My Lady Chef

Ely's POV:

Surprisingly, my husband owns a lot of food-based shops.

Two cafes. Three bakeries, a sweets shop, and a restaurant in the shopping district aside from a few jewelry stores and clothing shops in the 2nd district.

But I noticed that they are geared to attract the elite or the middle-class merchants that can afford it.

"Pierce. Has my husband thought of opening a business that can attract the masses?" I asked him.

My husband's secretary has somehow softened his stiff attitude towards me ever since we had them over for lunch yesterday. He still maintains a bit of professional distance but whenever I ask him stuff, he gladly answers them with a smile.

"Well....he had plans to open two cafes in the third shopping district where a lot of the middle and peasant classes are always doing their purchases. He says that there may be a future in catering to the two other classes," he explained to me. "Does Milady think the same?"

"My husband is very progressive but I believe that there will come a time when the distance between the nobles and working classes will lessen. There is a lot of potential if we offer something affordable to the common folks."

"I believe so as well." He gave me a warm nod. "The problem is...the funds and opportunities are at the hands of the privileged which is why I am happy how the duke uses his capital earned from his shops to provide jobs to the working class. Did you know that his lordship bought the shipyard and started a profitable shipment trade just to give jobs to the lower and middle classes who were struggling at the lower ring?"

He must be referring to the slums or lower ring which was located on the outskirts of the city.

generous..." I

the lords." he nodded." because of him, the crime and poverty of the slums

is a

at his businesses. Are they all middle

nodded as the carriage stopped in front of a more silent area. I looked out and saw that this was the first district where there were bigger, more elegant shops,

the first district, only the higher nobles and royalties frequent these establishments. The duke owns the popular sweets shop "La Petit Creme" and the cake cafe "Memories" although not many people are aware of this.

suggestion to reward the knights monthly. With

my side as Pierce gave me a tour of the

the sweets shop.

again. There was a small section where people may sit while waiting for their order and the cute display case had some very basic but well-wrapped sweets and a few unique candies like

me to the 4 women who were in charge of the shop, they all blushed and curtsied in tandem. I smiled and shook each of their hands. The effect was a stunned silence followed by a flurry of

It will allow for people to try out new flavors without ordering too much

candies in very stylish jars. Do you happen to have an affordable solution if we are going to implement

over and over again so that there is zero wastage and garbage. A cute branding strategy is to have the logos

about some of my ideas. I guess not many high-end ladies who go there do not usually discuss items and ways to market them with

I asked them to offer me a taste of the

because everyone must be eating lunch, the girls and I bonded over which sweets do they like and somehow I managed to come up