Drilling Copper and Tin Eyes - A Daily Economic Observation of a Shanghai Person

Author: Yuan Nianqi / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: The story begins with a conversation about a cash register microphone. First, let's talk about an economist. One day, this economist came to a small shop for a meal. The shop owner greeted him immediately and said, "I've heard your lectures and read your books. You say speed is money, and it's very true." The economist thought the owner was just being polite, but after listening to his words, he realized the owner was genuinely serious.
This shop primarily serves braised pork rice, which is a Taiwanese term. Braised pork rice consists of rice, braised pork, preserved eggs, and a few pickled vegetables. After being influenced by the economist's "speed is money" theory, the owner began his research. Through careful observation and statistics, he discovered that during the lunch hours of 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM (a 4-hour window), each table in the shop turned over more than 8 times. In other words, 8 different groups of customers paid for their meals. Additionally, the average dining time per customer was about 15 minutes.
To achieve the economist's idea of "speed being money" and generate economic benefits through speed, the owner needed to increase the number of times each table turned over within a given time frame. In other words, under the same time constraints, the only way to improve was to shorten customers' dining time. However, the customers had the final say in how long they ate—their chopsticks, teeth, and tongue movement determined the pace. The dining area wasn't a military canteen, and outsiders couldn't control how fast people ate. The only thing the owner could control was reducing customers' waiting time.
The owner implemented a reform: he installed a microphone at the cash register. After customers ordered their food but hadn't yet sat down, the cashier used the microphone to relay their order to the kitchen. This allowed the owner to meet his speed requirement: from ordering to serving, completing the entire process in just one minute.
After this change, the number of table turnovers increased by 2. Without adding more staff or increasing wages (i.e., keeping costs the same), the shop's revenue increased by 25%. Naturally, this also increased profits, turning speed into cash.
After hearing this story, I noticed something interesting around me. A small noodle shop near my workplace and a 24-hour snack shop next to a cold storage all had microphones at their cash registers. It's worth noting that these shops that prioritize speed are mostly small snack and meal spots. Since individual products have low profit margins, they rely on high turnover to boost profits.
Similarly, in the food and beverage industry, larger stores often overlook these small, profitable details. The profit from a single dish is naturally much higher than that from a bowl of braised pork rice or spicy noodles. At the door, customers queue to wait, but on the other side, the order-taking process is slow, and the food delivery is delayed. Sometimes, it's the customers themselves who get impatient, ordering cold dishes first and shortening their dining time to help the owner make more money.
Let's quote an old saying here: "Don't ignore small profits for fear of small gains." Small profits add up, and sand can build a tower. Otherwise, if small holes aren't patched, big holes will cause trouble.
Beyond this thought, another point is that the economist was very famous, and countless people had attended his lectures or read his books. But how many of them actually applied what they learned to their own situations and put it into practice, turning it into their own wealth?!
P10-11