From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Zhou Feng's arrival made it easier for Yang Bin and his apprentice Sun Hai to find a shop.

As a local and someone who used to hang out on the streets, Zhou Feng is quite familiar with all parts of Zhengzhou.

Following Zhou Feng's recommendation, Yang Bin and Sun Hai finally selected several popular locations in Zhengzhou.

These places are all considered very prosperous neighborhoods in Zhengzhou.

One of them is a well-known food street in Zhengzhou.

There are various shops on both sides, and in the evening, there are also various vendors setting up stalls on the street.

Accompanied by Zhou Feng, Yang Bin and Sun Hai also came over specifically in the evening to take a look.

I ate a lot of snacks from the street vendors.

Yang Bin also admitted that many of the food stalls did indeed taste good.

However, Yang Bin ruled out this food street as the first option.

Zhou Feng was initially a little confused: "This street has the best business; many people come here specifically to eat. Isn't it good for us to open a shop here?"

Yang Bin smiled and said, "This place is indeed very nice, and there are a lot of customers, but it's not a good place for us to open a shop."

Zhou Feng asked in surprise, "Why can't we open a shop here? There are plenty of suitable storefronts here."

Yang Bin's smile faded, and he became serious: "The streets here are full of all kinds of food stalls, which means that this area is mainly a food business market. If we come here, we might squeeze out their market share."

These street vendors are all struggling financially; we shouldn't take away their business.

Zhou Feng found Yang Bin's words somewhat unbelievable.

I also sensed that Yang Bin and his team had a different philosophy from others.

Others are afraid that their business will not be good, and they even dream of dominating the entire market.

But it was clear that Yang Bin and his group still wanted to preserve the market with those street stalls.

They didn't want to take over the market from the street vendors.

After thinking about it carefully, Zhou Feng realized there was nothing wrong with it.

Perhaps the branch of the dry rice shop opened by Yang Bin and his group will not do very well at first.

But as long as the fame of Feng Zhengming, the top scholar, is used, the branch should quickly attract enough customers.

Most importantly, it has two master chefs, Yang Bin and Sun Hai, in charge.

In Zhou Feng's view, it won't be long before the reputation of the branch spreads throughout Zhengzhou, and many people will come to the store to have a meal and try the taste.

After everyone tried it, they found that it tasted even better than many of the big restaurants in the area.

This will inevitably create a siphon effect on passenger flow.

Back then, if you opened a shop in a food street, you definitely had to target the snack stall business.

So after some searching, Yang Bin finally chose a shop near the Zhengcheng commercial district.

The rent for shops in this area isn't very high.

After all, although it is near a commercial district, it is still some distance away from the actual commercial district.

However, the location of the shop is not bad; it can be seen just a short walk from the commercial street.

Most importantly, there are several office buildings nearby.

It is also not far from the office buildings of some government departments.

Because this branch of Ganfanpu (a type of rice shop) in Zhengzhou mainly operates on a fast-food model, it needs to attract the surrounding working-class people and make them treat the shop as their canteen.

In this way, you have a stable customer base, which ensures the business of the store.

Zhou Feng also thought Yang Bin's final choice of position was quite good.

After selecting the shop location, Yang Bin, along with Sun Hai and Zhou Feng, contacted the landlord.

When everyone sat down to talk, Zhou Feng's advantage as a local became apparent.

At first glance, the other party could tell from Yang Bin and Sun Hai's accents that they were intentionally trying to raise the rent and were unwilling to sign a long-term lease with them.

Later, Zhou Feng, a local, spoke up, and the other person realized he was also a local.

Their momentum immediately weakened, and their attitude towards Yang Bin and Sun Hai softened.

After some haggling, Zhou Feng finally agreed on a five-year long-term lease with the other party.

If it were according to Feng Zhengming's usual practice, he might have tried to buy the shop first.

However, Yang Bin did not directly discuss purchasing the shop; he only discussed long-term leasing with the other party.

Moreover, Yang Bin also negotiated a condition with the landlord.

That means they have the right of first refusal to renew the lease when it expires.

The landlord was quite satisfied with the rental price, feeling that signing a five-year lease would save him a lot of trouble.

On the contrary, Zhou Feng felt that the rent was still too high, and there was no need to rent for five years at once.

Yang Bin knew that Zhou Feng was not very satisfied with the rent and the long-term contract.

He had another private conversation with Zhou Feng.

"Do you think the rent is too high? And do you think we shouldn't rent for five years at once? Do you think our rental period is too long?"

When his thoughts were pointed out, Zhou Feng simply shared some of his ideas.

“I think that since we are renting it for five years at once, the rent he charges us is too high. Almost no one would rent a shop like his for five years at once.”

He could actually have lowered the rent for us further; he's clearly deliberately trying to avoid it.

Yang Bin smiled and said, "Actually, if the shop is in his hands, he can only earn a little bit of rent each month. But if the shop is in our hands, we can turn it into more wealth."

Hearing this, Zhou Feng was stunned.

He looked at Yang Bin and his apprentice Sun Hai with some surprise.

Zhou Feng could see the confidence in the eyes of both the master and his apprentice.

It's like telling others that if they come here to open a shop, as long as they take action, they will definitely be able to make the shop successful and earn a value far exceeding the rent.

Sun Hai: "My junior uncle and I signed five-year long-term contracts in Shanghai. Now, many of the shops have been bought by my junior uncle."

If it were my junior uncle negotiating this shop, he would definitely buy it outright, not rent it.

Yang Bin glanced at his somewhat simple-minded apprentice.

He knew that his disciple was not intentionally praising his junior master in front of him.

The disciple said this simply to demonstrate their strength to Zhou Feng.

Zhou Feng was indeed very surprised when he heard this.

"Do you buy all the shops in Shanghai directly?"

Sun Hai: "Yes, Junior Uncle bought most of them because renting shops is really troublesome, and if you can't agree on the rent, you also have to consider relocation."

Zhou Feng thought for a moment and said, "It seems that's true. Buying it would be more cost-effective, and more importantly, it would save us a lot of trouble." Yang Bin smiled and said, "Alright, alright, I'll take care of this side. We can just rent it. If we can't agree on the rent, we can find a shop in advance and move out."

Upon hearing what his master said, Sun Hai quickly told his master that he was not trying to criticize him.

Yang Bin: "It's okay, you don't need to explain to me. Master is indeed not as decisive as your junior uncle, but I want to say that we are helping your junior uncle open a shop. We can't do things entirely based on our own ideas. We still need to save expenses as much as possible."

Upon hearing his master's words, Sun Hai immediately nodded earnestly in agreement.

"I know, Master. I will be more careful from now on."

Yang Bin: "Alright, the shop deal is settled. Next, we need to find someone to come and do the construction and renovation."

Sun Hai asked, "Master, are you contacting the renovation team in Liujia Village?"

Yang Bin looked at Zhou Feng: "Do you know any local renovation companies? If the price is right, we can also have a local renovation company do it."

Zhou Feng shook his head: "I really don't know any local decoration companies."

Yang Bin then said to Sun Hai, "Then call Liu Yonggang."

Following his master's advice, Sun Hai immediately called Liu Yonggang.

Liu Yonggang received Sun Hai's call and immediately agreed without any hesitation. He then prepared to arrange for people to come and take over the renovation work.

However, Sun Hai had already contacted Liu Yonggang to send people over for renovations.

The next day, a group of local renovation teams came to the door.

Yang Bin explained to the other party that they had already found a renovation company.

However, judging from the other party's expression, it seemed that they were not satisfied with Yang Bin and his team finding someone else to do the renovation.

Yang Bin completely disagreed with this.

Zhou Feng managed to find the head of the renovation team through a friend he knew.

After some negotiation with the other party, it was explained that the shop already had suitable decorators, which dispelled some of the negative ideas of the local decoration team.

The local renovation team was initially quite dissatisfied with this.

Fortunately, Yang Bin stepped in and had Zhou Feng take him to negotiate with the other party.

Ultimately, this forced the other party to stop thinking about them.

Afterwards, Zhou Feng hosted Yang Bin and his apprentice Sun Hai again at his own noodle restaurant.

The three of them drank some wine together.

Zhou Feng was also somewhat helpless: "People nowadays are different from before. Those guys in the renovation teams all come from other cities in our province. They really dare to do anything."

Yang Bin immediately laughed: "Don't you suddenly feel like you've aged all of a sudden?"

Zhou Feng looked at Yang Bin: "Master Yang, you're right. I suddenly feel old. I'm not even thirty yet, how did I end up like this?"

Yang Bin comforted him, "Don't overthink it. You yourself said that you're not even thirty yet. You're still young. So if you come to the store with us to learn, you can still improve. Maybe you'll become a very skilled chef in the future."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Feng immediately perked up; "Really? Chef Yang, do I really have a chance to become a master chef?"

Sun Hai laughed from the side: "You should learn the craft well from my master. Becoming a master chef depends on your own hard work."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Feng looked at Yang Bin with excitement.

"Master Yang, may I...may I become your apprentice?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Bin immediately laughed: "What? You don't want to wait a little longer? Maybe when Scholar Feng comes over and sees you, he'll take you as his apprentice?"

Hearing this, Zhou Feng was stunned.

He had considered whether he could become Feng Zhuangyuan's apprentice.

However, after spending these few days together, he felt that he had developed some feelings for Yang Bin and his apprentice Sun Hai.

So after a slight hesitation, he immediately became serious and said, "No, I think it's the same if I become your apprentice, Master Yang. You are Feng Zhuangyuan's senior apprentice, and you also participated in state banquets with Feng Zhuangyuan, so you can learn good skills by becoming his apprentice."

Yang Bin smiled and said, "What you said is very good, but I cannot formally accept you as my apprentice yet."

Zhou Feng felt a little disappointed upon hearing this.

Sun Hai reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't be disappointed. The reason why your master is not accepting you as a disciple now is because you still need to go through some tests. If you want to formally become a disciple, you must first start as an apprentice. Only after you pass the apprentice's test can you formally become a disciple."

Hearing Sun Hai say that, Zhou Feng's expression immediately changed again.

"I understand, I will learn properly from the apprenticeship."

After spending these few days together, Yang Bin could tell that Zhou Feng was a pretty good young man.

Although Zhou Feng did indeed go astray in the past and did some wrong things on the streets.

But it must be said that Zhou Feng has a very good father.

His father prevented him from going down a dark path.

Now Zhou Feng is also a good young man who can endure hardship and is willing to learn and work hard.

The key point is that Zhou Feng does indeed have a certain appeal to Yang Bin.

After all, before Yang Bin entered Yanxilou, he had been fighting and brawling with others in the countryside.

Therefore, Yang Bin still likes young people who know how to correct their mistakes, understand what they can do, and have their own goals.

When Lao Zhou came out, he also expressed his gratitude to Yang Bin.

"Thank you, Master Yang, for taking my good-for-nothing son as your apprentice."

Yang Bin stood up and helped the old man who was about to bow to him.

"Uncle Zhou, please don't be like this. Zhou Feng is willing to learn the craft properly, and I am certainly willing to teach him. Our master said that passing on the craft is the most important thing we should do."

Therefore, we will teach any young person who is willing to endure the hardship and learn this skill well.

Old Zhou: "When I saw Feng Zhuangyuan on TV, I thought he was a great chef and a representative of the top chefs in Chinese cuisine. Now that I see you, Chef Yang, I think you and your fellow apprentices are really amazing."

Yang Bin: "Uncle Zhou, if we're talking about ability, although I'm the senior, I'm definitely not as good as my junior brother. Whether it's cooking or other aspects, he's better than me."

However, when it comes to training apprentices and mentoring students, I have some experience and more time than him.

Sun Hai couldn't help but laugh and speak up for his master.

"My master is right. Junior Uncle is too busy and doesn't have much time to teach apprentices. Most of the time, new apprentices are taught by my master. If their skills improve later, they may be able to learn from Senior Uncle."

Those who ultimately ended up by my junior uncle's side had all completed the most basic training and had a very solid foundation.

Zhou Feng asked curiously, "Does that mean that Master Yang is the teacher who helps Scholar Feng instruct his apprentices?"

Sun Hai: "It's different. If you really go to my junior uncle's side, you will understand that what you can learn from him is different."

Zhou Feng was still very curious: "What can I learn from Scholar Feng?"

Yang Bin began, "You can learn the most essential skills to become a top-tier chef." (End of Chapter)