Joko was still thinking about the deaths of those thugs.
But he didn't dare voice his thoughts to the system again.
He moved on autopilot: taking orders, cooking, preparing them, greeting customers, giving free drinks to online drivers, and cleaning up the leftovers.
(System, this can't go on forever. I need to hire employees to at least greet customers, prepare orders, and clean up.)
Joko could feel his energy draining away.
He glanced at the wall clock. It was already 5:35 p.m.
And he still hadn't prepared the stock for tomorrow.
(Host, in three days, someone will come and help you.)
(Why not just hire someone? All I need is a regular employee.)
Joko felt uncomfortable whenever the system offered direct assistance. He could feel his freedom of movement becoming restricted.
Everything would always depend on the system.
(Host can certainly hire employees. But can you trust them one hundred percent? Remember, Host, the employees you hire will handle the ingredients and the money coming in and going out. At the very least, you need a reliable manager.)
The system had a point.
Joko often heard about dishonest employees who stole raw materials and manipulated the cashier system. They stole money that was supposed to be turned in.
(All right.)
Joko could only nod in agreement with what the system had said.
“Excuse me, can I ask you something? What are you selling here?”
Joko raised his head. A man around his age stood there with a potbelly, dressed like one of the trendiest kids from Jakarta Selatan, holding a phone stick in his face.
“Garlic fried chicken, man. You can choose regular rice or lime-leaf rice. A regular rice combo with iced tea is only 18,000, while chicken with lime-leaf rice and iced tea is 22,000.”
Joko told the influencer about his newest menu items.
After a day of selling, Joko had realized that not everyone wanted lime-leaf rice. So he added another option: regular rice.
It was also cheaper, so many of his customers chose regular rice over lime-leaf rice.
“Oh, I’ll take two lime-leaf rice combos with iced tea. We’ll eat here.”
The man handed his phone to his assistant and paid for the food.
“Same here. Would it be okay if we review the food?” He scanned the QR code on display and began asking Joko questions.
Joko could only roll his eyes internally. (Isn't it a little late to ask now?)
“No problem, man. Go ahead.” Joko kept smiling professionally.
“Wow, then let's start the interview.
“How long have you been selling here?”
The influencer held his microphone out toward Joko.
“I just started yesterday.”
“Wait, just yesterday? But it was already pretty crowded earlier.”
“Well, it's been decent. There are always people ordering.”
Joko downplayed it. He hadn't expected the system's training to be so useful. It wasn't just Sisca and her marketing and sales division placing repeat orders. It had even reached the finance division.
His offline sales were doing fairly well too. The high school girl had come back yesterday to try it again. A few men and women from the surrounding area had also stopped by.
“Can we film you cooking and serving the food too?”
“Sure. As it happens, this is the last of my stock.”
“Why is it the last of your stock? It's still afternoon.”
“I don't have enough manpower, man. I'm handling everything myself.”
“Have you considered hiring employees?” the food blogger asked again.
“I plan to hire someone, man. But first I want to see whether I can still handle things on my own. For now, I'll keep doing it myself.”
While they chatted, Joko had already prepared their order.
It actually hadn't taken very long, since only the chicken needed to be fried.
The rice, sambal, and iced tea were all ready.
“Here you go.”
“Wow, the portion is seriously generous. And this is in Jakarta. At 22,000, it's totally worth it considering the portion size.”
The food blogger began reviewing Joko's food.
Joko could only watch the filming process while shaking his head. The review used such strange language that even he was confused.
“The garlic chicken is really garlicky. The lime chicken really tastes like lime.”
What kind of review was that?
But Joko never expected the review he thought was half-assed to actually be… fairly successful?