Upstart Pastry Chef ~Territory Management of a Genius Pâtisserie~ - Chapter 87

Chapter 87: The Secret of Honey

The two days of pre-opening had ended.

It was a dizzying flurry of activity. I realized we had underestimated things quite a bit.

After finishing the second day of business, I returned to the village mansion with Tina and Chloe.

Tomorrow is a day off, and we’ll open for business the day after.

Even with just invited guests for the pre-opening, it was chaotic.

It’s clear that if we don’t take measures, we’ll be in trouble when we officially open.

While staring at the sales figures for the past two days, I was contemplating the future when Tina approached with a cup of tea.

“Tina. Perfect timing. Mind being a sounding board for me? I think talking it out might help consolidate our ideas.”

“I don’t mind at all.”

“Thanks. First of all, what do you think we should decide on?”

Tina pondered my question for a moment before speaking.

“I think we should decide on the quantity of the actual sweets for the main event. We ran short even after increasing it from the first day to the second.”

“Let’s start with five times the amount from today.”

“Are you really going to make that much!?”

Tina exclaimed in surprise.

Well, it’s understandable.

“We’ll change our approach. The pinaru honey cake and the special berry cookies can last for a month. While it’s tastier when fresh, trying to make enough for the day to sell on the same day for two days straight is not feasible. We can’t predict the number of unexpected customers.”

“So, five times the amount?”

“Yes, make five times the amount of what we think we can sell in a day initially. And if half of the made sweets sell out, then we’ll make up the other half. When selling, we can say they have a shelf life of three weeks, and it shouldn’t be a problem.”

There’s a risk of having excess inventory, but with this level of demand, it’s unlikely we’ll have trouble selling just five days’ worth of sweets.

“Luckily, tomorrow is a day off. Let’s make enough for five days in one go. I’ll only make the custard pudding, which doesn’t keep, on the morning of the day.”

That’s something we’ll have to accept.

We’ll make it a completely limited quantity item and replenish it twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.

With limited quantity items, it’s acceptable to sell out.

What concerns me is Tina’s troubled expression.

“Tina, do you have something on your mind?”

“Yes, just two things. The first is that there are only three types of sweets, and I’m worried people might get bored.”

“That’s a valid point. You’re quite insightful, Tina.”

Tina blushes slightly as I praise her.

She looks pleased, her fox-like tail wagging.

“I’ve been thinking about that too. The easiest solution would be to increase the variety, but that would overwhelm both the pastry chefs and the staff, not to mention the customers.”

“Yes, teaching everyone new recipes from scratch would be tough.”

Even teaching just the pinaru honey cake and the special berry cookies was a challenge.

Adding more recipes now won’t make it in time for the opening. And the more varieties we have, the more strain it puts on production, reducing efficiency.

It also takes more time for staff to explain the products, reducing turnover.

Ideally, we’d like to avoid that.

“I have a plan for that. I’m thinking of utilizing the limited quantity slot for the custard pudding.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“For example, in the first week, we’ll make custard pudding, but in the second week, we’ll offer a silk crepe wrapped in kudzu skin, filled with pinaru compote made from the elf village. And in the third week, we’ll have the cranberry fruit tart made for the welcome party. We’ll change the limited menu every week like that.”

“That sounds wonderful! I’d love to come back each week for the new dessert and end up buying other sweets too!”

“That’s the idea. So, I’m thinking of promoting the limited items as ‘This Week’s Special Dessert’ once we open.”

This is actually an effective strategy and aligns with my interests. Having the same thing in large quantities gets boring. Plus, with staple items, there’s the burden of consistently sourcing ingredients, since they always need to be available. But with limited edition items, anything goes. Even if it’s a one-time-only dessert, it’s enjoyable for the creator. As a pastry chef, I absolutely need a playground for creativity.

“That sounds absolutely fantastic! As expected of you, Kurt!”

Tina looks at me with admiration, her tail wagging excitedly.

Part of it is my personal preference, so I feel a bit guilty.

Let’s change the subject.

“Oh, by the way, you mentioned there was one more thing on your mind. What is it?”

“It’s about the honey.”

“Is something wrong with the honey?”

When I inquire, Tina hesitates for a moment before speaking.

“We’ve been using up the honey we’ve been stockpiling at an alarming rate to make so many sweets… Originally, you were saving it to feed the bees during winter, but at this pace, I’m worried that by spring, all the bees will have died from lack of food.”

I let out a sigh of admiration.

I’m slightly surprised. She’s noticed something like that.

“Tina’s right. We do need honey to feed the bees if we want to increase their numbers. Especially during winter when there’s no flower nectar available, if there’s no honey left in the hive, the bees we’ve worked so hard to increase will perish.”

Tina’s absolutely correct.

I’ve even recently prohibited honey collection to allow the bees to rear their brood.

Honey is heavily consumed in rearing brood.

If we continue at this pace, the bees will be too busy just surviving to rear any brood. In fact, they might starve to death in winter.

“If that’s the case, why push ourselves to use honey? I wouldn’t want all the bees we’ve painstakingly nurtured with you, Kurt, to die. Let’s postpone the shop opening until spring. By then, they’ll have safely made it through winter, and hopefully, there’ll be more bees.”

I smile wryly.

I may have been a bit too stubborn.

There are measures in place for that. However, I haven’t explained them to Tina yet.

“I think it would be quicker to show you rather than explain. I haven’t told you yet, Tina, but there are measures in place. How about we go check on the bees tomorrow? It’s been a while.”

“Huh?”

Tina looks surprised.

Ever since the orphans, Johann and the others, learned to tend to the bees and maintain the raspberry fields, I’ve entrusted those tasks to them.

It’s important for Tina to know how we’re currently caring for the bees.

◇

The next morning, Tina and I headed to the raspberry fields after a long time.

The raspberry fields we had created were expanding even further thanks to Johann and the others.

The bees were buzzing energetically around the raspberry fields.

“Hey, big brother Kurt, Tina! What brings you here?”

Johann rushes over when he spots us.

“We wanted to see how the bees are doing.”

“Did we mess something up?”

“Not at all. We just came to check on how hard you guys are working. We’ve also brought some treats.”

As I say this, Tina opens the basket.

Inside are rows of custard pudding.

“Oh, this is the treat big brother Kurt makes!”

“I can make it too! It’s just that I can’t make it as deliciously as big brother Kurt does.”

From behind Johann, a cute girl emerges.

It’s Mill. She’s the village ace in charge of making sweets. I secretly have ambitions to groom her into a full-fledged pastry chef, given her excellent taste and talent.

Mill usually brings back treats she made as perks for her role, but since only I make the custard pudding, the kids have never tasted it.

That’s why she thought this would be the perfect reward to bring.

“Big brother Kurt, are you giving that to us?”

“Yeah, if you’ve been working hard enough.”

As I say that, Johann and the others perk up and get to work.

Once Johann and the others were gone, Tina spoke up.

“Kurt-sama, what did you want to show me?”

“Well, you’ll see soon enough.”

Without delay, Johann and the others began collecting honey.

Wearing protective suits, they removed the frames from the beehive and extracted the honey using a centrifuge.

With the steps completed by me and Tina, all that’s left is to return the frames to the hive.

Bees whose honey has been taken are left with only their own meals to rely on, and they’ll starve if they can’t gather nectar from flowers.

However, there’s a clever trick here.

After Johann and the others return the frames to the hive, they pour in a clear, viscous liquid.

That’s the measure to prevent the bees from starving.

“Kurt-sama, what’s that?”

“It’s juice made from crushed and spoiled pinaru fruits. It’s food for the bees whose honey has been taken.”

Indeed, this is one of the methods used in beekeeping.

In my previous life, even in my family’s beekeeping, we fed bees juice from spoiled fruits.

When you provide high-sugar liquid to bees that have lost their honey, they’ll feed on it.

This way, the bees have enough to feed their larvae and won’t starve.

Until now, we couldn’t afford to prepare high-sugar feed in the Arnoldt territory, but now we have plenty of pinaru. It’s cost-free as we can reuse the spoiled or rotten ones.

“I’m surprised such a method exists.”

“That’s why you don’t need to worry about the bees not increasing or not surviving through winter. You can use honey with peace of mind.”

I truly believe it was a good decision to go to the Spirit Village.

If we hadn’t gone to the Spirit Village, I would have hesitated to use honey, and I would have postponed the opening of the shop until after winter.

“So, now that Tina seems convinced, once Johann and the others finish their work, let’s all have a snack together. Tina, you’ve never tried custard pudding, have you?”

“Can I really eat it? I’ve always thought it looked delicious and wanted to try it!”

Tina’s eyes sparkle, and she drools a little.

As I wipe her mouth for her, she blushes shyly.

“While Johann and the others are working hard, Tina is working even harder. Chloe snuck a taste, so she’s excluded this time as punishment.”

Tina laughs amusingly.

Later, we called Johann and the others and held a tea time with custard pudding.

Johann and the others were delighted, and above all, it was satisfying to see Tina enjoying herself.

Pudding has always been a favorite among girls, regardless of the era. Tina is no exception.

Now that we’ve had a good break, let’s work hard from here on out.

It’s the grand opening of the shop. We have to give it our all.