God-Given Business Genius - Chapter 181

"I..."

Park Man-su closed his eyes briefly, then opened them. Finally, he spoke.

"I'll do it."

He confirmed once more.

"I'll adjust the prices. I'll reduce everything to under 10,000 won."

So this was the decision he had reached after much deliberation. Since it was a hopeful direction, I smiled slightly.

"I look forward to working with you, Owner Park."

"Likewise, I'll be in your care!"

Park Man-su bowed deeply.

"I'll trust in the solution completely!"

How burdensome. I scratched my cheek as I spoke.

"Once the pricing issue is resolved, you won't have much to worry about, Owner Park. The food is fundamentally good. If you just master how to calculate costs and margins, things will be much better."

While his business sense might be lacking, the taste was genuine. If he could achieve good value for money, the store had enough competitiveness.

Especially crucial was the fact that there were no other Western restaurants in the area.

While we had managed to reach an agreement on the core issue of pricing, another challenging negotiation awaited us, as if there were mountains beyond mountains.

"Could I see the menu, please?"

"Yes. Here it is."

I took the menu from Park Man-su. Including drinks, it seemed to be at least five pages long.

With pasta, risotto, side dishes, and drinks all combined, the menu was quite thick.

This was the next target for negotiation.

"The bulgogi aglio e olio was the signature dish here, right? It would be good to make that the main dish and trim down the other peripheral menu items."

"By peripheral menu items, you mean..."

"Items like the bacon carbonara. It's not particularly distinctive or exceptionally delicious."

"But there are customers who like carbonara, how could we..."

Park Man-su looked as if the sky was falling. It couldn't be helped. Each menu item must feel like his own child.

It's not just a line written on the menu. Countless hours of practice, measuring, and perfecting must have gone into each dish.

Telling him to remove this menu item was like saying to throw all that time and effort into the trash.

I could understand why Park Man-su was upset.

'But it can't be helped.'

I carefully chose my words before speaking.

"The menu is too long and complicated. This will make inventory management difficult, and more importantly, it'll be hard to increase turnover rate."

"Turnover rate..."

"I mentioned it before. This 'turnover rate' is also included in the cost. The number of tables you can serve in a day determines how much you can lower your prices."

Given that we had agreed to significantly lower the price range, maximizing this turnover rate was crucial for maintaining a profit margin.

"Besides, you can't handle all these menu items. It might be manageable now when there aren't many customers, but if people start coming in larger numbers, you'll be overwhelmed, Owner Park."

"......"

"Ideally, we'd keep only one or two main dishes, but that might be too harsh, right? Still, I'd prefer if the menu didn't exceed five items."

Park Man-su looked down at the menu with sad eyes. Perhaps when he first created this menu, he imagined people pondering over what to eat while looking at it.

It was a menu that hinted at the vibrant hopes of the past.

"...I understand."

But Park Man-su said he would endure this too.

I had expected some resistance, so this was unexpected. As I stared at his face, Park Man-su added an explanation.

"I've decided to accept the solution. I'll follow it through, come what may."

It seemed his determination to follow the solution was stronger than I thought.

This was welcome news to me.

"Good. Then let's think about which menu items you'd like to keep and create a new menu."

"Understood."

"After that, we plan to have a tasting panel prepared by the production team to score the dishes."

"!"

"We need to examine overall satisfaction, including pricing and taste. We need to look at everything comprehensively."

Park Man-su's face was filled with tension. He looked just like a student about to take an exam.

"Most importantly, we need to test the turnover rate."

"By turnover rate..."

"We'll have a total of ten tables. There are only five tables inside the restaurant, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we need to time how long it takes to complete two full rotations with all tables occupied."

It seemed Park Man-su had figured out what I wanted to test. He nodded with a determined expression.

"Alright. Remember, the more menu items, the lower the turnover rate. Keep this in mind, and the number of menu items you choose is up to you, Owner Park."

"Yes."

Ideally, beginners should only offer one main dish, but that might be too harsh for someone who takes great pride in their cooking, right?

In the end, the turnover rate would be determined by how ambitious Park Man-su was.

"Then, until then, practice preparing the chosen dishes quickly."

"Understood!"

Park Man-su bowed deeply once more.

I also nodded slightly before leaving the store. I continued filming as I entered another store nearby where another solution was being implemented.

Even so, Park Man-su's sad eyes lingered in my mind.

Clap.

"Good work, everyone~!"

Even until the moment the slate clapped, it persisted. Of course, we finished filming well.

As I was packing up my things, Im Hye-eun and Do-kyung started chatting.

"Both of you worked hard today~"

"Good work!"

"I heard there's a team dinner today. Are you going?"

"I have an early schedule tomorrow, so I don't think I can make it."

"Oh, that's too bad. How about you, CEO Song?"

After a moment's consideration, I answered.

"I'll pass today as well."

"That's a shame. I'll be attending, so I'll head out first!"

As Im Hye-eun left first, only Do-kyung and I remained. As I silently continued packing, I could sense Do-kyung lingering nearby.

"?"

Puzzled, I turned my head, and Do-kyung cautiously asked while checking my expression.

"Was there something that upset you during today's filming?"

"No?"

"I see. Never mind then."

Do-kyung seemed about to withdraw after saying that. I reflexively asked back.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just... you seemed to have trouble concentrating."

"!"

Was it that noticeable? As my eyes widened, Do-kyung waved his hands and said.

"It just seemed that way! It won't be noticeable in the broadcast. I could only tell because I was right next to you."

"That's a relief then."

I felt somewhat reassured that it hadn't affected the filming.

'This guy is quite perceptive.'

I thought he was completely clueless, but I guess his years of experience in the entertainment industry count for something.

The way he quickly asked me and then backed off when I said no, he seems to maintain boundaries quite well.

Feeling like I should say something, I added an explanation.

"It's nothing major. Just that pasta restaurant owner we filmed earlier, his attitude was bothering me."

"Him? Why?"

Do-kyung tilted his head.

"He was so much more cooperative than last week. I was surprised at how different he was, like a completely different person."

Do-kyung was right. Last week, he seemed to have his own firm values and a certain stubbornness.

To change his mind so quickly in such a short time...

"That's what's bothering me."

"...Huh?"

Do-kyung looked utterly confused.

"I didn't think that stubbornness would break in just a day or two. In my opinion, the solution to reduce the number of menu items must have seemed too radical to the Owner."

"That's true."

"But he followed along better than expected. It's a bit puzzling, I guess."

What could be the reason? It's unlikely he suddenly gained the insight to view his situation objectively.

Is he feeling resigned since business isn't going well anyway? Or did someone else say something? Maybe PD Kim Hui-seong told him he'd be cut from the show if he didn't accept the solution.

As various hypotheses swirled in my mind, Do-kyung let out a small laugh.

"Haha. What? That's what you've been worrying about?"

This is such a significant change! From my perspective, having dealt with numerous franchisees, it was almost a world-changing level of transformation.

As I maintained a blank expression, Do-kyung casually continued.

"He probably heard news about the previously filmed restaurants."

"Huh? Previously filmed restaurants?"

"Remember the first place we filmed? Especially the army stew restaurant."

"Ah."

Of course I remember. How could I forget? We put in quite a lot of effort developing that new menu item.

"The army stew with vegetable fritters on top."

It was quite challenging to pass on that recipe too.

"Yeah, that place. Did you know it's already become famous as a great restaurant, even before the broadcast?"

"What?"

This is the first I'm hearing of it.

Well, a slightly popular army stew restaurant wouldn't really catch my attention. I hadn't particularly looked into their recent situation either.

"You really didn't know, huh? Since it hasn't aired yet, people don't know about the show, but you know that handwritten autograph you left? The one certifying it as a Song Woo-yeon approved restaurant."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"It became famous because of that. Of course, the food is good too."

"What?"

That single autograph had such an effect?

"There's a list going around, 'Restaurants Approved by Song Woo-yeon'. Haven't you seen it?"

"I haven't been on social media much lately."

"It includes a few places we filmed for the show, and there was another place... a dakbokkeumtang restaurant I hadn't seen before. Anyway, they made it onto that list."

"Wow..."

This is completely news to me.

'I did promise to bring customers lining up to the army stew restaurant, but I didn't expect this to happen even before the broadcast started.'

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I absently ran my hand through my hair.

"He probably heard about that. The PD said he spread the news to all the restaurant owners we're filming, partly to boost their motivation."

"Ah, I see."

Now it made more sense.

'There's a success story, so he decided to trust it.'

The mystery behind Park Man-su's compliant attitude was finally solved.

It was a much simpler reason than I thought.

Somehow, I felt deflated.

"Do-kyung!"

"Oh, my manager is here. I need to go now. See you on the next filming day!"

"Oh, okay. Take care."

Watching Do-kyung hurriedly leave, I also gathered my things and got up.

"Yikes, it's already this late."

The filming took longer than expected, making it quite close to my appointment time.

I need to hurry, I can't be late.

Because...

'An event I absolutely can't miss is waiting for me.'