From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming did not show up in front of Huiquan Building after chatting with his eldest and fifth senior brothers.

He left Huiquanlou to his two senior brothers with confidence, and he still left through the back kitchen door.

After he left, the fifth brother smiled and said to the eldest brother.

"Look, Senior Brother, this guy Zhengming really treats us as his employees."

The eldest brother smiled and said, "Aren't we?"

Fifth Brother could only nod in acknowledgment.

"That's true. Without Zhengming, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to take over Huiquanlou."

The eldest brother shook his head: "If I really want to take it, I can definitely take it, but the business won't be as good as it is now, and it won't win such a good reputation as it is now."

The fifth brother was a little surprised: "Big Brother, you are really clear-sighted."

The eldest brother sighed: "It's not that I see things clearly, it's that Zhengming sees things more clearly than us. He knows what he wants, and he also knows what kind of burden he should shoulder after gaining his current fame."

The eldest brother's sigh forced the fifth brother to nod in agreement again.

The several senior brothers in Quancheng gradually figured things out during the time when Feng Zhengming was not in Quancheng.

Feng Zhengming's achievements are not only beyond the reach of his fellow seniors.

The key lies in Feng Zhengming's passion for Shandong cuisine and his courage to shoulder the responsibility of revitalizing Shandong cuisine, which are indeed something that his senior brothers do not have at all.

To put it bluntly, before Feng Zhengming won the national cooking championship.

The senior brothers never really thought about reviving and promoting Shandong cuisine.

For the senior brothers, Shandong cuisine is the skill they have learned for half their lives and is their means of survival.

They are either in the cafeteria or in the kitchen of restaurants or hotels.

Even open your own shop.

In their minds, cooking is always considered as a job.

Like most people, work is work and life is life.

Work is for making money, it is not part of life.

Therefore, apart from Feng Zhengming, no other senior brother had ever really considered revitalizing and promoting Shandong cuisine.

Even the senior brother used to think that Feng Zhengming had never considered it.

Now, with the help of Feng Zhengming, I open my own shop step by step.

Then he took over Huiquanlou and gave it a brand new look in a very short period of time.

Then Feng Zhengming made his mark in a provincial chef competition.

Eventually he succeeded in becoming the number one in a national cooking competition, beating out chefs from all over the country.

When he achieved this series of results.

The eldest senior brother then realized that from the very beginning the younger junior brother did not simply regard cooking as a skill to make money, he really regarded cooking as an art from the very beginning.

From the very beginning, he wanted to revitalize and promote Shandong cuisine.

Finally, the time has come.

He is the top scholar in the country and a Shandong cuisine chef who is regarded as proud by people from all over Shandong and Qi.

He also received support from the province and even the country.

In this way, Feng Zhengming can start doing what he needs to do to revitalize and promote Shandong cuisine.

We should use his own way to standardize, revitalize and promote Shandong cuisine.

The senior brothers also realized that there was a huge gap between them and their junior brothers.

It’s not the difference in cooking skills, but the difference in concepts and goals.

So Senior Brother Five would say that they were like Feng Zhengming’s employees.

The eldest brother also recognized this.

Of course, the two senior brothers not only recognized the fact, they were also willing to continue working as employees of the younger brother.

After Feng Zhengming left Huiquanlou, he went straight to the old Fengjia Restaurant.

After some changes, the old shop has now become a proper restaurant.

It certainly cannot be compared with Huiquanlou in scale.

But there are three senior brothers in charge, and three very outstanding young chefs, Liu Hai, Zhu Xu and Xia Mingye.

The quality of Laopu’s dishes is definitely not worse than Huiquanlou’s.

However, the dishes served at Laopu do not require as detailed plating as those at Huiquanlou.

In fact, most of the time, when there are a lot of people in the old shop, there is no such thing as plating the food. After cooking, the food is directly served to the customers on a plate.

Although there is no delicate presentation, the taste of each dish in the old shop will still be liked by customers.

Whether it is drinking or eating, Laopu has really become the first choice for many people.

Feng Zhengming arrived at the old shop and saw his grandfather sitting inside the shop when he entered.

He immediately smiled and walked up to his grandfather.

"Master, no wonder the business of our shop has picked up again. It turns out that you are back. With you sitting here, it is hard for the business of our shop to be bad."

As soon as Feng Zhengming finished speaking, Grandpa Situ's laughter was heard beside him.

"Hahaha, Lao Feng, it's clear that this kid thinks you're the shop's lucky cat."

Feng Zhengming turned his head and looked at Grandpa Situ who was walking beside him.

"I was wondering why the old shop is doing so well today. It turns out that Grandpa Situ is here too."

As soon as these words came out, Grandpa Feng immediately laughed and said, "Brother Situ, it seems that you are also a lucky cat here at Zhengming."

The two grandfathers looked at each other and laughed together.

Feng Zhengming quickly explained: "No, you two grandpas are not lucky cats, you are my good fortune. Since I met you two grandpas, I have achieved what I have today."

The two grandfathers smiled happily when they heard this.

"You have indeed become more slick-tongued after coming back from outside this time."

"That's right. He's obviously become more capable now."

The two grandfathers talked to each other for a while.

Grandpa Feng then turned the topic back to today's meeting.

"How was the meeting today? Was your proposal modified?"

Feng Zhengming replied: "No, my proposal was approved, and another proposal of mine also received support from the province. I also became the president of the provincial chefs association."

Grandpa Situ was a little surprised when he heard this: "Oh? This is all done in one step? From now on, you will be a true master of Shandong cuisine."

Feng Zhengming quickly denied: "I don't dare to be a master of Shandong cuisine. I can't be a master yet. My master and others are the real masters. I am still an apprentice on the road."

"Well, it's good to maintain this apprentice mentality." Grandpa Feng affirmed.

Grandpa Situ then asked, "Do you have any other plans to get support from the province?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and told the two grandfathers that he wanted to create something similar to a foreign restaurant recommendation guide throughout the province.

A set of standards for Shandong cuisine restaurants and hotels should be established, and a magazine should be published in the name of the Provincial Chefs Association.

The magazine supplement also has restaurant recommendation guides like those in foreign countries.

Every year, we recommend a number of excellent restaurants and hotels from all over Qilu to you.

After hearing Feng Zhengming's plan, Grandpa Situ was shocked.

“You’re actually going to create a restaurant recommendation guide in the country?”

Feng Zhengming corrected: "Not nationwide, just a recommendation guide for restaurants and hotels in Qilu." Grandpa Situ thought about it for a while and nodded: "Yes, it's good to try it out in the province now. There are indeed certain risks in launching it nationwide.

Moreover, the cuisines in different parts of the country are different, so it is still difficult to unify the standards. Maybe in the future, we need to make different sets of standards based on the differences in cuisines in different regions.”

After listening to Grandpa Situ’s analysis, Feng Zhengming was really surprised.

Grandpa Situ is worthy of having done business abroad for many years.

When he looks at many issues, his vision is indeed more forward-looking and his perspective is different.

Of course, Grandpa Situ and Grandpa Feng also pointed it out.

Feng Zhengming's approach will offend some people.

Especially Grandpa Situ pointed it out very directly.

“You will not offend just a few people, but a large number of people who will do everything they can to prevent you from implementing your standards.

And they will do whatever it takes to get the right to edit your magazine and your recommended guide.”

Feng Zhengming nodded seriously: "I am mentally prepared."

Looking at Feng Zhengming's determined expression, Grandpa Situ also laughed.

"Hahaha, good. You are so determined and believe that what you are doing is right. That's enough. As long as you don't doubt yourself, you will be able to overcome any obstacles."

Grandpa Feng also said directly: "But if you want to set standards for others, you must do well yourself first."

Grandpa Situ took over the conversation: "When the time comes, this old shop, your dry rice shop branch, and Huiquanlou will all be watched by everyone, and everyone will work hard to find the problem."

From his two grandfathers, Feng Zhengming received another analysis of the predicament he would face.

The two grandfathers had indeed experienced a lot, and they could almost foresee the various obstacles Feng Zhengming would face.

I chatted with the two grandfathers for a short while in the old shop.

The two grandfathers really analyzed a lot of things for Feng Zhengming.

I saw a stream of customers coming to the old shop.

Grandpa Feng stopped analyzing and asked Feng Zhengming to go and help first.

"Okay, we'll talk about it in detail when we get home tonight. I think there are too many people coming this time. Go check in the kitchen to make sure nothing happens in the rush."

Feng Zhengming agreed immediately and walked quickly to the kitchen.

After Feng Zhengming went to the kitchen, Grandpa Situ looked at Grandpa Feng.

"Old Feng, your grandson is incredible. His ideas are really a bit too big."

Grandpa Feng, on the other hand, smiled and said: "He is the national number one scholar, so he should think bigger. In my opinion, he should go directly to the capital and use his status as the number one scholar to summon masters from all over the country to jointly formulate a set of standards that will be used throughout the country.

Let’s actually create our own national restaurant recommendation guide.”

Grandpa Situ couldn't help laughing after hearing this: "Hahaha, you two are worthy of being a grandfather and grandson, you both dare to think the same way."

Feng Zhengming changed his clothes in the locker room before walking into the back kitchen of the old shop.

It has been a while since I last visited the old shop's kitchen.

Seeing the people in the kitchen busy as hell, Feng Zhengming felt a little helpless.

Third brother Yang Bin is the absolute "conductor" in the kitchen of the old shop.

Feng Zhengming stood by and watched. The third senior brother was able to dispatch everyone in the kitchen very accurately.

And everyone can complete the work he assigns to them very well.

Even the new apprentices are able to do their jobs very well.

This really made Feng Zhengming admit his admiration.

He suddenly felt that his third senior brother was indeed more capable when it came to training apprentices.

The eldest and fifth brothers are obviously not as good as the third brother in teaching new apprentices.

In the kitchen of Huiquanlou, those apprentices who can no longer be considered new apprentices do not cook many things very well, which shows that they have not yet integrated into the kitchen.

But when Feng Zhengming looks into the old shop's kitchen now, he can clearly see that this group of new apprentices have integrated very well.

Although they still need to obey the orders given by the third senior brother.

But as long as the third senior brother said so, they could immediately complete their respective tasks well.

On this point, Feng Zhengming felt that the new apprentices he taught were unable to do it.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming observed carefully and found that the basic skills of these new apprentices in the old shop were also quite good.

This is obviously not how well they learned in school.

It was the third senior brother who corrected many of their bad habits in the kitchen.

Feng Zhengming observed quietly for a long time. He really couldn't bear to disturb everyone in the kitchen.

It was Xia Mingye who turned his head and saw him.

"Uncle Feng? When did you come?"

Xia Mingye's shout immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the kitchen.

Almost everyone looked at Feng Zhengming at the same time.

As a result, Yang Bin immediately shouted: "What are you looking at? Have you finished the work at hand? Pay attention, don't be affected by others, and finish your work first."

After shouting this to everyone, Yang Bin reprimanded Xia Mingye again.

"Xiao Xia, hurry up and serve the dishes. What are you standing there looking at? Don't you know not to shout in the kitchen?"

This was the first time Feng Zhengming saw Third Senior Brother being so strict.

In the past, the third senior brother had always been kind, and even when he was teaching his apprentices, he would never scold them directly in person like this.

However, Third Brother's strictness is indeed very effective.

Xia Mingye hurried to serve the dishes, and everyone else also finished their work carefully.

Finally, with Feng Zhengming "supervising" from the side, the third brother and his men dealt with this round of customers.

When all the dishes on the list were finished, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The third brother immediately put on a smile and said, "Zhengming, why are you here at this time?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and responded, "I went to a meeting in the morning, and had lunch with my senior brother at Huiquan Building at noon. I came over here to take a look in the afternoon."

The third brother immediately made a joke: "Welcome the number one scholar to inspect our work."

When everyone in the kitchen heard this, they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

It was Feng Zhengming who started laughing first along with his third senior brother.

Then everyone couldn't hold back their laughter any more.

After Feng Zhengming laughed, he sincerely expressed his gratitude to his third senior brother.

"Thank you for your help, Third Brother. You have made the kitchen so good. Even without me, the quality of the dishes can be guaranteed. Thank you so much."

The third senior brother walked up to Feng Zhengming and punched him on the shoulder.

"Are you still so polite to me? I am your third brother. If I don't help you manage the kitchen, am I worthy of you calling me 'third brother'?"

Feng Zhengming was deeply moved by his third senior brother's words.

Some of his senior brothers may not have his more ambitious ideas.

But with the help of several senior brothers, Feng Zhengming had the courage to try to realize his ideas.

Because no matter what time, the senior brothers will definitely do their best to help him.

Feng Zhengming laughed at his third senior brother: "Hahaha, that's right, third brother, you are the people I trust the most. With you senior brothers behind me, I can be more confident." (End of this chapter)