Seventies Sweetheart: From Breakup to Billionaire-Chapter 233: Can You Really Make Money Selling Food? (Bonus - 2)

Chapter 233: Chapter 233: Can You Really Make Money Selling Food? (Bonus Chapter 2)
Lin Xiang’s voice came from behind just in time.
"Five cents for a bowl of rice, ten cents for a serving of mao xue wang, one serving can make up two bowls, five cents for a portion of shredded cabbage, which also makes two bowls."
"They ordered two bowls of rice and one serving of mao xue wang, which totals exactly twenty cents."
Mao xue wang doesn’t contain meat, but Lin Xiang uses plenty of seasoning, making it numbing, spicy, and fragrant. Paired with steamed rice, it’s unbelievably delicious.
The two found one bowl wasn’t enough, so they ordered an extra bowl of rice to share. They split it equally, ate it with mao xue wang’s sauce in one go, and finished each with a bowl of mung bean soup.
After eating, they took their bowls to a nearby water source and helped wash them.
"Boss, are you coming back tomorrow?"
"Yes!" Lin Xiang answered, "Tomorrow at noon, there’ll be four dishes—two meat, two veg. In the afternoon, it’ll still be one meat and one veg."
"So tomorrow morning, it’s still a buffet style?"
"You can eat buffet to your heart’s content, or order dishes like this afternoon."
Having gotten the answer they wanted, they left satisfied.
The onlookers didn’t hesitate for long either, coming to buy food.
For ten cents, you can’t really go wrong or get fooled, but you can definitely fill your stomach.
Once they sold all the food from the aluminum buckets, the mother and daughter pushed their cart back to the rental place.
Lin Xiang and Mrs. Lin cleaned the pots and bowls, locked the door, and went back to the hospital.
"How was business today?" Lin Yun asked with concern while eating the meal Lin Xiang specially made for him.
"Not bad," Mrs. Lin replied, "We sold more than forty in the morning and over twenty in the afternoon."
They hadn’t expected to make much in the afternoon due to the lower prices, but more people showed up.
And because it wasn’t a buffet, everyone got only one portion, which saved quite a bit on costs.
Lin Yun swallowed the food with difficulty, "So, we made over sixty yuan today?"
His monthly allowance was only a little over forty!
Lin Xiang was helpless, "That’s the sales, but we haven’t factored in costs! Today’s six containers of food and two large pots of rice cost over fifty alone, not to mention rent and other expenses."
But earning ten yuan a day, making three hundred a month, is pretty good already.
"Is running a food business really that profitable?"
"Not exactly, whether the food business works depends on a mix of conditions."
Like how she initially sold spicy noodles and BBQ. They were novel and priced low, attracting those who had subsisted on coarse grains and vegetables for years.
Setting up a stall at the construction site gate meant good business purely because construction workers hadn’t eaten well in ages.
If she hadn’t changed her strategy in the afternoon and kept the fifty-cent buffet, she was sure there wouldn’t be more than ten customers.
But she changed tactics in the afternoon, and with just ten cents to fill up, business was booming.
In the reform era of the ’70s and ’80s, many industries were at a turning point, and essentials like food, clothing, housing, and transportation were needed by everyone. So as long as you weren’t greedy and worked hard, you could make money.
Lin Yun didn’t speak or eat, his eyes unfocused, seeming lost in thought.
After a while, Lin Yun snapped back to reality, continued eating, and joked with Mrs. Lin and Lin Xiang, as if he hadn’t been spacing out earlier.
But Lin Xiang sensed that, at that moment, Lin Yun felt helpless.
She could even guess it was related to his birth family.
But Lin Yun hadn’t brought up what had happened recently, so even though Lin Xiang wanted to care, she didn’t know where to start.
After finishing his meal, Lin Yun urged Lin Xiang and Mrs. Lin to go rest.
Back at the hostel, Mrs. Lin took a hot shower and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep.
Though Lin Xiang was the main force behind selling fast food, Mrs. Lin was equally exhausted.
Lin Xiang wasn’t very sleepy yet, so she took out the day’s earnings from her bag and divided it into three parts.
The house was rented for a month at three yuan, the aluminum buckets and bowls cost eight yuan and sixty cents, and buying vegetables, meat, and rice totaled twenty-six yuan and seventy cents, which were today’s expenses.
They sold sixty-eight yuan and sixty cents altogether, and after deducting costs, the net profit was thirty yuan and thirty cents.
Lin Xiang split the thirty yuan into two parts: ten to save, and twenty for daily expenses and buying tomorrow’s groceries.
This morning, just the rice and sorghum cost over twenty yuan, enough for a month, so tomorrow, the cost of vegetables and meat will be slightly less.
After noting the profits in her notebook, Lin Xiang went to bed to sleep.
Early the next morning, she first went to the hospital to check on Lin Yun, then went to the market to buy vegetables and stayed at the rental place preparing dishes to sell at noon.
At eleven-thirty, Mrs. Lin arrived to help Lin Xiang push the cart to the stall location.
Once they settled the cart, it was almost noon.
Before Lin Xiang could even turn on the loudspeaker, someone came over.
"Young boss, what’s on the menu today?"
"The main dish is still stewed vegetables, and there are several vegetarian options. You can see what you’d like to eat."
"Stewed vegetables are ten cents a serving, and three vegetarian dishes can be purchased individually or mixed for five cents a portion, enough for two bowls."
Lin Xiang was generous, putting plenty of meat in the stew. The pot contained at least three pounds of pork, ensuring each bowl had several pieces.
Pork in Beijing costs a yuan per pound, and three pounds is three yuan, making a large pot that could sell 120 servings. It averages out to less than three cents per serving, but it filled customers’ bellies.
She built a good reputation, with more and more repeat customers and made a decent amount of money.
In the afternoon, checking the accounts, their fast food at an average of fifteen cents each sold nearly fifty yuan.
The rent and cost of buying the buckets were deducted yesterday. Today’s grocery cost was six yuan, so the net profit today was over forty yuan.
"We’re really making a fortune selling fast food?" Mrs. Lin lowered her voice to ask Lin Xiang, "Making forty yuan a day, that’s over a thousand a month? If we sold for a year, we’d make over ten thousand!"
The last time they had ten thousand yuan was when Lin Yun got money from his biological father, but soon they’d be self-made ten-thousandaires!
Thinking of a better life beckoning to her, Mrs. Lin felt the air was much fresher.
Lin Xiang couldn’t bear it but still sprinkled some cold water, "Mom, this is just temporary. It won’t take a week before someone starts competing with us."
"True, there’s no real skill in selling fast food, as long as the portions are big enough, people can eat anywhere. Besides, we can’t stay here too long either."