From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Although Feng Zhengming was prepared, he still didn't expect that there would be so many people applying to be apprentices in his two stores.

Among them, there are many people who come to Shanghai from other places to find jobs.

There are also many young people from all over Qi and Lu.

Among these young people, some are more active in thinking and when they go to Feng Zhengming's store they show their friendship as fellow villagers.

I hope to work as an apprentice in Feng Zhengming’s shop.

This did make Feng Zhengming somewhat embarrassed for a time.

He also called back to Quancheng and asked several senior brothers about the situation.

In fact, Feng Zhengming probably knew why so many outsiders flocked to Shanghai without asking his senior brother in Quancheng.

This is mainly due to the arrival of a wave of layoffs, and many enterprises with backward production capacity have gone bankrupt in various places.

This suddenly resulted in a large amount of redundant labor.

Many people cannot find suitable jobs in their hometowns, so they have no choice but to leave their hometowns and go to Shanghai or coastal cities further south to look for job opportunities.

There are also some young people who graduated from cooking schools in Qi and Lu.

They probably knew that it was difficult to find a job within the province, so they simply headed south.

Feng Zhengming is now very famous. When you go to Shanghai, you can hear all kinds of rumors about his two stores.

Everyone knows that his two stores are doing very well in Shanghai.

When people learned that his shop was recruiting apprentices, naturally a large number of people came to apply for jobs.

Feng Zhengming was troubled by so many people applying for the job.

When he got home, he didn't want to show it in front of his family.

However, my grandfather and Grandpa Situ at home also roughly know the situation.

Grandpa Situ also joked with Feng Zhengming: "Zhengming, do you regret not accepting the investment from that uncle in Shanghai? Otherwise, you would have so many people available now, and you could open one or two more branches."

Feng Zhengming couldn't help but laugh at Grandpa Situ's joke.

"I know my current capabilities, and two branches are really the limit. If I open two more branches, I won't have to worry about staff, but the quality of the dishes may not be guaranteed."

Grandpa suddenly said, "In fact, you can open a shop and only sell braised pork and other things, not stir-fry, or make it in the form of boxed lunches like you had when you were at the earliest railway station in our area.

It can absorb some people from other provinces who want to join you, and you don’t have to worry about affecting the reputation of your two stores. "

Grandpa's method is indeed a good compromise.

However, after some thought, Feng Zhengming shook his head and rejected this idea.

“Grandpa Situ, I know this method is the way to absorb a large number of people as quickly as possible, but I can’t absorb people in this way.

We have finally come to this point, and through the efforts of so many of us, we have established this more complete business model.

If we go back now and do street business again, it would be tantamount to stealing business from small vendors running small businesses on the street.

By then, our own craftsmanship may decline, and small street vendors will be left with nowhere to go.”

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, the two grandfathers looked at each other.

They didn't expect that Feng Zhengming was still thinking so deeply at this time.

It's not just about maintaining the bottom line of traditional craftsmanship.

They also consider that if they open small street shops, it will have an impact on many small street businesses.

At present, there are quite a lot of small vendors setting up stalls on the streets.

For Feng Zhengming, he lowered his standards and opened more stores, and he was still able to support those small stores with his fame.

But doing so would be equivalent to taking away business from street vendors.

For Feng Zhengming now, he no longer cares how much profit those small shops make.

But for those small business owners on the streets, that is the bottom line for their livelihood.

This is why, although the store near Feng Zhengming Railway Station has lowered its prices, it is still more expensive than most of the surrounding stores.

He wants to leave some space for other stores to survive.

Of course, on the Western Restaurant Street, Feng Zhengming would not leave any room for those Western restaurant owners.

He was always prepared to take over the store next door if the store next door could not hold on and go bankrupt, and then expand his own western restaurant on the street.

Luo Qing came out holding her daughter and gave Feng Zhengming an idea.

"I think you might as well arrange two shifts for the apprentices and recruit two batches of apprentices. It's all apprentice wages anyway, and your store doesn't lack that money.

If we recruit two groups of apprentices and let them take turns working, wouldn't they be able to use their free time to find other jobs?

Maybe someone will learn something and open a small shop of their own.”

After hearing Luo Qing's idea, Feng Zhengming and his two grandfathers fell into deep thought.

It was Grandpa Situ who quickly agreed to this idea.

"Xiao Luo's idea is good. Recruit two groups of apprentices and arrange for them to work in shifts. This way, they should have no objection to the salary you pay them.

In addition to working in your store, they can manage their own time and find other jobs.

Or if they really learn some skills in the future, they can open their own shop and do business.”

Grandpa quickly nodded and said, "This is a good idea. In the past, many apprentices in large restaurants were provided with meals. If you give them apprentice wages now, many people will probably be willing to do so."

Seeing Feng Zhengming's expression change, he did not directly agree to this solution.

Grandpa Situ spoke again: "Zhengming, you must understand that you don't have the ability to save everyone now."

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming suddenly came to his senses.

He looked at his two grandfathers, his wife and the daughter in her arms.

A smile appeared on his face again.

"I understand that I've been thinking too much. I really can't accept so many people right now. I can't ignore the reputation that I've worked so hard to build up for my store just to accept enough people."

After realizing this, Feng Zhengming no longer had any hesitation.

He immediately called Jiang Chengzhe and discussed something with him on the phone.

Afterwards, he notified the young chefs in the kitchen to come to his house for a small meeting.

This time, only the key members from the kitchen came to Feng Zhengming for the meeting.

So at this small meeting, Feng Zhengming bluntly stated the next steps.

“We certainly can’t accept all of these people, so no matter what connection they use to find us, we will ignore them all. We must stick to our requirements and select according to the rules we have set.

The selected personnel were then divided into two groups and asked to work in two shifts.

Remember, tell them all that the two-shift system is only temporary and we will screen them further.

If you fail to perform well or make mistakes, you may be fired.”

After explaining his plan, Feng Zhengming looked at everyone present.

His eyes especially swept over the few people who followed him from Quancheng.

"I know that quite a few people must have come to you these days. They must have been introduced by some connections. I hope you all stick to your bottom line and don't easily agree to others, let alone make promises casually."

After hearing this, all the young chefs from Qilu present nodded seriously in agreement.

"Uncle Master, rest assured, I haven't promised anything. I haven't made any promises." "That's right. We can't make any promises."

"Many people have come to us, but we certainly cannot make the decision on your behalf."

"I didn't even dare let anyone in who gave me a gift."

"I didn't even tell them where I lived."

Jiang Chengzhe also spoke up: "Zhengming, these days, many people from the Chefs Association and the Catering Association in Shanghai have come to me, all of them wanting to invite me out for dinner and karaoke, but I refused them all."

Feng Zhengming looked at Jiang Chengzhe: "It seems that they are very discerning and knew to look for me. I definitely won't meet them, so I found you."

Jiang Chengzhe said righteously: "I will not give up my bottom line and I will definitely not entertain them."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "We don't need to entertain them. We have our own confidence. We just need to run the two stores well."

Everyone present nodded in agreement.

Everyone knows it.

Why did those people take the initiative to find them? Why did they all want to be apprentices in Feng Zhengming's two stores?

Even some people who have been working as chefs for several years are willing to lower their status and become Feng Zhengming's apprentices?

The reason is simple. It is because Feng Zhengming’s two stores have built up a good reputation in Shanghai within half a year.

It not only has a good reputation in the domestic food circle.

It has also received praise from many people overseas and in China.

In today's era, no matter how many people in China praise your store, it may not be as good as gaining recognition and praise from some people overseas.

Feng Zhengming's store on Western Restaurant Street has won praise not only from overseas.

It has become a store that many overseas people working in China often visit.

The Western restaurants around his store are ignored by overseas people.

This is certainly due to Feng Zhengming's status as the national top scholar.

There is also the fact that his fame has spread overseas after his fight with Coffman.

But more importantly, he made some improvements to the dishes, especially adding some Western ordering methods.

I don’t care about the cuisine or the difference between Chinese and Western food.

Just conquer everyone with the most intuitive point: "delicious".

Therefore, the more this is the case, the more we need to pay attention to word of mouth.

There must be absolutely no favoritism in the recruitment of apprentices.

Now that the discussion has been completed, Feng Zhengming and his team will no longer show any mercy when it comes to recruiting apprentices.

At the agreed time, those who want to apply for the job are invited to come to the store for a trial job.

The trial operation of the two stores was carried out almost simultaneously.

Many people who wanted to work in Feng Zhengming's shop gave up after their first trial.

The reason is very simple. The strength of Feng Zhengming's two stores is indeed a bit too high.

The kitchen at the store near the train station is better.

In the kitchen of this Western Restaurant Street, Feng Zhengming and his colleagues have very high expectations for their apprentices.

Many people who have tried the job feel that this is not recruiting apprentices at all, but is just like recruiting chefs from other people's restaurants.

But even though they knew it was indeed harsh enough, no one dared to raise any objections.

Because it's just a trial job, you can feel it intuitively.

Although the chefs in Feng Zhengming's kitchen are all young, they are all very capable.

Not to mention the basic skills such as knife skills, he is also very skilled in frying, deep-frying and stir-frying when he is at the stove.

The most important thing is that they are all able to cooperate and complete the work according to Feng Zhengming's requirements.

Especially when there are many customers at noon, the kitchen is obviously very busy, but under Feng Zhengming's coordination, everyone can still cope well with the division of labor and cooperation.

It can't even be called "coping".

In the eyes of the apprentices on trial, Feng Zhengming and his colleagues are creating art all the time.

Every step of every dish is broken down very carefully.

Everyone has to ensure that the steps they are responsible for are never wrong and even meet sufficient standards.

In this way, every dish coming out of the kitchen can be almost guaranteed to be exactly the same.

This alone is something that many chefs who lower their status and come to Feng Zhengming to be apprentices may have never seen.

The lack of standardization has always been a problem with Chinese cuisine.

The same dish may have vastly different qualities when prepared by different chefs.

Feng Zhengming broke down the steps in detail.

Let different people be responsible for different aspects.

This is just like what was said in a certain crosstalk piece.

The onion cutter specializes in cutting only onions.

In the kitchen of Feng Zhengming Western Restaurant on the street, a complete process has also been formed.

Therefore, the dishes coming out of the kitchen can almost be of consistent standard.

After several rounds of trial work, some people couldn't stand the strict requirements and left.

Most of them were eliminated by Feng Zhengming without any hesitation.

As for the remaining people, Feng Zhengming divided them into two groups according to the previous plan.

“I want to make it clear to you first. You are all apprentices. I don’t care what your previous status was. In my shop, you are all apprentices and you can only get apprentice wages.

The store will provide you with lunch and dinner. Of course, if you are not used to the food, you can bring your own food.

In addition, your two groups will work in shifts, and there will be a relationship of both competition and partnership between each of you.

In the three-month period, who will be able to stay will depend on your performance in the future."

Feng Zhengming spoke very bluntly and treated everyone equally.

And he did not group people from the same place together as some apprentices had requested.

He simply mixed everyone up and put them into different groups.

"I'm warning you, don't discriminate based on region in my store. Also, you are not allowed to speak your dialect in my store. You all have to speak Mandarin, no matter how unstandard it is.

If I hear you guys talking in your native dialect in the kitchen, get out of here."

Feng Zhengming finally rudely spat out the word "get out".

At the same time, his eyes were fixed on several local apprentices in Shanghai.

A few people wanted to whisper to each other, but they were stared at by Feng Zhengming. When they heard him rudely say "get out", they immediately stopped whispering.

Feng Zhengming's request naturally won unanimous support from apprentices from other places.

This will obviously be much friendlier to the out-of-town apprentices. (End of this chapter)