The Gourmet Customizer

Back at the company.

Unsurprisingly, the young warehouse girl who had tasted the braised pork knuckle buns once but couldn’t get them a second time ignored Wang Rui for the entire morning.

She even passed by his desk from time to time, deliberately bumping into him.

Under normal circumstances, Wang Rui would have undoubtedly launched a barrage of verbal attacks, nagging her relentlessly.

But today was different.

When Wang Rui saw the WeChat message from [Product Manager Bai Xiaobo], his heart leaped with joy!

"Sir, we don’t provide a menu. We only provide a service."

"You just need to tell us the number of people in your party, the time, your meal requirements, and your budget (or you can just tell us if there’s a specific dish you’d like to eat). Then you can simply come and dine."

After briefly learning about this company’s so-called service, Wang Rui was deeply moved.

’This is a godsend for indecisive people!’

’My biggest fear is going to a restaurant with dozens upon dozens of hot and cold dishes on the menu, only to flip through it over and over without having a clue what to eat.’

’If I go out and look around, the streets are full of either hot pot or barbecue, or just a bunch of random, overhyped internet-famous restaurants.’

’At first glance, there are restaurants everywhere, but when you really think about it, there isn’t a single one you actually want to eat at.’

After a moment of thought.

Wang Rui sent a message.

[Lunch for one, 12:00 PM. Economical, delicious, and filling. Budget: 20 yuan.]

If it were for a "nice meal out," Wang Rui wouldn’t mind spending two hundred yuan, but for a simple weekday lunch, anything over twenty was a bit of a stretch.

He only earned three thousand a month.

The other party replied quickly.

[Lunch: 20 yuan. Service fee: 2 yuan. Please pay: 22 yuan.]

There was also a QR code for payment in the chat window.

’Huh?’

Wang Rui broke out in a cold sweat. ’Pay before I’ve even eaten? And what the hell is that service fee?’

But thinking about how delicious their food was, Wang Rui decided to give it a shot and scanned the code.

...

[WeChat payment received: 22 yuan]

At Meiweilai Company, when Su Chen’s phone announced the notification, a long-awaited celebration erupted in the office.

"YAY! We got a sale!!!"

"You’re awesome, Boss! How did you even think of this?"

"I’m suddenly feeling like this could really work, haha!"

"The key is that it solves our staffing and ingredient shortage problems! You’re a genius, Boss!"

At first, everyone had been skeptical about the company’s new business model.

No menu, no set prices—what if a customer came to eat and wasn’t satisfied?

Su Chen had given them the answer: we’re providing a service. As long as we meet the customer’s needs, why wouldn’t they be satisfied?

Besides, the customer could still specify what dishes they wanted to eat. It wasn’t like they were forbidden from ordering specific things.

What Su Chen didn’t say was...

’Is the taste of the food something you guys even need to worry about?’

’I’m the kind of boss who can make packaged fish taste even better than freshly caught fish!’

Su Chen raised a hand to quiet everyone’s excited chatter. "It’s not good to let the ingredients in the warehouse go to waste. If we just let customers choose whatever they want to eat, we’ll be too reactive. We can’t just drive to the city market to buy groceries every time, can we?"

"Furthermore, we’re short-staffed. To give you an example, yesterday when ten people showed up at once, just ordering three freshly made dishes was enough to have us running ragged. So, Product Manager, please come up with a plan for this customer."

Of course, the fact that Su Chen himself was only a half-assed chef and not very efficient at getting dishes out was something he absolutely couldn’t let anyone know.

’Because I can level up!’

’Uh?’

Bai Xiaobo scratched his head. ’Isn’t a product manager supposed to be the one who liaises with the customer? Why do I have to come up with a plan too?’

’Can I be the business manager instead?’

Seeing Bai Xiaobo stammer and struggle to say anything, He Shuting grew anxious. "Boss, the twenty-yuan budget is limited. It’s either rice with toppings or noodles."

Liu Shengnan pulled out a long spreadsheet. It was an inventory of the ingredients currently in the warehouse, sorted by purchase price from highest to lowest.

"Here, my great Product Manager."

"You had this thing and didn’t take it out sooner?" Bai Xiaobo scanned the inventory sheet from bottom to top.

’A budget of twenty...’

’There really isn’t much I can make.’

In truth, Su Chen already knew what he was going to make; he just needed to cultivate some capable people right now.

After half a night of brainstorming, the effect Su Chen wanted to achieve was this: a customer would state their needs, someone would be responsible for solving those needs and providing a plan, and Su Chen himself would be responsible for executing that plan.

After operating for a while, he even hoped his employees could handle simple customer requests directly, with Su Chen only needing to give some guidance from time to time.

This twenty-yuan lunch wasn’t expensive, but for all the employees of Delicious, it was incredibly significant!

"I’m not very good at making food..." Bai Xiaobo said, looking over the inventory list. "But based on our current ingredients, noodles are definitely the best choice. Not only is the profit margin large, but they’re also filling. Most importantly, the customer spoke with a local Jingzhou accent, so he probably likes noodle dishes."

Su Chen was very satisfied. "You provide the plan, and I’ll handle the cooking. Xiaobai, go to the cold storage and bring back a few heads of napa cabbage."

In the north, napa cabbage is a vegetable that stores well. Many rural villages without supermarkets buy large quantities of it for the winter, storing it in their cellars.

’A twenty-yuan lunch?’

Su Chen had a plan long ago.

Bai Xiaobo walked back from the warehouse, carrying the cabbage by himself, a sour feeling in his heart.

’Liu Shengnan graduated from a prestigious university, and her major is even relevant. Now she’s not only in charge of the company’s finances, but she’s also gotten a handle on the raw materials side of things.’

’He Shuting is beautiful; just having her stand there is easy on the eyes. Besides, her base salary is only two thousand yuan a month.’

’And then there’s me, earning six thousand a month from the boss, yet I was just stammering over such a simple question and even needed Liu Shengnan to give me a hint.’

A feeling of ’I’m so useless’ welled up inside Bai Xiaobo.

DING DONG~

Annoyed, Bai Xiaobo dropped the napa cabbage and pulled out his phone.

[Client - Guy with Glasses: Bro, bro! Can I change the lunch configuration? So sorry about this.]

’This guy is so annoying...’

Bai Xiaobo patiently replied: Please go ahead. If the changes are too complex, we may not have enough time to prepare your meal.

The other person typed back quickly.

[Client - Guy with Glasses: Uh, sorry, sorry! The original request is the same! It’s just the number of people that’s changed, from 1 person to 15.]

Huh?

The wave of dejection Bai Xiaobo had been feeling vanished in an instant. He immediately replied: No problem!

He immediately turned and sprinted back to the warehouse. This time, he directly grabbed a whole sack of napa cabbages—six of them in total!

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Su Chen received another payment of 308 yuan and rubbed his nose. "Looks like Xiaobai’s drummed up some new business."

"He accepted the order without even asking for the details?" He Shuting felt that Xiaobai was being too reckless.

What if it’s a request our company can’t fulfill? Won’t that just cause trouble later?

"If I’m not mistaken..." Su Chen shrugged. "You guys had better knead a lot more dough."

He Shuting said, "Boss, if we just make them noodles, isn’t that a bit too ordinary? It feels..."

"Feels like it’s nothing special?" Su Chen smiled. "Just you wait. Chop more scallions, knead more dough."

Knowing that others wouldn’t notice anything unusual when he used his system, Su Chen chopped scallions in the kitchen while placing today’s ingredients into the synthesis frame.

[Flour] + [Scallions].

After a moment’s thought, for greater precision, Su Chen also added [Napa Cabbage] to the synthesis materials.

A flash of light blazed through his mind, and a purple box appeared!

[Congratulations, you have synthesized a new recipe]

[Ultimate Qiang-Guo Noodles]