Chapter 93: Different Management Views

Last night, Liu Heming slipped out in the middle of the night. He saw that Charming Girl still liked eating the sweet potato stems quite a bit. Liu Heming and his daughter and the Bear Cubs stayed there a little longer. The result was that both the father and daughter slept in the next morning, while the Bear Cubs were just fine.

He got his sleepy daughter out of bed. Right after they finished washing up and came downstairs, they saw Amelia with two other girls chatting with Sasha downstairs.

“Sorry, I kept Alex out playing a bit late last night,” Liu Heming said a bit awkwardly.

“It’s fine, you’re our Boss after all. Are we going to talk about the salary today?” Amelia asked with a smile.

“It seems Lewis told you? You don’t regret coming to work for me?” Liu Heming asked with a smile as he sat down.

“Not at all. For now, we only have these two types of food, but I’m sure there will be more in the future,” Amelia said with a smile.

“Oh, I almost forgot to introduce them. This is Bella and Eileen. They can already wrap dumplings skillfully, but they still need practice with rolling the dough. Even I am quite slow at it.”

Liu Heming nodded. “Hello, I don’t need to introduce myself. I thought about it yesterday. Since our work environment is unique at the moment, and we have to consider Lewis’s operations, I’ll pay you a monthly salary of two thousand US Dollars per person.”

He paused briefly, watching their reactions before continuing, “But it’s a bit different from Lewis’s place: you probably won’t get many tips. So, we’ll have a monthly bonus instead. The bonus amount will depend on the monthly sales.”

“Amelia will get an extra three hundred US Dollars per month as a position allowance. It’s not a lot, but she’ll help me manage things over there. Lately, I need to spend time with Alex, and the ranch will require more attention in the future too. Even if I develop other dishes suitable for selling later on, I probably still won’t have much time to focus on the restaurant.”

“Boss, could you give us a rough idea of what range the bonus might be in?” Amelia asked after a moment’s thought.

“I really can’t say for sure, because I can’t predict exactly how sales of our dumplings and Chinese Hamburger will go,” Liu Heming replied, shaking his head with a smile.

“But judging from the sales over the past couple of days, if things stay as they are, I think their total monthly earnings could exceed twenty-five hundred US Dollars.”

“However, one more thing: if we earn a lot more in the future, you’ll probably be very busy. Unless we have a measurable sales volume, I can’t really hire additional workers.”

“OK, I don’t have any problem with that,” Amelia said, snapping her fingers.

“We don’t have any issues either. It doesn’t feel like we’re just doing odd jobs,” Bella said with a smile after she and Eileen exchanged a look.

“Alright, Bella and Eileen can head to the restaurant first. Amelia, please stay for a moment,” Liu Heming nodded.

After the two left, Liu Heming waved Amelia over and took her straight to the kitchen.

The braised marinated meat wasn’t a big issue. The master stock for it was kept at his place, and only a small portion was at the restaurant; they just needed to add seasonings periodically. The slight challenge was with the dumplings. They seemed simpler, but the process here was more complex.

For other people’s dumplings, they might use a meat grinder for the filling, but here, they chopped it by hand. For now, it was manageable—he chopped some each day, being strong and quick, so he could handle it. But if sales increased later, he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

Another thing was the filling preparation. All this needed to be explained to Amelia carefully. With food, flavor is the most important. If the taste changes often, it’s hard to keep customers.

Watching Liu Heming chop the meat with a knife in each hand, Amelia was amazed. The knives moved so fast, and the large chunk of beef was soon turned into filling.

“For now, the demand is small. You can just come here every day to get the filling. When we need more later, you’ll have to mix it at the restaurant,” Liu Heming said with a smile.

“At that point, we’ll need to hire a couple of strong young men to specialize in chopping the meat. You girls probably wouldn’t be able to manage that.”

“Boss, is it really necessary to do it this way?” Amelia asked curiously.

“Of course. Only this way gives the best flavor for the filling. If you want, you can try it yourself at the restaurant today and see the difference in taste.”

Liu Heming spent over half an hour preparing three large bowls of meat filling. That would be enough for the day’s sales. If Amelia took it over now, added onions and seasonings, it would be just right for their lunch service.

Amelia’s car didn’t have a trunk, so Liu Heming had to let her use his.

“Boss, the car is great. Your wife is really beautiful, no wonder Alex is so cute,” Amelia said, sticking her head out after starting the car.

“Actually, I, as the father, also played a big part in that,” Liu Heming replied with a smile. “Work hard, and soon we’ll open our own restaurant.”

Amelia nodded firmly. She knew what Liu Heming meant by telling her that.

“Why did you tell them the salary standards? Aren’t you afraid they might slack off?” Sasha asked curiously.

She had come out to see Amelia off as well, since in others’ eyes, she and Liu Heming were a couple. She heard Amelia’s compliment but ignored it, focusing more on her question now.

“That might be where my thinking differs from others,” Liu Heming said with a smile.

“Many people think keeping individual salaries confidential is better for business, but I believe making salaries transparent helps everyone work together more easily.”

“If any of them do slack off, I don’t think the others will easily accept it. And by giving them a clearer idea of the pay scale, they know what kind of attitude they need to have to earn higher wages.”

“My main focus has to be on the ranch. Later, I also need to build a house for Alex. If we have more money later, I’d like to buy a big airplane, so Alex can come visit whenever she wants.”

Sasha glanced at Liu Heming with some surprise. She could tell he was serious, but she really couldn’t imagine how, given the ranch’s current state, he could ever earn enough to buy an airplane.