From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Time flies and National Day is fast approaching. This year, Feng Zhengming did not attend the state banquet for National Day.

This made things much easier for him, allowing him to focus more on his own work.

Although there is no National Day holiday yet, Feng Zhengming's stores in Shanghai are almost fully booked during the National Day holiday.

Even at the children's restaurant, parents were making reservations for their children in advance.

Luo Qing initially did not want to accept the reservation.

However, it was discovered that during the National Day holiday, there were far too many parents who wanted to bring their children to eat at the children's restaurant.

In order to ensure the dining environment and the dining experience for parents and children, Luo Qing had to issue a batch of number tags every day.

Parents and children are instructed to enter the children's restaurant in an orderly manner according to their assigned numbers.

Feng Zhengming even decided that, in order to support his wife, he would personally go to the kitchen of the children's restaurant to cook.

Luo Qing was naturally very happy about this, but then she also became a little worried.

"If people found out that you were personally cooking in the children's restaurant kitchen, the children's restaurant would probably be packed with people."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "It's alright. It's National Day, so it's nice for everyone to have some fun together."

Luo Qing: "But it's so crowded that the dining experience for both parents and children will be terrible."

Feng Zhengming: "This is indeed a problem. We will do a good job of managing the crowds to prevent any problems from arising due to overcrowding."

At this point, Feng Zhengming suddenly sighed helplessly, "Our place is still too small. It would be great if we had a bigger store."

Luo Qing: "If we set up a big store, there won't be that many people on a regular basis. Wouldn't that be a waste of space?"

Feng Zhengming: "That's right. It seems that we really can't have both. We can only try our best to send people to guide the children. By the way, we can find some professional kindergarten teachers to come and help take care of the children and prevent them from running around and playing."

Upon hearing this, Luo Qing thought it was indeed a good idea.

“Sure, I’ll contact some kindergarten teachers and ask them to come and help.”

Feng Zhengming: "We can give them more money, after all, it's the National Day holiday. We can give them triple pay. If they take good care of the children, we can also give them some bonuses."

Luo Qing: "I know all of this, and I will make proper arrangements so that no one suffers a loss."

The couple discussed it and decided that Luo Qing would post temporary job openings in the following days.

I saw that a children's restaurant was hiring child guides during the National Day holiday, and they were even offering triple pay, with wages calculated on a daily basis.

It immediately attracted many people to come here to apply for jobs.

At first, it was some older women who came to Shanghai to work who applied for the job.

Luo Qing didn't discriminate against them; she would treat them well, ask them some questions, and then let them do some trial work in the store.

During the trial period, it became clear that some women were indeed unsuitable.

Some women, for example, do not have very kind faces.

When they were asked to work as caregivers, they either left the children unattended in the play area or couldn't help but get angry at the children's antics.

Luo Qing immediately asked the angry women to leave.

Luo Qing also did not leave behind any of the women who neglected their children.

After a trial period, only two women were left behind.

These two women had one thing in common: they were both very patient.

When children are being difficult, they can remain calm, guide them in various ways, and even play games with them.

Luo Qing felt that these two women could serve as examples of temporary recruitment.

After that, Luo Qing followed the standards of these two women when applying for the job.

After some women applied, slightly younger kindergarten teachers started to apply as well.

Luo Qing treated all kindergarten teachers who applied for the job equally.

We will still give them a trial period to see how patient they are with children in the restaurant.

Kindergarten teachers are indeed generally more patient than the women who applied for the job before.

Moreover, kindergarten teachers have their own methods for teaching children.

Some of these teachers are really popular with the children.

After several days of job applications, Luo Qing finally hired a total of ten temporary child counselors.

Apart from two elderly women, the rest were all kind and friendly, or rather, lively kindergarten teachers and graduates of early childhood education programs.

Unfortunately, Luo Qing Children's Restaurant did offer excessively high daily wages during the National Day holiday.

Even the daily wage for the National Day holiday, when put together, is almost equivalent to a month's salary.

Luo Qing also gave all the children's restaurant staff some serious instructions.

"During the National Day holiday, our restaurant will definitely have a lot of children and parents. I hope you can take good care of each child, especially in managing the queues and preventing them from getting too crowded."

Also, pay attention to the candy and various toys prepared for the children, and ensure their safety.

Children certainly lack patience, so please be patient with them. You can play some simple games with them.

After giving her instructions, Luo Qing sincerely thanked everyone.

"I would like to thank everyone for giving up the National Day holiday. Each of you will receive triple pay. After the National Day holiday, we will also give a bonus to the best performers as a National Day gift to everyone."

Hearing Luo Qing say this made everyone very happy.

For many people, being able to make money during the National Day holiday is an even happier thing.

Moreover, the children's restaurant pays them such a high daily wage.

In order to manage the children's restaurant well during the National Day holiday, Luo Qing also seconded Li Fengning to the children's restaurant to assist in management.

With Li Fengning around, Luo Qing's management of the children's restaurant became much easier.

With everything ready, Feng Zhengming also kept a close eye on the ingredients used in the children's restaurant to ensure that they were fresh and of the highest quality.

On National Day, people started bringing their children to the children's restaurant as early as 9 a.m.

To the parents' surprise, the children's restaurant opened earlier than they had imagined.

Almost immediately after the mall opened at nine o'clock in the morning, the children's kitchen behind the children's restaurant was already busy.

The children, brought by their parents, wanted to go inside the restaurant to play as soon as they saw that the store was open.

The parents felt that the restaurant wasn't open yet and it wouldn't be appropriate to let their children go in and cause trouble.

However, Li Fengning had already stepped forward to greet them.

"Welcome, children! Happy National Day! We're not open for business yet, but you can come in and play in the play area or read books in the library."

But everyone must behave well, and not run around or disturb the aunties' work, okay?

As soon as Li Fengning said that, the group of children immediately responded, "Okay."

Then, Li Fengning also communicated with the parents.

After registering with Li Fengning, the parents felt reassured and left their children at the store to play.

Seeing that there were professional teachers accompanying them in the store made the parents feel even more at ease.

Some parents leave their children at the restaurant and go shopping in the mall first.

As time went on, more and more children were sent here. Li Fengning managed the number of children well and paid close attention to their movements.

On the one hand, they don't allow the children to go to the kitchen at the back; on the other hand, they don't allow the children to run outside the store.

Fortunately, the temporary kindergarten teachers were quite experienced in handling this situation.

Soon in the restaurant, the teachers led the children in dancing and singing, and they also played games together.

This gives the children something to do, which naturally keeps the children who are left in the store in check.

Before the parents left, Li Fengning gave each of them a number plate.

The parents were told to come back for meals on time according to their assigned numbers.

"If you are not present when our number is called, we will move on to the next number."

So when the restaurant officially opened, most parents rushed back on time.

When the parents returned, they saw their children having a great time playing in the restaurant.

They either dance and sing with the teacher, or they play games together.

Some quieter children will sit in the book area and read.

This harmonious scene surprised many parents.

"I really didn't expect them to have made such good arrangements."

"Oh my, my daughter loves to dance, and she even has a teacher leading her here."

“My son is never still at home, but he’s been well-behaved here.”

"I think they've hired a tutor to look after the children, haven't they?"

"Yes, I think those people were kindergarten teachers."

"It's all thanks to Scholar Feng that he knows how to do business and thinks about us parents."

"Could it be that they're not thinking about the parents' interests? Or are they thinking about the children's interests?"

"That's right. Scholar Feng also has a daughter. He must be thinking about his child."

"Unfortunately, there is no nursery here. My child is too young to stay here."

"Haha, don't be so ridiculous. It's a restaurant, not a place to bring children."

"That's right, this is a children's restaurant, not a place to bring children."

Under Li Fengning's arrangement, the counting began promptly at 10 o'clock.

Parents can enter the store and lead their children to sit according to their assigned numbers.

Luo Qing stood inside observing Li Fengning's various arrangements, and she was quite satisfied.

Li Fengning lived up to her high regard; she was indeed very capable when managing the store.

As soon as the first group of parents and children were all seated, waiters immediately brought out menus for the guests to order.

Meanwhile, other children still in line will continue to play games with others.

There is almost no influence between them.

This arrangement was great for the parents.

When ordering, everyone also noticed the new items that the children's restaurant had introduced.

It's a series of full-color booklets with menus for children to choose from.

Each dish on this menu has been photographed and even incorporates some cartoon characters.

Furthermore, the ingredients, cooking methods, and seasonings for each dish are clearly labeled.

This also allows parents to see directly the specific details of how each dish is made.

The menu design surprised many parents.

The children especially loved this menu.

The first group of parents and children ordered their food, and Feng Zhengming led everyone to get busy in the kitchen.

All the dishes, even those prepared in advance, were made with fresh ingredients delivered this morning.

All kinds of fish and shrimp are delivered fresh to the kitchen every morning.

Feng Zhengming led the kitchen staff to start preparing ingredients for the lunch service in the morning.

When the menu was brought to the kitchen by the waiter, everyone got busy.

There's no need for much command or coordination; everyone knows exactly what they're supposed to do.
Feng Zhengming basically stands in front of the stove, taking each prepared dish. After stir-frying it, he pours in the prepared sauce, ensuring that each ingredient is evenly coated with the sauce, and then quickly takes it out of the pot and plates it.

With Feng Zhengming personally cooking in the kitchen, every dish is prepared consistently well.

While cooking, Feng Zhengming also gave lessons to the young people in the children's kitchen.

"Remember this: the dishes in our children's kitchen are made for children, just like for your own children. We want to make the dishes flavorful and healthy."

Avoid overcooking vegetables, and always season meat ingredients with a base flavor first, rather than focusing solely on seasoning during cooking.

When cooking for children, to ensure the food is flavorful without overcooking, seasoning before cooking is even more important, understand?

Everyone in the kitchen nodded earnestly in agreement: "Understood, Chef."

As the dishes were served one by one by the waiters.

Not only do children love it, but even parents are salivating at the aroma.

Some fathers who originally planned to come with their children during the holiday almost forgot to feed their kids, but ended up getting quite addicted to the food themselves.

"Dad, this is my food, how could you eat it all?"

The father snapped out of his daze: "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I forgot about it while I was eating. This dish is really delicious. I didn't expect that such a bland-looking dish would taste so good."

The child's mother smiled and said, "This is Feng Zhuangyuan's children's kitchen. Feng Zhuangyuan cooks for his own children, so his skills are evident here."

The fathers had to admit that the food here was really delicious.

In the past, many parents thought that the dishes they made for their children would be bland and tasteless because they had to control the amount of oil, salt, and sugar used.

But Feng Zhengming's children's kitchen has overturned many parents' perceptions of what's possible.

After tasting the food in the children's kitchen, they finally understood: the deliciousness of food is not achieved by adding more seasonings.

Many chefs outside actually understand the principle behind this.

However, many chefs may naturally overlook the step of marinating the food before cooking when they are busy.

Even worse, some people, in order to save time, simply pour the prepared sauce over the ingredients at the very end of the cooking process and consider it done.

On National Day, Feng Zhengming was almost busier in the children's kitchen than he was in the old-style restaurant.

Fortunately, the children's restaurant doesn't have to stay open very late.

After 8 p.m., there are basically no more new customers.

The children's restaurant can close promptly at 9 p.m.

After closing at 9 PM that day, Luo Qing settled her daily wages with the teachers responsible for crowd control and childcare. (End of Chapter)