From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 819 Return to Shanghai
The Young Chef Cooking Competition was over, and Feng Zhengming took care of the affairs of several stores in Quancheng.

Prepare to take the train back to Shanghai alone.

During this time back home, in addition to participating in the Young Chef Cooking Competition, Feng Zhengming spent most of his time adjusting the staff of several stores.

Although he is very busy every day, he still goes home on time every day to spend time with his wife and daughter.

He would even get up in the middle of the night to change his daughter's diaper.

Even with such a tight daily schedule, Feng Zhengming is still full of energy every day.

It seems like he always has endless energy.

For this reason, his wife Luo Qing also gave him specific instructions when he was about to return to Shanghai.

"Don't be too hard-working when you go south to Shanghai this time. It's already the end of the year, and you should be preparing to come back for the New Year. Don't put too much pressure on yourself and everyone else."

Feng Zhengming listened to his wife's instructions, smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry, I'm in good health. Both stores in Shanghai are back on track. I won't be too busy when I go back."

Luo Qing smiled and patted her husband gently: "I know you are in good health, but you can't use your health like this. You need to rest well."

Feng Zhengming agreed: "Okay, don't worry, I will pay attention to rest, and I will make sure everyone has a good rest."

In fact, Luo Qing also wanted to go south to Shanghai with Feng Zhengming.

It’s just that my daughter is too young and needs care, and the New Year is almost here.

She took her daughter south and came back after the Chinese New Year, which was indeed too much trouble for Feng Zhengming.

So after weighing the pros and cons, Luo Qing decided not to cause trouble for her husband.

She stayed at home to take care of the children, waiting for her husband to come back for a family reunion during the Chinese New Year.

Feng Zhengming hugged his wife and comforted her: "I will close the two stores in advance. Then I will come back with everyone, and we will have someone to take care of us on the way."

After a short pause, Feng Zhengming promised his wife: "After the Chinese New Year, we will go to Shanghai again, and I will definitely bring you and our daughter with us."

Luo Qing was very happy when she heard this.

But she changed her mind and asked in a low voice: "Isn't my daughter too young to go with us like this?"

Without waiting for Feng Zhengming to reply, Luo Qing looked at her daughter in the crib.

"In fact, at my daughter's age, it would be better for me to keep her at home. If I take her with you to Shanghai, you also need to consider us mother and daughter, and you can't concentrate on running the store business."

Feng Zhengming smiled and kissed his wife again: "It's okay, I like to worry about you and our daughter. You can go south to Shanghai with me. I can see you and our daughter every day when I go home. I will be very happy."

Hearing her husband say this, Luo Qing felt filled with happiness.

She understood that her husband always had her in his heart.

Now there is a bond between the two of them, their daughter.

The relationship between my husband and myself has also deepened.

In Luo Qing's eyes, her husband has always been her pride.

She likes to watch her husband busy at work, especially cooking in the kitchen.

She believed that although the next few years might be a little difficult, her husband would be able to get through the next few difficulties with his skills and reputation.

In the future, my husband will definitely become a top chef who can truly influence the domestic catering industry.

"Just work hard on your career. My daughter and I will support you."

Feng Zhengming smiled and agreed: "Don't worry, I won't let you and your daughter suffer with me."

Luo Qing said, "Then my daughter and I are willing to suffer with you? My daughter and I just want to be with our dad, so we are not afraid of suffering."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Okay, okay, I will definitely take you and my daughter with me."

The couple talked sweet words all night before parting.

The next morning, Feng Zhengming got up quietly, washed and changed his clothes.

After making breakfast for his wife, he packed his luggage and quietly left home.

When she heard the door closing, Luo Qing opened her eyes on the bed.

The moment her husband got up, Luo Qing woke up too.

But she knew her husband didn't want to wake her and her daughter up, so she continued to pretend to be asleep until her husband left home.

Until her husband left, Luo Qing got up and walked to the window, looking at the figure walking out of the community downstairs.

She waved silently to her husband's back.

Luo Qing secretly wished that her husband would continue to be successful.

When Feng Zhengming returned to Shanghai, it was almost New Year's Day.

When he returned to the Western restaurant on the street, he immediately listened to Jiang Chengzhe's report.

"During Christmas, business in both our stores was very good. As we discussed with you before, during Christmas, our store launched some Chinese and Western-style dim sum, which were very popular."

After a brief pause, Jiang Chengzhe said something that was a little unbelievable to him.

"You know what happened? The Chinese dim sum we served at Christmas was more popular."

Feng Zhengming didn't find this surprising.

"It's as expected. Many of our Chinese dim sum are very beautiful and delicious."

Jiang Chengzhe was very excited: "Chef, then this New Year's Day, shall we do something bigger? Give everyone something even better?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked, "What are you going to prepare for everyone on New Year's Day?"

Jiang Chengzhe replied in a low voice: "On New Year's Day, there will definitely be a lot of people coming to us to reserve seats. We can give out some small New Year's Day gifts then."

"A small New Year's gift?" Feng Zhengming looked at Jiang Chengzhe in surprise, "Have you prepared anything?"

Jiang Chengzhe nodded: "When you went back, we discussed it with Zhu Xu and others. We thought we could make some small badges with our store logo on New Year's Day.

Because it was New Year's Day, we thought it would be great to add some elements of the new year, so we made some custom ones."

At the end, Jiang Chengzhe stared at Feng Zhengming with some concern.

He was really a little worried. Would Feng Zhengming be angry because he didn't tell him about the custom-made gift?

Feng Zhengming looked at Jiang Chengzhe and smiled: "I'm not angry. I said before I left that you can discuss and decide on some things. Since you have discussed it and everyone agrees, then you can do it."

Then Feng Zhengming asked Jiang Chengzhe to take out the small badge he made and show it to him.

Jiang Chengzhe immediately went to the locker room and took out a batch of small badges that had already been made.

Feng Zhengming saw that the badge was very small, equivalent to a brooch that could be worn on clothes.

The badge design is the year 1999, with the Zheng Luxing logo on it.

Feng Zhengming held it in his hand and examined it carefully, then nodded with a smile: "Not bad, your design is great."

Seeing Feng Zhengming's approval, Jiang Chengzhe became more confident: "Chef, it's fine as long as you think it's good. Then we will let the waiters in the store wear them, and we will wear them ourselves, and then give one to every customer who comes to dine on New Year's Day."

Feng Zhengming really approves of this kind of small gift, which is also a trick used by some overseas restaurants. It doesn't cost much, but customers who receive this kind of small gift, especially on New Year's Day, will feel very happy.

Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe also designed some dishes for New Year's Day.

We want to give customers who have made reservations a more interesting experience on New Year’s Day.

Just as Feng Zhengming and his team were preparing, the phone line for New Year's Day orders for this Western restaurant on Restaurant Street was almost overwhelmed.

What was somewhat beyond Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe’s expectations was that among those who called to place orders for New Year’s Day, there were quite a few bosses from Hong Kong, and some celebrities from Hong Kong also called to place orders.

Next, I received calls from some Hong Kong bosses and celebrities placing orders for meals.

Soon after that, Feng Zhengming and his team received orders for meals from some bosses from other places.

In the end, Feng Zhengming and his colleagues discovered that most of the seats in the store had been reserved by some bosses.

Some of them were booked by celebrities.

Jiang Chengzhe specifically asked: "Should we increase the price? Anyway, those bosses and celebrities are not short of money. We can add some better ingredients and ask them to pay more, and they will be willing to do so."

After thinking about it, Feng Zhengming rejected Jiang Chengzhe's proposal.

“No, we have already told all the people who ordered meals over the phone that the meal packages we offer on New Year’s Day are our own special New Year’s Day meal packages, and they are not allowed to order individual dishes.

If this is the case, then the price of our dishes cannot be increased too much.

We can add the value of our hard work and craftsmanship, but we cannot just ask for an exorbitant price just because the other party is a boss or a celebrity."

Jiang Chengzhe was a little surprised when he heard this: “But those people won’t care no matter how high your price is.

And if you don’t charge too much, they might even think that you are just so-so and dare not charge them more. You are no different from other ordinary chefs in other restaurants, and you are even worse than those famous overseas chefs.”

Feng Zhengming was not angry after hearing this. Instead, he comforted Jiang Chengzhe with a smile.

"We run a restaurant and we are chefs. How many times a year can those rich people and celebrities come to our restaurant? It's just once or twice. We still have to welcome more ordinary customers.

So we just have to make sure our craft gets the value it deserves.

We don't ask for an exorbitant price because we want to tell everyone that our craftsmanship is worth that price. No matter who you are, the price will be the same when you come to eat.

Even if you are a wealthy person or a celebrity, you can only follow the rules of our store."

After listening to what Feng Zhengming said, Jiang Chengzhe was a little confused at first?
However, after thinking about it carefully, Jiang Chengzhe slowly understood Feng Zhengming's intention.

He didn't want to use Hong Kong tycoons and celebrities to raise the unit price like Dai Long did in Hong Kong.

Feng Zhengming wants to vindicate the skills of all chefs.

He wants everyone to understand that a chef's skills are valuable.

He also wants to make it known to everyone by receiving big bosses and celebrities.

In his restaurant, he, the chef, is the master of everything.

No matter you are a rich man, a star, a famous person, or an ordinary person, you will be treated equally in his restaurant, and even the price of the dishes charged to you will be the same.

As Feng Zhengming said, their subsequent customers are still mainly ordinary people.

When he subtly makes ordinary people feel that cooking skills are indeed valuable.

The dishes in Feng Zhengming's restaurant are worth the price.

Then the pricing power of dishes will be in his hands.

He doesn't have to set a very high price, he just needs to make the price acceptable to most people.

Relying on a steady stream of customers, Feng Zhengming's store can still make money.

Moreover, he made money in an honest way and never lost his status as the top scholar in the country.

Jiang Chengzhe thought it through and smiled: "Okay, you are the top scholar. I am not as far-sighted as you in these issues. I only think about making more money from those rich people and celebrities."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "We need to make money from them, but not now."

Jiang Chengzhe was a little curious: "Aren't you making money now?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, we are still in the initial stage. We need to build our own base first. Then we need to make those rich people and celebrities line up and make money from them."

"Hahaha, okay. I'm looking forward to that kind of scene." Jiang Chengzhe was quite excited when he heard it.

Soon, the news that Feng Zhengming's Shanghai Western Restaurant Street Branch had received many reservations from wealthy people and celebrities spread.

Then all kinds of rumors started flying around.

Some people say that the rich spent everyone's money to reserve seats.

Some people also said that Feng Zhengming invited the celebrities with his own money.

Some people even said that Feng Zhengming had invited celebrities and those wealthy people had to bid for reservations, and it would cost hundreds of thousands just to reserve a table.

All kinds of gossip were flying around, which immediately boosted the reputation of Feng Zhengming's two stores in Shanghai.

As New Year's Day approached, Feng Zhengming's two stores experienced a peak in traffic, with long queues of people every day.

This has caused considerable inconvenience to customers who are used to eating there.

Fortunately, Feng Zhengming thoughtfully launched a take-out service, so most of the customers who came to the store to try the food would take the food away to eat.

Especially during the peak hours of lunch and dinner, Feng Zhengming made room for many old customers.

On the day before New Year's Day, Feng Zhengming called everyone to confirm their reservations.

Feng Zhengming also informed all those who had made reservations that if they could not arrive on that day, he would give the reservations to someone else.

For customers who are ambiguous or whose reservations cannot be contacted by phone, he will treat it as a cancellation, vacate the table and allow others to make reservations.

After some confirmation, all customers who had booked tables were confirmed to return on New Year's Eve.

This also surprised Feng Zhengming somewhat.

It feels like those who booked tables for New Year’s Day had all discussed it beforehand.

Feng Zhengming didn't think any more about it and led everyone to prepare for New Year's Eve.

Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe planned the New Year’s Day menu.

The menu includes several classic dishes of the restaurant as well as some classic Shandong dishes.

Some dishes from other cuisines are also prepared, as well as some Western dishes.

Different staple foods are also specially prepared as a fresh sense of ritual for the new year.

Finally, following the Western style, Feng Zhengming and his team prepared a special dessert, which was made with four kinds of desserts arranged in the shape of the number 1999.

This menu can be said to be a fusion of characteristics from all over the country and overseas.

This can be regarded as an attempt by Feng Zhengming, Jiang Chengzhe and their entire team.

Feng Zhengming also made an agreement with all the chefs that on the evening of New Year's Day, the store near the train station would be closed, and all the chefs would gather in the kitchen of the Western restaurant on the street to make the best preparations for the New Year's Day dinner.

(End of this chapter)