From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Master Wang's dinner at the Binyuan Garden was a treat, and the dishes on the table were naturally cooked impeccably.

After Cheng Guosheng received praise from the old masters, a look of pride and satisfaction naturally appeared on his face.

After a few glasses of wine, Cheng Guosheng couldn't help but ask Feng Zhengming some questions.

"Xiao Feng, you are really good at running a business. Originally, several of our big restaurants wanted to attack your wedding banquet at Huiquan House and wanted to give you a discount together."

Hearing Cheng Guosheng say this, the faces of Kong Xingli, the master ladle master at Jufengde, and Sun Fenggui, the current master ladle master at Taifeng Tower, all changed their expressions.

Even Lin Guofu, who was sitting next to Cheng Guosheng, changed his expression, and even couldn't help but secretly glance at Master Wang.

Master Wang frowned slightly at Cheng Guosheng's words at first, but when he caught the eyes of his apprentice Lin Guofu.

He smiled again and signaled Lin Guofu not to remind Cheng Guosheng and let Cheng Guosheng finish his words.

Lin Guofu could only bow his head with a wry smile and did not remind Cheng Guosheng.

Everyone else also looked at Cheng Guosheng quietly.

Watching him continue to ask questions to Feng Zhengming under the influence of alcohol.

"But none of us expected that you knew that we were going to target you, and not only did you not avoid it, but you actually regarded our targeting of you as a topic for speculation.

How dare you openly advertise in newspapers and openly tell everyone that you are going to have a wedding banquet at Huiquan House. "

Feng Zhengming smiled when he heard this and said: "As the saying goes, shopping malls are like battlefields, Brother Cheng, there is nothing wrong with whatever means you use, but I think discounting and price reduction is not a good idea."

Cheng Guosheng seized this topic and asked: "Why can't we discount and lower the price?"

When Feng Zhengming saw Cheng Guosheng asking this question, several other senior brothers present also looked at him, waiting for an answer.

He simply smiled and said: "Whether it is Jufengde, Jubinyuan or Taifeng Tower, they are all very famous restaurants in Quancheng, and they have even existed for many years.

Just those three words on your Jubinyuan sign shouldn’t be discounted.

If a time-honored brand sticks to its old craftsmanship, why should it discount? Could it be that the skills of our chefs are so worthless? "

Feng Zhengming's words lifted the spirits of everyone present.

Even Cheng Guosheng woke up from his drunken state at once.

Feng Zhengming continued: "Which of our craftsmanship has not been accumulated through years of training and thousands or even tens of thousands of dishes?
We have put in so much effort and hard work to learn the craftsmanship. If we discount it casually, wouldn’t it make our craftsmanship worthless?

What's more, even the craftsmanship of several master chefs can be discounted. What will the younger generations, those students who graduated from vocational schools, and the apprentices in the kitchen do?
Could it be said that their craftsmanship is completely worthless and can only be sold cheaply or even given away for free? If so, what about the hard work they put in to hone their craft? "

When Feng Zhengming said this, everyone was instantly speechless.

Several old masters were also a little excited by Feng Zhengming's words.

Those present can be said to be the best among Shandong cuisine chefs in Quancheng, even Qilu, and even the whole country.

So how could one disagree with what Feng Zhengming said?

Everyone knows very well that how many years and how many dishes have been honed to become one of the country's leading chefs?
Behind every delicacy that customers praise is the chefs' decades of training and accumulation of cooking skills, and the hard work and sweat the chefs put into each dish.

Feng Zhengming saw that everyone was overwhelmed by what he said and had no words to argue.

He looked at Cheng Guosheng with a serious look on his face and said, "Senior Brother Cheng, I know you always feel that although I am young, I have achieved a reputation that exceeds yours. You have always wanted to find proof that I am exaggerating."

Being directly pointed out by Feng Zhengming, Cheng Guosheng blushed and lowered his head slightly, not daring to face Feng Zhengming.

When the old masters heard this and saw the scene in front of them, they all acted like they were watching a show.

Even Master Yan did not speak to stop Feng Zhengming.

As for the other master chefs in the restaurant, including Wang Zhisheng, the son of Master Wang.

The way they looked at Feng Zhengming was full of complex emotions.

Feng Zhengming's youth and his courage to speak and act really made them envious from the bottom of their hearts.

At Feng Zhengming's age, they would not dare to speak like this directly in front of their masters.

Feng Zhengming continued to say to Cheng Guosheng: "Since Senior Brother Cheng you want to prove that I am exaggerating, then you should not discount the wedding banquet.

You should make the wedding banquet in Jubinyuan better than the wedding banquet in Huiquan Building, so that people in Quancheng are more willing to choose Jubinyuan for wedding banquets.

I feel that no matter how others view our profession as chefs, we ourselves must not underestimate our own hard work. "

This farewell banquet for Master Wang has once again turned into a show for Feng Zhengming alone.

What he said was really inspiring.

Especially for every chef present, they have gone through a lot of hard work to achieve their current achievements.

No one knows the hard work behind a chef better than them.

Feng Zhengming’s last words are, “We ourselves must not underestimate our own hard work.”

The taste moved everyone present.

Cheng Guosheng was already speechless.

Compared with Feng Zhengming, Cheng Guosheng felt that he was really petty.

He is a chef who focuses on Shandong cuisine as a whole and all Shandong cuisine.

But Cheng Guosheng's previous little plan was always for his own benefit, suppressing the reputation of Huiquan Tower so that Jubinyuan could maintain its status as a resident in Quancheng.

Now that Feng Zhengming said this, if I think about it carefully, shouldn't Jubinyuan's stable position in Quancheng be achieved by its own craftsmanship?

He used his own tricks to win over customers by joining some Quancheng restaurants such as Jufengde and Taifenglou to offer discounts on wedding banquet prices.

It seems that they can attract more people to hold wedding banquets at Jubinyuan.

As Feng Zhengming said, aren't they belittling their own craftsmanship by doing so?
Feng Zhengming picked up the wine glass, smiled and said to Cheng Guosheng: "Senior Brother Cheng, I offer you a glass of wine. I hope we can have better communication and competition in the future. If I have offended anything, I hope Senior Brother Cheng can forgive me."

Cheng Guosheng looked at the wine glass Feng Zhengming held up, still thinking about what he just said.

Then he also picked up the wine glass and took the initiative to lower the mouth of the glass.

"Zhengming, your words really make me feel a little embarrassed. It's because my senior brother is so petty. The competition between us should be a competition on craftsmanship, not on price.

You are right, if we discount and lower the price ourselves, we will be belittling our own craftsmanship.

I am even more sorry for the many years of teaching from my masters and my years of hard training. "

When Feng Zhengming heard what Cheng Guosheng said, he knew that Cheng Guosheng must have understood what he meant. He also lowered the rim of the glass slightly and took the initiative to touch the wine glass in Cheng Guosheng's hand.

"Done."

Cheng Guosheng also smiled: "Okay, done."

The two of them drank the wine in their glasses in one gulp.

By the time we finished our meal, we had seen the scene that the old masters had hoped to see.

Master Cui said with a smile: "Zhengming is indeed young and has some of his own more avant-garde thoughts and understandings."

Master Su continued: "What Zhengming said is indeed right. We cannot underestimate our own craftsmanship and make what we have learned and accumulated over the years. Then we should receive corresponding rewards."

"Brother Cui, should the Culinary Association come forward with this matter? Or should there be a chefs association to help all chefs fight for their rights?" Master Sun suddenly felt that the association should be allowed to play its role.

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but speak again: "Master, fellow masters and uncles, I also think that there should be an association of our own for chefs. On the one hand, it can help most of us chefs fight for our rights.

On the other hand, with your own association, when the master and several uncles and uncles come forward to formulate professional standards for chefs, they can also form a constraint to supervise chefs to adhere to professional standards. "

This time Feng Zhengming's proposal struck everyone present as a good idea.

Wang Zhisheng immediately said: “I think Zhengming’s idea is very good.

I have met some foreign chefs in Beijing, and I heard that there is a standard abroad for evaluating a restaurant or restaurant, and the evaluation is done through unannounced visits.

In this way, a complete set of standards can be developed for restaurants and restaurants to refer to. "

Feng Zhengming then said: "I know the foreign standards, but the foreign standards are not for chefs, but only for rating restaurants and restaurants.

This has certain drawbacks. It will amplify some of the restaurant's environment and service experience, and may not be objective enough to evaluate the chef's skills. "

After a short pause, Feng Zhengming expressed another set of thoughts.

"We don't need to learn that. I think we can pilot it in our Quancheng first, where a few reputable master chefs will come forward to formulate a set of standards for rating chefs.

Just like a teacher checking homework, he conducts random checks on the skills of the chefs in Quancheng restaurants and restaurants from time to time.

Then give the chefs a score and publish it to let everyone know. You can give high-scoring chefs a medal or something.

And recommend chefs with high ratings to the public in Quancheng. "

After listening to Feng Zhengming's design, everyone present fell into deep thought.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that Feng Zhengming's design is indeed more reasonable.

It can be said that most people can be convinced by the evaluation by several masters.

If coupled with the fact that it is irregular and will not be notified in advance for temporary inspections.

It's like an invisible "sharp blade" hanging over the heads of all chefs.

Every chef must adhere to the cooking standards of a good chef.

In this way, the quality of food produced in restaurants and restaurants will be guaranteed.

Of course, through the ratings and promotions of the master chefs, the chefs are also given an honor.

Chefs with good skills receive high ratings and are recommended by senior chefs.

In this way, the chef's craftsmanship will naturally gain more respect.

The chefs’ hard work honing their craft also becomes more valuable.

Letting everyone digest their ideas, Feng Zhengming continued: "In addition, when chefs have some disputes with restaurant and restaurant owners, I think it should be easier to resolve the conflicts if the chefs association and senior chefs come forward. "

Hearing this, Master Cui couldn't help but said: "Zhengming, if you do this, doesn't it mean you have left the Culinary Association aside?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "No need to put it aside, we can keep the Culinary Association and merge it into the Chefs Association."

Master Yan thought for a while and said: "This will become an association of the chef industry, and it needs the endorsement of relevant departments."

After some thinking, Mr. Cui said: "It is not difficult to solve the problem with the relevant departments. We take the initiative to communicate. Nowadays, the existence of industry associations can actually share the burden of many relevant departments."

Wang Zhisheng added: "It also facilitates contact with foreign countries, and it is still relatively common in foreign industry associations."

After another discussion, everyone present agreed with Feng Zhengming's plan.

Chefs have their own guild.

On the one hand, you can protect some of your rights and interests through the association, which will give you more confidence when negotiating wages with some restaurant and restaurant owners.

On the other hand, the chef association's rating and supervision of chefs can also better regulate the level of chefs.

I won’t say that there is too obvious disparity in the skills of chefs of the same level within the industry.

And in order to gain recognition from the master chefs and get higher ratings in cooking skills, it will also encourage the chefs to work harder.

In this way, a benign system can be built.

Ensure the inheritance of Shandong cuisine techniques.

It can also ensure that the cooking skills of Shandong cuisine chefs are reliable enough.

In the end, Master Cui said: "This matter still needs to be discussed with the culinary association and relevant departments. If it is really feasible in the end, as Zhengming said, we will pilot it in Quancheng first."

When Master Wang heard this, he suddenly couldn't help but said: "After saying this, I don't want to leave."

"Dad, haven't we already agreed?" Wang Zhisheng was really afraid that his father would go back on his word.

Then several masters smiled and helped persuade Master Wang.

Master Wang also smiled and said to his son: "Okay, don't worry. Since I agreed to follow you, I will definitely not change it. Your mother has sacrificed for the family all these years, so it's time for me to sacrifice once."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "Uncle Wang, when Uncle Cui and the others have discussed it, you can come back and participate together."

After a pause, Feng Zhengming reminded seriously: "Uncle Wang, you will not be in Quancheng when the time comes, so you can make more objective evaluations."

This statement also made several master chefs agree. They felt that having a master chef who was not in Quancheng participate in the evaluation could indeed make the evaluation of the chefs more objective.

Feng Zhengming's proposal was approved, and the meal was coming to an end.

Finally, Feng Zhengming and his disciples stood up and raised their glasses together, toasting the last glass of wine to Master Wang, wishing that Master Wang could enjoy his old age in peace in the capital. (End of chapter)