It was a hot afternoon, the streets of São Paulo were scorching hot, pedestrians hurried, trying to find a bit of shade. In the restaurant kitchen, the chefs were busy preparing dishes, the air was filled with the aroma of ingredients and the smoke of the stove. At this time, Xiao Zhang, who was in charge of food inspection, rushed into the office in a panic, holding a broken fruit box in his hand. The fruit inside had already gone bad and exuded a rancid smell.

“Mr. Wang, something bad has happened! There’s a big problem with the batch of fresh tropical fruits we ordered!” Xiao Zhang shouted anxiously, his face full of worry and helplessness.

Wang Jianye was reviewing documents at the table. Hearing this, he stood up suddenly, not even bothering to pick up the documents scattered all over the floor. He walked quickly to Xiao Zhang, looked at the box of spoiled fruit, and his brows instantly twisted into a “chuan” shape, his eyes revealing anxiety and anger. “What’s going on? How could this happen?” Wang Jianye’s voice trembled slightly because of anxiety.

Xiao Zhang explained helplessly: “I heard that there was an accident during transportation, which delayed the time, and these fruits…”

Wang Jianye was extremely anxious, knowing that the freshness of ingredients was crucial to the quality of the restaurant’s dishes and that he could not afford to be careless. He immediately picked up the phone and quickly dialed the supplier’s number. The “beep” sound from the other end of the phone seemed to knock on his heart, and every sound made him more anxious.

“Hello, is this the supplier? I’m Wang Jianye from Wang’s All-inclusive Hotel!” Wang Jianye shouted into the phone, his tone unable to conceal his anxiety. “What’s going on? Some of the fresh tropical fruits that we originally ordered have been spoiled and cannot be used! Our restaurant’s dishes require extremely high freshness of ingredients, and this situation must not happen again!”

The supplier apologized repeatedly on the other end of the phone, his voice full of guilt: “Mr. Wang, I’m so sorry! This time it was our negligence. We encountered a sudden traffic jam during transportation, which caused delays. We will definitely solve the transportation problem as soon as possible and ensure that this situation will not happen again in the future. In addition, we will immediately find alternative supply channels to ensure the stability of food supply.”

Wang Jianye took a deep breath, tried to calm himself down, and said, “I hope you can keep your word. The unstable supply of ingredients has a huge impact on our restaurant. We have always trusted you, and we hope you can pay attention to this issue and give us a satisfactory solution.”

After hanging up the phone, Wang Jianye fell into deep thought. He knew that it was not enough to rely on the supplier’s verbal promise, and some practical measures must be taken to ensure the stability of the food supply. So he decided to visit the supplier in person to understand their actual operation and see if there was a better solution.

At the same time, the number of customers in the restaurant continued to rise, which was originally a gratifying thing, but it also brought severe challenges to the service quality. During the peak dining hours, the restaurant was full, and the laughter of customers and the hurried footsteps of waiters were intertwined. However, some customers began to complain.

“Waiter, we have been waiting for this dish for a long time, why hasn’t it been served yet?” A customer frowned and shouted in dissatisfaction to a passing waiter.

“I’m so sorry, sir, we will arrange it for you as soon as possible!” said the waiter as he trotted towards the kitchen.

“The service is too slow and the experience is terrible.” Another customer couldn’t help but mutter.

Chen Yu was inspecting the restaurant and was shocked when he heard these complaints. He knew that service quality was the lifeline of the restaurant and that any problems would affect the restaurant’s reputation. He immediately realized the seriousness of the problem and decided to call another meeting of waiters.

In the evening, the noise in the restaurant gradually subsided, and the waiters gathered in the conference room. Chen Yu stood in front of everyone with a solemn expression. Looking at everyone’s tired but slightly confused eyes, he cleared his throat and said, “Everyone knows that the restaurant’s business has been getting better and better recently, which is a good thing. However, we have also received feedback from some customers that during peak dining hours, the serving speed has slowed down and the service has not kept up. This is not a small problem. The quality of our service is directly related to the customer’s dining experience and the future development of the restaurant.”

A young waiter whispered, “Manager Chen, we also want to serve the food quickly, but there are too many people and sometimes we really can’t handle it.”

Chen Yu nodded and said, “I understand everyone’s hard work, but we can’t ignore the feelings of customers just because we are busy. Next, we have to readjust the service process, optimize the division of labor, and ensure that every link can operate efficiently. For example, during peak hours, we will assign a waiter to be responsible for serving dishes, which can reduce the time it takes to serve dishes. In addition, we will also increase the staff during peak hours. Everyone will work together to ensure that customers enjoy high-quality service.”

At this time, an experienced waiter said, “Manager Chen, I think we can strengthen communication with the kitchen and learn about the preparation time of the dishes in advance. This way, we can give customers an accurate estimate of the serving time and avoid anxiety when customers are waiting.”

After hearing this, Chen Yu’s eyes lit up and he said, “This is a great suggestion! We will do it right away. If you have any other ideas, please share them and we will work together to find a solution.”

After heated discussions, a new service process gradually took shape. Chen Yu also arranged special training courses to train waiters in service skills and communication skills to ensure that they can better deal with various situations.

Wang Jianye arrived at the supplier’s warehouse after a lot of twists and turns. The warehouse was filled with all kinds of food, and the air was filled with the freshness of fruits and vegetables and the smell of meat. The supplier’s person in charge greeted him with a smile and said, “Mr. Wang, I’m really sorry that you came here in person. I’m sorry to have caused you trouble this time.”

Wang Jianye ignored his politeness and walked straight into the warehouse to carefully check the storage conditions of various ingredients. While checking, he said seriously: “There are still some problems with your warehouse management, such as the temperature control is not accurate enough, which will affect the freshness of the ingredients. In addition, the transportation link must be optimized, and similar delays cannot occur again.”

The supplier manager nodded and said, “Mr. Wang, you are right. We have already contacted a new transportation company. They have more professional cold chain transportation equipment to ensure the freshness of the ingredients during transportation. In addition, we will also upgrade the temperature control system of the warehouse to ensure the stability of the food storage environment.”

Wang Jianye looked at him and said seriously, “I hope you can implement these measures as soon as possible. The development of our restaurant is inseparable from a stable supply of ingredients. We are in a cooperative relationship. We prosper together and suffer together. Only when we all do our jobs well can we develop together.”

After returning from the supplier, Wang Jianye, Chen Yu and Master Li gathered again to discuss countermeasures. Master Li frowned and said, “The two problems of food supply and service quality must be solved as soon as possible, otherwise it will affect our subsequent development. No matter how good our dishes are, if we don’t have fresh ingredients and high-quality service, we won’t be able to retain customers.”

Chen Yu nodded in agreement and said, “Yes, I have readjusted the service process, increased the staff, and strengthened the training of the waiters. Next, it depends on the effect.” Wang Jianye pondered for a moment and said, “In addition to these, we also need to establish an emergency mechanism to deal with various emergencies that may arise. For example, when there is a problem with the supply of food, we must have a backup procurement channel; when the service staff encounters an emergency, we must have a corresponding deployment plan.”

The three of them worked out a series of detailed countermeasures. However, things were not so easy to solve.

A few days later, the supplier sent a message that although the newly contacted transportation company had professional cold chain equipment, the transportation cost was much higher than before. This meant that the restaurant’s operating costs would increase significantly, and if the prices of dishes were not raised, the profit margin would be compressed. However, if the prices were raised, they were worried that it would affect customers’ willingness to consume.

Wang Jianye was caught in a dilemma. He called Chen Yu and Master Li together again and said, “The transportation cost from the supplier has increased, which is a thorny issue. If we accept this price, our profit will be reduced; if we don’t accept it, the supply of ingredients may be unstable. What do you think?”

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yu said, “Mr. Wang, I think we can try to optimize the menu first, reasonably adjust the dish structure, appropriately adjust some of the more expensive dishes, or introduce some new dishes, using seasonal local ingredients to ensure freshness and reduce costs. At the same time, we can also improve customer acceptance of prices by improving service quality and dish quality.”

Master Li also said: “I agree with Xiao Chen’s opinion. In addition, we can discuss with the supplier to see if we can get some discounts through long-term cooperation and increasing the purchase volume.”

Wang Jianye thought their suggestion made sense. So he communicated with the supplier again, proposed long-term cooperation, and promised to increase the purchase volume appropriately, hoping that the supplier would give some discounts on transportation costs. After consideration, the supplier agreed to make some concessions on the price, but it was still a little higher than the previous cost.

After weighing the pros and cons, Wang Jianye decided to accept the price. At the same time, he and Chef Li began to optimize the menu and launched some special dishes based on seasonal local ingredients, which were well received by customers.

In terms of service quality, after a period of adjustment and training, the restaurant’s service level has been significantly improved. Customer complaints are becoming less and less, and positive reviews are gradually increasing.

“Not only is the food in this restaurant delicious, but the service is also getting better and better. I will come here often in the future.” A customer said to Chen Yu with satisfaction when checking out.

“Thank you for your recognition, we will continue to work hard!” Chen Yu responded with a smile.

As the problems of food supply and service quality were gradually resolved, the restaurant’s operations gradually returned to stability.

However, at this time, a new fusion restaurant opened in the local area. The cuisine style of this restaurant had some similarities with that of Wang’s Full Series Hotel, which attracted the attention of many customers and caused a certain impact on the business of Wang’s Full Series Hotel.

Wang Jianye, Chen Yu and Master Li were not panicked when they heard the news. They knew that competition is the norm in business development, and only by constantly improving themselves can they remain invincible in the fierce market competition.

“Now that there are competitors, we must highlight our own characteristics even more,” said Wang Jianye.

Chef Li nodded and said, “I will speed up the development of dishes and launch more innovative fusion dishes to keep customers feeling fresh.”

Chen Yu also said: “I will strengthen marketing to further enhance the brand awareness of our restaurant and let more people know about our uniqueness.”

Therefore, Chef Li led his team of chefs to study day and night and developed a series of new fusion dishes. For example, he combined Brazilian black bean rice with Korean bibimbap to create a new staple food; and he combined Singaporean chili crab with Brazilian seafood cooking methods to create a unique seafood dish.

Chen Yu has stepped up publicity efforts and held a series of food experience events in cooperation with local media and food bloggers. He invited media and food bloggers to taste new dishes for free and asked them to promote the new dishes on their respective platforms. At the same time, the restaurant also launched interactive activities on social media, such as food photography competitions and food story sharing, which attracted a large number of customers to participate and further enhanced the restaurant’s popularity and reputation.

With everyone’s joint efforts, all Wang’s restaurants successfully coped with the challenges brought by new competitors. Not only was the business not greatly affected, but it became even more prosperous.

As time went by, the restaurant became more and more well-known in Sao Paulo, attracting tourists from all over Brazil and other countries. Wang Jianye, Chen Yu and Master Li were not satisfied with this. They knew that opening a branch in Brazil was just another step towards going global, and there would be more challenges and opportunities waiting for them in the future.

They began planning to open branches in other cities in Brazil to further expand the brand’s influence.

After some investigation and selection, they decided to open a second branch in Rio de Janeiro, an important city in Brazil with unique cultural and culinary characteristics.

In order to ensure the successful opening of the Rio de Janeiro branch, Wang Jianye, Chen Yu and Master Li did a lot of preparation in advance. Master Li studied the food culture of Rio de Janeiro in depth, combined with local special ingredients and cooking methods, and optimized and innovated the dishes in a targeted manner. For example, he developed a dish that combines Rio de Janeiro’s special barbecue and Singaporean curry flavors, perfectly combining the tenderness of barbecue with the richness of curry, and also added local special spices to make it more in line with the local taste. (End of this chapter)