From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming's analysis is indeed correct.

The fact that Cheng Guosheng was able to return and take over Jubin Garden with such fanfare this time shows that he had indeed attracted a large investment.

The other party is a catering group from overseas.

This time, the purpose of investing in the domestic market is to acquire some time-honored brands from all over the country.

In the eyes of others, among all the major domestic cuisines, Cantonese cuisine and Shandong cuisine are the best.

Among them, some time-honored brands of Shandong cuisine are particularly famous.

This overseas catering group conducted a very detailed investigation before entering the domestic market.

They are well aware of the influence of Shandong cuisine in the country.

Although Cantonese cuisine was once very popular in China in the 90s and became the first choice for banquets in many big cities.

But just like the gradual rise of Sichuan cuisine, there are actually not many well-known Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine restaurants in China.

Shandong cuisine is different.

Since Qi and Lu are close to the capital, many Shandong cuisine chefs have come to Beijing since ancient times.

In the past, almost all of the famous old restaurants in Beijing were influenced to some extent by Shandong cuisine.

Especially the most famous Bada Building in Beijing, which is full of Shandong cuisine restaurants.

Therefore, when overseas catering groups enter the Chinese market, they target Shandong cuisine directly.

First we need to take over the old Shandong cuisine brands.

The first step is to support some time-honored Shandong cuisine brands, borrow the brand names of the time-honored brands, and recruit some skilled Shandong cuisine chefs.

We want to make the time-honored restaurants they have acquired become top-notch Shandong cuisine restaurants again.

The second step is to master the right to define and speak on Shandong cuisine.

With the right to define and the right to speak, they can gradually implement a set of their own standards.

The third step is to add some technology and hard work to make Shandong cuisine more industrialized and large-scale, and eventually replace the craftsmanship of Shandong cuisine chefs with prefabricated methods.

In this way, starting with Shandong cuisine, pre-prepared dishes can gradually be promoted throughout the country.

Completely control the national catering discourse.

Transform domestic catering, which used to rely on the skills of chefs, into industrialized, large-scale assembly line products.

Therefore, the catering group that invested in Cheng Guosheng provided him with sufficient funds this time.

Moreover, there was no direct interference with Cheng Guosheng's decoration, preparation and publicity.

All that was required was that Cheng Guosheng must make a big enough noise.

Cheng Guosheng lived up to everyone's expectations and indeed caused quite a stir.

Just the various publicity before the opening made it known to everyone in the streets and alleys of Quanzhou.

In the past, Jubinyuan also had some old customers.

I heard that Jubinyuan has reopened, and that Cheng Guosheng, the former chef, has returned.

I still want to go and support the reopening of Jubinyuan.

Finally, after a round of advertising and promotion, Jubinyuan reopened amid the sound of firecrackers.

On that day, at the invitation of Cheng Guosheng, the old masters from Quancheng, as well as Feng Zhengming and three senior brothers, accompanied their master to the scene to support Cheng Guosheng.

When he met Master Wang, Feng Zhengming took the initiative to greet him and congratulated Master Wang on being able to witness the reopening of Jubin Garden.

"Uncle Wang, congratulations. You must be very happy to be able to come back and witness the reopening of Jubin Garden this time."

Master Wang said with emotion: "I am really happy. I never thought that I, with my old bones, could witness the reopening of Jubin Garden again."

Master Yan smiled and said, "Old Wang, this shows that my disciple still has some skills."

"Hahaha, if we talk about ability, Zheng is still the most capable. I heard from some people in Beijing that they are very dissatisfied with Zhengming's current dominance."

When Feng Zhengming heard this, he could probably guess who were dissatisfied with him.

"If they are not satisfied, they can challenge me at any time, or open a store in Shanghai to surpass my four stores."

Feng Zhengming's words made Master Wang burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, good, good, this is the momentum that our top scholar should have. There is no need to be afraid of them. We have our skills, so they don't have to be dissatisfied if they are not."

Master Cui, Master Su, Master Sun and even Master Xia of Kongfu cuisine have arrived one after another.

Everyone gathered together and chatted, expressing their feelings about the reopening of Jubin Garden and recalling its former glory.

While chatting, Master Cui asked curiously: "Why don't you see Guosheng? He is the protagonist today."

As he was speaking, Cheng Guosheng came out with his team of chefs.

Everyone has also noticed that most of the people in Cheng Guosheng’s chef team are young.

Cheng Guosheng stood up and bowed to everyone present with a smile.

"Jubin Garden is reopening today and everyone is welcome to visit us. We would especially like to thank several of our famous Shandong cuisine chefs for coming.

Including several old chefs including my master, as well as Mr. Feng Zhengming, the national champion of Shandong cuisine, and master chefs from various restaurants in Quanzhou.

I, Cheng Guosheng, would like to thank everyone for coming here and giving enough face to our new Jubin Garden. "

After saying this, Cheng Guosheng bowed to everyone present again.

Naturally, there was applause at the scene.

After the applause, Cheng Guosheng continued to introduce the new Jubin Garden.

"When we reopen Jubin Garden, we naturally need some new ideas. We want to create a top Shandong cuisine restaurant in Quancheng, even in the whole of Qilu, and even in the whole country.

So in addition to the most traditional Shandong cuisine, we will also introduce some novel and innovative Shandong cuisine, and we welcome your comments and suggestions.

In addition, the service at Jubinyuan is comparable to that of top overseas restaurants and will provide everyone with a home-like service experience.

I hope that Jubinyuan can become a benchmark for top-notch Shandong cuisine restaurants.”

Cheng Guosheng's words made many people at the scene look a little complicated.

Many people naturally looked at Feng Zhengming.

Everyone knows that Feng Zhengming is now the benchmark for Shandong cuisine restaurants and hotels.

Cheng Guosheng said publicly that Xin Jubinyuan would become a benchmark for top Shandong cuisine restaurants. Isn't this tantamount to challenging Feng Zhengming face to face?
But Feng Zhengming didn't care at all. He smiled and applauded Cheng Guosheng.

Led by Feng Zhengming, the audience then applauded Cheng Guosheng.

After the applause, Cheng Guosheng invited everyone to take a seat.

The waitresses came out, all wearing the same uniform and looking pretty.

Lead everyone to sit down in their respective seats.

Feng Zhengming and his friends were naturally led to the second floor and sat in one of the largest private rooms on the second floor.

Before entering the private room, Feng Zhengming glanced at a large private room at the deepest part of the second floor.

He found that there was already someone in the private room, and the person in the room seemed to be secretly observing him.

When they caught Feng Zhengming's gaze, the people who were secretly observing in the private room quickly retreated away from the door.

Feng Zhengming vaguely felt that the person in the private room should be the investor behind Cheng Guosheng.

Without saying a word, Feng Zhengming walked into the private room where he and the masters sat.

After they sat down, the waitress immediately served Feng Zhengming and his friends.

I have to say that the service of these waitresses is much better than that of Feng Zhengming's Huiquanlou.

Even several old masters couldn't help but praise this.

"Old Wang, Guosheng seems to be really attentive. The service of this waiter is really good."

"Yes, it looks like it has been professionally trained."

“Isn’t it a bit like the service in Western restaurants?”

"Yes, this service is indeed only available in many high-end Western restaurants." "Zhengming, your Huiquanlou seems to be outdone by comparison."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if we are outdone. We can also learn from others' strengths."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, the old masters all laughed.

They affirmed Feng Zhengming's humble attitude.

"Zhengming is worthy of being our top scorer. His attitude is really good."

"Yes, Zhengming sees his own shortcomings and accepts them with an open mind, and studies hard. That's really great."

“This is something that many famous people cannot do.”

Feng Zhengming responded with a smile: "My dear senior brothers and sisters, you all praise me too much. I am not that good. It's just that I am still not good enough. We also need to keep learning and improving."

After everyone chatted for a while, the restaurant started serving food to Feng Zhengming and his friends.

Since most of the people coming today were invited by Cheng Guosheng, the dishes he arranged were also a complete set meal.

Everyone was not asked to order dishes, but the banquet sets were served one by one.

But every dish served still reflects Cheng Guosheng's craftsmanship and some of the style of Xin Jubinyuan.

First of all, in terms of plating, the plates on the table are all very large, but there are not many dishes on the plates.

But the overall presentation is still very beautiful.

When Feng Zhengming saw the plates on the table, he probably guessed that they were overseas brands.

This overseas porcelain brand should be considered a standard feature of high-end Western restaurants overseas.

From Cheng Guosheng's overall presentation of the dish, it is not difficult to see that he was also influenced by some Western styles.

Master Wang looked around and spoke first.

"Still the same as always, liking to do these flashy things."

Obviously, Master Wang was very dissatisfied with the presentation of the dish using large plates but only providing a few dishes.

Jubinyuan has tried this approach in the past.

It’s just that at that time, Jubinyuan’s dishes were not as exquisitely presented as they are now.

Therefore, the reduction in the amount of food will be very obvious.

This will make many customers dissatisfied.

Now Cheng Guosheng makes each dish more aesthetically pleasing through plating, giving customers a visual impact and making them ignore some issues with the quantity of the dishes.

After listening to Master Wang, Master Cui said, "What Master Wang does is popular now."

Without waiting for Master Wang to reply, Master Su asked with a smile: "Master Wang, you are in Beijing, aren't those restaurants and hotels like this too?"

This question left Master Wang speechless.

Master Su was right in saying this, there are many new and cutting-edge restaurants in Beijing now, and those that are taking a high-end approach do indeed all serve Western-style plating.

Seeing that the atmosphere seemed a bit awkward, Feng Zhengming smiled and asked everyone to try it first.

"Let's try it first. It's delicious food. It looks beautiful and tastes delicious. This reduction in the amount of food may also be to allow everyone to eat more dishes. We often see how it tastes."

Following Feng Zhengming's invitation, everyone naturally started to eat.

Although the amount on the platter was indeed small, for example, one of the braised pork elbow dishes was almost gone after each person at the table had one piece.

But every dish tasted really good.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming and the chefs present could tell that the ingredients were very good.

The braised pork elbow can clearly give off that long-lost meaty aroma.

This is also the taste that some meat has lost in recent years.

The shrimps served were also quite fresh.

The method used is the same as that used in Feng Zhengming’s Huiquanlou.

It’s just that because of the different seasons, the taste of the stir-fried dishes here is slightly different.

There are also some cold vegetables, which also give a very refreshing taste.

It can be said that except for the small portion, there is no problem with the taste of each dish.

The old masters were generous in their praise for this.

"Yes, it seems that Guosheng's skills have indeed improved a lot in the past few years."

“Yes, although they are just cold dishes, you can tell from the taste that firstly, the ingredients are well selected, and secondly, they are probably all carefully prepared cold dishes.”

“This white-cut chicken also has the flavor of Cantonese white-cut chicken.”

"The ingredients are well chosen. This chicken is very flavorful."

Master Yan compensated Cheng Guosheng for the small amount of each dish.

“Hahaha, the ingredients are so good, so it’s understandable that each plate has a smaller portion.”

Next up were some classic traditional Shandong dishes.

Dishes such as braised sea cucumber with scallion, nine-turn large intestine, braised yellow croaker, and some Kung Fu dishes: stir-fried kidney and stir-fried pig’s pig tendon with scallion were also served one after another.

In addition to these traditional classic Shandong dishes, there are also some innovative dishes by Cheng Guosheng.

For example, fried squid with onion on iron plate, fried chicken gizzards with green onion on iron plate, etc.

There are even some western fusion dishes.

It can be said that the dishes prepared by Cheng Guosheng are indeed quite sumptuous.

Although the portion size of each dish is indeed not much.

But Feng Zhengming and the masters are all experts.

You can clearly taste the care that goes into selecting ingredients for each dish, as well as Cheng Guosheng's cooking skills.

I have to say, there is really nothing wrong with it.

The old masters felt that Cheng Guosheng had the ability to challenge Feng Zhengming.

In front of Feng Zhengming, the old masters also praised Cheng Guosheng to Master Wang.

This made Master Wang feel a little embarrassed.

"Don't praise him so much. The dishes on this table are indeed of a certain standard, which shows that he has not lost his skills in these years outside. But compared with Zhengming, he is still lacking."

Feng Zhengming quickly smiled and said, "Uncle Wang, you really flatter me. Brother Cheng's skills have always been good, and we are now on par with each other."

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, Master Wang laughed: "You are praising him."

Just as he said this, Cheng Guosheng pushed the door open with a glass of wine in his hand.

"Master, all the uncles, uncles, and brothers, are you satisfied with today's dishes? Thank you all for coming here today. I would like to offer a toast to you all."

Seeing Cheng Guosheng come in and toast, everyone naturally stood up.

However, Cheng Guosheng quickly asked the masters to sit down first.

"Master, uncle, and master, all of you sit down. I feel embarrassed for you standing like this. I am your junior, and you cannot stand and drink with me."

After everyone sat down, Cheng Guosheng raised his glass and said, "Let's have a drink first. Thank you all for coming."

Everyone raised their glasses and drank the first glass with Cheng Guosheng.

After drinking this cup, Cheng Guosheng continued, "Jubin Garden has finally reopened. This is the thing I wanted to do most in the past few years, and today I finally did it."

Having said that, Cheng Guosheng brought the wine glass to Feng Zhengming.

"Zhengming wants to thank you. Without the sense of oppression you brought to me, I wouldn't be able to grit my teeth and persevere in this foreign land."

Feng Zhengming stood up with a glass of wine in his hand.

"Brother Cheng, you're too polite."

Cheng Guosheng: "Okay, then I won't be polite. Next, I, Jubinyuan, will officially challenge your Huiquanlou." (End of this chapter)