From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After talking with the local leaders, Feng Zhengming went to the bathhouse next to the hotel to take a good bath.

After taking a shower and changing clothes, I returned to my room in the hotel.

Feng Zhengming saw his third uncle sitting in the room waiting for him.

He smiled, closed the door, walked into the room and sat down in front of his uncle.

Feng Jiandong first looked at Feng Zhengming and said, "Well, it's only been more than a month since you came out, and you've really lost weight and become darker."

Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "Uncle San, I would use a fashionable term, which is called healthier."

This made Feng Jiandong laugh: "Hahaha, you are even healthier? It turns out you are a pretty fair guy."

Feng Zhengming shook his head and said, "It's not good to be so white. My current skin color, which is a little bronze, is healthier and better."

Feng Jiandong asked curiously, "Is it not good to be white? The stars on TV are all very white."

"Hahaha, I'm not a star. I'm just a cook. I'm a rough guy."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Feng Jiandong immediately shook his head in disagreement.

"No, you are not a rough person. You are more thoughtful than many people. And the dishes you cook can be considered works of art. Your uncle said that your cooking skills are definitely as good as those of a top chef in a foreign country."

Feng Zhengming responded calmly: "I still like being a chef. I am happy when people like my dishes. So I won't arrange the dishes specially to make them look good. The fancy ways of arranging the dishes are just to enhance the diners' taste."

Uncle San didn't say much, but changed the subject and brought the topic back to this trip to Shouguang.

"What do you think of the conditions offered here? Do you really think the vegetable business here can be big? To be honest, how much money can you make from selling vegetables?"

Feng Zhengming understood what his uncle meant and knew what he was worried about.

In today's era, economic development is accelerating.

Many bosses are trying their best to develop various industrial products.

And generally speaking, the most profitable exports are clothing items.

Vegetables are actually not that good for export.

The foreign trade that Feng Jiandong does in the island city is actually also about clothing and textiles.

In fact, the transportation cost of vegetables is still relatively high in this era.

Especially the loss on the road, which is often unavoidable.

So even though Feng Jiandong came to Shouguang, he still didn't feel very confident.

Feng Zhengming began to seriously analyze the situation for his uncle.

"At present, the vegetables in Shouguang may not be much different from those in other parts of the country, but as long as the operation is good, the local government can provide sufficient support, and we spend some time to make differentiation, I believe that Shouguang vegetables will definitely become big in the future."

Feng Zhengming would not just keep making big promises for his uncle.

After all, Feng Jiandong cannot see what will happen in the future at this stage.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming continued his analysis based on reality.

"Uncle San, the foreign trade you are doing now must be the same as most foreign trade companies, mainly clothing and textiles, but you should know that the profit margins of those things are very low.

And there are too many similar companies. You don't have much advantage when you compete with so many companies.

So at this time, you need to make some differentiation and do some business that no one else is doing.

Vegetables seem cheap in China because our country is vast and rich in resources, and there are vegetable bases everywhere.

The planting volume is relatively large, so the price will definitely be difficult to raise.

But it’s different if you’re abroad, some countries are relatively small, like our neighbor to the east.”

These words immediately reminded Feng Jiandong.

"You mean, we can contact the people from Genji?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and nodded: "Yes, Genji, and the southern part of the eastern peninsula, their native land is limited, and we can provide them with some vegetables.

In addition, in recent years, many companies from Japan have come to invest in China, and many chefs from Japan have opened restaurants near their companies.

If those restaurants purchase all the raw materials from their own country, the cost will definitely be higher.

If you can get in touch with Genji, you can contact the chef restaurant in the country through Genji.

Wouldn't it be appropriate to supply them with all the vegetables they need?"

Feng Jiandong was a little surprised to hear what Feng Zhengming said.

He never expected that Feng Zhengming would have so many ideas.

The key point is that the ideas that Feng Zhengming is giving to his uncle now have never been mentioned to the local people in Shouguang before.

These are obviously ideas targeting Uncle San's company.

It is also an idea to help Uncle San's company gain sufficient profits.

Feng Zhengming reminded his uncle: "Of course, some chefs in Fusang have different requirements for raw materials. We can learn about this from them in advance and then plant according to their requirements. I think Shouguang can do this."

Seeing Feng Zhengming so confident, Uncle San felt a little unbelievable.

"How do you know that Shouguang can really do it?"

This question stumped Feng Zhengming.

You can't tell Uncle San now that Shouguang will be the country's largest vegetable production and marketing base in the future, right?
So after thinking about it for a while, Feng Zhengming began to analyze it seriously.

"Third Uncle, think about it. The local leaders of Shouguang we met were eager to make Shouguang's vegetables better. They treated it as a local industry.

Their slogan is to be better than others and to be able to have what others do not have.

With this slogan, they will certainly try their best to grow the best vegetables.”

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Uncle San felt that this was the truth.

During his few days in Shouguang, Feng Jiandong also went to do a lot of things on his own.

He had investigated carefully and knew that the people here were indeed very hardworking and willing to accept various new technologies.

Every household really wants to grow good vegetables.

And the government also provides various support as much as possible in this regard.

After Feng Jiandong thought about it, he felt that what his nephew said was right.

"Okay, we will cooperate with them and promote the Shouguang vegetable brand in the future. We want it to be famous not only throughout the country, but also to truly go global."

In the next few days, Feng Zhengming and his uncle, led by the locals, traveled all over Shouguang.

I saw the large number of vegetable greenhouses in Shouguang.

I also talked to many vegetable growing experts here.

At a local seminar, Feng Zhengming elaborated on some of his views.

It is a great inspiration to many people in Shouguang.

Let the locals realize what a huge treasure trove they have in their hands.

So they decided to make the Shouguang vegetable brand even better next.

Feng Zhengming also met with a local vegetable grower, Wang Lecheng, who is already middle-aged.

Ten years ago, the other party consulted experts and, despite the ridicule of many people and the misunderstanding of many people in the village, was the first to take the lead in greenhouse cultivation in their village and developed the technology of growing cucumbers in greenhouses.

After he succeeded, he shared his experience and technology with the whole village unconditionally.

He truly led the entire village to build vegetable greenhouses.

When Wang Lecheng was chatting with uncle and nephew Feng Zhengming and Feng Jiandong, he also expressed his desire to promote Shouguang vegetables to the world.

This really coincides with the plans of Feng Zhengming and Feng Jiandong.

Feng Zhengming told me that he wanted his third uncle to help him contact foreign countries through a foreign trade company, and then use his third uncle's foreign trade company's channels to promote Shouguang vegetables overseas.

Wang Lecheng was really happy: "Great, great, that's great. I've always been thinking about how to export our vegetables. Hahaha, I didn't expect that you and I had the same idea."

Feng Zhengming also smiled and shook hands with Wang Lecheng.

"I really admire your spirit back then. Even though no one understood you, you still insisted on building a vegetable greenhouse. Now it seems that your persistence is worth it. My third uncle and I must help you to make our Shouguang vegetables a brand."

This time, even Feng Jiandong was infected by the atmosphere.

After hearing about Wang Lecheng's deeds, Feng Jiandong felt great respect for him.

Originally, Feng Jiandong was somewhat pessimistic about helping with vegetable exports.

But after learning about it over the past few days, he also decided to help Shouguang vegetables.

Feng Zhengming carefully analyzed the situation from a chef’s perspective to Wang Lecheng.

"Some foreign vegetables may have different standards from our domestic ones. If they are to be exported, they may need to be tested for pesticide residues and various indicators. I'm afraid you need to do a good job in this regard."

Wang Lecheng laughed and said, "We have thought about this a long time ago. Some experts who have cooperated with our village have proposed pollution-free vegetables. Our village is also ready to start trying it."

Feng Zhengming immediately clapped his hands and cheered: "This is great. If we can truly achieve pollution-free, then there will be no problem in promoting our Shouguang vegetable brand to the international market."

Wang Lecheng was also full of enthusiasm: "Okay, I will discuss it with the experts in the village when I get back, and we will start research together."

Just at this time some experts attending the conference also came over, and they were also excited when they heard about pollution-free vegetables.

“Pollution-free vegetables is a very new topic, and it is mainly based on some foreign standards. We are also preparing to determine our own standards.

Maybe it is not mature yet, but it will become more and more standardized in the future, so that ordinary people in our country can eat it.”

Feng Zhengming nodded with a smile: "That is the day we all look forward to."

Wang Lecheng suggested to Feng Zhengming: "If we succeed, we will need Feng Zhuangyuan to do more advertising for us."

"No problem." Feng Zhengming agreed immediately. "If you want to endorse our Qilu products, then I am definitely willing. From now on, the vegetables for my Quancheng dry rice shop and restaurant will be purchased from you."

This naturally made Wang Lecheng even happier.

"Being able to supply vegetables to the dry rice shops and restaurants of the national cooking competition champion is a great advertisement."

Everyone knows that with Feng Zhengming, the top scholar, taking the lead, more restaurants and hotels will join in.

Feng Zhengming also raised a concern of his own: "However, we still need to establish a vegetable information database as soon as possible, at least to understand the situation of vegetables in various parts of the country, so that we can do things more targeted."

When it comes to this, everyone feels that it is indeed necessary.

However, Feng Zhengming knows that the Internet is not yet fully popularized, so it may be difficult to provide timely and accurate information.

Feng Jiandong agreed seriously: "Don't worry, I will do my best. I won't cover the whole country, but at least I can find out the situation in Qilu and some neighboring provinces, especially the capital in the north, so that we can adjust the planting."

Wang Lecheng and the experts all think that Feng Jiandong’s approach is very good.

They were all very grateful to Feng Jiandong.

"Thank you. Mr. Feng can see that you are a person who really works hard. Don't worry, we Shouguang vegetable people will not burn bridges after crossing the river. We will definitely give priority to cooperating with you in the long term in the future."

"Yes, after all, you are the uncle of the top scholar. We can all rest assured to cooperate with you."

By this point, Feng Jiandong had already understood what was going on.

The reason why he was able to have such a smooth trip in Shouguang was ultimately because of Feng Zhengming's face.

After all, Feng Zhengming won the first prize in the national cooking competition with Shandong cuisine.

This is a glory for everyone in Qilu.

In addition, Feng Zhengming always treats people with a humble attitude.

It really gives people a great impression.

Therefore, many of the suggestions Feng Zhengming put forward in Shouguang really made almost all the people in Shouguang willing to believe him.

After this seminar, Feng Zhengming borrowed the kitchen of the restaurant here.

I decided to take Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong with me to cook a good meal for everyone.

At first, everyone felt embarrassed about this, thinking that Feng Zhengming was a guest.

Feng Zhengming said with a smile: "I am a chef. Cooking is my job. Since I have come to the hometown of vegetables, I should cook a table of dishes for everyone to taste."

Finally, with Feng Zhengming's insistence, the local leaders agreed.

Everything has been arranged for Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming took Ding Yuan, Gao Yongfu and Hou Dong into the kitchen.

He smiled and asked the three people, "How is it? You have been with me for so long. Today, you will officially cook with me in the kitchen. Do you have the confidence to do a good job?"

These words really stumped the three of them.

Following Feng Zhengming all the way, I have indeed witnessed the breadth of Feng Zhengming's knowledge.

I also saw some rare skills of Feng Zhengming.

The three of them have also been working hard to learn.

But if I really want to follow Feng Zhengming, I feel a little unsure.

Seeing that the three did not answer immediately, Feng Zhengming guessed what they were thinking.

"Don't be afraid. Cooking is actually very simple. If you prepare in advance, any dish is not difficult to make. You just need to be bold and listen to my instructions. I guarantee that you can cook the dish well."

After listening to Feng Zhengming's words, the three of them slowly relaxed.

For the three, this is an opportunity for them to learn.

Ding Yuan spoke first: "Don't worry, chef, we will definitely follow you to cook well."

Gao Yongfu nodded: "Yes, I will follow your instructions and prepare the dishes well."

Hou Dong even expressed that he would follow and study seriously.

Seeing that the three of them had gained confidence, Feng Zhengming led them to start cooking.

The first thing to do, of course, is to process the various raw materials.

Feng Zhengming personally took Hou Dong to slaughter and clean the animals, and left the cutting work to Ding Yuan and Gao Yongfu.

After a busy division of labor, the preparation work can be said to be quite smooth. (End of this chapter)