God-Given Business Genius

We’ve come this far in the blink of an eye.

Starting from a small soup rice restaurant on the second floor, to now occupying a spacious ground floor location. Before my regression, it took more than twice as long to reach this point.

It’s quite a nostalgic feeling.

“Ah, I’ll take a look at the kitchen and check the layout too.”

Of course, I’ll keep my joy to myself and focus on the tasks at hand.

Checking the restaurant’s layout can be tricky for novice owners, so I decided to do it myself.

“Ugh…. When you say it like that, it makes me nervous for some reason.”

Lee In-cheol grumbled unnecessarily.

“Hm? I’m not a grade school kid getting my diary checked. Why am I so jittery over this?”

“Come on. You’re doing well, just putting on a show.”

I consoled the grumbling Lee In-cheol and then swept my gaze around the place once more.

“Hmm~ First, let’s clear away all these potted plants with congratulatory messages, shall we? They make the place look cluttered.”

Starting with that observation, I smoothly moved inside.

Overall, it had a clean feel with just a touch of intentional old-fashioned charm.

Since this area sees a lot of young people passing through, we added a hint of trendiness to avoid feeling out of place.

The interior design is good. The image of the restaurant as you enter is clean and pleasant.

“The location of the cashier is good too. The layout isn’t bad. If the path for servers to refill side dishes and handle payments is too long, it doubles their fatigue.”

And that not only lowers work efficiency but can also be a reason part-timers don’t last long.

Skilled workers are valuable anywhere. Experienced part-timers who are familiar with the restaurant’s operations are valuable in themselves.

They make fewer mistakes and maintain a consistent quality of service for customers.

“Ah, let’s put the water cups over here. Hmm~ Creating a self-service bar to reduce labor costs is a good idea.”

As the restaurant expands, the number of servers needs to increase too, but maintaining the minimum appropriate number of staff is crucial in the food business.

After all, labor costs are typically the largest fixed expense.

“Alright. I’m taking notes on everything.”

Lee In-cheol said, following behind me. After thoroughly inspecting the kitchen and listing all the points to be modified, I finally stood at the entrance, looking back inside.

“Hmm….”

I was wondering what was bothering me. This is the issue.

“Boss.”

“Yeah?”

“How many tables are there in total?”

“About 16. We could squeeze in 18 if we packed them tighter, but that might make it uncomfortable to move around, so we stuck with 16.”

Lee In-cheol said, glancing at me to gauge my reaction.

“…But for a soup rice restaurant, turnover rate is crucial. Should we have packed in a few more? We do have some extra tables in storage. We could add more now if needed.”

“No.”

I shook my head.

It’s the opposite.

“Let’s remove more tables. Take out 4 more, leaving only about 12.”

“What?”

Lee In-cheol exclaimed in surprise.

“Isn’t that too few? Even in our previous place, we had about this much space between tables. This is already more spacious than most places.”

“We’ll add more later. But for now, 12 is the right number to start with.”

Faced with my firm stance, Lee In-cheol looked utterly perplexed. The fact that he didn’t snap back with “Don’t be ridiculous” was testament to his deep trust in me.

“Why did we move to this bigger place in the first place? Wasn’t it to reduce the waiting time? But if we only put in 12 tables…… It might be a bit shorter than before, but there will still be quite a long wait. At least that’s how I see it.”

“I suppose so.”

“You suppose so?”

Lee In-cheol echoed my words, his eyes widening.

“In-seok. Are you trying to get me cursed at so I’ll live a long life?”

“Trust me and start with 12 tables. You can gradually increase the number of tables later as you see fit, but you need to maintain 12 for at least the first month after the expansion move.”

“How does it make sense to move to a bigger place and then remove existing tables!”

Despite his outburst, Lee In-cheol didn’t say he absolutely wouldn’t do it. This is why I like this Boss.

“You’ll see.”

I confidently declared to Lee In-cheol.

“Once we start business, you’ll understand why I told you to reduce the number of tables.”

Exactly two weeks after making that bold claim,

I saw Lee In-cheol’s name pop up on my phone screen and answered the call.

“Hello?”

-Woo-yeon. Song Woo-yeon, you were absolutely right! Reducing the number of tables was the correct answer!

I couldn’t hide the smile that broke out on my face. Leaning back deeply in my chair, I said,

“Didn’t I tell you? I said you’d understand once you saw it for yourself.”

Sometimes in life, acting contrary to common sense can be advantageous.

Even the widely accepted truth that “increasing table turnover rate is the shortcut to maximizing profits” is no exception.

How can that be?

It’s simple.

‘In the food business, not everything can be explained by logic alone.’

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“Assistant Manager Choi, shall we go for some soup rice?”

The man, Assistant Manager Choi, pondered for a moment at this rare suggestion.

“You mean Hapjae Soup Rice, right?”

“Yeah. It’s a famous spot, isn’t it?”

“These days, the wait is so long it’s hard to go during lunch break. It was better when no one knew about it.”

“That’s true, but a thriving business is more likely to survive long-term.”

Team Leader Min said as he got up from his seat.

“I’m craving a hot bowl of soup rice. Let’s go.”

Assistant Manager Choi had no real Assistant Manager Choice in the matter.

“Yes, sir.”

Of course, Hapjae Soup Rice was delicious, so it was worth eating even if it made their lunch break a bit tight. Their office did have a more generous lunch hour compared to others nearby.

“Ah, I heard they moved to a new location recently? It’s supposed to be bigger.”

At those words, Assistant Manager Choi’s face brightened a bit.

“Oh, really? That should be better than before.”

“You’d think so, right? Hmm. But we’ll have to see when we get there.”

“Pardon?”

He suggested going, and now he’s suddenly being so picky? Hapjae Soup Rice was always a surefire way to bring a smile to Team Leader Min’s face.

‘I have a report to submit this afternoon, so I hope he doesn’t get in a bad mood.’

Assistant Manager Choi discreetly observed Min’s expression.

“What’s wrong? Hapjae Soup Rice has always been delicious.”

“The owner must have made quite a bit of money.”

Team Leader Min frowned, recalling past experiences.

“When people get a taste of money, they tend to lose their original spirit. And now they’ve even expanded and relocated? That says it all.”

“Ah~”

“When a place moves due to good business and expands, they often raise prices. You know? And then they start looking for cheaper ingredients to increase their profit margins.”

Team Leader Min shuddered, saying he’d been burned many times before. These were common mistakes made by restaurants that expand and relocate.

With long lines of waiting customers, they think they have more than enough patrons even at this level.

And then, more often than not, even their existing customers start to drop off.

“That’s why expansion and relocation are a double-edged sword. It can completely disrupt the system they’ve built. The balance of flavors can be thrown off too.”

I see.”

Assistant Manager Choi nodded while inwardly thinking, ‘He’s ridiculously picky.’ He was sick and tired of hearing complaints and grumbles from this self-proclaimed gourmet Team Leader Min every time they ate.

“Let’s see. The new location should be right here……. Huh?”

Team Leader Min’s eyes widened.

Despite moving to a much larger space, there was still a line of waiting customers stretching out from the door.

“What’s this? Why is the line so long?”

“Ah. This place has been causing a stir on the internet lately. What was her name, ‘Chae-chae’? That eating show YouTuber went viral for eating the soup rice and snow flower bingsu here.”

“What did you say?”

“…Never mind.”

Assistant Manager Choi gave up on explaining. The effort required to make Team Leader Min understand concepts like eating shows seemed not worth it, so he decided it was better to keep quiet.

“Anyway, this place has been really popular lately. But I didn’t expect the main branch to be this crowded.”

“Sheesh. I thought the wait might have shortened a bit. But it’s still the same?”

Team Leader Min grumbled, his mouth turned down. Assistant Manager Choi quickly gauged his mood and asked,

“Should we look for somewhere else nearby?”

“Hmm…….”

Team Leader Min pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

“No, let’s eat here since we’ve come all this way. It’ll probably be crowded next time we come anyway.”

“Alright, let’s do that.”

So the two joined the line in front of the restaurant. The line seemed to move faster than before, allowing them to enter the restaurant sooner than expected.

“Wow. The place looks clean.”

“It does.”

The sophisticated atmosphere, different from before, felt a bit unfamiliar. But seeing familiar interior elements here and there, Assistant Manager Choi felt somewhat relieved.

He had been a bit upset that his little secret spot had become too famous. But now that he was here, it didn’t seem all that different.

The familiar restaurant owner was busy in the kitchen, and even the part-timer serving looked somewhat familiar.

Slurp.

Tasting the broth, the umami flavor was exquisite.

‘It’s still a great restaurant~’

Feeling that they had maintained their original spirit, Assistant Manager Choi opened his heart and started eating enthusiastically.

“Mmm~”

Letting out an involuntary exclamation, Assistant Manager Choi smiled broadly.

It seemed like he would be coming here often in the future.

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“That’s just how people’s hearts work.”

I twirled a strand of hair around my finger as I talked on the phone with Lee In-cheol.

“When a place expands and relocates, if they raise prices or pack tables so tightly that the turnover rate suddenly improves and the wait disappears…. somehow that previous charm is lost.”

Why do people seek out popular restaurants?

The reason they wait in line for an hour or two is that the wait itself builds anticipation for the restaurant.

As people crane their necks waiting for their turn, watching others happily enjoying their food inside, they naturally start to imagine.

How delicious could it be?

What kind of taste makes people line up like this?

That struggle becomes part of the seasoning. They say hunger is the best sauce? Well, the effort of waiting can be a sauce too.

After all, a hot bowl of soup rice eaten after enduring hardship is incomparably sweet.

In that sense, a moderate wait actually helps create the feeling of a ‘special restaurant’.

-I can’t believe it. People actually prefer the struggle? What’s that about?

Lee In-cheol grumbled, finding it hard to accept. How can human emotions be explained logically?

-And you, who sees through all this so clearly, what are you?

“Haha.”

What else? I’m a merchant who’s been through thick and thin, and even aerial combat.