Chapter 40: Boss Chen's Concern for His Employees

"Dinner time!"

Xiaolang raised his grilled flatbread and shouted,

"Let's eat and then head to the beach for some singing!"

A few minutes later,

the dinner table was silent.

Xiaolang was left holding his flatbread alone, the atmosphere growing increasingly awkward.

"Why aren't you eating?" Xiaolang asked.

"Too tired, need a break." Daodun said weakly.

"Yeah, exhausted and sleepy... Let's skip the singing tonight, maybe another time, Brother Lang."

Hongbei, leaning against the wall, yawned.

"Brother Lang, do you have a spoon?"

Qingpan asked weakly, "My hands hurt, I really don't want to use chopsticks."

"Yeah, so tired..."

Everyone at the table sighed in exhaustion.

Seeing his employees so worn out,

Chen Jianhai felt a pang of heartache.

He stood up, grabbed a small spoon from a nearby cabinet,

and without a word, sat beside Qingpan, scooping up a spoonful of soup and bringing it to Qingpan's mouth.

"Come on, open up, I'll feed you."

Whoa!

Qingpan's pupils shrank, and he sat up straight, frantically leaning back.

"No need, boss, I can do it myself."

Qingpan, now fully alert, snatched the spoon, picked up the bowl of soup in front of him, and gulped it down without a word.

"That's better."

Seeing Qingpan eat heartily, Chen Jianhai's face showed a kind smile.

"Why aren't you all eating?"

Suddenly, Chen Jianhai turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the employees sitting dumbfounded at the table, looking puzzled.

"If you're too tired, I'll feed you?"

The exhausted employees shuddered upon hearing this.

Without a word, Daodun grabbed a grilled flatbread with his left hand and stuffed it into his mouth, nearly choking.

Hongbei, hands trembling, picked up the beef dumpling soup in front of him and drank it, as if toasting.

Beicai grabbed the egg fried rice in front of him, poured several spoonfuls of chili oil on it, and started eating.

They had been working all day and were starving.

Not eating was one thing.

But once they started, the feeling of hunger surged like a tidal wave,

each of them eating voraciously, unable to control themselves.

Watching his kitchen staff wolf down their food,

Chen Jianhai fell silent...

The workload in the kitchen was simply too much.

The current staff was just not enough!

If they didn't expand, these people would be worn out in no time.

Feelings of guilt and self-blame spread through Chen Jianhai's heart.

If only he had hired more chefs and staff sooner,

his employees wouldn't be this exhausted!

Although he was doing his best to provide service to the guests every day,

it seemed he had been neglecting his own staff.

While Boss Chen was reflecting on himself,

the large table of food was cleaned up in just about ten minutes.

Since they had to get up early for work the next day, no one drank alcohol,

this meal was just to fill their stomachs.

When everyone had almost finished eating,

Hongbei, feeling a bit shy, spoke to Chen Jianhai.

"Boss, I want to discuss something with you."

Chen Jianhai asked, "What is it?"

Hongbei said, "Today I made over a hundred small cakes according to the event's limited menu, and I had some insights and gains in the process."

"I was wondering,"

"Can I make a slushie during the limited event?"

After hearing this,

Chen Jianhai looked at Hongbei with surprise and delight.

In such a high-pressure work environment, having insights and gains was already commendable.

Even more commendable was that,

in such a busy work environment, an employee was willing to take the initiative to try creating new dishes,

this kind of dedication and research behavior, he had no reason to refuse!

"Sure!"

Chen Jianhai replied affirmatively:

"As long as you can ensure the supply of the limited menu items, go ahead and do it."

Hongbei's eyes lit up,

"Okay, boss!"

"Actually, I wanted to do it this afternoon, but since it wasn't on the limited menu, I didn't dare to try."

Chen Jianhai waved his hand, "Go ahead and do it!"

"But you need to make a sample for me to taste tomorrow morning, and I'll need to check the ingredients."

"If the ingredients are too expensive, it might not be feasible."

"Don't worry, boss, it's not expensive!"

Hongbei's tired face lit up,

his trembling hands eager to start,

wishing he could go back to the kitchen right now and get to work.

...

The meal was finished quickly.

Around 11:00 PM,

the group, with their stomachs full, shakily got into the taxi that Boss Chen had called,

and returned to the Lang Ai Hotel, just 200 meters away.

Compared to the bustling daytime,

the hotel at night had a unique beauty.

The purple fairy lights outlined the hotel's silhouette against the night sky,

the small dolphins and colorful bubbles on the walls twinkling softly,

like a fairy tale world asleep,

quiet and gentle.

The receptionists at the front desk had also been given the night off by Boss Chen, allowing them to get a good night's sleep.

Throughout the day,

the receptionist's voice had gone hoarse, making Zhu Tingting feel extremely distressed,

spending the night serving her honey water and throat lozenges, spreading a wave of PDA among the hotel staff.

The doorman stood guard outside,

yawning and playing on his phone,

in the empty lobby,

Chen Jianhai held a calculator, keeping watch alone,

"Drinks: 5 yuan per cup, sold... 5760 cups?!"

Chen Jianhai muttered to himself, then suddenly widened his eyes.

Just from drinks, the day's revenue was 28,800 yuan?!

Whoa!

That much?

Chen Jianhai was instantly awake.

The hotel had a total of five Mr. Octopus self-service drink machines,

each with eight tentacles, each tentacle dispensing a drink every 5 seconds,

on average,

each Mr. Octopus machine could dispense 720 drinks per hour.

... Was the consumption really this high!?

Boss Chen started flipping through the account books frantically.

And then he looked at the income from the arcade machines!

The hotel now had ten different types of arcade machines,

each costing 10 yuan per play,

so the ten machines had generated over 7200 yuan today.

And then...

The soft slingshot moving target game!

Each game required 10 soft bullets, each bullet costing 2 yuan, so each game cost 20 yuan.

The three machines generated over 20,000 yuan.

The calculator clicked loudly as Boss Chen pressed it,

the more Chen Jianhai calculated, the more excited he became.

The pirate ship buffet brought in about 40,000 yuan,

plus the limited small cakes sold for over 20,000 yuan,

in one day, not counting room fees, they had earned over 100,000 yuan!!!

Including room fees, the day's revenue could reach 240,000 yuan.

After deducting utilities, maintenance, staff salaries, and other expenses,

they had a net profit of 200,000 yuan a day!

Chen Jianhai collapsed into his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling, dumbfounded.