pjbooks Chapter 22 Just Kidding
Chapter 22 Just Kidding
"As I just mentioned, the room fees for privately-run retirement apartments alone are over a thousand yuan."
Grandma Chen looked at Zhang Yang with a smile: "Now that we've also become a private company, haven't we? Young director, you need to learn to keep up with the times!"
"If the room rate doubles, the meal rate doubles, and the nursing care fee doubles again, and we bring in a few more elderly people to stay, wouldn't it be easy to earn tens of thousands more dollars a month?"
"Young Master, are you worried about having the money to repair this house?"
Grandma Chen patted the sofa beneath her and smiled even more brightly as she looked at Zhang Yang.
"Raising prices is definitely not an option!"
Before anyone else could speak, Li Xiaoyun grabbed the old lady, her face full of anxiety.
"When the grandparents moved in, it was agreed that the fees would be charged according to public school standards. They're definitely going to be unhappy if the price suddenly goes up."
"Oh dear, little Li, you're overthinking it."
Grandma Chen patted her hand with a smile and comforted her, "Don't underestimate the old men and women in our compound. Our retirement pensions are no less than yours."
"Spending an extra thousand or so dollars a month is not a problem."
"Not everyone is like that!"
Li Xiaoyun was still arguing her point when Old Mrs. Chen shook her head and looked at Zhang Yang: "Young Dean, what do you think?"
"I don't think it's very good!"
Zhang Yang gave the old lady a disapproving look and completely ignored her.
Let's not even talk about how the price increase will definitely lead to a decline in the satisfaction of the elderly people living in the facility.
Even just seeing those few words above Old Mrs. Chen's head right now wouldn't make him agree.
"The show is about to begin..."
Several large orange-red characters hung in mid-air, flashing brightly, almost blinding him.
Seeing Old Mrs. Chen's current mood, Zhang Yang didn't know what to say.
What's even stranger is that the favorability rating on the other side is actually quite high.
He had a score of 55, which was the highest among the people sitting in front of him.
Zhang Yang was so frustrated that he couldn't even complain.
Old Mrs. Chen wasn't trying to give him any advice.
They're teasing him again!
Are you planning to dig a hole for him to jump in, and then fill in the hole and watch the show, right?
"Mr. Chen, please rest assured, I will definitely not raise the cost of your hospitalization arbitrarily."
"Let me share my thoughts first, and then I'll hear everyone's opinions!"
Zhang Yang was also afraid of this old lady Chen, so he quickly and decisively cut the Gordian knot:
"We'll fill all the empty beds in the nursing home first, and then charge the same prices as private nursing homes. If there's no air conditioning, we can lower the price a bit."
"In addition, I think the nursing home's cafeteria is doing a great job, especially our healthy menu, so I'm wondering if we can expand the business."
"I believe that if we do well in these two aspects, we can increase the income of the hospital a lot, and then we should be able to solve the problem of repairing the house and installing air conditioning."
In order to avoid being interrupted by Old Mrs. Chen again, he blurted out both of his thoughts in one breath.
Let's not even talk about increasing the number of guests; there are currently empty beds, so this is the simplest and most direct solution.
As for expanding the canteen's operations, that was something he only thought of after tasting the breakfast at the nursing home today.
After all, with Chef Xu's reputation, it would be a waste not to make use of it.
Right now, all he has is this nursing home and the elderly people living there, which is the lowest-cost approach.
It's just that Mr. Jiang has high blood pressure; otherwise, he would have loved to persuade the old man to come out of retirement and open a billiards training class.
He had considered other options, such as opening a fruit cutting shop.
However, the nursing home is located in a small alley and has no storefront on the street. Renting a storefront in a good location would put some financial pressure on them.
On the other hand, the functions currently linked to the system are all related to nursing homes, and he doesn't have the energy to do those things for the time being.
Of course, both of these methods still have some problems at present, otherwise he wouldn't have asked for everyone's opinions.
"We're a public school while they're private?"
Before anyone else could speak, Old Mrs. Chen spoke first, looking at Zhang Yang with a happy smile:
"Even though we all live in the same house, eat the same food, and have the same caregivers, we end up spending twice as much money as others."
"Won't the people who arrive later feel like they've been taken advantage of?"
Hearing her nitpicking, Chef Xu and Mr. Zhou both looked over with some surprise.
They'd all gotten to know each other pretty well after living together for so long, and they were quite puzzled. Wasn't Old Mrs. Chen usually someone who didn't like to talk to people?
Why are you talking so much today?
To be honest, even Grandma Chen herself didn't know.
Perhaps it's because I've been living with these elderly people in the nursing home for too long and I'm getting a little bored.
So when the old lady heard that Zhang Yang had bought the house and become the new dean here, she immediately became interested in him.
Hmm, this feeling... is kind of like finding a beloved toy.
Anyway, he always wanted to tease Zhang Yang whenever he had the chance.
"And another thing, aren't you a little too shrewd with your calculations?"
The old lady dusted off her trouser legs and looked at Zhang Yang: "Old Xu's family is here to retire, not to work for you."
"It's one thing to help manage the cafeteria for free, but you can't really treat people like your own employees. What if Old Xu gets sick from overwork once the restaurant opens? Who's going to take responsibility then?"
While her words were critical, they weren't entirely without merit, and speaking them out could be seen as a way of reminding Zhang Yang.
The main reason is that the nursing home is quite comfortable, and she's already used to living there, so naturally she doesn't want her nice place to be turned into a mess.
Of course, more importantly, teasing the dean is addictive, and she hasn't had enough yet.
"Well, I can manage the kitchen in the yard, but if we really open a restaurant, we'll definitely be too busy with so many customers."
Grandma Xu nodded with a smile.
She volunteered to help manage the kitchen because she found the food in the courtyard rather unpalatable.
It's also a way of helping these old friends in the courtyard.
She definitely doesn't have any idea about making money by opening a restaurant.
Otherwise, given her status as a state banquet chef, if word gets out, people will be scrambling to get her to come out of retirement.
It wasn't Zhang Yang's place to bring it up.
"Yes, thank you for reminding me, Mr. Chen..."
Zhang Yang smiled and nodded at Grandma Chen. He had actually thought of these questions before, so he didn't think there was anything wrong with what she said.
However, he was still somewhat surprised to see the words "good advice" above the old man's head.
Weren't we just ready to watch the show?
Why are you getting serious all of a sudden?
But he wasn't in the mood to talk to Old Chen any longer.
Although Chef Xu's smile didn't change much after hearing his suggestion, his favorability rating dropped by several points and was about to reach 40.
"Grandma Xu, don't worry, I don't want to open one of those fancy restaurants..."
Zhang Yang first comforted the old man, saying, "I want to use this nursing home building and your reputation to start a private kitchen."
"Reservations are required in advance, and only one table is available per day, specifically for high-end clients."
"You will be in charge of the operation. The nursing home will provide the venue, and we can subsidize the maintenance costs and such."
"You don't need to do it yourself, just give some guidance like you would in charge of the cafeteria."
"We can also promote the healthy recipes that you and Director Li researched."
This was something he had planned from the beginning.
The agreement only stated that the nursing home would continue to be operated, and that the house could not be traded or mortgaged, but it did not say that a restaurant could not be operated as an additional business.
Of course, opening a restaurant like that is impossible, since there are still so many elderly people living in nursing homes.
So Zhang Yang wondered if he could make high-end private dishes.
With a chef specializing in state banquets overseeing the dining experience, coupled with this grand villa, there's no doubt that both the dining environment and the food will be top-notch.
The dining area can be set up on the fourth floor, separate from the living area of the elderly in the courtyard.
The entire fourth floor is used as office space, and there are still quite a few empty rooms. Alternatively, we could offer up his office, the dean's office.
He doesn't usually need such a large office, and this room is the only one in the whole building that is in the very center and has the best view.
As for the healthy recipes he mentioned earlier, that's a direction he plans to develop after his private kitchen has gained a reputation.
When he was researching online before, he also looked into the situation and current state of this matter.
Living standards have certainly improved a lot, and people have started to pay more attention to food hygiene and health. The aging trend has also begun to emerge.
There should be some basic knowledge required to do this.
Of course, if you're going to offer private dining services to high-end clients, there's one crucial issue that needs to be addressed...
"Hehe, a high-end client, huh? Young Dean, you're quite the smooth talker, aren't you?"
After hearing this, Old Mrs. Chen laughed and said, "Then I'd like to ask, high-end clients aren't like cabbages, they're not everywhere..."
"Where are you planning to look?"