Even good advertising is not as good as customer reputation.
Although Ning Weimin is good at marketing and promotion, he knows how to take advantage of opportunities and can increase the reputation of his restaurant more effectively than ordinary people.
Although Ning Weimin has taste and knowledge, he is the first in China to make the second floor of the Tiantan North Road restaurant look like an art world.
It has successfully attracted the attention of all walks of life and received great praise.
In the words of the Internet era thirty years later, it became a blockbuster and became an "Internet celebrity store".
But having such a good start does not mean that his restaurant will really prosper and have peace of mind from now on.
Because he also knew that even if the original intention was to take advantage of the Japanese upstarts, he was the one who took advantage of them.
But operating a restaurant is essentially a transaction, not a business, and the goal of operation is based on ten years.
If you just rely on gimmicks to arouse customers' sense of novelty, it won't last too long, nor can it support such high prices.
Most likely, his reputation will be ruined and his reputation will be as bad as that of "Salt Brother" who became famous all over the world with his arrogant actions thirty years later.
Speaking of fundamentals, any catering company must still rely on the quality of its dishes.
Even if it doesn't taste very delicious, you can't let your customers down too much.
Only in this way can he have room to display his personal strengths, perform tricks, and do tricks.
Therefore, before the official opening, it is of great practical significance to hold an opening ceremony, try your best to use all your skills, and entertain guests from all parties with exquisite food.
What makes Ning Weimin feel even more fortunate is that, precisely because of the support and help of "Zhang Dashao", the dishes of "Tan Palace" are far more attractive than he expected.
The guests were obviously very satisfied, and most of them almost insisted on eating from beginning to end.
Some people even strive to achieve "Operation CD-ROM" even if they are uncomfortable.
Even the district leaders' table was eaten up.
This undoubtedly gave him sufficient confidence, allowing him to have no worries and completely free his hands and feet to advance follow-up plans.
Of course, everything is difficult at the beginning.
On the first day of business, business on the second floor of "Tan Palace" was deserted, which was almost unchangeable and completely foreseeable.
This is because the consumption threshold on the second floor of "Tan Palace" is too high, and there are only a few people with such consumption ability.
This is also because although the reputation of the restaurant has been instantaneous, the effect of widespread publicity has not yet taken root in people's hearts, and it will take some time for it to ferment.
For a time, naturally there were not so many curious diners who came here to taste the royal dishes.
Apart from anything else, the biggest disadvantage is that it is a Sunday.
Almost all those who have the ability to spend public funds are resting, and it is impossible for these people to take care of the business.
Secondly, people who come to Beijing on business from other places have grade standards for food and accommodation.
There are clear regulations on what level of cadres and what level of hotels and guest houses they should stay in.
Those who are willing to pretend to be fat and have the ability to do this are also very limited.
As for foreigners, they have more leeway in terms of consumption time and spending power.
But the problem is that due to different food cultures and language barriers, the advertising effect will be discounted for foreigners.
There are really not many foreigners who know at the first time that a third imperial cuisine restaurant has popped up in the capital.
Therefore, the only source of customers that "Tan Palace" can really count on right now is foreign tourists from the Temple of Heaven.
This is called relying on mountains to eat mountains and relying on water to eat water.
As for the travel agency, Ning Weimin had already said hello.
The tour guide who has cooperated with him for a long time will definitely help recommend it after taking foreign tourists shopping.
In response to Ning Weimin's request, the Zhai Palace, the Temple of Heaven ticket office, and all tourist shops in the park will distribute advertising flyers for the "Tan Palace" restaurant when serving foreign tourists.
At least some foreign individual tourists will fall into the trap and come to your door.
To be honest, on the first day of opening, the actual situation was not bad. The second floor of "Tan Palace" received about 70 customers.
Among them were two European tour groups of 20 to 30 people, two Americans and an accompanying translator, as well as six or seven Hong Kong tourists and eight domestic customers.
If based on normal consumption levels, "Tan Palace" can earn roughly three to four thousand.
But a wise man must always be careful, so Ning Weimin didn't expect that the two tour groups didn't order stir-fry.
I bet these blonds and big noses only know Chinese food from their experiences in Chinatown.
Because they couldn't understand the menu of "Tan Palace" at all, they directly chose fried rice or fried noodles to satisfy their hunger.
Men with larger appetites may want more spring rolls and fried dumplings as a supplement.
Even if the waiters and tour guides strongly recommend it, only a few tourists will give it some face in the end.
I also ordered some sweets such as suye pastry, ai wowo, fried banana, and almond tofu.
It is conceivable that in this case, what is the difference between the dim sum shop on the second floor and the one downstairs?
Even though the consumption level of "Tan Palace" is comparable to that of Tanjia Cuisine in Beijing Hotel, the profit margin is extremely high.
A dish of fried noodles only costs five yuan in foreign exchange coupons, and there is an additional 10% service fee, so you can't make a lot of money.
In the end, thanks to a few Hong Kong and domestic customers, we were able to sell three casual tables.
But if you have three tables, you can only charge the price of two tables.
Because the domestic customers are related households, using the coupons just given by Ning Weimin to pay the bill is equivalent to a wasted meal.
So at the end of the day, after all calculations, the actual amount recorded on the second floor was only over 600 yuan.
Even if this is all profit, it is not enough to cover the cost of making soup in the kitchen. It really goes to grandma's house.
There is no other way. To make real palace dishes, the consumption of high-quality ingredients is higher than that of ordinary restaurants. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is three for one meal.
But the good thing is that from top to bottom in the "Tan Palace", I didn't feel sluggish and lost my fighting spirit.
Because the positive thing is that although there are not many customers, the feedback they give is quite encouraging.
In fact, there is no one who does not approve of the restaurant's food.
Both foreigners and Chinese are very satisfied with the restaurant's cooking quality.
Foreigners even had to show their thumbs up, and Hong Kong tourists asked to meet the chef to express their surprise.
This is not surprising, after all, foreigners have limited knowledge.
Don’t forget, foreign Chinese restaurants are all of amateur quality, and none of them are founded by real Chinese chefs.
There are no famous chefs like Chef Chang Jing.
Therefore, even the simplest fried rice, fried noodles, fried dumplings, and spring rolls can still be outstanding under the supervision of Master Chang.
What's more, Chinese pastries have their own advantages compared to Western pastries.
Whether it's soft and waxy, chewy, elastic, warm, or refreshing, it's an experience that's hard to bring to Western pastries.
Foreigners will naturally find this meal quite palatable and delicious.
The main reason why Hong Kong customers are impressed is the method of purifying the broth and the high-quality ingredients used in the royal dishes.
Even though there is no shortage of Chinese food in their lives, living in the south they are really not familiar with northern cooking, not to mention the palace cuisine is very different from that of the people.
To put it bluntly, if you eat one stewed chicken here, you are actually eating three chickens.
Only one can be seen on the surface, and the two invisible ones are in the soup.
You can imagine how pure and strong the flavor is.
Why did "Zhang Dashao" ask Ning Weimin to prepare dozens of kinds of broth and teach him how to make dry powder?
This is the upright avenue of cooking. Any ingredient can be effectively purified and flavored with the help of stock.
What's more, the environment on the second floor of the restaurant also improves the restaurant's reputation among customers.
In addition to being quite satisfied with the dishes, the guests were also very interested in taking photos at the restaurant.
Even though the meal does not take long, most customers enjoy walking around the business area on the second floor, admiring the displays, and taking photos with the waiters.
These people really regard this place as a tourist attraction, and they even finished taking photos of all the films they brought with them.
This even gave Ning Weimin an idea and discovered another small business opportunity.
He immediately asked the waiter to go to the store in Temple of Heaven Park to get two boxes of film, doubled the price, and sold them to several customers in need.
No one thinks it's expensive.
When leaving, every customer leaves with a great sense of satisfaction and a smile on their face.
In addition, the situation upstairs and downstairs is completely a world of ice and fire.
The reason why people are busy upstairs is because the consumption threshold is too high, but it doesn't mean that the kitchen and the snack shop downstairs are also deserted.
On the day when the "Tan Palace" is open to the public, whether it is residents living nearby or tourists coming out of the north gate of the Temple of Heaven.
Attracted by the burst of festive firecrackers, there are many people who want to try the "authentic palace snacks" here.
As a result, the dim sum shop that was originally small quickly became overcrowded.
Although the food here is more expensive than other snack bars, even well-known time-honored restaurants in Beijing such as "Nan Lai Shun".
Initially, it did trigger widespread complaints and complaints from customers.
But the dim sum shop of "Tan Palace" can have "hundred-year noodles" as a magic weapon.
There are Yulu Shuang, Da Noodle Cang, Su Ye Pastry, Sour Soup, Water Dumpling, Lotus Leaf Porridge, and Glutinous Rice Porridge as the specialty foods.
Even the wontons, shredded chicken noodle soup, and assorted noodle soup here all use real broth.
The butter fried noodles are really fried with butter, and the shrimps in the shrimp fried noodles are definitely not watery stuff. Even the mustard pile has assorted nuts hidden in it to enrich the texture and enhance the taste.
So what happened next was amazing.
As soon as the muttering person tastes it, almost all of them will shut up and concentrate on tasting it.
No one is a fool. Looking at the owner who was still expressing dissatisfaction just now, he was speechless the moment he got the food. On the contrary, many people gave rave reviews after eating it.
The others naturally knew what was going on, and they all kept silent.
As a result, the dim sum shop formed a queue from inside to outside, and it became really popular.
In fact, it was only past noon that day, and all the items prepared in advance were sold out.
Even Lao Mianfa's steamed buns were sold for 500 pieces.
I originally wanted to take it to the Temple of Heaven Park, but the 200 sets of "palace snack packages" sold to tourists were not delivered.
It is digested directly in the store.
After doing the calculations, Bao Duo'er found that the turnover was one thousand two hundred and three, and the gross profit was half of it. This really saved the restaurant's overall operating costs for the day.
It turned out to be even more evil. Although I had prepared 30% more things than yesterday, there was not enough to sell at noon.
In order to meet the needs of customers, the chef had to decide again to increase the preparation of snack ingredients.
But on the third day it was just as exaggerated.
Even though I deliberately prepared 30% more, I had already reached the limit of the kitchen's capacity, but in the end, I still couldn't sell it until dinner time.
What is this called?
This is called "the aroma of wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley", this is called "people are silent when you ask for a thousand words, but goods come by themselves when you are asked to nod."
There is no other way, the restaurant staff can only reassure the customers who did not buy anything that they will come early tomorrow morning.
For this reason, many customers have expressed their opinions.
"I obviously saw you have some, why don't you sell them to us?"
The restaurant staff had no choice but to explain.
"What you see is reserved for our business needs on the second floor. We cannot sell it to you. What can be sold to you has indeed been sold out."
The customer still refuses.
"Isn't it for sale both upstairs and downstairs? Why are you so funny? Can we treat everyone equally?"
The restaurant workers shook their heads.
"It's really different. The price upstairs is ten times that of the downstairs, and there is a service charge. Didn't you see the sign outside our dim sum shop? It is only for domestic guests. The second floor is the designated place for foreign guests during tourism.
.This means that in the dim sum shop downstairs, our restaurant provides benefits to our people. If we sell you at the price downstairs, we will lose. If we sell you at the price upstairs, you will lose again. Isn’t this right?
?”
Now the customer was speechless.
Although I still didn’t buy anything, I was a little depressed.
But when you think about the fact that foreigners have to spend many times more money than you do to eat the same thing as you do, you have a psychological balance.
In this way, "Tan Gong" dim sum shop has easily gained a reputation in the neighborhood.
From then on, more than a thousand steamed buns and flower rolls were sold every day.
The supply of five to six hundred boxes of palace snack packages specially provided for tourists exceeds demand.
And it must be made clear that these are not the real demands of the market.
Because the more we see long queues, the more people are recruited, but the actual demand is still far away.
Even if we make double the quantity, we will definitely be able to sell it.
But the key point is that there are currently fourteen "white-case" chefs in the kitchen, and they are all adapting to the working environment. At present, the street is really not suitable to rashly add additional staff.
The equipment is also limited, and it has to be supplied upstairs every day to ensure profitability.
If there is more, I really can't do it, so there's nothing I can do about it.
But Ning Weimin thinks this is not bad.
Hungry marketing, it is just because the supply exceeds the demand that it is regarded as a good thing by others.
For example, the police station and the street have discussed with him privately, asking if they can take care of him, open a back door depending on the situation, and leave some space.
To this, he readily agreed.
He said, "You don't want to come. If you want it, call in advance. Just calculate how much you want, and we will make it now and send someone to deliver it to you."
No, it's just a ready-made favor.
What's more, the limited access to things will cause people to queue up. Tourists coming out of the north gate of the Temple of Heaven can see this place from a long way away.
The popularity of the dim sum shop alone is a living advertisement, and it can also attract customers to the restaurant on the second floor.
If guests who are interested in tasting see this scene, they will definitely believe that good dishes can be made on the second floor, and they will no longer have any doubts about the cooking ability of "Tan Palace".
Otherwise, catering companies will never be too tired of having too many people. Only with a large number of people can they gather wealth.