Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 240: Taking a Break from the Busy Schedule to Visit the Factory

Bananas Foster is a dessert that originated in the early 1950s at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans. It is said that the dessert was invented by the restaurant owner to commemorate a long-time customer.

The method is also very simple. Mix butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and brandy together, boil them into a dessert sauce, then wrap it on the sliced ​​bananas that are fried until slightly yellow, pour 100 degrees of dark rum on them, light them with a lighter, and with a "boom" sound, a raging fire burns directly.

Because very little rum is poured, the flames will go out after a few seconds. At this time, the waiter who is cooking in front of you will place the bananas that have been baptized by flames next to a ball of vanilla ice cream, spread all the sauce in the pot on the ice cream and bananas, sprinkle a handful of chopped walnuts for garnish, and the famous local delicacy Bananas Foster is ready.

He picked up the dessert spoon and scooped a spoonful. The moment he took a sip, a strong aroma rushed into his nose. The next second, the taste, which was sweeter than cream and honey sauce, directly occupied his taste buds, making Ethan frown instinctively.

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

"Wow, this is really delicious! It far exceeded my expectations!"

"Oh~ Thank you~ Sir, thank you for your interest, it's a pleasure to serve you."

The waiter in a suit bowed slightly.

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

Evelyn smiled as she expressed her joy to the waiter, but when the other person turned around, the girl changed her face immediately, her facial features wrinkled tightly, and she stuck out her tongue at Ethan.

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

"This is just sugar water! It's no different from eating candy directly!"

Since her family was rich and could afford meat, eggs and milk, and take in enough vitamins, Evelyn had never been fed any high-carbohydrate foods by Thomas and Linda since she was a child, and she was not interested in these things.

Normally, the only sweetness she could tolerate was homemade freshly squeezed orange juice, and she wouldn't even drink Coke, so in this case, it was normal for her to not tolerate Bananas Foster.

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

"Wait - before you came here, didn't you know what this thing tasted like?"

He pointed to the dessert on the plate.

"No." Evelyn shook her head. "I just heard about this dessert recently. When I was watching TV, the local TV station in San Francisco said that the Cliff House spent a lot of money to import this dessert from New Orleans, and has included it in the recipe and is open to guests who come to dine there."

"I was very curious at the time, what kind of dessert would allow Cliff House to advertise on TV?"

"You know, that's the most famous restaurant in San Francisco!"

"Now……"

Evelyn pushed the small dessert away, "I can't eat this kind of thing." While putting down the dessert spoon, she also dragged Banana Foster in front of Ethan away, "You don't eat it either."

“Too sweet.”

Ethan's eyelids twitched at the smooth movements, and he stared at the girl for a long while. Feeling the surprised gaze, Evelin immediately raised a harmless smile.

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

"Besides, trying new things is what we should do, because people cannot imagine things beyond their cognition, so this trip will be used as a source of material."

“Hehe~” Evelin smiled innocently.

After she proposed to come to New Orleans, Ethan asked his company to contact United Airlines and chartered a plane from San Francisco. Since the two places are far apart, one is on the West Coast and the other is in the central United States, the flight alone took more than three hours.

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

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

That's really a brain disease.

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

That doesn’t matter anymore!

"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 hand at four o'clock in the afternoon made him stand up and stretch out his hand. "Since we are here, let's take a walk here."

"It just so happens that we don't have any work 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 its culture is very complex. Initially, it was inhabited by Indians. With the arrival of the Gallic roosters, this place was tainted with the extravagant style of European aristocrats. After John Bull set foot here, the Union Jack of old London began to fly under the blue sky. In order to prevent this place from falling into the hands of the other side, the Gallic roosters came up with a way to divert trouble and presented this place to Barcelona. Since then, Spanish has become popular here again. After the Stars and Stripes were flying here, its status as the second port of the United States attracted a lot of Latin Americans to stop and stay.

The experience of changing hands several times has resulted in very different architectural styles in the old city of New Orleans. The perfect blend of French, British and Western styles is simply incredible to ordinary people, and the various races walking on the streets fully embody the professional term "cultural melting pot".

After blending so many cultures, there are endless strange things, the most typical one is food. Take seafood porridge for example, the seafood porridge in California is a pot of thick soup, very delicious, but here... I don't know if it's because of the different spices, the seafood porridge in New Orleans is actually black; for example, sandwiches, the most commonly used in California may be toast slices, but here the most common is baguette.

If it was just a baguette, it would be fine, because in his previous life, when he was working, Ethan often ate at Subway, where they had baguette sandwiches. But when he ordered a meal at a specialty shop on the streets of New Orleans, he found that the boss did not heat up the baguette, but just stabbed a paper cutter into the baguette, and then he sawed it with a grunt. The strange sound made their eyelids twitch. When they saw that the sandwich was filled with not only lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles, but also mustard, oysters, and mayonnaise...

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

"You eat first."

Evelyn decisively pushed the sandwich in front of Ethan.

"Ugh……"

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

The first time, I couldn’t bite it.

After exerting force...

All I heard was a cracking sound, which was the baguette breaking and the teeth grumbling.

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

It made his face wrinkled into a bitter gourd.

"Damn it! It's so disgusting!"

Ethan covered his cheek with his hands, his face full of pain.

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

"No, no, no."

Evelin smiled cunningly and waved her hand to refuse.

After two days of fun in New Orleans, Evelyn, who was overwhelmed by the local food, didn't want to go on. When she proposed to leave, Ethan said that before going home, they could stop by Arkansas on the Louisiana side to see how the factory branch there was doing.

Evelyn agreed with this idea, and they boarded the rented plane and set off directly. Since it was a sudden decision, they did not say hello to anyone before leaving. However, when the United Airlines plane landed at the Little Rock Airport, 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 greet.

The governor's wife's welcome surprised both of them, but that emotion only lasted for a second. Ethan and Evelyn smiled and shook hands with her, exchanged a few pleasantries, and explained their purpose. As the host, the governor's wife first invited them to have a meal, and then accompanied the two to their destination. Along the way, the governor's wife also said, "Ethan, Evelyn, after Michael's field investigation and the advice of my husband and Mr. Sam Walton, the site of the Arkansas branch of Michael Blanco Manufacturing Company was confirmed to be in an industrial gathering area near the Arkansas River."

"Because there is a hydroelectric power plant on the Arkansas River, if we build a manufacturing plant there, we can buy electricity directly from the power plant, which is much cheaper than the uniform electricity price of the industrial park. At the same time, the Arkansas River's shipping system is also very developed. Because it is connected to the Mississippi River, Arkansas's agricultural products, timber, oil and coal are all transported by river. The mature shipping system allows factories to import and ship materials more conveniently."

"As for the land area..."

"Michael said he wanted 100 acres first, but you know that land prices in Arkansas are not as expensive as in California. The 500,000 yuan subsidy approved by the state government can buy more than 200 acres of industrial land. Therefore, we suggest that Michael directly acquire the surrounding land, which will make it easier to expand in the future. And even if you don't need to expand in the future, it doesn't matter, right? You can rent out the excess land to others, or sell it off. You can do whatever you want."

"You don't have to worry about taxes. We have also signed a five-year exemption for land taxes. In the next five years, the county tax collectors 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 working overtime and everything going smoothly.

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

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

As for the reason...

"Oh Ethan! Evelyn! 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 guarding here since the end of last year, immediately showed up.

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 him, frowned.

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

"As a major shareholder of the company, can't I just come and take a look at my construction site?"

"See if you have made any mistakes! See if you have been lazy!"

Michael was stunned by the serious voice. Soon, he reacted and said, "How is it possible? Ethan! No matter when, we welcome your inspection!"

Not only that, he also cooperated and said: "This surprise inspection should have exposed a lot of problems. Ethan, just tell me, I will bring people to correct it immediately..."

"Ah, very good."

Ethan was very satisfied with Michael's attitude.

"Then let's go."

Ethan asked for a helmet and went to inspect the work with his hands behind his back.

The governor's wife's eyelids twitched as she heard this conversation full of chuunibyou.

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

After taking a look around, Ethan understood why Michael wanted to dehumidify the factory.

"Although building a factory on the Arkansas River can enjoy a lot of convenience, the Arkansas River is not a quiet river. Floods almost always break out in May and June every year. Even though this situation was brought under control a few years ago, Arkansas built 17 dams and a large number of canals for flood discharge. However, according to the information I have found, the humidity here is always greater than other places during the rainy season every year."

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

"Before, when we were on the battlefield in Jiaozhi, although the radio we used was waterproof, the handle would still be affected by the humidity in the rainforest environment, so we would wrap the handle in a transparent plastic bag and then fix it with a rubber band to prevent moisture."

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

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

“This thing requires very little investment and can be reused.”

Michael's words made Ethan smile and nod.

Turning her head to glance at the governor's wife, the young lady who had listened to the entire thing was not at all flustered.

"We have already understood these things before selecting the site, so the state government will also help the company solve the installation costs related to dehumidification in the form of subsidies."

“But it will take some time.”

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

"Okay." Ethan was satisfied and looked away.

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

"The troops sent to Asia back then were mostly from California and Florida. Therefore, when they were discharged, many veterans gathered in these two places, so our expansion in California was very smooth."

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

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

Michael shrugged and said, "Working odd jobs in a factory, chopping wood at a lumber mill, or being a driver for a trading company boss, as long as you don't bring up those things, you won't starve to death."

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

“The people you saw at the construction site today were all here looking for opportunities.”

"So how many people have we recruited now?" Evelyn asked.

"One hundred and thirteen at the moment," 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 stock will be one million units, so..."

"I will recruit more, but not in a hurry." Michael said: "My plan is to first recruit a group of high-quality people to participate in the construction of the factory, and then observe them through the process. If there are no problems, they will lead a team in the future. If there are any problems, they can be cleared in advance."

"One hundred people is the upper limit of the number of people needed to build the factory. It is also the limit of my investigation. It is also the limit of the leadership required by the factory. So far, our plan is to expand to 500 to 1,000 people in a short period of time... I know that the production of home consoles is a big thing for the company, but we must not build our own factory too quickly. We would rather use the factory in California to supplement production capacity than let the factory here expand rapidly, because too fast development can easily cause a series of problems..."

“For example, trade unions.”

Michael Blanco winked at the two of them.

The two people nodded, understanding the meaning of his words.

To be honest, Ethan knew nothing about factory operations.

Before, when he was producing arcade machines, he copied all the processes from Atari. He just followed the way Nolan Bushnell handled it. This copycat method might be fine for arcade machine production, but as the factory grew bigger, standardization had to be put on the agenda.

If Ethan were to handle it himself, he would have to start from scratch, but now, with uncles like Michael Blanco who had a life-and-death friendship with the father of the original owner of the body...

This all seems pretty simple to handle, right?

Ethan was very satisfied with the results of the surprise inspection. After seeing Michael Blanco off, the two stayed in Little Rock for two more days. They had dinner with the governor and visited the Walton family. They were not very interested in this industrial town, so they took a chartered plane back to the Bay Area.

Although the two's departure was a sudden decision, the company had long been accustomed to it. When Alan Massey was in charge of finance, Damio Dean was in charge of R&D, and the sales department was responsible for sales, all kinds of miscellaneous matters would be reported to Steve Ballmer...

The chairman and the president went out to play?

What a fuss!
However, with Ethan's return, the company will get back on track. For example, the bald Ballmer put the backlog of work that must be handled by Ethan but is not urgent in front of Ethan.

The first thing Ethan saw was the visit record of Arakawa Minoru.

Note: ① The Cliff House is one of the most famous restaurants in San Francisco. It was so famous that it was even featured in Ubisoft's "Watch Dogs 2", but it closed in 20. ② American companies are not required to establish labor unions. According to the Labor Relations Act of 1935, a labor union can only be established if more than % of the employees in a company request to establish a labor union and the reasons are reasonable (such as protecting their own interests). Otherwise, the employer has the right not to recognize it.

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(End of this chapter)