From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

The opening of the Shicheng branch also went very smoothly, with people from both the provincial government of Hebei Province and the city government of Shicheng attending to offer their congratulations.

Feng Zhengming also invited people from the province, city, chef association, and catering association to cut the ribbon for his new store.

Feng Zhengming's decision to open a branch in Shicheng has indeed garnered a lot of support.

Therefore, on the opening day, the store in Shicheng welcomed a considerable number of customers.

Most of them are local customers.

Most locals have heard of Feng Zhengming to some extent.

Even those who didn't know Feng Zhengming wanted to try this branch of the restaurant because they heard it was run by the national culinary champion.

Just like in Zhengzhou before, locals are enveloped in a sense of familiarity the moment they step inside.

The entire store looks quite clean and tidy, with servers and cleaners promptly tidying the tables.

Then there will be an order counter, and you can pick up your food at the bar next to the order counter.

From this long bar counter, you can see the semi-open kitchen inside.

You can also clearly see the people in the kitchen working inside.

Even the cooking process in the kitchen can be clearly seen from the bar counter.

This type of store is not unfamiliar to many people.

Because most small restaurants on the street have a kitchen that you can see directly from, and many even allow you to go into the kitchen to order food.

The difference is that this place looks quite clean and tidy.

Even when they are busy cooking in the kitchen, they still manage to maintain basic cleanliness.

The variety of food available in the store makes many locals feel like they've entered a local eatery.

Not only do they have donkey meat sandwiches, but they also offer a variety of individual donkey meat dishes.

Then there are various kinds of noodles, including the familiar flat noodles, some buckwheat noodles, and some covered noodles that can be topped with braised pork, pork hock, pig's trotters, and four-happiness meatballs.

These dishes are very familiar to the locals.

Many older people say they've been eating this since they were kids.

However, after eating at the restaurant, they felt that the taste was different.

It's not just about whether it tastes similar or not; it's that it tastes even better than they remember.

Donkey meat is even more fragrant, and many people especially like it. Those with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, mixed with some braising sauce, are sandwiched in a baked bun, making many locals unable to stop eating it.

Even at Feng Zhengming's shop in Shicheng, there are dishes with braised meat added.

This is also a method used by some donkey meat sandwich shops.

Another thing is the taste of the braised donkey meat, which many locals feel is even better than the food they usually eat at the restaurants in their area.

Then there's the beef noodle soup, which is also quite a local specialty.

You absolutely must add some deep-fried, slightly burnt red chili peppers; that's what makes the most authentic beef noodle soup flavor.

The large meat noodles with a piece of braised pork on top are also a favorite among many locals.

Some elderly people brought their grandchildren to eat, and the elderly people's faces were full of smiles as they watched their grandchildren eat meat and noodles with gusto.

On its first day of opening, Feng Zhengming's Shicheng branch received rave reviews in the local area.

Jing Guanlin had no choice but to praise him in person.

"Zhengming, your shop is doing incredibly well."

Feng Zhengming: "I still want to thank you all for your support, especially you for teaching us some local delicacies. Otherwise, my shop wouldn't be doing so well."

Jing Guanlin: "Zhengming, you're too modest. The help we've given you is nothing compared to your current strength."

Feng Zhengming: "Haha, Senior Brother Jing, you're too kind. Our own efforts are only one aspect; we also need your help from the local area more."

Jing Guanlin asked, "With your restaurant here, Zhengming, all the local restaurants will have to make some changes."

Feng Zhengming shook his head: "No, Senior Brother Jing, I've looked at some shops these past two days, and I don't think we need to make too many changes. Just stick to one thing: making the dishes well."

Whether it's a street food stall, a fast-food restaurant like mine, or your restaurant, Brother Jing.

A good restaurant is one where the food is good and the customers are satisfied. Customers come to the restaurant for delicious food; they're all locals, so there's no need for fancy gimmicks.

After listening to Feng Zhengming's words, Jing Guanlin nodded.

“Yes, Zhengming, what you said is very true. We really don’t need all those messy things. We just need to focus on making good food so that the people in our neighborhood can eat well.”

Feng Zhengming: "Brother Jing, your skills are fine, but my suggestion is that you don't necessarily have to limit yourself to Hebei cuisine. You can add some dishes from other places and make some modifications according to the tastes of people here."

Jing Guanlin: "Okay, Zhengming, I've remembered your suggestion, and I'll give it a try."

"I believe that Senior Brother Jing will definitely make further progress. In the future, my branch in Shicheng will also need Senior Brother Jing's help."

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, Jing Guanlin smiled and nodded: "Don't worry, junior brother, we chefs are all family. I'll help keep an eye on things."

After the successful opening of the Shicheng branch, Feng Zhengming and his entourage bid farewell to Jing Guanlin and set off for Beijing.

My third senior brother also went to the capital this time, wanting to visit Cao Zhiguo.

Sun Hai remained at the shop in Shicheng, as a final act of support and farewell.

Once Lü Zhengyu and Zhang Haobo are able to take over the shop well, Sun Hai will return directly from Shicheng to Quancheng and then formally enter the kitchen of Huiquanlou to learn from his master.

Before leaving, Feng Zhengming, together with his third senior brother, held a meeting with all the kitchen staff in the store.

This meeting was attended not only by Feng Zhengming's apprentices from Shanghai, but also by five young chefs.

Sun Hai and everyone at the Shicheng store, including the apprentices recruited locally in Shicheng, were also present.

The local apprentices in Shicheng were very excited to be able to attend such a meeting.

Feng Zhengming looked serious and began by bluntly pointing out some problems with the new store.

"For new stores, you need to be careful. There will be a lot of people in the store at the beginning, so you may be very busy. But remember, even if you are very busy, you must never be perfunctory with any customer."

If customers have any questions, you must address them immediately and not delay.

Furthermore, you can't cut corners on certain dishes just because there are more customers and your kitchen is too busy.

At this point, Feng Zhengming looked at Lü Zhengyu and Zhang Haobo.

"You two, remember this? I've seen you stealing things these past two days."

Lu Zhengyu and Zhang Haobo were immediately taken aback.

Then the two of them stood up together and took the initiative to apologize to Feng Zhengming.

These past two days, business has been good at the store, so the people at the Shicheng store have become quite arrogant.

Today I saw Feng Zhengming point out the problem to the chefs in person, leaving both chefs standing there with their heads down, admitting their mistakes.

Everyone else in the kitchen fell silent.

The apprentices who came from Qilu had all seen similar scenes.

They knew that Feng Zhengming would rarely get angry with them, but the issues he pointed out would always be very important. If they didn't admit their mistakes and correct them, they might lose the opportunity.

The apprentices recruited by Shicheng found this scene somewhat unbelievable.

Jing Mingyu had heard his uncle mention many things about Feng Zhengming.

A few days ago, he thought Feng Zhengming was a very easy person to get along with. But seeing Feng Zhengming's imposing presence today, he finally got to know what Chef Feng Zhengming was like.

There was absolutely no anger or emotion involved.

However, the issue he pointed out had an undeniable air about it.

Jing Mingyu felt that because there were too many customers, if Lü Zhengyu and Zhang Haobo in the kitchen slightly cheated, many customers wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

This kind of thing happens in most restaurants, even in the kitchen of Uncle Jingguanlin Restaurant.

There's no need to bring it up directly during a meeting like this.

However, Feng Zhengming still pointed it out, and he even gave a rather direct warning to the two chefs in charge of cooking.

"Remember, never cheat. Once cheating becomes a habit, you might even think about cheating when you're not busy, and your cooking skills will only decline."

I don't want your cooking skills to start declining at the Shicheng branch, so you won't have the opportunity to go to other bigger restaurants in the future.

Hearing Feng Zhengming's words, Jing Mingyu suddenly realized something.

It turns out that Scholar Feng's warning to them was actually for their own good.

Feng Zhuangyuan truly trains every chef.

Then, thinking about how Feng Zhuangyuan owned not only these rice shop branches, but also restaurants in Jinan, restaurants in Shanghai, and that restaurant that was hailed as the top restaurant in the country.

It seems that there is indeed a great deal of room for improvement for every chef.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming warned Lü Zhengyu and Zhang Haobo not to just stay in the Shicheng store and stagnate.

After discussing the issues with Lü Zhengyu and Zhang Haobo, Feng Zhengming then pointed out some problems with the other apprentices in the kitchen.

He gave his apprentices a very serious and earnest admonition.

"Remember to observe and think more in the kitchen. Observe and think before you do. Don't rush to do it immediately, because if you rush to do it, you may make mistakes."

There are many tedious tasks in the kitchen, and you may need to do the same thing over and over again.

However, in the process of repeating this process again and again, you must learn to summarize and improve yourselves.

Because the restaurant's kitchen isn't like your school cafeteria, you can't expect the chefs to demonstrate things to you repeatedly. Therefore, you need to learn how to do it yourself.

Feng Zhengming's words served as a wake-up call for the apprentices.

I told them that the kitchen was different from what they learned in school.

In the end, Feng Zhengming still gave everyone some encouragement.

"I hope you can all master your skills and not stagnate. I look forward to the day when you can all become well-known chefs in the country, and even be poached from me by someone offering a high price."

Feng Zhengming's last words immediately eased the tense atmosphere at the scene.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and then couldn't help but laugh.

It's unlikely that any boss would so explicitly say they hope someone will poach their chefs.

But everyone knows that Feng Zhengming's words were probably from the bottom of his heart.

He genuinely hoped that one of his chefs would be poached by someone offering a high price.

In the subsequent meeting, Feng Zhengming also encouraged everyone to exchange ideas.

All chefs and apprentices can ask all sorts of questions.

He and his third senior brother will answer everyone's questions on site.

Then, the apprentices and young chefs will also be encouraged to interact with each other.

After Feng Zhengming and his third senior brother left first, the young chefs and apprentices were given more freedom.

Then, most people were very curious and took the initiative to ask Xia Hui some questions.

Indeed, Xia Hui, Feng Zhengming's only apprentice, is a bit too conspicuous.

Everyone was also curious about how Xia Hui managed to keep the old-style restaurant in Shanghai running normally when Feng Zhengming was not around.
Xia Hui didn't hide much and shared her experiences in Shanghai, as well as her knowledge of old-style restaurants in Shanghai, with everyone.

"Actually, it might be different from what everyone thinks. The reason I was able to run the restaurant well even when my master wasn't around is mainly because my master had arranged everything."

The chef made very detailed arrangements for the design of each dish, the cooking process of each dish, and the plating and serving process.

Our entire kitchen, or rather the entire restaurant, is like a machine that has been programmed.

"We just need to follow the instructions set by our master to run the restaurant well."

Hearing Xia Hui say this surprised those who had never been to that old-style restaurant in Shanghai.

Lu Zhengyu and the five young chefs who had entered were not surprised at all.

Because they had the same experience.

In particular, the five young chefs had initially tried to create some of the dishes they were good at.

The result was that, despite it being their specialty, some of the dishes they made didn't receive good reviews from customers.

Feng Zhengming made some improvements, incorporating features from other cuisines.

Make the dishes more suitable for the general tastes of the restaurant's customers.

After Feng Zhengming improved the dishes, he would break down the steps, assign each person a specific step, and finally assemble the dishes.

While the efficiency of serving dishes may not be fast, the quality of the dishes can certainly be guaranteed.

This is why, even when Feng Zhengming wasn't at the old-style restaurant, Xia Hui was still able to make dishes that were 70% similar to her master's.

After listening to Xia Hui's description, they then listened to Lü Zhengyu and the five young chefs recount what had happened.

This truly surprised Jing Mingyu and the apprentices present.

They all thought they had overestimated Feng Zhuangyuan.

In retrospect, they underestimated Feng Zhuangyuan.

They can completely break down the process of making a dish.

Then, each person can complete the process step by step.

This ensures the quality of the dishes.

This level of standardization is something most restaurants probably can't achieve.

Feng Zhengming and Yang Bin walked out of the shop and the two brothers talked privately about their upcoming trip to Beijing.

Yang Bin: "It seems that Lao Wu is doing very well in Beijing. Our trip there is probably just a formality, just to take a look?"

Feng Zhengming: "Pretty much. Just go through the motions and take a look. We also need to clean up those small shops while we're at it."

Yang Bin asked in surprise, "Is there a problem with the shop?"

Feng Zhengming: "No, but since the shops are all near tourist attractions, we still need to keep a close eye on them from time to time to prevent tourists from getting food poisoning."

Yang Bin nodded in agreement: "That's true, small shops in tourist attractions really need to ensure food safety."

Then Feng Zhengming asked, "Third Brother, are you going back to Jinan, or are you coming to Shanghai with me?"

Yang Bin paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I'll go back. You've transferred almost all the young people out, so someone has to be responsible for training the newcomers to fill the gaps, right?"

Feng Zhengming looked at his third senior brother and sincerely expressed his gratitude to him once again.

"Thank you, Third Brother." (End of Chapter)