From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

With five young chefs on vacation, the pressure on Jiang Chengzhe's restaurant has clearly increased.

Fortunately, Feng Zhengming quickly brought in new people to fill the vacancies left by Deng Huaichuan, Wang Hanwen, Huang Yunliang, Li Yao, and Han Rui.

To Jiang Chengzhe's surprise, although the personnel Feng Zhengming transferred this time were all from Shandong, they were not all from Jinan. More of them were actually transferred from Yantai and Qingdao.

After talking with them privately, Jiang Chengzhe learned that a total of six people had been transferred to Shanghai this time.

Four of them were from Yancheng and were disciples of Feng Zhengming's sixth senior brother.

The other two are from Qingdao: one is Gu Zhicheng's apprentice, and the other is considered Gu Zhicheng's junior brother.

They were transferred here after going through a selection process.

Before coming to Shanghai, they all worked in the kitchen of a branch of Qilu Rice Shop.

It's clear that Feng Zhengming had two purposes in bringing them to Shanghai.

One approach is to put them in the competition for the position of new store manager and head chef at the Shanghai branch.

Secondly, they should be arranged to work in the kitchen of the newly opened mid-range restaurant.

First, they need to compete with the people at the Shanghai branch for the positions of store manager and head chef.

If they fail to win the competition, they will be temporarily assigned to help in the kitchens of several branches.

Afterwards, once Deng Huaichuan, Wang Hanwen, Huang Yunliang, Li Yao, and Han Rui are ready, and Feng Zhengming opens the new stores for them, the chefs transferred from Shandong will be assigned to the kitchens of the new stores.

This arrangement was certainly not intended to monitor the five young chefs.

The goal is to have them help the five young chefs run the newly opened mid-range restaurant well.

Many things in the kitchen are difficult for one person to manage alone.

It takes the assistance of others to manage the kitchen better.

Feng Zhengming's arrangement also helps to solve the employment problem for a number of young chefs in various parts of Shandong.

After all, Feng Zhengming's restaurants in Qilu have become the first choice for young people in the province who want to learn to cook.

However, once they're in Feng Zhengming's branches across the country, we'll need to arrange their future plans.

If Feng Zhengming does not continue to open branches, it is necessary to arrange new career paths for the group of young chefs who have already grown up.

So, after they pass the competitive assessment, a group will be selected to come to Shanghai.

In other words, we are providing them with new options.

Meanwhile, the vacant locations in their branches across Shandong province can be filled by newly recruited employees.

In this way, a cycle was established within Feng Zhengming's Zhengluxing Catering Company.

Feng Zhengming led the six new employees to the restaurant's kitchen and introduced them to Jiang Chengzhe.

He also warned the six people that Jiang Chengzhe was the head chef in the kitchen of this restaurant on the Western restaurant street, and they had to follow Jiang Chengzhe's instructions and could not make their own judgments.

All six people nodded in agreement.

All six of them respectfully greeted Chef Jiang Chengzhe, thus formally paying their respects to the head chef.

Jiang Chengzhe looked at the six people's younger and more simple faces.

He suddenly realized that the six newcomers Feng Zhengming had arranged for him were actually quite good.

At least the six of them came from Shandong and had not yet experienced the hustle and bustle of the metropolis of Shanghai.

Therefore, the six of them are still able to listen to Jiang Chengzhe's arrangements at this stage.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Jiang Chengzhe will be able to continue commanding them afterward.

This actually depends on Jiang Chengzhe himself.

He needed to have his own set of skills that could keep them in check in order to completely win over these six new young chefs.

Feng Zhengming still had absolute confidence in him in this regard.

Besides arranging for these six people to work at Jiang Chengzhe's shop.

Feng Zhengming also transferred several apprentices from Jiang Chengzhe's shop to the Old House Restaurant.

This is meant to expand the staff in the kitchen of the old villa restaurant.

This also gives better opportunities to the better-performing apprentices.

Whether they can stay in the kitchen of the old house restaurant depends on their performance in the future.

If they fail to meet the standards, they will be reassigned to the kitchens of several other stores in Shanghai.

Of course, they still have another chance.

That means when Deng Huaichuan, Wang Hanwen, Huang Yunliang, Li Yao, and Han Rui's new stores open, you can choose to go to the kitchen of their new stores.

However, that also requires selection by the five young chefs.

After drinking with his three fellow apprentices all night, Sun Decai and Tang Yong finally figured things out.

They also told Feng Zhengming that they were willing to go to Beijing to learn how to make Peking duck.

Feng Zhengming was not at all surprised that the two men were willing to go to the capital.

"It seems that the five of you going out for drinks together has had some effect. You five can be considered true brothers. I hope you can maintain this friendship in the future and support each other if needed."

The five apprentices looked at each other and laughed when they heard Feng Zhengming's warning.

"Don't worry, Master, we will maintain our friendship."

"We will always be brothers and sisters."

"We will help each other in the future."

"We must work together to become disciples that our master can be proud of."

"Yes, we will definitely grow stronger."

Feng Zhengming: "I believe that you will grow up. One day I expect you to become the head chef of one of my restaurants and become a truly independent chef."

After listening to Feng Zhengming's encouragement, the five apprentices became even more confident.

Let Sun Decai and Tang Yong go back to Quancheng first, give them time off to go home and visit their families.

Then the two of them traveled north from Jinan to Beijing.

"Remember, after you go to the capital, you should listen to your fifth master uncle more and follow his arrangements. Don't be in a hurry to show off. You should learn what you need to learn slowly and thoroughly."

Sun Decai and Tang Yong nodded earnestly to their master, indicating that they would definitely study hard.

After seeing off Sun Decai and Tang Yong, Feng Zhengming spent the next period of time adjusting the personnel of the three branches in Shanghai, excluding the one managed by Jiang Chengzhe.

Zhang Lei will also return to Huiquanlou Restaurant in Jinan, and Sun Hai will be transferred to the kitchen of the restaurant in the old villa.

Both stores need to compete internally to select a suitable new store manager and head chef to take over.

Zhu Xu and Guan Wei's shop is about to undergo an upgrade.

Similarly, their store was upgraded, and the kitchen staff also needed to be expanded.

Among these positions are six positions for young chefs who have recently come from Shandong.

Of course, there will also be promotions for some former staff members.

Feng Zhengming provided the evaluation criteria, and then let the stores handle the rest on their own.

First, the three stores need to conduct their own assessments.

This also gives Zhang Lei, Sun Hai, Zhu Xu, and Guan Wei enough authority.

After their assessments are completed, Feng Zhengming will conduct another assessment. This time, he will be assessing the six new recruits from Qilu.

Everyone knows that Feng Zhengming is absolutely ruthless when it comes to assessing culinary skills.

Therefore, the kitchen staff of the three stores participating in the internal assessment were essentially undergoing intensive training by the four head chefs.

While Feng Zhengming was busy in Shanghai.

Back in Beijing, with the help of Tao Mengran, her second aunt, and her aunt-in-law, Luo Qing, the wife, was also gradually completing the final integration of those small shops.

Luo Qing has now acquired most of the small shops near the tourist attractions.

Then Luo Qing rearranged and combined them.

Some unique shops were divided into several sections.

Furthermore, some traditional crafts have been revived and supported.

In particular, with the help of Tao Mengran and her aunt's relatives in Beijing, Luo Qing found some master craftsmen who were inheriting traditional skills, and together with her second aunt and aunt-in-law, she invited those master craftsmen to come out of seclusion.

Then, Feng Zhengming was notified, and some apprentices were arranged to learn from the master craftsmen.

This gradually allows those old crafts to be slowly revived.

This has won praise from many elderly people in Beijing.

Even some well-known actors have specifically mentioned Feng Zhengming's acquisition of the old Beijing shops on television programs.

"People from other places may not know what those old shops mean to Beijingers. They are the tastes that many elderly people in Beijing have grown up eating, but they have disappeared in recent years."

Or perhaps the person who takes over the business simply doesn't understand the old techniques, resulting in the taste no longer being what it used to be.

Now, Feng Zhengming, the national culinary champion, is acquiring those shops.

Then he went to find the master craftsmen and asked them to come out of retirement. He also arranged for young people to learn from them.

I must say, our top scholar Feng is truly outstanding.

Then, people from Beijing TV station specifically sought out Luo Qing for an interview.

During the interview, Luo Qing was also asked why she thought of acquiring those old snack shops.
Luo Qing relayed some of her husband's words in response.

"Because we hope that those old flavors can be preserved, not only so that locals can still enjoy them, but also so that tourists from other places can truly taste the flavors of the past and know what the tastes of our capital city were like in the past."

By this point, many people had begun to believe that Feng Zhengming was a true master.

They not only improve their own skills, but also constantly explore traditional flavors.

Then CCTV sent a team to Shanghai to conduct a special interview with Feng Zhengming.

Upon arriving in Shanghai, they contacted Feng Zhengming, something the CCTV interview team hadn't anticipated.

Surprisingly, Feng Zhengming treated them with great courtesy.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming arranged for them to have a meal at his old villa restaurant in Shanghai.

Through CCTV's cameras, many curious people across the country saw for the first time everything inside Feng Zhengming's old villa restaurant, which is touted as the top Chinese restaurant in the country.

To the surprise of many, including the CCTV interview team, the restaurant's prices were not as expensive as rumored.

Moreover, the restaurant doesn't just pile up all sorts of expensive ingredients; it also serves some home-style dishes.

The prices of key home-style dishes are actually not exorbitantly high.

Of course, even home-style dishes can differ in their ingredients.

Feng Zhengming also gave a very detailed introduction and allowed the CCTV cameras to go into the kitchen to film.

Even some of the soup-making process was filmed by CCTV cameras.

Through the camera lens of the main station, many people gained a deeper understanding of everything in the kitchen.

What impressed everyone most was how clean Feng Zhengming's restaurant kitchen was.

It might even give the impression that the restaurant's kitchen has been recently renovated.

What impressed the CCTV interview team the most was, of course, the food in the restaurant.

The dishes may seem ordinary, but each one is carefully arranged on a plate before being served.

Furthermore, depending on the dish, there are time restrictions on plating.

For dishes like stir-fried dishes over high heat, the plating must be completed in an instant, and then the dishes must be served to the guests quickly.

This is to ensure that the dishes retain the wok hei (the smoky aroma) from being stir-fried over high heat when the guests eat them.

Another point that surprised the CCTV interview team and many people who read the report was...

The dishes at Feng Zhengming's restaurant are not as sparse as those in many high-end restaurants.

Even with proper plating, each of his dishes still looks very generous.

This is something that many people might not have thought of before they saw it.

After CCTV filmed Feng Zhengming's old-style restaurant, he also took CCTV's interview team to his other four restaurants in Shanghai.

The filming of each store was also very intuitive.

Even the CCTV interview team was surprised that Feng Zhengming was so confident that he didn't inform the four stores in advance before going to film.

He was very confident and allowed the CCTV interview team to film the most authentic scenes of each store.

Under the CCTV camera, all four stores, like the old-style restaurant, were doing very well while maintaining quality control of their products.

Furthermore, the kitchens of all four stores were very clean and tidy.

Everyone in the kitchen of each store has a very systematic and standardized arrangement.

The interview team felt that everyone in the kitchen seemed to be connected by a central axis.

As soon as the head chef gives the order, everyone knows where they should be and what tasks they need to complete.

After this interview and filming, the CCTV interview team couldn't help but feel that Feng Zhengming's shop was truly impeccable.

After the interview and filming by CCTV, the interview team felt that the footage they had shot of Feng Zhengming's stores was enough to make a separate program about him.

To the slight embarrassment of the CCTV interview team, Feng Zhengming arranged for a car to take them away when they left.

Feng Zhengming's politeness didn't seem to be an act at all.

His behavior was so natural, as if he simply wanted to do it that way.

This makes people naturally want to get close to Feng Zhengming.

After returning to the headquarters, the interview team reported the situation in detail and suggested that a special program be made for Feng Zhengming as a form of publicity for him.

The CCTV headquarters did not make an immediate decision on this matter; it needed to hold a meeting to discuss it first and then report it to higher authorities.

However, some programs also released some related interview clips first.

Even just a clip from the interview was quite popular with television viewers across the country.

This is the first time everyone has seen the daily life of Feng Zhengming, such a famous national culinary champion, up close.

Especially during the interview, his words to his wife, his fellow apprentices, and the chefs under his command.

All of this demonstrates Chef Feng Zhengming's dedication to making good food.

Feng Zhengming's simplicity and persistence are truly captivating.

After discussion, the station decided to dedicate a separate program to Feng Zhengming. (End of Chapter)