From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After the two groups had finished their meals, they returned to Cao Zhiguo's shop.

There were still people queuing, although the queue was much shorter than before.

Then the two groups met up first.

"Looks like we still can't get in. Shall we go explore some more?"

Xia Hui offered her suggestion: "Let's go see Tiananmen Square tonight, walk there to digest our food, and then walk back. It should take about the right amount of time."

After Xia Hui said that, everyone felt it was a good choice.

So they walked together toward Tiananmen Square.

In the kitchen of Cao Zhiguo's shop, Feng Zhengming and his two senior apprentices were working very hard, leading everyone in their tasks.

Feng Zhengming also switched places with his two senior brothers so that they could rest for a while.

In this way, the three of them and everyone in the kitchen took turns resting.

At the same time, they did not stop doing business outside.

After a considerable period of busy work, the queue at the entrance has finally been cleared.

The last few people who entered the store couldn't help but sigh with admiration.

"Wow, we've been waiting in line for ages."

"No wonder it's Feng Zhuangyuan's shop, business is booming."

"There are too many tourists in Beijing. Everyone chooses to come here to eat, which is why there are so many people."

"There's no other way. Many people say that it's easy to get ripped off at some restaurants in Beijing, so I'd rather trust Feng Zhuangyuan's restaurant."

"Yes, at least Feng Zhuangyuan's shop is not expensive, and the taste is just as good."

"Look inside, isn't that Scholar Feng?"

"Huh? It really is, it really is Scholar Feng."

"So Scholar Feng is in the shop too?"

"No wonder business is so good today."

Some people in the store also noticed that Feng Zhengming was in the kitchen.

Some people even specifically asked the staff member in charge of taking orders when they were ordering food.

Feng Zhengming was in the kitchen when he finished preparing almost all the dishes for the last table.

He took the initiative to come out of the kitchen, stand in front of the bar outside the kitchen, and greet everyone in the store.

"Thank you all for visiting my shop. I'm really sorry for making you wait in line for so long. We do have limited staff, so if you'd like to come, you can try to avoid peak hours."

Of course, if it's truly impossible to avoid the queues, and people choose to eat at other restaurants, we won't mind.

Seeing Feng Zhengming actually in the store made all the customers excited.

Many people also picked up their cameras and took photos specifically of Feng Zhengming.

Then someone in the shop asked, "Scholar Feng, could you recommend some shops in Beijing?"

These words immediately resonated with the tourists in the store.

"Yeah, we don't even know what to eat in Beijing?"

"The key issue is that many of these restaurants don't actually serve very good food?"

"We can't eat Peking duck every day now that we're in Beijing, can we?"

"Feng Zhuangyuan, could you recommend some shops, some small restaurants with good food, and some restaurants where we can eat?"

"Like that recommendation guide you launched in Shanghai, I think it's very good, and we can also make a copy in Beijing."

"Yes, yes, let's have a recommendation guide for Beijing."

Feng Zhengming saw that everyone had volunteered.

He smiled and said, "Okay, we will also launch a Beijing restaurant recommendation guide later. We will start with a guide to street food and small shops."

We will then explore some restaurants in Beijing and release a restaurant recommendation guide.

Upon hearing Feng Zhengming's words, almost everyone in the shop applauded.

Many tourists follow Feng Zhengming's food recommendations when they visit Shanghai.

They discovered that following the recommended guidelines would definitely prevent them from making a bad choice.

While some of the restaurants may not suit your taste, you definitely won't find them unpalatable.

The snacks and small restaurants recommended by Feng Zhengming are all very unique.

Therefore, everyone felt that since Feng Zhengming had also created a recommendation guide in Beijing, they wouldn't have to search around for food when they came to Beijing for tourism in the future.

The key point is that everyone trusts the restaurants recommended by Feng Zhengming, so the food is sure to be delicious and won't disappoint them.

Feng Zhengming: "I hope everyone eats and drinks well, and has a great time in Beijing."

Everyone expressed their gratitude to Feng Zhengming.

Then Feng Zhengming turned around and went back into the kitchen.

The third and fifth senior brothers, along with their men, had already cleaned up almost the entire kitchen.

Seeing Feng Zhengming return, the fifth senior brother smiled and said, "Zhengming, you should have come to the capital a long time ago to work on that recommendation guide. It would have been a better way to promote all the snacks and small shops in the capital."

The third senior brother nodded in agreement: "Yes, recommendations like yours in Shanghai and ours in Shandong are very popular."

Feng Zhengming: "To develop such a system, we need to conduct on-site investigations, and the key is to find authoritative people to conduct the evaluation."

Fifth Senior Brother: "Why not just do it the same way you do in Shanghai?"

Feng Zhengming: "It can't be the same. There are too many master craftsmen and senior masters in Beijing. We have to take them into consideration and have a standard that everyone can accept."

These words made the third and fifth senior brothers fall into deep thought.

The two senior brothers understood that gaining everyone's trust was indeed not an easy task.

Those snack shops and small restaurants probably won't get any criticism.

But if it's about judging restaurants...

The restaurants in the capital all have a long history.

Some restaurants are also catering to guests.

Therefore, if it were really necessary to select restaurants, it would be quite difficult to come up with a unified standard in Beijing.

Shanghai is much more relaxed, since they only need to consider the commercial stores.

Therefore, if Feng Zhengming wants to create a recommendation guide in Beijing, especially regarding the rating of restaurants in the capital, he really needs the approval of the experienced chefs and master chefs in Beijing.

Third Senior Brother: "I think we can start by making a recommendation guide for snack shops and small restaurants, and not for restaurants for the time being."

Fifth Senior Brother agreed: "Yes, yes, let's not open the restaurant for now, to avoid angering some people."

Feng Zhengming: "Hahaha, I'm not afraid of angering some people, but to rate the restaurants in the capital, we really need someone with enough influence to step forward."

Both the third and fifth senior brothers nodded in agreement.

You need to find someone influential to come forward; otherwise, it's really difficult to rate the restaurants in the capital.

Feng Zhengming: "Let's not think about that for now. Let's focus on making a recommendation guide for snack shops and small restaurants."

I told my junior apprentice to start by creating a recommendation guide for snack shops and small restaurants.

Yang Bin and Cao Zhiguo exchanged a glance. The two brothers immediately thought of their junior brother's previous approach of acquiring those small shops.

It is clear that after acquiring the shops in the scenic area, Feng Zhengming reorganized them all.

This was probably also to prepare in advance for the recommendation guide in Beijing. Xia Hui and the others returned to Tiananmen Square and looked at the square illuminated by lights under the night sky.

They also took some photos together near the square.

When they returned to Cao Zhiguo's shop.

I noticed that even though it was past 9 p.m., there were still customers in the store.

Lu Haisheng exclaimed, "This shop is doing so well! There are still so many people here even after nine o'clock."

Deng Huaichuan laughed: "That's normal. After all, this place isn't far from the tourist attractions. Don't you see many people like us who also want to see the square at night?"

Seeing that there was no queue at the entrance, the group went into the store together.

As they entered the shop, they ran into Sun Decai coming out of the kitchen.

Sun Decai was assigned to this shop to learn how to roast duck.

Seeing Xia Hui and the others enter, he greeted them with a smile.

“If you don’t come back soon, Master will send me out to look for you.”

This made everyone laugh.

Xia Hui asked with a smile, "It seems you're doing well here? Have you already adapted to life here?"

Sun Decai: "It's alright, but the pace here is a bit fast, and making roast duck is indeed quite hard work. Every morning I have to go and buy ducks."

Xia Hui: "Isn't this a case of getting a good deal and then acting innocent? You clearly learned a skill."

Sun Decai: "Haha, yes, a little bit."

Then Sun Decai looked at the kitchen and said, "Master and the others are in the kitchen. Why don't you find a place to sit for a while?"

Gao Yongfu asked curiously, "Are we not allowed into the kitchen now?"

Sun Decai: "There's no room in the back. Master is chatting with his senior brothers, so there's no way you can get involved if you go in. Just wait outside for a while."

Xia Hui and the others didn't actually intend to go inside; they looked around the shop and realized there weren't many places to sit.

The group decided to go outside the store and sit down in the queue outside to wait.

It wasn't until almost 10 p.m. that the store finally closed for business.

Then Sun Decai and Tang Yong came out and called Xia Hui and the others into the shop.

Feng Zhengming and his two senior apprentices had already come out of the kitchen.

Then Feng Zhengming asked the store staff to tidy up and leave.

"You can leave work early tonight. We can handle the cleaning in the store. You've all worked hard, so go home and get some rest."

When Feng Zhengming said this, the service staff all looked at Cao Zhiguo.

Cao Zhiguo nodded: "Yes, go back and rest first. You don't need to clean up tonight, we have plenty of manpower."

The staff also saw Xia Hui and others coming in from outside.

Then they tidied themselves up, changed their clothes, said goodbye to Feng Zhengming and the others, and left.

After the staff left, Feng Zhengming and his two senior brothers asked everyone to sit down.

"Come on, everyone, sit down and have a chat."

Everyone in the kitchen understood that this was a good opportunity to exchange ideas, so they naturally found seats and sat down.

Sun Decai and Tang Yong naturally sat down with Xia Hui and the others.

Then the staff in the store were roughly divided into three groups.

Xia Hui and Feng Zhengming, five apprentices, five young chefs, and Cao Zhiguo's kitchen staff.

Sun Hongcheng simply sat down with Feng Zhengming and the others.

Feng Zhengming spoke first: "Let me tell you about my experience in the kitchen these past few days. Overall, it was very good, even exceeding my expectations. Especially Sun Hongcheng, your roast duck is very popular, which shows that Chef Sun, your skills are really good."

Upon receiving this praise, Sun Hongcheng smiled and said, "Scholar Feng, you are too kind. This is all the skill I have."

Feng Zhengming: "Having this skill is enough. I believe that you, Master Sun, will achieve great things in the future and make roast duck even more exquisite."

Sun Hongcheng nodded earnestly: "I will continue to work hard."

Then Feng Zhengming also praised the other kitchen staff, commending their excellent teamwork.

"I know that our shop is indeed quite busy because we have to serve a large number of tourists, so everyone must be very tired every day. I would like to express my gratitude for everyone's hard work."

I'll discuss it with my fifth senior brother and we'll give everyone some bonuses and adjust our business hours so everyone can get some rest.

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, everyone in the kitchen immediately smiled.

What are people willing to work so hard for? Isn't it just so they can get better treatment?
The treatment Feng Zhengming offered was already considered very high.

On the one hand, the wages at his shop are among the highest in Beijing's kitchens.

On the other hand, Feng Zhengming's store also offers good benefits in other aspects. Just because the salary is high doesn't make people work non-stop. They arrange rest time for everyone.

This alone is something that many other restaurants and eateries cannot do.

Even Sun Hongcheng felt that it was better to stay and work at Feng Zhengming's shop than to open his own.

We've praised them, and we've also given everyone some benefits and improvements.

Next, Feng Zhengming also pointed out some problems in the kitchen.

When Feng Zhengming pointed out the problem, the smiles on the faces of everyone in the kitchen gradually faded.

When everyone was pointed out to have a problem, they all knew that Feng Zhengming was right.

They had many minor health issues that they never paid attention to.

However, being pointed out by Feng Zhengming made everyone realize that some of their minor flaws did indeed have an impact.

After listening to Feng Zhengming raise some questions, everyone carefully took notes.

After Feng Zhengming finished speaking, he asked his two senior brothers to say something as well.

The third senior brother didn't mention any problems, but instead gave everyone more encouragement.

Fifth Brother mentioned some improvement plans, and he asked everyone to make as many changes as possible in the future.

After Feng Zhengming and his two senior brothers finished speaking, Feng Zhengming then had the kitchen staff, Xia Hui, and the five young chefs exchange ideas.

To allow everyone to chat more freely, Feng Zhengming and his two senior brothers got up and went to the kitchen first.

Without Feng Zhengming and the others present, everyone quickly relaxed and started chatting.

They talked about everything from the situation in various stores to gossip.

During the conversation, the five young chefs raised many questions, many of which concerned the operation of their restaurant in Beijing.

The kitchen staff at Cao Zhiguo's shop, especially Sun Decai and Tang Yong, gave a brief introduction to the shop's operations.

This gave the five young chefs some peace of mind.

Now that we understand how they should operate their respective branches when they return to their hometowns, and especially what aspects they need to pay attention to when opening a store.

Xia Hui also shared some information about the old-style restaurant in Shanghai, satisfying the curiosity of the apprentices in Beijing.

After some conversation, the relationship between the relatives became much closer.

Sun Hongcheng also became involved, realizing that his knowledge of Beijing was still somewhat shallow.

After this exchange, everyone started cleaning the store inside and out together.

After cleaning the shop inside and out and taking all the trash to the nearby garbage disposal station, tonight's work was finally finished. (End of Chapter)