My Food Stall Serves SSS-Grade Delicacies!-Chapter 216: A Very Important Sales Meeting

Marron opened the door and found Jenny standing there, face covered with...stuff. Her hair was pulled into a no-nonsense ponytail. In her hands were a thick ream of papers and a bottle of wine was tucked dangerously under one arm.

"Let me take some of that..." Marron said softly, grabbing the wine bottle and half of the papers. Gradually she saw Jenny’s friendly face again, looking exhausted, but excited too.

"Please tell me you got the knife," Jenny said.

"I got the knife," Marron confirmed, stepping aside to let her in.

"Good! And I say this with love, but if you were still in ’will she or won’t she’ limbo, I was going to watch and drink the entire bottle."

"...are we that close already?" Marron asked, chuckling. She only felt a little bit insulted, but maybe that was normal between friends?

"Just a little. I mean, you did help my business and I did agree to talk shop with you." Jenny kicked off her shoes and set everything on the table. Mokko heard the ruckus and handed her some fluffy slippers.

"Thanks," she said, mood considerably better.

"The cleaners said it would help," Mokko said, as he glanced at Marron’s surprised face. "so they wouldn’t have to scrub the floors so hard."

Marron was a little embarrassed with that knowledge.

I didn’t even consider that.

+

Her feet now safely slippered, Jenny put the bottle of wine in Marron’s fridge. On her way back, she spotted the Precision Blade still lying on the cutting board. "Oh. Oh. That’s it?"

"That’s it," Marron said, watching Jenny’s face carefully.

For most people in Savoria, she guessed they just saw a mythril knife. But Jenny was an Earth-born, too. Even if she’d lived in Savoria for twelve years, she might see the same moving symbols Petra did.

Jenny leaned closer, not touching, just observing. "The symbols are moving."

"You can see that?"

"Barely. It’s like when I stare at something too long and it looks like it’s moving."

Jenny straightened. "So. Legendary Tool number four. How do you feel?"

"Terrified," Marron admitted. "Also honored. Also worried I’m going to accidentally cut myself because the knife keeps wanting me to test its precision."

"Has it tried to make you cut anything besides ingredients?" Jenny asked carefully.

"No. Just... it really wants me to understand proper technique. Wrist angles, finger placement, how to hold ingredients correctly." Marron picked up the blade, demonstrating. "See? Even now it’s like...suggesting ’you can cut better if you hold me like this.’" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Jenny watched the demonstration, then nodded slowly. "That doesn’t sound malicious. That sounds like a really insistent cooking instructor."

"That’s what I’m hoping," Marron said. She set the blade down again, this time wrapping it in its protective cloth. "But Mokko and Lucy are watching me anyway. Just in case."

"Smart," Jenny approved. She pulled out the wine bottle. "Do you have glasses? We’re going to need them for this conversation."

"That ominous?"

"That thorough," Jenny corrected. "I’ve been working on this franchise model for three days straight. My brain is mush and I need alcohol to present coherently."

Marron retrieved two glasses from her small kitchen area while Jenny spread her papers across the table—diagrams, calculations, contract drafts, vendor lists. It looked like the work of someone who’d taken business development very seriously.

"Okay," Jenny said once they both had wine. "Here’s what I’m proposing. Joint franchise model—my carbonation method plus your crisp recipes. We teach vendors both products simultaneously, they pay us a combined licensing fee, we provide ongoing support and quality control."

"What’s the fee structure?" Marron asked, pulling the papers closer to examine.

"Five copper per day per vendor," Jenny said. "That’s low enough to be accessible but high enough to be meaningful passive income for us. Three vendors would give us fifteen copper daily—four and a half gold per month, split evenly. That’s over two gold each for basically no ongoing work after initial training."

Marron did the math quickly. Two gold per month from just three vendors. If they could scale to ten vendors—which seemed reasonable given the success of both products—that would be fifteen gold monthly. Split evenly, seven and a half gold each.

Combined with her cart work, that would put her comfortably above her monthly expenses with room for savings and unexpected costs.

"That’s sustainable," Marron said slowly. "But what about quality control? We can’t just teach people and hope they maintain standards."

"Already planned for." Jenny flipped to another page. "Monthly check-ins, mandatory. We visit each franchised vendor, taste-test their products, ensure they’re meeting our standards. If quality drops, we give them one warning and help them correct it. If it drops again, we revoke the franchise."

"What about ingredient sourcing?" Marron asked. "If vendors use substandard rootknots or wrong oil, the crisps won’t work right."

"Approved supplier list," Jenny said, pointing to yet another document. "We’ve already talked to three ingredient vendors who’ll give our franchisees bulk discounts in exchange for consistent business. The vendors get cheaper ingredients, the suppliers get reliable customers, we get quality control."

Marron was impressed despite herself. Jenny had thought of everything. "What about territories? We can’t have three franchise carts all competing in the same market location."

"Territorial exclusivity," Jenny confirmed. "Each franchisee gets sole rights to their location—market district, lower ring, mid-district, whatever. No competition from other franchisees. They only compete with us if we happen to set up nearby, which we won’t do deliberately."

"And equipment?"

"That’s where it gets interesting." Jenny pulled out a cost breakdown. "We don’t sell them equipment—that’s too much upfront capital for most vendors. Instead, we provide a list of where to source everything at fair prices. Portable fryers, carbonation rigs, storage containers, packaging materials. We negotiate group discounts since we’re bringing multiple buyers. They pay the suppliers directly, we just facilitate."

"So our only income is the daily licensing fee," Marron said.

"Exactly. Which keeps it simple and transparent." Jenny took a sip of wine. "No complicated equipment rentals, no supply chain management, no inventory headaches. Just: here’s how to make the products, here’s where to buy what you need, pay us five copper a day, maintain our standards."

Marron reviewed the documents more carefully. Contract templates, training schedules, quality standards checklists, territory maps, financial projections. Jenny had built a complete business framework.

"This is really good," Marron said honestly. "Like, surprisingly professional."