Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was impossible for Old Shen to admit defeat. After all, the two lonely old men liked to bicker when they had nothing better to do. What they enjoyed was not the result, but the process.
Rumble…
The bright red hotpot soup was boiling from the heat. Just looking at it made one’s appetite increase greatly.
Then, Old Shen picked up a piece of mutton, dipped it in the sauce, and put it into his mouth.
After that, his eyes widened.
“This… this… this…”
The fragrance of the mutton was instantly released. When mixed with the spices and chili, its texture was unprecedentedly good.
How could a hotpot be made like this?
Could this still be called a hotpot?
Old Shen believed that he had tasted hundreds of delicacies, but at that moment, he felt like a beginner who had never seen the world.
He couldn’t care less about his argument with Old Zhou anymore. There was only one thought in Old Shen’s mind.
He wanted to eat, eat, and continue eating.
When Old Shen raised his head again, he realized that the two plates of beef and the plate of mutton on the table had been finished.
He wiped his mouth, wishing to continue eating, and looked up to see Old Zhou glaring at him.
“This table… Are you going to split it open and eat it, or are you going to cook it?”
“Hmph!”
Old Shen stood up, picked up a toothpick and gritted his teeth. “I plan to let you burn it for me to eat!”
“You won’t admit it, right?”
Old Zhou was exasperated.
“Didn’t you cheat last time too?”
Old Shen was disdainful.
Seeing that the two old men were about to start another round of bickering, a hand patted Old Zhou’s shoulder.
“Old Zhou, this place is not bad.”
Then, the middle-aged man retracted his hand. “I’ll recommend this place to my brothers when I get back.”
The other epicures had also finished their battle. Then, they all rose to their feet upon hearing this.
“You’re right. I’ll get my wife to try it when I get back.”
“Yes, I have the materials for the gourmet magazines tomorrow.”
…
As he watched the group of epicures leave, Old Zhou thought, “I should probably get a membership card.”
Old Zhou decided to add Hedilao into his daily menu.
Of course, he couldn’t eat hotpot every day, but —”It shouldn’t be a problem to eat hotpot every three to five days, right?”
There were many who had the same thoughts as Old Zhou, so 20 Hedilao membership cards were quickly sold.
Furthermore, as these epicures were all wealthy people, they each topped-up at least 1,000 yuan.
When Qi Yun heard the sound of the card being swiped, the corners of his mouth curled up happily.
However, Ye Feng didn’t see this scene.
This was because he was giving out stools and snacks outside.
As time passed, the messages he sent yesterday started to work. Hence, there was a queue at Hedilao.
“Please take a seat.” After taking care of a couple and sitting down, Ye Feng announced, “While everyone is waiting, please eat whatever snacks we have available. There’s no limit on the number of snacks you can take.”
This scene was witnessed by Old Shen, who had just walked out. He was deep in thought.
…
The effect of the stools and snacks was surprisingly good. Although the queue was annoying, not many people left.
Perhaps it was because Old Zhou and the others had made a good start, but after they started to apply for membership cards on a large scale, the number of people applying for membership cards increased.
This was especially so for those who were invited to eat hotpot for free. After they experienced the service and taste of the restaurant, they started to take action.
Meanwhile, the customers who passed by Hedilao saw that not only were there stools to sit on, there were also snacks to eat. Thus, more and more people chose to queue.
At this time, the benefits of having a big place were shown — Hedilao had 20% more seats than Prosperous Flavor.
In fact, there was still space for more seats. However, in consideration for the customers’ experience, Ye Feng reduced the number of seats and increased the distance between them.
At that moment, the entrance of Hedilao was bustling with activity. There was an endless stream of people, even surpassing that of Prosperous Flavor opposite them.
…
“Brother, let’s line up there too.”
At the entrance of Prosperous Flavor, a roguish young man massaged his legs and said, “There are stools to sit on while waiting in line over there.”
“You idiot!”
Another blonde-haired young man said, “We were asked to help out here. Can you be more professional?”
“But,” said the roguish young man aggrievedly, “I’ve been standing all day. I’m so tired.”
“Alright then, let’s take a break just for a while. They probably won’t notice.”
The blonde-haired young man thought for a while and felt a little tired, so he agreed to this suggestion. However, at the same time, he said with disappointment, “You useless thing. This is our first time working part-time. Is this all you have?”
…
The blonde and the young man sat down. The young man got up and went to get his snacks.
Click, click, click…
“I’ve been holding my hunger in!”
The blonde was anxious again. “This belongs to our competitor. Why haven’t you eaten enough?”
“Brother, I’m hungry.”
The roguish young man mumbled as he chewed on some snacks.
“F*ck…”
The blonde was about to continue cursing when his stomach rumbled.
The atmosphere became somewhat awkward…
Then, a fragrance wafted over, and the roguish young man’s nose twitched.
“Brother, why don’t we go eat hotpot?”
“Brother, it’s almost our turn. Look at how nice they are to us. They even gave us stools and snacks.”
“Brother, I’ll just give it a try. We’ll each pay 70 yuan and get a membership card. That’ll be enough for us to eat a meal.”
“Brother…”
When he smelled the fragrance from the hotpot restaurant, the blonde stood up and gave his final speech. “Bloody competitors. Come, let’s go and eat hotpot!”
…
At 8.30 pm, Hedilao Hotpot Restaurant started to close.
“Qi Yun, how many members are there now?”
In the kitchen, Ye Feng asked Qi Yun impatiently.
Qi Yun took a deep breath and said an encouraging number.
“There are 137 members. I estimate that after the last batch of customers leave, the number of members will exceed 150. The main reason is that our hotpot restaurant has a high membership ratio of 60%.”
“Boss, I really haven’t seen this ratio before. You have to know that my previous shop didn’t even reach 30%!”
“Of course. Our restaurant is delicious and the service is good. There’s no reason for customers not to come here. Oh right, how many of those who came to eat free hotpot chose to top-up their membership cards?”
Ye Feng grinned.
“A total of 67 people came today, but 54 of them chose to top-up their cards. That’s over 80%!”
“Furthermore, the top-up amount is generally above 300 yuan.”
Qi Yun looked at Ye Feng with admiration in his eyes. “Boss, your text message to invite customers to a free hotpot was a genius idea. Without this group of people to support us, there wouldn’t be so many people with a membership card!”
“You’re really a marketing genius!”
What he meant was that people tended to follow the crowd. A popular restaurant would always attract more customers than a sluggish restaurant.
Ye Feng’s face turned slightly red from Qi Yun’s praise, and he hurriedly waved his hand. Even though he said that he did not deserve Qi Yun’s compliments, he was actually overjoyed in his heart.
Those who had experienced the era of explosive marketing methods in his previous life understood that free things were the most expensive.
Of course, it was also because Hedilao was of high quality. After all, both its taste and customer experience were top-notch. This was why they were able to retain so many customers.
As for Prosperous Flavor opposite them, Ye Feng estimated that their results on their first day of business would be the same. It might not even be as good as his.
Although the customer flow at their side was almost twice as much as that of Hedilao, it was still a chain store after all. Thus, there was still a brand effect.
However, they had hired more people to help them, and the number of members was low, so their total number of members might be even fewer than his.
Ye Feng was not worried about the flow of customers —
After all, these people who ate the free hotpot were the seeds that he had prepared, the seeds that would make Hedilao’s reputation explode.
He could predict that many of them would go back and promote Hedilao out of their own initiative.
Initially, if there was no text message promoting the free hotpot, the reputation of Hedilao would slowly develop through word of mouth and eventually explode.
However, that would take quite a bit of time. Meanwhile, Ye Feng’s actions had multiplied this speed countless times.
The eruption of Hedilao had just begun!