Operation Feed The Street 2

Chapter 16

Uncle Ken had allowed me access to his bar to sell the meat. I planned to sell grilled meat because that is one of the food men could cook. And lucky for me Uncle Ken had all the materials to grill meat, so I did not need to buy them.

The only thing I needed to buy was meat, seasoned spices, plates, and an apron. I wanted to look as hygienic as possible. It is not like the people who were going to buy the meat would care about how hygienic the person selling the meat would be. 

This was the first time I was going to cook steak for people to eat so despite the hype of success I did not want to spend too much money on cooking my first time. I want to intentionally create a shortage on the first day to increase demand.

This was one of the most important lessons taught in marketing classes finding ways to create excessive demand for your limited supply. When this happens, you can determine the price of your products and regulate the behavior of your customers.

But you should be careful not to charge exorbitant prices because the product is new, and people have been living without it. So, your new product be affordable and make people realize what they are lacking.

Marketing is all about finding the right channels to please a consumer. If you are able to understand this, you can call yourself a marketing person.

Before buying the ingredients, I decided to stop and have a meal. Yesterday I did not eat much. So today I was not going to spare the food that was going to be placed in front of me.

I decided to settle for pancakes with maple syrup, butter, chocolate, and fruity juice. The time was now 10 am so there was no need for me to rush I could take as much time as I wanted.

Looking through the window of the restaurant, I realized most of the streets in Manhattan were empty. It was not really empty but as compared to the rush hour this was empty. 

"Ah, so how would my life have been had I not decided to change the way I was going on with my life? Ahhh, let's be real I would never have found a job and had settled for maybe a teacher. I guess that too is not bad. I would have become a history teacher and taught American teenagers the history of their great nation. Hahahahah how ironic an African immigrant teaching Americans about history."

I laughed at that train of thought because it was so funny and true. I would indeed have settled for a teacher had I not gotten a job. And besides which school would not employ a Straight A student from the university?

After I finished eating, I placed $30 on the table and headed out. The meal had cost $20 but I wanted to be a gentleman to the beautiful cashier who was coming to collect the bill. When she took hold of the money, she looked shocked. I turned around and winked at her. Right now, money ain't a problem for me. 

After the meal, I realized how stupid I was. I had eaten too much for my own for my good. I even began questioning myself if the exercise I had yesterday was even useful. I guess I should visit there in the morning to prevent situations like this from happening.

Feeling stuffed and fulfilled I entered the nearest supermarkets and started buying the necessary ingredients for the steak grilling. I bought 20 pounds of strip steak, garlic, salt, black pepper, apple cider vinegar, BBQ sauce, honey, molasses, seasoned spices, lemon, and other spices. I knew these ingredients were more than necessary, but I wanted my steak to be the best and have a variety of flavors.

Everything cost me around $300. I think I had bought more than needed which was not a problem because I can always use the remaining ingredients tomorrow, but the steak needs to be finished tonight. 

After buying these ingredients I took a cab and rode back to the bar to start setting up my workstation. I needed to make sure the smell coming from the grill should be nicely scented to pull people to my side. The time was noon, I just needed to wait for the time to strike 5 pm before starting to cook.