Half a month passed quickly. During this period, Hoshino Sora's business was booming, and Mimasaka Subaru's business also gradually improved, but it was clearly not as good as Hoshino Sora's.
He sold around 150 portions of food every day, while Hoshino Sora could sell over 800 portions. Nine hours of high-intensity sales every day forced him to close the in-store ordering function.
Mainly, he simply couldn't handle all the dishes on the menu. Instead of making them roughly and letting the taste of the dishes deteriorate, it was better to focus on one point and concentrate on making one dish. This was his idea.
Even so, he was exhausted, and when he rested, looking at the ceiling felt blurry.
Not only him, but Yaxiang Lixiang, Kitagawa Marin, Yui Yuigahama, everyone looked listless and in extremely poor condition, clearly unaccustomed to the busyness of this period.
This definitely can't go on!
"Manager, what time do we open today?"
"Let's take a break today. Wages will be calculated for eight hours. Do you want to go home and rest, or come to the amusement park with me? Of course, it's on me."
Hearing Kitagawa Marin's question, Hoshino Sora hesitated for a few seconds, and finally decided to give everyone a holiday, and also a holiday for himself, otherwise long-term work would really make people feel depressed and uncomfortable.
He couldn't exploit his employees for his own rewards and cause them mental problems, even though he paid far above market wages, that was still the deserved reward for the few of them.
"A holiday? That's great! Then I'm going home to lie down."
Hearing Hoshino Sora's words, the somewhat tired Kitagawa Marin instantly became excited. She had wanted to rest for so long after being so busy. If she wasn't worried that the manager would be too busy and she couldn't rest assured, she would have applied for leave a long time ago.
"Agreed, let's go to the amusement park another time. I'm really tired lately. After introducing the set meals, the customer traffic has more than doubled."
Yui Yuigahama also raised her hand in agreement, as the customer traffic had surged recently, and she hadn't had a proper rest in days, feeling even more tired than attending school.
However, the salary she received was quite substantial; half a month's pay was even more than her father's monthly income, and the sense of accomplishment it brought was her motivation to persevere!
"You've all worked hard. Just half a month more, and then I'll take you on a trip. You can go anywhere you want, and I'll cover all the expenses."
Looking at the beaming Yuigahama and Kitagawa, Hoshino Sora decided to press his advantage and paint them a tempting picture. He could also take the opportunity to relax and sample various cuisines.
Indeed, sampling various cuisines was his true objective, as he could learn many new things.
Moreover, a single male traveling with four beautiful females was, no matter how you looked at it, a very respectable affair, greatly satisfying his vanity.
"Really? Can we really go on a trip? I actually want to go to the beach. I've never been to the beach in my life, and it's summer now, with about a month left until the end of the holidays."
With even more excited light shimmering in her eyes, Yui Yuigahama spoke excitedly, a mental image of herself running on the beach in a swimsuit already forming in her mind.
It must be so joyful!
"The ocean! I want to go too. You can't see the ocean in Tokyo at all. At most, I've played in a swimming pool, but it's so crowded and the water is warm."
"Alright, once this busiest period is over, I'll take you. You can also claim reimbursement from me for the cost of new swimsuits."
The ocean, huh? Wouldn't that mean seeing some truly wonderful scenery? Thinking of this, Hoshino Sora's lips curled into a slight smile, a scene witnessed by Yaxiang Lixiang beside him.
However, they didn't speak until Kitagawa and Yuigahama left the shop, and Hoshino Sora was alone with them.
"What about Asaka-nee and Rika-nee? Do you want to go to an amusement park, or go home and rest?"
Turning his head to look at his two sisters, who had been very quiet until now, Hoshino Sora's eyes held a question.
"We want... service!"
"Eh..."
Watching Yaxiang Lixiang embrace him from both sides, dragging him into the staff lounge for private time, Hoshino Sora's expression was slightly startled. With a crisp click of the lock, he gave a lot.
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As Kitagawa and Yuigahama left, a sign appeared in front of Hoshino Restaurant, simply stating: "Due to recent busyness, we will be closed for one day. Normal business will resume tomorrow. We appreciate your understanding."
Customers who usually came to eat here looked understanding when they saw this notice.
They had witnessed the success of Hoshino Restaurant; the Master Chef worked tirelessly every day to prepare dishes for each of them, opening at seven in the morning, demonstrating his remarkable diligence.
However, since they had already come, it wouldn't be right to leave empty-handed. The hungry customers turned their gaze to the nearby Ruishan Restaurant, which welcomed its first-ever massive influx of customers since opening.
But...
As the queue split into two lines, the pre-made bento boxes sold out in less than ten minutes, and subsequent supplies were slow to be replenished.
Clearly, Mimasaka Subaru couldn't serve so many customers simultaneously. The workload, several times greater than usual, immediately overwhelmed him, completely stripping him of his usual composure.
From morning to night, the forced high-intensity cooking brought him to the brink of collapse, even making him consider never touching cooking again, though he quickly dismissed the thought.
This was also Hoshino Sora's scheme.
He had noticed his opponent's characteristic of only being able to imitate, so he deliberately changed the dish on the day before the holiday to Teriyaki Chicken Thigh Rice, which had relatively complex steps.
This dish itself wasn't difficult; the challenge lay in deboning the chicken thighs and then grilling them. If prepared in advance, this dish could be made very quickly and conveniently.
However, if not prepared beforehand, deboning and marinating the meat on the spot while cooking would undoubtedly be torture for a restaurant with few chefs in the back kitchen, especially with customers queuing and urging outside.
"I told you this place was no good. The chef isn't skilled enough. A queue of this size would be handled by Hoshino Restaurant in two or three minutes. I've been waiting here for half an hour, and the chef still hasn't brought out new bento boxes."
"Isn't that right? If I hadn't queued for so long, and it's almost my turn, I wouldn't want to wait any longer."
"Damn it, people who came in later are already eating, but we're still waiting here. Let's go, let's go. I'm never coming to this crappy place again. If you can't produce food, don't hang out a sign and make us wait here. Do you think that makes your shop seem popular?"
Perhaps due to the excessively long waiting time, people in the originally calm queue gradually began to grumble, and then received responses from a crowd. In an instant, more than half of the long queue dispersed, leaving only a few hungry people who were too lazy to change locations.
"Why don't we just suspend business for today? There are too many customers; we can't handle them."
The former Master Chef, now a vegetable cutter, suggested this, looking at the hungry diners outside. He couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.
For a salary of over ten thousand yen, why should he risk his life?
"No, we can't. It's rare to have such a large flow of customers. We must seize this opportunity to turn them into regulars, so we can steal business from Hoshino Restaurant!"
The heat in the kitchen soaked Mimasaka Subaru's back. At this moment, he also felt something was wrong. There were too many customers, more than he could comprehend.
But he could only grit his teeth and persevere now. Only by converting these customers into regulars could the business of this restaurant be fully revitalized and become a profitable establishment.
Revitalizing this restaurant was the task Senior Ruisan had given him.
However, he forgot one thing: food is only delicious when made with care. For the sake of speed, customers will not buy poorly made dishes, even if he sells them cheaply.
In other words, Mimasaka Subaru was currently in a very serious misconception. The high-intensity cooking caused his cooking precision to plummet. The taste wasn't too bad, after all, his culinary skills and procedures were there, but it was definitely not as good as Hoshino Restaurant's.
Even though this was an improved dish, which should have been even more delicious!
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