Chapter 23 Delivery

After the elders returned with a full haul, half a tray of freshly baked crispy crab-shell pastries was instantly gone. Ou Yang, having eaten and drunk his fill, lounged lazily in a chair playing on his phone, occasionally patting his stomach. From his posture, it looked like he planned to sneak a couple more pastries to take to work before clocking in.

In the kitchen, Qin Huai had already switched from busy prep mode to a relaxed baozi-making rhythm. Seeing how idle Ou Yang was, he simply asked him to move his chair to the window so the two could chat across the pastry counter.

“How’s the flyer distribution going?” Qin Huai asked.

“Don’t worry. I conduct regular spot checks—no one’s slacking off. No problems at all!” Ou Yang patted his chest in assurance.

Qin Huai nodded. “Good. One more thing—”

Ou Yang immediately sat up straighter.

“Do Sister Hong and Huihui have any favorite pastries? Regular buns or steamed buns are fine too. Any preferred flavors?” Qin Huai asked seriously.

Ou Yang: ?

“Bro, your topic change is way too sudden!” Ou Yang scratched his head and thought for a moment, not entirely sure. “Sister Hong… I’m not too clear, but Huihui probably eats a lot of steamed buns.”

“Steamed buns?” Qin Huai gave him a doubtful look.

“Seriously!” Ou Yang emphasized. “When I first started college, my dad bought me a car. Even though I later couldn’t afford gas and gave it to my mom, I’m still an experienced driver.”

“Last year, Sister Hong went on a business trip and asked me to take care of Huihui—drive her to and from school, and handle breakfast and dinner. Those two mornings, when I asked Huihui what she wanted to eat, she always said steamed buns—the ones sold at the convenience store across the street. She wouldn’t eat pancakes, stuffed flatbreads, cold noodles, curry buns, rice balls, or sesame balls—just steamed buns.”

Qin Huai nodded and made a note. Steamed buns—this child Huihui really was as plain and simple as in his dreams.

After finishing, Ou Yang looked at Qin Huai with excitement. “So, what’s up? Are you secretly making some legendary specialty buns?”

Qin Huai waved his hand. “What legendary buns? At most I’ll make red sugar buns or meat buns. How fancy can I make buns?”

Just then, Qin Luo walked in while yawning and chimed in lazily, “What buns? Bro, didn’t you once make that fermented wine bun thing?”

Ou Yang’s eyes lit up instantly—I knew this guy had hidden tricks!

But Qin Luo’s next sentence immediately extinguished that spark: “Though it didn’t taste good.”

Ou Yang became even more interested. “Qin Huai can make pastries that don’t taste good? Didn’t you tell me your brother learns recipes just by reading them?”

Qin Luo didn’t answer. Instead, she lowered his head, glanced at the tray of Crab Shell Yellow, put on gloves, grabbed some tongs, and served herself a plate, eating as crumbs fell everywhere.

“That’s different.”

“According to the book, fermented wine buns use yeast fermentation. They’re elastic—squeeze them and they collapse, release and they spring back. Even if you put them in a bag and press them for ten minutes, they’ll still bounce back to shape.”

“As for taste, it just says there’s a wine aroma—supposed to be a unique flavor. Theoretically, they should taste good.”

“But the fermented wine buns my brother makes are just ordinary buns. Not very springy, and the wine flavor mixed into the bun tastes weird. I don’t really like them.” Qin Luo stuffed a Crab Shell Yellow into her mouth, pointing at it while mumbling, “I like this!”

After finishing the pastry, Qin Luo ate two more buns, then changed clothes and went to the back kitchen to help her parents wrap buns. Doing both cleaning and odd jobs while only getting half a salary—her cost-effectiveness was truly impressive.

Between 6:26 and 6:29, the morning shift staff arrived one after another with precise timing.

“Chef Xiao Qin, here are yesterday’s group pre-orders. They’re all scheduled for delivery between 9:10 and 9:25. We’ve printed them into a list—please take a look…” Huang Xi stood near the window holding several sheets.

“I’ll deliver them! I’ll deliver them!” Qin Luo raised her hand eagerly. She was familiar with this job.

Back at their hometown, although Qin Family Breakfast Shop didn’t officially offer delivery, they occasionally received special orders from regular customers. When lucky, they even landed large orders—such as kindergarten kitchens suddenly unable to cook due to staff strikes, nearby schools hit by power outages needing cheap buns and porridge for lunch, or an orphanage receiving donations and deciding to upgrade their meals.

In such cases, their shop would often receive large orders and make a good profit.

Huang Xi instinctively looked toward Zhao Rong.

Although Qin Huai was the actual owner of the Yunzhong Cafeteria, he was a completely hands-off boss. All operations didn’t even need to be reported to him—Zhao Rong or Qin Congwen handled everything.

The delivery arrangement had already been finalized between Huang Xi and Zhao Rong the previous night: 0.3 yuan per order, with increases of 0.1 yuan after 500 completed deliveries in a month, and another 0.1 yuan after 1000 deliveries.

Currently, Yunzhong Cafeteria’s delivery rules were: deliveries within 1.5 km would be sent directly to workstations, provided the order exceeded 30 yuan or there were at least 8 orders in the same office building. Although the delivery fee was low, the short distance and clustered orders made it suitable for employees who didn’t mind the heat, wanted exercise, and hoped to earn some extra pocket money.

The original delivery person was An Youyou.

Although the staff at Yunzhong Cafeteria weren’t very familiar with each other, everyone could tell she seemed rather poor. After Huang Xi posted the announcement in the work group yesterday, An Youyou was the first to sign up. Since the restaurant had just opened and orders were still few, no one competed with her.

“Give her some of the farther deliveries,” Zhao Rong said while continuing to wrap buns without stopping. “That girl talks nonstop all day—let her move around more.”

Huang Xi smiled and nodded, not moving from her spot, and continued, “Chef Xiao Qin, I actually have another suggestion.”

“Yesterday, I asked some customers. There are quite a few convenience stores and breakfast shops nearby that offer delivery to workplaces. Some even provide monthly subscription deals for items like stuffed flatbreads.”

“Monthly subscriptions?” Qin Huai became interested. Even flatbreads could be sold monthly?

Huang Xi nodded. “Flatbreads with egg, sausage, chicken strips, or fish fillets—270 yuan per month. On average, that’s less than 10 yuan per item.”

“The best-selling convenience store reportedly sells over 200 flatbreads a day.”

Just from flatbreads alone, a convenience store could generate over 2000 yuan daily—clearly opening up a new revenue stream.

Qin Huai seemed to understand. “So you’re suggesting our cafeteria could also sell monthly packages?”

“Lunch and dinner are easy to package monthly, but breakfast is tricky. Our breakfast items vary, and prices differ a lot—it’s hard to standardize a monthly plan.”

Still, the idea was appealing. Qin Huai felt a bit tempted.

Monthly packages meant volume sales. Breakfast, after all, makes money through volume.

Huang Xi smiled slightly. “I thought about those issues last night as well, and I agree—monthly subscriptions aren’t suitable for us.”

“So I came up with a new plan.”

“Meal vouchers.”

“Multiple types of vouchers, different tiers, mix-and-match options, with discounts for monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly purchases.”

“This is my report. It was prepared in a hurry, so it may be a bit rough—please forgive me. If you think this plan is feasible, I’ll discuss it with Sister Rong in the next couple of days and aim to launch the new activity within three days.”

“If possible, please contact Mr. Ou Yang to print new flyers and include information about delivery services and meal vouchers. Most importantly, add our shop’s WeChat QR code.”

Qin Huai fell silent as he looked at the stack of papers—estimated to be at least 20 pages thick.

Looking again, he even felt a bit moved.

Truly touching—our shop actually has someone capable of writing a proper business plan!