"I've got some good stuff again this time!"
As soon as Ma Lu returned to the rental, he eagerly took out a piece of Thousand-Tooth Sand Bream from the Collection Bag and handed it to Old Wang.
No. 6, upon seeing this, rushed over excitedly from the balcony to join in on the fun, but he lost interest when he saw that Ma Lu was holding raw meat.
Old Wang took the piece of meat and examined it carefully, even pressing it with his finger. The impression from his touch rebounded the moment his finger withdrew.
"The quality is good, really fresh, have you thought about what you want to do with it?"
"Yeah, let's make Sand Bream burgers. I've been selling snacks all this time, and it wouldn't hurt to try a main dish every once in a while, though it's best to have meals pre-ordered for that."
Main dishes and snacks are different; main dishes are more filling and therefore have a shorter selling window. After meal times, the decline in customer traffic is quite pronounced.
The decisive time of the day might just be one or two hours. If you can't sell enough portions in those one or two hours, the following period could be dangerous, with a high probability that you wouldn't sell out.
The good news was that Ma Lu had already set up WeChat groups, more than one in fact. Now the combined members of Group 1 and Group 2 had already exceeded eight hundred.
As long as pre-orders were opened in advance, it should be possible to secure a good number of orders.
But that alone wasn't enough; to serve a large volume of customers in a short time, the speed of service also had to be increased.
Ma Lu's initial idea was to pre-make a batch of burgers and keep them in a warming box, so they could just be taken out and sold when needed.
But Old Wang rejected that idea.
The reason was simple: even if they were reheated, the burgers wouldn't be as delicious as when they are made fresh.
And because of the cost increase, Ma Lu planned to raise the price from 28 to 35.
An increase of 7 might not sound like much, but once the price climbed over thirty, it would inevitably deter a portion of potential customers.
Especially for most university students who didn't have much money to begin with, spending over 30 on a meal was psychologically difficult to accept.
It was a sweet scent mixed with caramel and wheat, with a hint of milk, probably because butter had been added to the dough.
This instantly relaxed Ma Lu, who had been anxious about the impending battle.
No wonder those bakery advertisements always try to link bread with happiness, because freshly baked bread indeed has that kind of magic power.
When Ma Lu entered the kitchen, it was just in time for a new batch of bread to come out of the oven, twenty-four pieces on two trays.
Old Wang brushed a layer of butter on their golden-brown crusts, which would help keep them soft for the time being.
When they were cool enough to handle, Ma Lu grabbed one, gave it a squeeze, and found it was very different from the ready-made ones you can buy at supermarkets – very soft and full, bouncing back immediately after being pressed, and the air pockets inside were very even.
Ma Lu didn't even wait for Old Wang to add the fillings before eating one, and exclaimed,
"Now I understand why you insisted on baking the bread yourself. The difference in taste is really significant."
"Now I'll teach you how to arrange the side dishes," Old Wang said, his face devoid of any smugness, as serious and meticulous as ever, like a cold and precise machine.
No, he seemed to be a machine life form all along.
Ma Lu was slightly distracted for a moment, then saw Old Wang place two balls of meat in the pan.
He didn't add any extra oil, because as the meatballs were flattened, the released fat was enough to do the frying. Old Wang instructed Ma Lu how to cut a bun while he cooked the meat, spreading the sauce inside, layering with the cut lettuce and tomato, which surprisingly was not much different from other burgers.
The process was straightforward, and Ma Lu learned quickly. He was just not as skilled at first, but after making two more, his speed increased significantly.
Old Wang also flipped the patties, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and finally topped them with a slice of cheese.
The solid slice of cheese soon melted under the high temperature, becoming sticky and slowly sliding to the sides, eventually becoming one with the patty.
The scent of cheese in the air grew even stronger.
Old Wang watched the patties in the pan, and when they reached the desired color, he quickly dished them out and placed them onto the bun that Ma Lu had prepared. Ma Lu sprinkled the last two ingredients on top and covered it with the other half of the bun.
Thus, the Thousand-Tooth Sand Bream burger was officially complete.