After school ended, Josette headed for Becky’s shop.
“I wonder if it’s thanks to the energy drink Kent gave me? I feel surprisingly refreshed.”
Perhaps due to sleeping during class and the combined effect of the energy drink from Kent, Josette, who had been exhausted from lack of sleep and fatigue, was regaining her energy. Caro and Rachel had fixed her dirty, wrinkled uniform and messy hair, so she was back to her usual self.
“Becky, I’m here!”
“Oh, welcome, Josette.”
Josette entered Becky’s shop, where she was preparing for opening, and called out to her. Becky stopped her preparations and greeted Josette.
“How are the preparations going?”
“Yes, we can open the shop anytime.”
“I see. Well then, I’ll help out too.”
“Thank you.”
Josette put down her belongings and began helping in the shop. Soon, it was time to open.
“They’re not coming…”
“That’s right.”
Despite having prepared thoroughly for the opening, there was no sign of customers entering the shop.
“There’s something I need to tell you, Josette…”
“What is it?”
Becky said, looking apologetic.
“Actually, there’s a reason why no customers are coming to this shop.”
“Do you know why no customers have come since yesterday?”
“Yes. The truth is, our prices are too high.”
“Really? I didn’t feel that the prices were particularly high at all?”
Josette said, looking again at the menu on the table. Setting aside taste and quality for a moment, considering only the balance between quantity and price, she didn’t feel they were high at all. Her hobby of visiting street stalls had given her a sense of the market price. Compared to those stalls, she felt that the pricing of this shop was a little low in terms of quantity and market price. Furthermore, with proper procurement and improved ingredient quality, she thought the prices were nearly a bargain.
“Josette, if you look at the prices of other restaurants, you’ll understand.”
“Is that so? …There are no customers now, so I’ll go take a look.”
“Yes, please be careful.”
Saying so, Josette went to scout other shops.
“Becky, I’ve bought some souvenirs.”
“What? Welcome back. What are all those things you’re holding in both hands?”
“I felt bad just looking at the prices without buying anything, so I bought something from each shop.”
“You… you bought them?”
“Yes, since there are no customers, we can enjoy them later.”
Josette placed the baskets filled with food in both her hands on a nearby table.
“What about those baskets?”
“It was too difficult to carry so many things by hand, so I bought them from that shop.”
“Oh… I see.”
For Josette, it was a small amount of money that wouldn’t hurt her at all, but Becky was surprised by Josette’s ability to shop on a whim.
“However, after looking around, I understand. This shop’s prices are indeed high.”
The prices of other shops Josette had researched were vastly different, almost by an order of magnitude.
“Why is there such a difference?”
“Well, before, our prices were lower. But since I started running the shop by myself, the debt collectors have become more aggressive, even coming during business hours. Customers who disliked that stopped coming. Due to repaying the debt, I had to raise prices to survive. I repeated this, and by the time I realized it, our prices had exceeded the daily wages of the people living here. No one would come to a shop like that.”
Becky said with a dry laugh.
“I see, so that’s what happened. So, if we lower the prices, it should be fine, right?”
“It’s not that simple. I think if we work hard, they’ll gradually come back, but if we want to increase customers effectively, that alone won’t be enough.”
(I wonder what Kent would do in a situation like this?)
Suddenly, Josette remembered Kent. She highly valued his skill in transforming a small bakery into a leading shop in this town in just a few months.
(But I have my own way of doing things. If I don’t succeed at this and earn Kent’s evaluation, I’ll just be a burden as a mere young lady. There must be a better way.)
The reason Josette decided to try and rebuild this shop was also to gain Kent’s approval.
“Oh, speaking of which…”
“What is it?”
Josette remembered something that had caught her eye at a certain shop while she was visiting street stalls.
“I don’t know if it will work, but let’s try it. Will you help me?”
“Yes.”
Josette took out the bag she used for going to school and took out writing utensils and a notebook.
“Now, could you tell me the current menu you can offer?”
“Yes, with the current ingredients, we can offer the same things we did when my mother and I ran the shop… let’s see.”
Josette wrote down the menu items that Becky told her in her notebook.
“Um, aren’t books expensive? To write in one like this…”
“This is called a notebook, and it’s for writing.”
“So there is such a thing. And yet, your handwriting is so beautiful.”
Becky said, gazing at the writing appearing in the notebook with curiosity.
“I’ve finished writing. Now, could you tell me the previous prices?”
“Yes, … G, and this is… G.”
Josette added the original prices to her notebook.
“Then, what would be the amount considering the current procurement and profit?”
“Um… let’s see. This would be… G, and…”
After a moment of thought, Becky mentally calculated the cost and presented the amount with the profit added to Josette.
(Just as I thought, she’s quick at calculations.)
Since she had accompanied all the procurement today, she knew the amounts spent. Josette also mentally calculated the procurement costs and compared them to how much profit Becky had added.
“The cost has increased slightly.”
“Yes, before, I used to get materials from my mother’s acquaintances or at a very low price. But now I can’t do that, so I have to buy everything, which has increased the cost.”
“I understand. Then let’s go with this price. And for starters…”
Josette collected all the boards with menus on them placed on each table. Becky erased the writing, and Josette added the new menu and prices.
“I think the menu is about right.”
“It’s much easier to read than my handwriting.”
Looking at the menu with Josette’s beautiful handwriting, Becky said happily.
“Now for the next step.”
Josette tore out a few pages from the notebook she had just used and transcribed the text from the menu onto them. She then posted them on the window where they could be seen from outside. It was getting dark outside, and the shop’s interior lighting illuminated the paper with the menu and prices, making it readable from the outside. She could see passersby looking at it from inside the shop.
*Creeeak.*
A little while later, the shop’s door opened, and the first customer of the day entered.
“Welcome!”
Josette and Becky greeted the customer cheerily.
