Chapter 245: Sales Strategy
Two weeks had passed since we returned to the villa.
I spent the first week lazing around, and after that, I got to work preparing for today’s Christmas party.
It’s a party to close out the year, and I plan to enjoy myself to the fullest today as well.
“Thank you all for gathering here today. We’ve invited everyone who supported us throughout the past year, so I hope you’ll enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content.”
“Yaaay! I’m gonna enjoy myself to the max!”
“…It’s been a while since I last came here, so I’ll enjoy myself too.”
“The annual Christmas party! Let’s get hyped!”
“Is it really okay for me to be here? I haven’t exactly helped much… if anything, I feel like I’ve been the one being taken care of.”
“It’s perfectly fine. Let’s enjoy ourselves. This may be sudden, but—after the toast, shall we start with the food?”
The moment the word food was mentioned, the whole venue erupted with excitement.
That reaction alone spoke volumes about how delicious the food here was—and this time again, Norman, Jakob, and I had put our all into it, so I was sure everyone would be pleased.
“Wow, this is amazing! I’ve never seen meat like this before!”
“This is fried food too? The variety is incredible.”
“This is chicken, right!? Oohhh, it looks delicious!”
The first dish to be brought out was a large platter piled high with fried chicken.
This fried chicken was something we’d finally managed to prepare properly—two years ago and last year, we’d had to make do with other dishes instead.
After all, when you think of Christmas, you think of fried chicken.
I’d always wanted to serve it someday, so I was glad we could prepare so much of it this time.
“So it’s fried chicken this year. When it comes to Christmas, fried chicken is what comes to mind, so this makes me happy.”
“Right? I figured it’d be hard to prepare, so I’m thrilled we get to eat fried chicken!”
“So even Ren’s generation associates Christmas with fried chicken, huh?”
“I don’t think it’s about generations! Isn’t Christmas = fried chicken common all over the world?”
“No, I believe that’s actually a culture unique to Japan.”
I’d heard that eating fried chicken at Christmas became a cultural norm thanks to a sales strategy carried out by KFC.
Christmas is originally a celebration of Christ’s birth, and since it’s a culture imported from overseas, a lot of things seem to have gotten mixed together.
“Seriously!? So people only eat fried chicken in Japan?”
“It originated in Japan, but it might be eaten overseas nowadays as well.”
“As expected of you, Sato—you’re knowledgeable. So overseas, it’s basically an event where people just eat cake?”
“Even eating decorated cakes like Christmas cakes seems to be unique to Japan.”
“Huh!? Really? I always imagined people overseas did that too!”
“Valentine’s Day and Halloween also have rules unique to Japan, and White Day doesn’t even exist in other countries. Japanese people might just be especially susceptible to corporate sales strategies.”
“I kinda get that! It does feel like a lot of Japanese people are easily influenced!”
“I can’t really criticize since I’m the same way, but it might be true that many people go along with others’ opinions. Still, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Somehow, the conversation had gotten pretty deep.
Personally, I found it interesting, but since we were talking about Japan in another world, the others just looked blankly confused.
It was probably best to wrap things up here.
“Anyway, please eat as much fried chicken as you like. It’s a dish that really lets you enjoy the Christmas spirit.”
“Yeah! There seem to be all kinds of agendas behind it, but I’m dumb, so I’ll just enjoy it without thinking!”
“That’s the best way to do it.”
With that, we reset our mood and enjoyed the fried chicken.
I’d paid particular attention to the batter, so the crispiness and flavor were both perfect.
Those who’d never had fried chicken before looked surprised as they compared it to karaage.
The ingredients and cooking methods are similar, but karaage and fried chicken are similar yet fundamentally different dishes.
If I’d managed to properly recreate that difference, then I was satisfied.
Well, that was mostly thanks to Norman.
And though it had briefly come up earlier, we’d also prepared a Christmas cake this year.
It’s a complete surprise and planned for the finale of the party, so I can’t talk about it yet—but I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone’s reactions.