From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

During the National Day holiday, Feng Zhengming, who had been largely forgotten for some time, was once again featured in television, newspapers, and magazines.

This time, however, the protagonist of the report was not Feng Zhengming, but his wife Luo Qing.

The reason is the popularity of children's restaurants in Shanghai.

First, the food magazines got the news.

It is said that during the National Day holiday in Shanghai, a restaurant that specializes in children's meals became a hit.

Then the editor-in-chief of the food magazine gathered people overnight and led them to the site the next day to check it out.

When they arrived at the destination, someone immediately recognized them.

"Is this the children's restaurant that Feng Zhuangyuan's wife runs?"

When the editor-in-chief realized someone recognized him, he immediately asked, "Is this really owned by Feng Zhuangyuan's wife?"

The magazine staff observed carefully for a while and nodded with certainty.

"Yes, this is the place. My sister brought her child here to eat before. She also said that the kitchen here provides the child's lunch at kindergarten."

Just then, a group of people from the magazine saw someone leading children in playing games in the store.

Then, surprisingly, the restaurant also had a children's play area and a book area for children to read.

This restaurant really looks like an open-air kindergarten that provides space for children.

The editor-in-chief immediately arranged for people to conduct separate interviews, requiring everyone to gather enough opinions from parents and children.

The editor-in-chief specifically sought out the store manager, wanting to interview him, and even hoped to meet Feng Zhengming or Luo Qing.

Coincidentally, the editor-in-chief of the food magazine did indeed meet Luo Qing.

The editor-in-chief naturally wouldn't miss such an opportunity and quickly conducted an interview with Luo Qing.

Luo Qing did not refuse the interview. She gave the magazine editor a brief introduction to the restaurant and even took them to the kitchen in the back.

This means that the magazine has once again given the restaurant a head start in its coverage.

While being interviewed by a food magazine, the children's restaurant gained increasing popularity in Shanghai.

It's true that if you have kids at home, you're bound to talk about kids' restaurants.

So soon, the television stations and daily newspapers in Shanghai also received the news.

Television stations and newspapers also conducted interviews.

In the end, the TV station proved to be more effective, and soon the station broadcast the story of the children's restaurant on its lifestyle program.

After it was broadcast on television, it naturally sparked a lot of discussion in Shanghai.

The news quickly spread throughout the country.

Many people are envious, thinking that the children of Shanghai are so lucky to be able to eat dishes made by top chef Feng Zhengming during the National Day holiday.

Many parents, however, wondered if Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing could turn the children's restaurant into a nationwide chain.
When someone starts thinking this way, it's natural that some parents will start trying to do it.

Just after the National Day holiday, Feng Zhengming received several invitations from all over the country.

These invitations from all over the country are almost all for one thing.

I hope Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing can open the children's restaurant in their area.

Some business owners even offered to invest in Luo Qing.

Of the profits from the children's restaurant they run, Luo Qing gets 70%, while the investors only get 30%.

Feng Zhengming directly declined these invitations, stating that he did not have enough time to go.

Luo Qing would respond with more details, basically analyzing various aspects of the problems associated with opening a chain store.

Ultimately, it boils down to one point: quality control is impossible to guarantee.

A children's restaurant in Shanghai is able to ensure quality control by bringing together the top chefs from the kitchens of several of Feng Zhengming's restaurants in Shanghai.

If we expand the children's restaurant chain to other regions.

Therefore, a decline in quality control is almost inevitable.

Because it would be difficult for Feng Zhengming to arrange so many chefs to be in charge of chain stores in various regions.

Moreover, chain stores need more than just chefs in the kitchen.

To create a children's restaurant like the one in Shanghai, you need a suitable store manager and various service staff.

All of these personnel will become various unpredictable variables.

If any link in the process goes wrong, the quality control of the children's restaurant may not be guaranteed.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Luo Qing decisively declined the invitation to open chain stores in various places.

She eventually responded to those who had extended such enthusiastic invitations.

"It's not possible for us to open chain stores all over the country for the time being. We don't want to expand so hastily. Cooking for children must be safe and delicious, and these are not easy things to do."

Since we're running a children's restaurant, we have to be responsible for all the children.

We believe that we'd rather not make a profit than let our children eat unsafe food, so we won't open chain stores indiscriminately.

Many people from other places who had been eagerly awaiting Luo Qing's reply felt somewhat disappointed.

Parents of children from other places especially hope that Luo Qing can open chain stores.

Despite their disappointment, the parents understood Luo Qing's choice.

Many things cannot be done with just a few words.

The concept of a children's restaurant was probably nonexistent nationwide before Luo Qing opened hers.

People don't think that children can't eat at restaurants for adults.

No one would think that there is a need to open a restaurant specifically for children.

However, with Feng Zhengming's support, Luo Qing successfully opened a children's restaurant, and her designs made many people realize what a children's restaurant should look like.

It doesn't mean that only children can eat in children's restaurants.

Instead, the food at the children's restaurant is designed to make children feel more comfortable while eating, and parents can also feel at ease knowing that their children are eating well.

This is evident in the growing number of parents in China who value their children and hope to provide them with the best in every aspect.

It truly hit the nail on the head regarding what parents value most.

Of course, the key to Luo Qing's success was Feng Zhengming's endorsement.

Moreover, it has the support of Feng Zhengming.

He was tasked with having the best chefs from all his restaurants in Shanghai cook in the children's kitchens.

They also invested a lot of money to hire waiters who were able to patiently serve the children.

All of this was designed on the premise that Feng Zhengming had sufficient influence.

Or to put it more bluntly, Feng Zhengming and his group are not short of money.

From the beginning, Luo Qing started the children's kitchen simply because she wanted her daughter to have better lunches.

Later, when she moved to the children's restaurant, Luo Qing mainly wanted to provide a place for children on vacation to eat.

Moreover, in terms of the price of the dishes, they are not much more expensive.

Luo Qing didn't intend to make a lot of money running the children's restaurant.

But that's often how things work: the less you're thinking about making money, the more you do things in a way that pleases you, and the more satisfied you become, the more satisfied others will be. Ultimately, the projects you didn't expect to make money from might be the ones that actually bring you the most profit.

During the National Day holiday, Luo Qing, who runs a children's restaurant, discovered while doing the accounting that, after deducting the cost of hiring kindergarten teachers, there were still various basic operating costs for the store.

Luo Qing's children's restaurant actually made quite a bit of money.

After doing the math, I realized I had still made quite a bit of money.

This left Luo Qing feeling somewhat helpless.

"How come we're still making so much money even though we're driving up costs like this?"

Sitting at home, I took out the account books and showed them to my family.

After seeing it, my second aunt laughed and said, "Making money is a good thing? It means you're running the business well. Everyone likes it and is willing to bring their children to the children's restaurant."

Feng Zhengming's mother-in-law, holding her young grandson, was also shocked by the amount of money the children's restaurant had earned in just a few days of the National Day holiday.

"You've made so much money in just a few days?"

After hesitating for a moment, his mother-in-law couldn't help but remind him, "Zhengming, you need to be careful with the pricing of your dishes. They're all for the children, so you can't set the prices too high."

Luo Qing was speechless at her mother's words.

"Mom, our prices are already very cheap. You should know that our children's restaurant is located in a very prosperous area of ​​Shanghai, and the rent for the store alone is very high."

The other restaurants over there generally have higher prices than ours.

Second Aunt laughed: "My dear in-law, you really misunderstood them. Zhengming and Luo Qing's prices are really not expensive. It's just that during the National Day holiday, there were too many people taking their children to eat there."

Luo Qing: "Yes, there are just too many people. We queue from noon until night."

Feng Zhengming: "Probably because it is National Day, everyone is on holiday, so there is no need to adhere to the mealtime. Therefore, many parents would rather eat later than not queue up for our children's restaurant."

Second Aunt: "That's because you guys did a really good job."

Feng Nuanyou: "There are so many children over there, and everyone is having so much fun together. There's also delicious food, so everyone likes to go there. Everyone is willing to stay there and wait for their meal."

After listening to her granddaughter's words, the grandmother finally understood.

"Oh, I see. It seems everyone really likes your cooking."

Luo Qing: "Mom, your son-in-law is, after all, one of the world's top chefs."

Feng Zhengming: "Cooking for children requires more attention to detail and is indeed different from usual. It's more troublesome, but not too hard."

At this point, Feng Zhengming chuckled and said, "At least we don't have to rack our brains to figure out how to design new dishes."

Second Aunt: "It's clear that home-cooked dishes are the best; everyone likes home-cooked dishes."

My family agrees with this; home-cooked meals are indeed something most people can accept and enjoy.

Especially for those children, they may have grown up eating home-cooked meals prepared by their families.

At Luo Qing's children's restaurant, all the chefs were required by Feng Zhengming to cook home-style dishes.

This perfectly suits the children's tastes.

Even the parents who were with their children were attracted by the home-style dishes that Feng Zhengming and his team made.

This can also be seen from the fact that the "Home Flavor" restaurant, run by Zhu Xu and Zhang Lei, is doing better and better.

In a bustling metropolis, you can enjoy a home-cooked meal that tastes just like home.

This might be a source of happiness for many people who spend their days rushing around in big cities.

At least it allows them to temporarily forget the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Due to its location, Jiawei Restaurant's prices are actually on the high side.

However, Feng Zhengming also offered some discounts and benefits to everyone, and since the people who usually eat nearby are mostly urban white-collar workers, they can indeed afford the money.

Therefore, Jiawei Restaurant's profits this year are actually second only to that of the Western restaurant.

Nowadays, Feng Zhengming has stores in all of Shanghai.

The most profitable restaurant is the old-style house restaurant.

The cost of food at old-style villa restaurants is high, but the premium they can charge is also higher.

The key point is that Feng Zhengming personally cooked the dishes, leading his apprentices.

The dishes are so unique that you can't find them anywhere else except at the old villa restaurant.

Therefore, the old-style restaurant is still fully booked every night.

The second most profitable store was the one on the Western restaurant street.

In almost everyone's eyes, that restaurant was an excellent alternative to the old-style villa restaurant.

As a result, there are queues at that store almost every night.

The next profitable store was Jiawei Restaurant.

On the contrary, the branches of those old dry rice shops no longer bring Feng Zhengming much profit because they have always kept their prices low.

However, children's restaurants are now catching up rapidly.

Judging from the National Day holiday, the profits of children's restaurants are very likely to surpass those of home-style restaurants.

"Honey, you're amazing. The kids' restaurant might soon surpass Jiawei Restaurant, and the next step will be to surpass the restaurants on the street that Xia Hui runs."

Luo Qing: "Come on, isn't it because you, the top scholar Feng, are more famous?"

Feng Zhengming: "I see people going to children's restaurants, but they're not doing it because of my reputation."

Auntie Er agreed with this: "That's right. It's not like people are going there because of Zhengming's reputation. The parents just feel that they like your decorations, Qingqing, and that their children can stay in the restaurant."

Feng Nuanyou: "Mom is the best. I like eating at restaurants because I can play with my friends."

Luo Qing reached out and gently stroked her daughter's little nose.

"You're only happy when you're having fun with other people."

Feng Nuanyou smiled and said, "It's so nice to have so many kids playing together."

Feng Zhengming: "Youyou is right. Mom is amazing. The children love Mom's designs, so Mom's restaurant will definitely surpass Dad's restaurant in the future."

Hearing her husband say that filled Luo Qing with anticipation.

"Okay, when I surpass you, you'll both stay at home and I'll support you."

Feng Zhengming: "Great, I'll just wait for my wife to support me."

The second aunt and mother-in-law exchanged a glance and then laughed.

Everyone knows that Luo Qing's success in running a children's restaurant is largely due to Feng Zhengming's culinary team.

Without Feng Zhengming's support, Luo Qingguang would have a hard time even hiring a chef.

Even though Feng Zhengming did a lot, he still encouraged his wife and attributed all the credit to her.

He wanted his wife to feel that she could also achieve great things through her own efforts.

In the eyes of the second aunt and mother-in-law, such close cooperation between the couple is what a harmonious family should have.

Just after the National Day holiday ended, Feng Zhengming received a call from his fifth senior brother in Beijing.

He knew he would eventually have to make a trip to Beijing before the New Year. (End of Chapter)