From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 600: Warehouse Arrangement
When I entered the kitchen, I saw Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye and their people busy at work.

Feng Zhengming did not disturb them.

He first went to the warehouse to take a look.

After entering the warehouse, Feng Zhengming immediately discovered the problem.

When Third Brother Yang Bin was working at the old Ganfanpu restaurant, he would count the warehouse three times a day, morning, noon and evening.

And we will arrange special people to organize the things in the warehouse.

Now that Yang Bin has gone to the new store of Ganfanpu, the warehouse at the old store is obviously not as tidy as before.

All kinds of things in the warehouse were placed randomly, even a little messy.

Feng Zhengming could clearly see that things in the warehouse were being taken at will.

Seeing this scene, Feng Zhengming suddenly felt uneasy.

You must know that if the warehouse is in disarray, things will definitely be used recklessly, there will be some waste, and someone may even steal things from the warehouse.

These are relatively minor to Feng Zhengming.

What really matters to him is that if the warehouse is not tidy enough, the chef will not be able to know the quantity of each ingredient in the warehouse.

Then it is very likely that during the cooking process, either one ingredient cannot be used up at all, or one ingredient may not be enough.

This chaos in the warehouse will definitely spread to the kitchen.

Then it is transmitted from the kitchen to the customers in the front for their meals.

Feng Zhengming looked at the messy warehouse and fell into deep thought.

He really hadn't considered this before.

He always just wanted to put the right chef in the right place.

Prepare the dishes for the two dry rice shops and Huiquanlou.

But when he saw the situation of the old store's warehouse today, he realized that in addition to the quality of the food, the ability to manage the warehouse is also very important in running a store.

However, Feng Zhengming did not say anything, nor did he go to tidy up the messy warehouse.

He walked out of the warehouse, returned to the back kitchen door and looked inside.

Waiting until Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye in the kitchen were almost done.

Xia Mingye turned around and saw Feng Zhengming standing at the door.

He quickly smiled and greeted Feng Zhengming: "Uncle Master, why are you here?"

Hearing Xia Mingye's voice, Zhu Xu also turned his head to look at Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming smiled and waved his hand, signaling the two to continue preparing the dishes and talk later.

Not long after, Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye finished the last two dishes and asked the apprentices to serve the customers in front.

The two of them packed up and came to Feng Zhengming together.

Feng Zhengming turned around and led the two of them to the warehouse at the back.

Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye looked at each other when they saw this, both of them felt a little strange?
However, the two of them still followed Feng Zhengming and came to the warehouse at the back together.

Feng Zhengming stepped into the warehouse and turned to look at the two people: "Look for yourselves, the dry food shop is handed over to you two, and this is how you manage the warehouse? The things here are taken and placed randomly. Can you find what you want in this state?"

Looking at the situation in the warehouse in front of them, Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye immediately realized the problem.

Zhu Xu immediately spoke up: "I'll find someone to clean it up right away."

Feng Zhengming stopped him and said, "Don't be so anxious to ask people to clean up. Do you know how to clean up here?"

This question really stumped the two of them.

Feng Zhengming did not say anything and let the two of them think about it themselves.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Xu spoke first.

"I saw Uncle Yang doing inventory three times a day. He would do an inventory in the morning when new goods arrive, at noon when business is over, and at night before closing."

Xia Mingye immediately jumped in to speak: "Then we will also count three times a day."

Zhu Xu shook his head: "Not only do we need to count three times, we also need to record the inventory of each item, and then adjust today's menu based on the quantity of different stocks, and ask the waiter to recommend some dishes with more inventory."

Xia Mingye was a little stunned when he heard this: "So complicated?"

Feng Zhengming gave the two of them a serious lecture with a serious face.

“Don’t think it’s troublesome. As a chef, you don’t know the raw materials in stock. What will you do if you run out of raw materials when you are cooking?
And if you have too much of a certain ingredient and most of the customers don’t order that dish today, what will you do?”

These few words stumped Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye again.

The two people originally thought that as a chef, all he had to do was cook the dishes.

But now hearing what Feng Zhengming said, I thought of the orderly situation when Yang Bin was there.

It made the two realize that they may have thought the work in the kitchen was too simple before.

I really don't understand anything when I see the two of them.

Feng Zhengming could only change his clothes.

In the following time, he took the two of them to clean up the warehouse and explained to them some methods of inventorying the warehouse.

“You can prepare a notebook and write it down every time you take inventory.

Divide the items in the warehouse into categories such as condiments, spices, dry goods, meat, and vegetables.

Then when you take inventory, after you have classified them, write each ingredient under the corresponding category.

How do you know how much of each item you have in stock?

Every time you take inventory, you can see the previous quantity at a glance, and you can also know how much you have consumed today?

You can even learn about customers’ recent tastes and ordering preferences by counting the quantity.”

I have to say, after Feng Zhengming's teaching and guidance.

Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye quickly mastered the trick.

While Feng Zhengming was sorting, he found that there were too many eggplants on the dry rice today.

He also taught the two a method to clear out excess inventory.

"You have a lot of eggplants left today. If they are piled up for too long, a lot of them may go bad. Ask someone to fry more eggplants. In the evening, you can offer a special dish of flavored eggplants."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Zhu Xu immediately understood.

"This way, the eggplants can be consumed as quickly as possible, freeing up the space occupied by the eggplants in the warehouse."

Seeing that Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye understood, Feng Zhengming nodded.

“That’s it. When you purchase goods every day, pay attention to which ingredients are cheaper today, and then you can buy more.

If you find that not many customers are ordering that ingredient, you can immediately launch a special offer so that the extra ingredients won’t be piled up in the warehouse.”

Under Feng Zhengming's instruction, Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye learned a good lesson.

The two of them vaguely felt that these were very practical skills if they were to become chefs in other restaurants or hotels in the future.

After tidying up and counting the items in the warehouse, the entire warehouse suddenly became much brighter.

It is no longer like before when all kinds of things were placed everywhere. Looking at the warehouse like this, Xia Mingye couldn't help but sigh: "I said that I always felt uncomfortable looking at the warehouse every day before. Today I feel comfortable after tidying it up."

Zhu Xu couldn't help but tease: "It looked uncomfortable before, but I didn't see you take the initiative to tidy it up."

These words immediately choked Xia Mingye.

Feng Zhengming smiled and patted the two people.

“Okay, I’ve taught you these today. You two should pay more attention in the future. Don’t just focus on cooking. You also need to pay attention to the warehouse.

As the two chefs in the kitchen of the dry rice shop, you can't just cook, you also have to manage the kitchen yourself."

Hearing this, Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye looked at each other in surprise.

Then Xia Mingye couldn't help but whispered, "Uncle Master, do you mean that someone in the kitchen stole something from the warehouse?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and waved his hands: "This kind of thing requires real evidence, don't make blind guesses."

Zhu Xu also nodded in agreement: "Yes, we can't just be suspicious of others."

Feng Zhengming then warned the two: "Remember, in the dry rice shop, Third Sister-in-law and you two are the ones I trust the most. Now I will teach you how to organize the storeroom, and you just need to pay more attention in the future."

After hearing Feng Zhengming's warning, especially hearing him say that he trusted the two of them.

In addition, when Feng Zhengming came to the restaurant and saw the chaos in the warehouse, he never got angry with Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye.

He didn't even go to check if anything was missing from the warehouse.

He then took his anger out on Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye.

After Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye thought about it carefully, they felt that Feng Zhengming was someone worth following.

Seeing that it was almost time for evening business, Feng Zhengming smiled and gave the two of them some final instructions.

"Okay, don't think too much about other things. I trust you. If you have any problems, just tell Third Sister-in-law. If you really encounter a problem that you can't handle, give me a call at Huiquanlou."

Then Feng Zhengming asked the two to have a good rest and prepare for the evening business, and he rode away on his bicycle.

After Feng Zhengming left, Xia Mingye sighed to Zhu Xu in a low voice: "Master uncle is such a good person."

Zhu Xu nodded in agreement: "Yes, he is a good boss and a good teacher."

Feng Zhengming rode his bicycle back to Grandpa Feng’s house first.

After entering the door, I greeted grandpa with a smile.

"Master, you didn't go to the restaurant today?"

The old man who was playing chess with Grandpa Situ raised his head.

"Your Grandpa Situ came today, so we didn't go to the restaurant. We two old guys can't do anything and can't help, so why not let the young people do it?"

Grandpa Situ agreed with a smile: "That's right, Xiao Feng, you should let the children do it. It would be great if you can play chess with me or drink tea when you have nothing to do."

Feng Zhengming smiled and greeted Grandpa Situ again.

"How many games did Grandpa Situ win against my grandfather today?"

Mr. Situ smiled and raised five fingers.

Grandpa Feng immediately became dissatisfied: "I also won three games."

Grandpa Situ laughed: "Yes, you won three games too."

When Feng Zhengming saw the two old men arguing with each other, he opened the refrigerator at home and took a look around.

"Will you guys have dinner and a couple of drinks at home tonight?"

Grandpa Feng immediately nodded with a smile: "Have two cups."

Grandpa Situ asked, "Why? Don't you have to go to Huiquanlou to work in the evening?"

Feng Zhengming told his two grandfathers about the meeting he was going to attend in the province today regarding this year's provincial youth chef cooking exchange competition.

After hearing this, Grandpa Situ approved of the plan proposed by Feng Zhengming.

“Yes, it is right to attract investment and sponsorship. Although there will inevitably be some problems with investment and sponsorship, if we only let the province fund the event, it will inevitably reduce the influence of the competition.

If you attract sponsors, those sponsors will help you promote the event, which can better expand the influence of the competition.”

Grandpa Feng laughed and said, "The province has tasted the sweetness of publicity and wants to use the competition to promote Shandong cuisine further."

Mr. Situ very much agrees with this method of promoting Shandong cuisine.

"That's right. The promotion of Shandong cuisine has lagged behind in recent years. Now that the domestic economy is developing rapidly, the current promotion may not necessarily yield great results. However, if we plan ahead, we can wait until the economy improves further.

The domestic tourism and catering industries will achieve further development, and by then the Qilu Young Chef Cooking Competition will have become famous.

Naturally, it will gain more attention and even be recognized by many people, thus making Shandong cuisine popular across the country.”

After hearing what Grandpa Situ said, Feng Zhengming still admired Grandpa Situ's vision.

No wonder Grandpa Situ was able to make a career abroad in his early years.

The reason why Grandpa Situ said this is that he has just returned from abroad.

Or he is optimistic about the future domestic economic development.

Grandpa Situ obviously believes that the domestic economy will get better and better in the future.

Only when the economy gets better and better will service industries such as catering, tourism, etc. get better and better.

When people become really wealthy, they will naturally have a higher demand for food.

What happens when people have higher demands but don’t know how to evaluate the quality of food?
If there is a food evaluation system with a certain degree of authority.

Then it will naturally become the object of people's pursuit.

Feng Zhengming expressed his views to the two grandfathers.

"I hope that in the future, we can use the promotion of Shandong cuisine to establish our own food evaluation system, so as to provide everyone with a more objective food recommendation and a more suitable evaluation method for Chinese food."

Grandpa Situ raised his head and looked at Feng Zhengming, his eyes revealing his admiration for him.

Grandpa Feng smiled and asked, "Why? Do you want to be a judge of the national food competition?"

Hearing his grandfather's words, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but smile and said, "I really have such an idea."

Grandpa Situ immediately clapped his hands and cheered: "This is a good idea, Zhengming, you work hard, Grandpa Situ supports you."

Grandpa Feng was a little surprised when he heard this: "Are you really going to become a judge of the national food competition?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and nodded: "I have such an idea, but I don't have the ability yet. I still need to accumulate strength slowly. In the future, I can judge the national food more fairly and impartially and make the best food recommendations for everyone."

After saying this, Feng Zhengming took the things he found in the refrigerator and walked towards the small kitchen outside.

"Grandpa Situ, you guys play chess first. I'll go cook. I'll call you when it's ready."

Seeing Feng Zhengming walking out, Grandpa Feng couldn't help but sigh: "This kid is getting more and more ambitious now."

Grandpa Situ, on the other hand, was very appreciative: "Young people should have big enough ambitions. Besides, Zhengming has the ability. Look at his suggestions for the Young Chef Cooking Competition this time. Aren't they very good?"

Grandpa Feng was somewhat worried: "But if we attract sponsorship, the fairness of the competition might be affected."

"Don't worry. If the province wants to ensure the influence of the competition, it won't let sponsors interfere too much in the competition." Grandpa Situ said as he made a checkmate move.

Grandpa Feng was immediately shocked and quickly played chess with Grandpa Situ seriously.

(End of this chapter)