As long as a steady stream of customers kept flocking to White Whale, he was contractually obligated to keep updating the menu.
Lin Chen, for his part, just needed to keep providing concepts and inspiration for new dishes. In return, thirty percent of White Whale's net profit would be split, with Lin Chen getting twenty percent and the production team ten.
So, even though it looked like he was just explaining details every time he found a new ingredient or cooked something, he was actually working for a living. At the same time, talking to himself like this helped him maintain some semblance of social interaction and kept him from becoming too withdrawn.
A thirty-percent cut might seem high, but the original White Whale had virtually no foot traffic. They served fewer than five tables a day, with their main income coming from local regulars who came for drinks at night.
