| B-grade Gourmet |
July 26, 2018
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| He was a restaurant owner. His restaurant had a certain reputation, and the business was stable. He lived in a small city. After he graduated from high school, he entered chef training school. After that, he worked at a big restaurant in a big city. He worked hard from early morning till night. Then he returned to his city and started his own restaurant. It was several years ago. One day a city office worker came in and asked him to join the city's new project. This city's problem was lack of industry. The city had a hard time to invite factories and AI companies to relocate there. The location was not so bad. The nature was good. There were beautiful rivers, hiking mountain courses, and some old temples. But the city didn't have enough impact to attract companies as well as tourists. The new mayor of the city won the election saying that now was the time to revitalize the city; if not, the city would decline in this aging society. He agreed with the new mayor's idea. Citizens should have a sense of the crises. But this time, their new project seemed to be too easy; to make a new B-grade Gourmet. In this country, there was a term called 'B-grade Gourmet'. 'Gourmet' means a person  who knows a lot about good food and wines and who enjoys choosing, eating, and drinking them. 'Gourmet food' is of high quality and often expensive. So what is 'B-grade Gourmet'?'B-grade Gourmet' is a food that is inexpensive and common, but delicious and had some features in the particular area. One of the successful example was 'XXX yakisoba'. XXX was the name of the city. The XXX city government decided 'yakisoba'~ stir fried noodles with a brown sauce ~ as its B-grade Gourmet. The tourism section of the city used their budget to advertise it using cuisine magazines and their tourism website. They made brochures and distributed them to various tourism counters, travel agents, etc. 'XXX yakisoba' became famous and many tourists came to eat it. This effect helped this city's local economy and the city's budget. There appeared in other cities, 'YYY Gyoza Dumpling', 'ZZZ burger', 'WWW curry', 'VVV Pork Cutlet Bowl', etc. He was skeptical about this easy idea, to make a boom and sell product. It was totally different from his way of business. But, he was the type of person who couldn't refuse to help if he was asked eagerly. On this day, he attended the second meeting that the city held. The attendants were 10 young owners of restaurants, like himself who gathered to think about this city's new 'B-grade Gourmet'. The city worker in charge started to speak. City Worker: Last time we talked about what type of food our 'B-grade Gourmet' should be, and came to the conclusion of a 'Beef Bowl', and we are going to make the idea more concrete today c" One of the restaurant owners cut in: Owner A: I thought for a week about this and I got a second thought. 'Beef Bowl' made by this city's cows will become too expensive c. Owner B: Wo, wo, wo. The last time we talked about this. We already decided it. If somebody overturns it, we won't be able to make the deadline. The guy looked at the city worker. City Worker: That's right. Until the end of this month, we need to decide about details of the food. After that, each of you will start to make your own 'Beef Bowl' within one month. We will then make advertisements in a month which will be sent out to tourism sectors, including travel agencies, as well as the new website. We will hold press conferences for TVs and newspapers. This was his other concern. The pace of the project was really fast. The budget for this project was decided recently. In the middle of the financial year, one city withdrew from a project, and the national government asked other cities to apply. His city applied and was accepted. In this country's system, the projects using federal subsidies had to finish by the end of the financial year. So they only had a few months to complete the project. Owner C (himself): I asked one of my suppliers, who is a cow farmer. He said if we can make a contract for a certain amount of years with a fixed price, he can lower the price almost 30 present. There was a pleasant shout and applause from the other attendants. They started to talk about their 'Beef Bowl'. Owner D: As you know there are so many beef bowl restaurants in this country. But almost all of them are chain shops of major beef bowl companies. Because of the intensive competition, the price of them are dirt cheap. But, because of the price, the quality of the food isn't so good. If we achieve a certain quality of taste with some different looks, I believe we can make a business of this. Owner E: So we need quality and looks. Owner D: Yes, and I tried one thing. Do you want to try my trial version? It surprised the others. The guy had brought his trial version. The atmosphere became more relaxed, and they started to enjoy tasting. One of them asked. Owner F: How much is the cost? Owner D: It's a secret, but I can say if we use that 30 percent off on the beef, it can become competitive. Owner F: I'm honestly surprised with this quality. I can say if we add some other specific features, it will become very competitive. Owner G: How about fresh sliced cabbage between the rice and the meat. It will give it a healthy look, and the color will become colorful. Owner H: This year's cabbages were very expensive. I'll calculate and make a break-even point graph. Owner I: I think a little heated cabbage in the microwave is better, especially for kids. I'll make some types. I'll also demonstrate frozen ones. Frozen one can be used easily. Of course, it makes the vitamin content lower. City Worker: I can ask the researcher at the Prefecture Industrial Research Center about the vitamin reduction and how to prevent it. The meeting was continuing ... He liked this atmosphere. At least, he felt some sensation that this project would make young owners of restaurants and farmers feel challenged. It would give the city some more energy and vitality. It seemed for him it would be more important than the success of the B-grade Gourmet itself. |
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*B-grade Gourmet :BO
*revitalize :«»·ι
*decline :¦ι
*overturn :’·
*federal subsidy :Ιβ
*dirt :©Θθ
*break-even point :Ήvͺς_
*reduction :Έ
*sensation :»±A»‘