Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 240 Taking a break from the busy schedule to visit the factory

Banana Foster is a dessert that was created at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans in the early 50s.It is said that this dessert was invented by the restaurant owner to commemorate a guest who had been dining in the restaurant for a long time.

It's also very simple to make. Mix butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and brandy together to make a dessert sauce. Then wrap it on sliced ​​bananas that are fried until they are slightly brown. Drizzle with [-]-degree dark rum. The lighter ignited them, and with a bang, the blazing fire burned directly.

Because there is very little rum, the soaring flames will go out in a few seconds. At this time, the waiter who is steaming in front of you will place the bananas that have been baptized by the flames next to a vanilla ice cream ball. Spread all the sauce in the pot over the ice cream and bananas, sprinkle a handful of chopped walnuts for decoration, and Banana Foster, a well-known local delicacy, is ready.

He picked up the dessert spoon and took a spoonful. The moment he took his mouth, a strong aroma hit his nose. The next second, a taste sweeter than creamy honey sauce directly occupied his taste buds, making Ethan frown instinctively.

When he opened his eyes again, the look of anticipation for praise made him give him a thumbs up.

"Wow~ This is really delicious! It far exceeded my expectations!"

"Oh~Thank you~Sir, thank you for your like. I am very happy to serve you."

The waiter in a suit bowed slightly.

As he left, Ethan also turned his attention to Evelin.

When expressing her joy to the waiter, Evelin raised a smile, but as soon as the waiter turned around, the girl changed her face, her facial features wrinkled tightly, and she stuck out her tongue at Ethan.

"Oh my god! How can this thing be so sweet!"

"This is just sugar water! There is no difference from eating candy directly!"

Since the family was rich, they could afford to eat meat, eggs, milk, and take in enough vitamins, so Thomas and Linda did not feed Evelin any carbohydrates or sugar, and she was not allergic to these things.

On weekdays, the sweetness she can accept is home-made freshly squeezed orange juice, and she won't even drink Coke. In this case, it is normal for her to be unable to tolerate Banana Foster.

But at this moment, the girl's words surprised Ethan.

"Wait a minute - didn't you know the taste of this thing before coming here?"

He pointed to the dessert on the plate.

"No." Evelin shook her head, "I only heard about this dessert recently. When I was watching TV, the local TV station in San Francisco said that Cliff House spent a lot of money to introduce this dessert from New Orleans. And we’ve incorporated it into the menu and made it available to dine-in guests.”

"I was very curious at that time, what kind of dessert could get Cliff House advertised on TV?"

“You know, that’s the most famous restaurant in San Francisco!”

"Now……"

Evelin pushed the small dessert away, "I can't eat this kind of thing." While putting down the dessert spoon, she also dragged the Banana Foster away from Ethan, "Don't eat it either."

"Too sweet."

The smooth movements made Ethan's eyelids jump. He stared at the girl for a long time. Evelin, who felt the surprised gaze, suddenly raised a harmless smile.

"Okay." This performance made Ethan put aside his helplessness. He took out his wallet and took out a green five-dollar knife and stuffed it under the dinner plate. "As a human being, the most important thing is to be happy."

"Moreover, trying new and novel things is what we should do, because people cannot imagine things beyond their cognition, so this trip was used as a source of information."

"Hehe~" Evelin smiled coquettishly.

After she proposed coming to New Orleans, Ethan asked company personnel to contact United Airlines and chartered a plane to fly over from San Francisco. Since the two places were far apart, one was on the West Coast and the other was in the Central United States. The flight alone took more than three hours.

How much does a charter flight cost?
Evelin didn't know this clearly.

But she knew that spending more than three hours eating such a dessert...

That's really a disease in the brain.

Ethan didn't question her loudly, so that meant he had forgiven her. As for the rest?

That's not important anymore, okay!

"Are we going back now?" The girl bit her lip, wanting to know Ethan's plan.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Ethan glanced at his watch. The four o'clock hand made him stand up and stretched out his hand, "It's already here, so let's take a stroll here."

"It just so happens that we don't have anything on hand that needs to be dealt with immediately."

"Great!"

Ethan's words made the girl jump up.

"Let's go, let's go~"

New Orleans is actually a very special city because the culture here is very complex. Initially, the people living here were Indians. With the arrival of the Gallic Chicken, the city became infected with the extravagant style of European aristocrats. After John Bull set foot here, the Union Jack flag of Old London fluttered under the blue sky. In order to prevent the place from falling into the hands of the opponent, the Gallic Chicken thought of a way to divert trouble to the east, and brought this place into the east. Presented to Barcelona, ​​Spanish has become popular here again. After the Stars and Stripes flew here, its status as the second port in the United States attracted a lot of Latin Americans to stop and stay.

The experience of changing owners several times has made the architectural styles in the old city of New Orleans very different. The perfect blend of French, British, and Western styles is simply incredible to ordinary people, and the various races walking on the road make this cultural melting pot even more exciting. A professional term reflects it vividly.

After blending many cultures, weird and weird things have become endless. The most typical one is food.Take seafood porridge as an example. The seafood porridge in California is a pot of thick soup after being made. It is very delicious, but here... I don’t know if it is because of the different spices. The seafood porridge in New Orleans is actually black; for another example For sandwiches, toast is probably the most commonly used in California, but the most common one here is the big baguette.

Forget it if it’s just baguettes, because in his previous life, Ethan often ate Subway when he was working, and there were baguette sandwiches there. But when he ordered a meal at a specialty shop on the streets of New Orleans, he found that the boss didn’t He didn't heat the baguette, but just stabbed a paper knife into the baguette, and then started sawing it. The strange sound made the two people's eyelids jump. They waited for them to see that there was something inside the sandwich. Not only lettuce, tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, but also mustard, oysters, mayonnaise...

Neither of the two people who got the baguette sandwich wanted to be a guinea pig.

"You eat first."

Evelin pushed the sandwich in front of Ethan very decisively.

"Ugh……"

Ethan sighed, picked it up, and took a bite carefully.

The first time, there was no bite.

After exerting force...

Just listen to the clicking sound, which is the breaking of the baguette and the whine of the teeth.

Then, the spiciness of mustard, the saltiness of oysters, the sweetness of mayonnaise...

It made his face wrinkle into a bitter melon.

"Damn it! It tastes so bad!"

Ethan covered his cheek with a look of pain on his face.

"Try it." He handed over the baguette sandwich.

"No need, no need."

Evelin smiled like a thief and waved her hand to refuse.

After two days in New Orleans, Evelin, who was overwhelmed by the special food here, didn't want to continue. When she suggested leaving, Ethan said that before going home, she could stop by the Louisiana side. Arkansas, let's see how the factory branch there is doing.

This idea was approved by Evelin, and they boarded the rented plane and set off directly. Since it was a temporary idea, they did not say hello to anyone before setting off, but when the United Airlines plane landed at Little Rock Airport Finally, a young lady with short blond hair appeared in front of them.

"Ethan, Evelyn - long time no see, welcome to Arkansas."

The other party took the initiative to say hello.

The greeting by the governor's wife surprised both of them, but that emotion only lasted for a second. Ethan and Evelin smiled and shook hands with her, exchanged a few words and expressed their intention to come. As the host, the governor's wife first invited them After having a meal, they went straight to their destination with the two of them.Along the way, the governor’s wife also said: “Ethan, Evelyn, under Michael’s on-the-spot inspection, and at the suggestion of my husband and Mr. Sam Walton, the Arkansas branch site of Michael Blanco Manufacturing Company was It was confirmed to be in an industrial gathering area near the Arkansas River."

"Because there is a hydropower plant on the Arkansas River. If you build a manufacturing plant there, you can buy electricity directly from the power plant. It is much cheaper than the unified electricity price in the industrial park. At the same time, the shipping system of the Arkansas River is also very developed because it connects to Mississippi. Due to the relationship with the river, Arkansas’ agricultural products, timber, oil and coal are all transported along the river, and the mature shipping system can make it easier for factories to import and ship materials.”

"As for the land area..."

"Michael said he wanted one hundred acres first, but as you know, the land price in Arkansas is not as expensive as in California. The 50 yuan subsidy approved by the state government can buy more than 200 acres of industrial land. Therefore, we suggested that Michael directly acquire the surrounding areas. Land will make it easier to expand in the future. And even if you don’t have expansion needs in the future, that doesn’t matter, right? Rent the excess land to other people, or sell the land again, whatever you want to do with it.”

"You don't have to worry about taxes and fees. We have also signed a five-year exemption for land taxes and fees. In the next five years, the county tax collector will not come to you."

The detailed introduction made Ethan smile and thank him. When he arrived at the factory site, the dusty scene was a reflection of the hard work of overtime and the smoothness of everything.

Although the production of electronic arcade machines and home consoles does not require too stringent production standards, compared with chip manufacturing, they can even be said to be small workshops.

But Michael still chose to meticulously lay the foundation, build the walls, and remove moisture.

As for the reason...

"Oh Ethan! Evelin! Why are you here!"

After hearing the report from his subordinates and learning that the governor's wife was taking people to visit the factory construction, Michael Blanco, who had been staying here since the end of last year, suddenly appeared.

But before he could say hello to the governor's wife, two figures in the center of the crowd attracted all his attention. After he opened his arms with laughter, Ethan, who was hugging them, had a straight face.

He said in a stiff tone: "Oh - Michael, why do I feel that you are afraid of me?"

"As the company's major shareholder, can't I come and visit my home construction site?"

"See if you are making any mistakes! See if you are being lazy!"

The serious voice made Michael stunned for a moment. Soon, he reacted and immediately said: "How is that possible? Ethan! No matter when it is, we welcome your inspection!"

Not only that, he also said cooperatively: "This surprise inspection should have exposed many problems. Ethan, just tell me, I will lead people to correct it immediately..."

"Ah, very good."

Michael's attitude pleased Ethan.

"Then let's go."

Ethan asked for a helmet and inspected the work with his hands behind his back.

The governor's wife's eyelids jumped when she heard the conversation that was full of chuunishi.

Evelin, who was already used to it, rolled her eyes and sighed softly, but her movements were not slow. She took the helmet handed by the staff, put it on her head, and followed in.

After walking around, Ethan also understood why Michael wanted to dehumidify the factory.

"Although you can enjoy a lot of conveniences by building a factory on the Arkansas River, the Arkansas River is not a quiet river. Floods almost erupt in May and June every year. Even if this situation was controlled a few years ago, Arkansas The state has built [-] dams and a large number of canals for flood discharge, but according to the information I found, the humidity here is higher than other places during the rainy season every year."

"If we are producing other things, it may not be affected, but I know electronic components best. They are very sensitive to the environment."

"Previously, on the battlefield in Cochin, although the radio we used was waterproof, the handle part was still affected by the moisture of the rainforest environment, so we would wrap the handle with a transparent plastic bag and then fix it with a rubber band. Just to keep out the moisture.”

"So, in order to prevent natural damage during manufacturing and storage, the manufacturing workshops, packaging workshops, and temporary storage warehouses here have to be coated with waterproof materials and equipped with dehumidifiers."

"As for the product... to be honest, I personally recommend wrapping it in oilcloth during transportation."

"This thing requires very little investment and can be reused."

Michael's words made Ethan smile and nod.

Turning to look at the governor's wife, the young lady didn't panic at all after listening to the whole story.

"We have already understood these things before selecting a site, so the state government will also help companies solve the installation costs related to dehumidification by subsidizing them."

“But it’s going to take a little bit of time.”

"But don't worry, the money will arrive in your account within two months at most."

"Okay." Ethan was satisfied and withdrew his gaze.

After visiting the completion site, Ethan invited Michael Blanco to have a meal at a restaurant in Little Rock. During the exchange, he learned that the recruitment here was also going very smoothly.

"The troops sent to Asia were basically from California and Florida. Therefore, when they retired, many veterans gathered in these two places, so our expansion in California will be very smooth."

"Although Arkansas and Florida do not intersect, they are not far away. At the same time, it is the transportation hub of the south. To the north, you can go to Chicago, Illinois, to the south, New Orleans and Houston, to the west, Dallas and Denver, and to the west, you can go to Chicago, Illinois. To the east you can go to Charlotte, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, so..."

"Many people who cannot find satisfactory jobs in their hometowns will come out to look for opportunities."

Michael shrugged and said: "Doing odd jobs in factories, going to lumber mills to chop wood, and working as a driver for the owner of a trading company. As long as you don't take the initiative to mention those things, you won't starve to death."

"Since they themselves are looking for opportunities, we can recruit people without deliberately looking for them."

"The people you saw at the construction site today are all looking for opportunities."

"Then how many people have we recruited now?" Evelin asked.

"Currently it's 110 three." Michael replied.

"Are these people not enough?" Ethan put down his knife and fork and said, "The next production task here is home consoles. Our first batch of stockings will be 100 million units, so..."

"We will still recruit people, but there is no rush." ​​Michael said: "My plan is to first recruit a group of excellent people to participate in the construction of the factory, and then inspect them through this process. If there are no problems, then they will lead a group of people in the future. As a team, if there is a problem, it can be cleared up in advance.”

"100 people is the upper limit of the number of people required to build the factory. It is also the limit of my investigation. It is also the limit of the leadership required by the factory, because so far, our plan is to expand to 1000 to [-] people in a short period of time... I We know that the production of home consoles is a big deal for the company, but we must not build our own factories too quickly. We would rather use factories in California to supplement production capacity than let the factories here expand rapidly, because too fast development can easily cause a crisis. Series of questions…”

"Like, for example, the union."

Michael Blanco winked at the two.

The two people who understood the meaning of his words nodded.

To be honest, Ethan didn't know anything about the operation of the factory.

In the past, when producing arcade machines, he copied all the processes from Atari. He copied what Nolan Bushnell did and used it. This copycat method was used in arcade machine production. There may be no problem, but as the factory grows bigger and bigger, standardization must be put on the agenda.

If Ethan were to handle it by himself, he would have to learn from scratch, but now, with uncles like Michael Blanco who had a fatal relationship with the father of the original owner of the body...

This is all very simple to deal with, right?

The results of the surprise inspection made Ethan very satisfied. After sending Michael Blanco away, the two stayed in Little Rock for two more days, had a meal with the governor, visited Walton's house, and learned about this industry. The town was not very interested, so they took a charter flight back to the Bay Area.

Although the two people's departure was temporary, it has long been commonplace in the company.When Aaron Massey is in charge of finance, Damio Dean is in charge of R&D, sales are handled by a dedicated marketing department, and all kinds of chores are reported and summarized in the hands of Steve Ballmer...

The chairman and the president went out to play?

Make a fuss!
However, with Ethan's return, the company will still get back on track. For example, Ballmer, a bald man, put in front of Ethan the backlog of work that Ethan must handle but is not in a hurry.

The first thing Ethan saw was Minoru Arakawa's visit record.

　Note: ①The Cliff House is one of the most famous restaurants in San Francisco. It was so famous that it was featured in Ubisoft's "Watch Dogs 2", but it closed in 20 years. ②American companies do not have to establish a trade union. According to the 1935 Labor Relations Act, if only more than 50.00% of the employees in a company request the establishment of a trade union, and the reasons are reasonable (protecting their own interests, etc.), then the union will be successfully established, otherwise, the employer has the right not to recognize it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)