Infinite Cosmic Cafeteria Chapter 54: Sinking

Translator: Stellar Novels Editor: Stellar Novels

Despite bringing back 4-star ingredients, Ma Lu found himself in a dilemma, unable to finalize today’s menu.

Old Wang wasn’t in a rush either, patiently waiting in the kitchen.

Ma Lu stared at several recipe options in front of him. Among them, the 【Giant Lizard Risotto】 had a deliciousness rating of ★★★, the highest among the dishes he could currently prepare.

According to Ma Lu’s pricing standards, the Giant Lizard Risotto would need to be sold for at least 40 yuan, especially since some of the ingredients weren’t cheap. To maintain profitability, the ideal price would be around 50 yuan.

However, this price was clearly unsuitable for the area near the university. Last time, he felt the pressure even when selling the Sandfish Burger for 35 yuan. If he pushed the risotto to over 50 yuan, who knows how much the sales would drop.

This was why Ma Lu was planning to open a shop, but even if he started preparations now, opening within a month would be considered fast.

So, Ma Lu and Old Wang would still have to operate their street stall for at least another month.

Although selling at the original price wasn’t impossible—the main ingredients were free, and the profit margins of Universe’s Best Snack Stall were already among the highest in the business—Ma Lu wouldn’t earn any less than before. But as a principled and ethical operator, he couldn’t betray his customers.

If people could enjoy even more delicious food for the same or even lower price, wouldn’t that make those who had previously supported him feel like fools?

He could not let his loyal customers feel let down!

However, raising prices had clearly reached its limit. Ma Lu shifted his attention to another recipe.

【Lava Lizard Sausage】, with a deliciousness rating of ★★☆.

Ma Lu pointed to the dish and asked Old Wang, “How big is this sausage? What’s the meat content?”

“About 1 jin (500g) with 90% meat content.”

“That big? Can it be made smaller?”

Old Wang shook his head, “Size also affects the grilled taste.”

“No worries, we can slice it up after grilling and sell it in smaller portions.”

Ma Lu realized he had been stuck in a mindset problem. Since students generally have limited spending power, and raising prices wasn’t feasible, why not reduce portion sizes instead?

Selling smaller portions would allow him to lower prices. Plus, his Collection Bag had been upgraded to level 3, allowing him to bring back even more ingredients.

Ma Lu pulled out his phone and did some calculations. He brought back a total of 600 jin of Lava Lizard meat.

If each sausage used 50g of meat, requiring 45g of Lava Lizard meat, he could make 6,666 sausages. Selling each at 16 yuan would net him 106,656 yuan.

That’s about a 32.4% increase compared to selling Sandfish Burgers, and Ma Lu was pleased with this result.

Clearly, focusing on the lower-end market was the way to go, but this strategy also meant higher sales volume. He would need to sell over a thousand sausages daily.

Well, that shouldn’t be a problem; Civil Aviation University had a population of 40,000 students and staff.

Following his usual routine, Ma Lu went to the farmers’ market to buy the remaining ingredients and handed everything over to Old Wang before heading back to his room for some rest.

When he woke up, he found the fan group chat buzzing with excitement. Everyone had pretty much figured out the pattern of Universe's Best Snack Stall’s new product releases and knew that Ma Lu typically changed the menu once a week.

And since the timing matched up, they were all eagerly guessing what the new item for the upcoming week would be and how much it would cost.

Guesses for the new item ranged wildly, from pizza to braised pork rice and marinated intestines—it was a chaotic mix of speculation.

However, on the second question of pricing, everyone was surprisingly unanimous, all believing that the new product would continue to be more expensive.

—“The greedy boss only knows how to make money; everything gets pricier and pricier!”

As soon as the first brave soul stepped up to criticize, many others immediately chimed in.

—“Yeah, yeah, if the prices go up again, I really won’t be able to afford it!”

—“Right, it can’t keep going up. We’re just students, we’re not working yet, where are we supposed to get that kind of money?”

—“Relax, you won’t have money even after you start working. Look at our senior; he’s resorted to setting up his own stall.”

—“He calls himself a senior, but doesn’t even offer a student discount—so disappointing.”

Among the outraged voices, only Hou Yihan timidly defended Ma Lu.

—“That’s not true; the boss uses high-quality ingredients, so his costs are probably really high. He’s not making that much profit.”

However, her voice was weak, and few paid attention.

The people making the loudest complaints knew very well that Universe's Best Snack Stall used great ingredients and tasted amazing; the higher price was justified. Their complaints were more about putting pressure on Ma Lu because if the food was really expensive and tasted bad, they would simply stop buying it.

This is a tactic that young people in China have perfected after countless rounds of battles with mobile game companies.

But Ma Lu also played mobile games, and he could see through their strategy immediately.

So, he sent a single message.

—“16”

The group chat exploded as soon as Ma Lu appeared.

—“Ah, Senior is here.”

—“Senior, someone was badmouthing you just now. I’ve noted down all their IDs, and I’ll give them to you if you let me try the new item for free.”

Someone else asked:

—“What’s 16? Is the new item only for those 16 and older? That intense?”

—“No, 16 is the price of the new item.”

Ma Lu continued typing.

All the chat groups erupted.

—“Whoa, seriously?! This is even more intense!”

—“So cheap! Unbelievable, the new item didn’t go up in price—it actually went down? Senior’s been possessed!”

—“Someone pinch me, am I dreaming? This... this must be the lowest price in history, right?”

—“Yes, even the fried meat patties were 18 before.”

—“Wow, Senior, are you doing charity work? I’ll definitely vote for you in the next Civil Aviation University Top Ten Inspirational Figures.”

—“Wait, does our school have that event? How did I not know?”

…

The chat was flooded with messages, filled with cheers, and those who had previously criticized Ma Lu were hurriedly deleting their comments.

The group was more festive than a holiday until, three minutes later, someone remembered there was still a key question left.

—“By the way, Senior, what’s the new item this week?”

—“Volcano Sausage.”

As soon as Ma Lu sent out those four words, the group chat went silent.

Then, someone slowly typed a question mark.

More and more people lined up neatly, each adding a question mark.

—“Anyone who wants to try, meet at the usual spot in half an hour.”

Ma Lu posted this in the group, then put his phone back in his pocket and went to help Old Wang load the ingredients onto the tricycle. By the time they arrived at the west gate, a crowd had already gathered.

Ma Lu greeted Squid Brother and skillfully parked the tricycle, setting up the stall in under half a minute.

Old Wang, as usual, remained silent. He took out the griddle previously used for cooking burger patties, heated it up, brushed it with cooking oil, and then placed four pre-stuffed sausages on it.

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