1,000 servings of octopus balls which cost 40 copper coins per serving, but 1,000 fried pancakes which cost three copper coins per pancake.
The dozens of employees were standing around with nothing to do, and they were so bored they actually started watching the live stream.
If this went on, not only would they be unable to recoup their losses at this year’s Delicacy Extravaganza, they would also have no hope of making it into the rankings, and bringing Smore Pancakes back to life. Their goal of getting bigger and stronger would also end up as just a dream.
This won’t do. I must think of a way to bring the crowd over. Even if it’s sh*t, as long as it looks like many people are eating it, we’ll still be able to make it into the rankings. Smore started racking his brains. He had employed several underhand means during last year’s Delicacy Extravaganza to make the fried pancakes shoot to fame.
To make it to the rankings, having capabilities was one thing, but technique was equally important.
The fried pancake tasted better than the street pancakes texture-wise. However, the cost of making it was no different from that of street pancakes. It was just deep-fried to become golden brown, and therefore looked way better than the regular pancake. With a paper bag to carry it around, the price of three copper coins actually made it seem too cheap to be true.
The oil for deep frying did not cost a lot, either, and there was no issue using it for a good half a year. All they had to do was filter the oil every night, and then throw a few bleaching stones in. On the next day, it would be a new pot of oil.
In the previous Delicacy Extravaganza, the street food all around was sold at tens of copper coins per item. Even the cheapest steamed potato with a dash of salt cost around eight copper coins. Smore made the decisive move to change the price of the fried pancake to two copper coins, and that made the fried pancake the superstar it became.
Actually, there was not much technique involved. It was just a comparison between stalls.
However, this year, despite a better location, they were faced with the popular Mamy Restaurant’s octopus series. The three-copper-coin price was more than 10 times cheaper than the octopus balls, but they still could not fight with it.
Has the world changed? These fellows would rather spend money on good food, and not buy a three-copper-coin fried pancake? Smore’s brows were tightly knit together. In terms of taste, the fried pancake was actually not that good. However, it was cheap, satisfied the urge to chew, and filled the stomach.
Why don’t we play something bigger? Smore’s eyes suddenly lit up. He quickly clenched his fists tightly, and turned to tell his worker, “Go find that signboard shop that we always work with, and get a signboard that says ‘free fried pancakes’. Make it big and obvious.”
“Huh?” The worker and the others behind him were all stunned upon hearing that.
“You mean… free?” the worker clarified.
“Yes, free. These fellows are too stingy. They would rather watch than eat our three-copper-coin fried pancake. If we can’t earn money or popularity, we will be making a wasted trip in this Delicacy Extravaganza.” Smore waved his hand, and continued, “We’ll just give it out for free. We’ll make a loss for the publicity, and open up the market first!”
“In that case, will the fried pancakes in our shop still be sold for money? Are we… still paid?” the worker asked softly.
The rest of the workers also looked at Smore.
“Don’t worry. I will not take advantage of you guys. Just do as I’ve said. In the future, whether these fried pancakes are sold for money, we can still sell the other things. For example, this bag. Three copper coins for this bag. That would be equivalent to selling the fried pancake for three copper coins,” Smore comforted with a smile.
“But we did not make the bag,” another worker mumbled.
“So what…” Smore frowned. With a stern face, he said, “Get to work quickly, why do you have so much to say?”
Everyone shuddered.
Very quickly, the signboard was in place.
“Here, here, take a look, take a look. Smore Pancakes’ treasure: fried pancake is out for free. Come and get yours, first come, first serve.” Smore started shouting into a bullhorn while standing on a stool.
“Free?”
Gazes started turning towards Smore Pancakes.
After a slight hesitation, a group of people rushed over, and many of them were from the crowd standing around Mamy Restaurant and watching.
This was the first time there was free food in Delicacy Extravaganza. No matter what, since it was on a first-come-first-serve basis, getting there fast would be crucial.
Very quickly, the Smore Pancakes stall was crowded with people. There were shouts, curses, and shrieks. It was even more crowded than outside Mamy Restaurant’s stall.
The housewives standing in the line glanced at the crazy mob, and continued watching Mag cook. There probably wasn’t a second stall with such a comfortable waiting environment.
“They are actually giving food out for free. Isn’t that too much just to snatch customers?” Yabemiya said indignantly as she glanced at the spectating crowd that had decreased by half.
Mag glanced at the crowded stall, and smiled mockingly. “It’s alright. It’s just some underhand means. These people don’t know that free things are the most expensive. Free junk food can fill their stomachs, but once they miss today, they’ll never get to have the stir-fried octopus in XO sauce again.”