Infinite Cosmic Cafeteria Chapter 42: Breaking 10,000

Translator: Stellar Novels Editor: Stellar Novels

At first, Ma Lu still needed Old Wang to help out occasionally, but as time went on, his movements became increasingly smooth.

He didn’t need to think; his body instinctively knew what to do next.

Old Wang was also able to focus solely on handling the patties, which boosted their serving speed even further, reducing the average cooking time of each burger to 18 seconds.

From 11:50 to 12:40, within just 50 minutes, Universe’s Best Snack Stall sold a total of 137 burgers.

After lunchtime, the drop in customer flow was even more noticeable than before, but even so, they managed to sell an additional 80 burgers before 5 PM.

Although burgers aren’t exactly snacks, as word of mouth continued to spread, some girls would come in pairs or groups of three to buy one and split it as an afternoon treat. This way, it wouldn’t be too filling, and the cost per person wasn’t too high.

During the dinner rush, Ma Lu got busy again, pushing through to sell the remaining 80 servings.

Since it was the first day they switched to selling proper meals, and baking the buns took time, Ma Lu had brought back 200 pounds of meat, slightly more than before, but still only prepared 300 servings. They sold out by 18:21 and packed up for the day.

Though they hadn’t increased the amount of food prepared, thanks to the higher price per item, Universe’s Best Snack Stall’s daily income broke 10,000 yuan, reaching 10,500.

This was a 25% increase compared to their previous highest daily income, but the costs were also higher. Butter and cheese alone cost over 700 yuan, not to mention lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.

Adding in the 193 yuan spent on the new gas stove and griddle, and 115 yuan for replacing the gas tank, the total expenses rose to 1,124.2 yuan.

The final profit was 9,375.8 yuan.

To celebrate this historic moment, Ma Lu immediately opened a shopping app and ordered a latex mattress.

He had always felt that the palm fiber mattress in his bedroom was too hard, barely 3 cm thick—a cheap one bought by the landlord just to satisfy tenants.

When he was unemployed, he made do with it, but now that he had money, it was definitely time for an upgrade.

Ma Lu then had Old Wang pick out two kitchen appliances, and he didn’t forget about No. 6 either, buying it a Redmi phone.

No. 6 liked to eat phones and wasn’t picky about brands; factors that consumers cared about, like system smoothness or bugs, didn’t matter much for the Old-New Value.

So Ma Lu always went for the most cost-effective brand, preferably with a discount.

However, he hadn’t decided what to upgrade next.

The priority for upgrading the Traveler’s Bracelet and the chef’s knife wasn’t very high, and the Collection Bag was already at level 3, requiring 400 points of new value for the next upgrade.

The exchange rate of cash to new value was about 100:1, meaning Ma Lu would need to spend 40,000 yuan to increase the carrying capacity by another 100 pounds.

It wouldn’t be a loss, as no one ever complained about bringing back too much stuff.

But 40,000 was no small sum.

Moreover, while the Sandfish Burger was highly praised by everyone who tasted it, with people enthusiastically recommending it in their social circles and elsewhere, it was indeed a bit “harder to sell” compared to the fried meat patties and the Giant Claw King Roast.

The problem definitely wasn’t the taste; with a deliciousness rating of ★★☆, it was the undeniable top dish that Universe’s Best Snack Stall had ever sold.

The customers’ reactions confirmed this.

But for college students who would gather the entire dorm just to share the soup from a bowl of instant noodles, 35 yuan for a single burger was clearly a bit too much.

Based on the first day’s trial, Ma Lu estimated that a daily sales volume of 400 servings should be maintainable, but anything beyond that would be difficult to achieve.

As it stands, the level 3 Collection Bag can already handle this supply volume.

This feeling… it’s like reaching a bottleneck in martial arts training.

Continuing to follow the usual routine won’t lead to any progress; a breakthrough is necessary.

Could it be time to rent a storefront and open a shop?

Otherwise, it would be difficult to increase prices or improve profit margins when hunting for higher-star ingredients in the future.

However, opening a store comes with its own set of problems: it requires a significant amount of startup capital, Old Wang is an unregistered resident, the source of the ingredients would be hard to explain, and there would be various inspections to deal with. Just thinking about it is enough to give you a headache.

Forget it; they're already making a decent amount, so it’s better to continue selling at the university entrance for a while longer.

Everyone knows that college students are like rapeseed flowers—seemingly not very profitable, but if you squeeze hard enough, you can still extract quite a bit.

In the following days, Ma Lu continued to sell burgers at the west gate of the Civil Aviation University with Old Wang, increasing daily sales to 400 servings and profits to 13,000 yuan.

Looking at the incoming payments on WeChat and Alipay, Ma Lu suddenly felt that setting up a stall outside his alma mater might not be such a bad idea.

However, on the fourth day, an unexpected incident occurred.

Ma Lu handed a freshly made burger to a couple in front of him. They were probably students from the university as well. The guy was tall and handsome, dressed in VETEMENTS, with Hogan sneakers on his feet.

The girl wasn’t wearing many brand-name items, but she had long legs, a slim waist, and an exceptional aura, standing out even among the beautiful crowd in the university.

Ma Lu couldn’t help but take a few extra glances. The guy was very attentive, constantly speaking to the girl.

“Nan Nan, if you want a burger, we can go to Blue Frog. What good stuff could come from a street stall? Or Slowboat is nice too. We can drive my new 001; it goes from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds.”

Zhang Yinan furrowed her brows slightly, “Cheng Cheng, don’t talk nonsense in front of the boss. I’ve heard from many people that these burgers are delicious, and I’ve wanted to try them for a while. Besides, we’ve already bought them, so don’t waste money.”

“This isn’t much money.” Cheng Cheng’s eyes never left Zhang Yinan. When he saw her take out her phone to pay, he quickly stepped in.

“Let me, let me. You can’t be splitting the bill with me when we’re eating at a street stall, right? How much?” His last question was directed at Ma Lu.

“70.”

“Huh?” Cheng Cheng was stunned, seemingly not expecting a street stall burger to cost this much. He blurted out, “Are you charging me extra because you recognized me and think I’m a big spender?”

Ma Lu pointed to the A4 paper posted on the snack stall, “Nope, it’s the same for everyone.”

“And you can actually sell this?”

“Why not?”

The response didn’t come from Ma Lu but from an elderly man nearby, wearing a white tank top and fanning himself with a palm fan. He spoke with a booming voice.

He had wandered here last week, saw how popular Universe’s Best Snack Stall was, and bought a Deep Sea Supreme King Roast out of curiosity. After eating, he became a loyal fan of the snack stall.

Now, he came by every few days, and when someone dared to question Master Wang’s skills, he would immediately stand up.

“Don’t throw those foreign words around. Let me tell you, you’re young and might not know—those foreign foods were all stolen from our Qing Dynasty.

“This burger? It’s just like our roujiamo, right? It’s all stolen by that Colonel Sanders or something when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded… So the most authentic burger has to be our Chinese one.”

(Translator's Note: The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, which was being besieged by the popular Boxer militiamen, who were determined to remove foreign imperialism in China. The allied forces consisted of about 45,000 troops from the eight nations of Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Austria-Hungary.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Nation_Alliance)

Ma Lu saw the old man was starting to ramble and quickly handed him his burger.

At that moment, Squid Bro, who was not far away, suddenly had a drastic change in expression. He dropped the squid skewer he was grilling and, with lightning speed, jumped onto his tricycle.

Previous

Next