From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Feng Zhengming returned to Shanghai, and in just a few days, he caused quite a stir in the city.

This is unbelievable to many people in Shanghai.

"Our number one scholar can really cause a stir wherever he goes."

"He really has a way. Even though it's his own branch, he can still make people recognize the craftsmanship of his branch."

"It's obvious that the top scholar's subordinates are all talented, okay?"

"Really? He's such an excellent young chef. I'm willing to work with him."

"Is it that Feng Zhuangyuan's salary is high?"

"The salary is high? How high can it be? Can it be higher than your Hemoptysis Restaurant?"

"That's right. There should be a limit to high wages. It's impossible for you to not make any money yourself and pay the young chefs in the kitchen, right?"

"It's hard to say. Nothing our number one scholar does is surprising."

"Yes, it's really not surprising."

Feng Zhengming only promoted the store managers and chefs in charge of each store in his own store.

But the news quickly spread in Shanghai.

Thereby attracting more people to eat in his restaurant.

He was even rude and invited newspapers and TV stations to interview and publicize the event.

His strong publicity made it possible for almost everyone in Shanghai, both locals and outsiders, to know about his four stores in Shanghai.

Especially in the TV interview, Feng Zhengming very frankly introduced his current position as store manager and chef in the store.

"They are all among the top 100 chefs of Shandong cuisine. Although they are still young, I believe that in the future they will work with me to make Shandong cuisine better and accepted by more people."

At the same time in the interview, Feng Zhengming also directly announced the news of recruiting new apprentices.

“We do plan to recruit new apprentices for several stores, but our requirements for apprentices are relatively high, and our stores are still quite busy.

Especially during peak hours of lunch and dinner, there will be a lot of customers in the store and it will be very busy.

Of course, since they are willing to be apprentices in our store, we will definitely teach them very practical techniques seriously.

My several stores will also provide some job recommendations for them in the future.

Don’t worry about the income that everyone is concerned about. I can guarantee that the salary we pay to apprentices is absolutely the highest.”

During the interview, Feng Zhengming answered various sensitive questions without hesitation.

He also succeeded in making many people have a very good impression of him.

Many people think that Feng Zhengming is a national top scholar who is truly skilled and upright.

He is a good chef who can still stick to the kitchen even after achieving great success.

After being interviewed and reported by TV stations and newspapers.

Naturally, the reputation of Feng Zhengming’s four stores will be further enhanced.

His methods made chefs in Shanghai and all over the country suddenly realize the importance of publicity.

So some restaurants and hotels began to follow suit.

When Feng Zhengming once again became famous in Shanghai.

The high-end restaurant that Kong Xingli has invested in and is preparing to build in Shanghai is also being renovated in full swing.

During the renovation, Kong Xingli also learned that Feng Zhengming was becoming famous in Shanghai.

After reading various reports, Kong Xingli couldn't help but sigh.

“Feng Zhengming is really amazing, he has gained absolute fame and status in Quancheng and the province.

But after he came to Shanghai, he was able to continue to grow his fame and status, and even raised the status of the young chefs in his several restaurants. "

The disciples who came to Shanghai with Kong Xingli looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard him say this.

Among them, Kong Xingli's eldest disciple Duan Jinsheng asked.

"Master, why do I feel that your competition has made Feng Zhengming even more famous? And his subordinates Zhu Xu and others have also benefited from it and become more famous."

Kong Xingli looked at Duan Jinsheng: "Did you call Feng Zhengming? You have no manners at all."

Duan Jinsheng was a little surprised. He didn't expect his master to say that about him.

Kong Xingli then told his disciples: "From now on, you all have to call me uncle. We can compete with them, but we are all from Qi and Lu, and we all cook Shandong cuisine, so we can't undermine each other."

Hearing this, the disciples nodded to show that they understood.

Duan Jinsheng asked again: "Master, when our restaurant opens, should we invite Uncle Feng?"

Kong Xingli smiled and nodded: "Of course I will invite him. I will go and invite him personally when the time comes. Your Uncle Feng came to Shanghai early. Didn't you see that he is very famous in Shanghai?

If your Uncle Feng comes to help promote our new restaurant, it will be of great help."

The disciples nodded again, all feeling that their master's idea was correct.

This is also the difference between Kong Xingli and Cheng Guosheng.

Kong Xingli should be more tactful in dealing with people.

He used to be the chef at Jufengde, whether it was Jubinyuan or Taifenglou, or the later rising Feng Zhengming, or Huiquanlou which can now compete with Jufengde.

He is always quite polite and maintains good relations with every family.

This time when he came to Shanghai, Kong Xingli knew how to put himself in the right position.

He also did a lot of research before coming here.

I know that competition in Shanghai will be very fierce.

Because Shanghai not only has local dishes, but also gathers cuisines from all over the world.

It can be said that everyone is in competition with each other.

Shandong cuisine is actually at a disadvantage in this competition.

In terms of commerciality, Shandong cuisine is obviously inferior to Cantonese cuisine.

When it comes to cultural attributes, it is not as good as Huaiyang cuisine.

If you want to talk about being down-to-earth, it's not as good as the Jianghu dishes in Sichuan cuisine.

However, Feng Zhengming has walked out a path of his own.

That is to stick to the techniques of Shandong cuisine, but to incorporate some characteristics of other cuisines, and even Western cuisine, in terms of ingredients and seasoning.

In this way, Feng Zhengming can be said to have successfully created his own style of Shandong cuisine in Shanghai.

In addition, Feng Zhengming has some very clever marketing techniques.

Let Shandong cuisine carve out a niche for itself in Shanghai.

Kong Xingli understood that this world was created by Feng Zhengming.

Therefore, if he wanted to gain a foothold in Shanghai with high-end Shandong cuisine, he had to establish a good relationship with Feng Zhengming, and most importantly, he had to pay homage to Feng Zhengming.

With Feng Zhengming's help in promotion and endorsement, Kong Xingli believes that his high-end Shandong cuisine restaurant will run more smoothly.

That's why Kong Xingli scolded his eldest disciple Duan Jinsheng.

All disciples are required to respect their uncle Feng Zhengming.

Kong Xingli knew that if Shandong cuisine was so easy to sell in Shanghai, Cheng Guosheng would not have returned to Quancheng with his investment.

After teaching his disciples a lesson, Kong Xingli asked Duan Jinsheng to stay behind with his fellow apprentices.

"You stay in the store and pay attention to the decoration. Don't let them cut corners. I will visit your Uncle Feng today." Duan Jinsheng and his fellow apprentices agreed immediately.

After watching Kong Xingli leave, Duan Jinsheng and his fellow apprentices gathered together to discuss the matter.

"Uncle Feng is indeed amazing. It can be seen that Master admires him very much."

"Of course he is amazing. He promoted Shandong cuisine through a competition, but he himself did not participate in the competition, but he gained a higher reputation."

"There's nothing I can do about it. To be honest, Master is no match for the dishes he made in the competition."

Duan Jinsheng felt a little uncomfortable after hearing what his fellow disciples said.

After all, he had the opportunity to work under Feng Zhengming like Zhu Xu.

But even though it was unpleasant, Duan Jinsheng no longer thought about it now that he had followed his master to Shanghai.

Kong Xingli also bought some gifts and even bought two bottles of good wine from a state-owned shopping mall in Shanghai.

Arrive at the door of Feng Zhengming's store on Western Restaurant Street.

Kong Xingli chose to come at this time because it was not meal time and there were no customers in the store.

Feng Zhengming was preparing ingredients in the kitchen when he heard someone tell him that Kong Xingli was here to visit.

He cleaned up and asked Xia Hui to continue working with the others.

Walking out from the kitchen, Feng Zhengming saw Kong Xingli standing there somewhat awkwardly.

"Brother Kong, why are you here?"

Kong Xingli smiled and replied, "I came to visit our number one scholar. I am here to pay my respects to the mountain in advance. I will be running a restaurant in Shanghai later, right?"

Feng Zhengming also laughed: "Brother, your restaurant has been renovated? Where is it?"

Kong Xingli: "It hasn't been renovated yet, and the place is a bit far from your store."

Feng Zhengming quickly asked Kong Xingli to sit down and asked someone to pour tea for him.

Seeing what Kong Xingli brought, Feng Zhengming smiled and declined.

"Brother, it's my honor that you can come to visit me. Why are you bringing something? I can't accept it."

Kong Xingli smiled and said, "These things are my gifts to you for the success of your Shanghai store. Shouldn't you accept them? Don't let me down."

After hearing what Kong Xingli said, Feng Zhengming found it difficult to refuse.

When the tea was served, Feng Zhengming placed it respectfully in front of Kong Xingli.

"Brother, have some tea."

Kong Xingli took the tea with both hands and placed it in front of him.

Then the two of them talked about Kong Xingli's restaurant in Shanghai.

After chatting for a few sentences, Feng Zhengming discovered the differences between Kong Xingli and Cheng Guosheng.

Whenever Cheng Guosheng faced him, he always wanted to prove that he was better than him.

This time, Kong Xingli came here with a humble attitude, specifically to ask Feng Zhengming for advice.

"Zhengming, you have been in Shanghai for a long time, and your restaurant is indeed famous. I came here today to ask you, what do you think should be done with my restaurant?"

Feng Zhengming was delighted to see that Kong Xingli was so sincere, and that he came to ask for advice with gifts.

Naturally, he also had to give Kong Xingli some useful advice.

"Brother, does your restaurant only serve Shandong cuisine? Or is it mainly Shandong cuisine? Also, is it mid-range? Or high-end?"

Kong Xingli was also very frank with Feng Zhengming.

“High-end, mainly Shandong cuisine.”

Feng Zhengming nodded: "If it is high-end, then it must have some high-quality raw materials from overseas. Has Senior Brother found a good supply channel for this?"

Kong Xingli: "We have already contacted the boss who asked me to come to Shanghai, so he should be able to guarantee it."

Feng Zhengming: "This is good. It saves me from having to contact them myself, which is quite troublesome."

Feng Zhengming then gave some of his own suggestions.

"For restaurants that mainly serve high-end Shandong cuisine, the design of the dishes may need to be slightly more southern, and the taste may also need to be slightly lighter. Of course, the key is the presentation of the dish, which must reflect that sense of luxury."

Kong Xingli nodded: "Yes, the design on the plate is indeed very important."

Feng Zhengming: "You can also learn from some Western food designs. Of course, your restaurant needs to provide guests with knives and forks, not just chopsticks."

Kong Xingli asked: "Does your store have knives and forks?"

Feng Zhengming: "Yes, there are in my store, because my store receives many foreigners, and they really don't know how to use chopsticks."

Kong Xingli nodded and took note of this.

Feng Zhengming also reminded Kong Xingli that when choosing some tableware, he should try to ensure that the overall size is uniform.

"This aspect is also very important. If the tableware is not regular, it will lose its high-end feel. All the tableware in front of the customer must be of the same size."

After talking about the details of the restaurant's layout, Feng Zhengming also gave suggestions on some dishes.

"We definitely have to have scallion-fried sea cucumber, which is one of the signature dishes of our Shandong cuisine. I won't give you any suggestions on the scallion sauce, after all, that is your specialty, senior brother."

Feng Zhengming did give some suggestions on the serving and presentation of the scallion-fried sea cucumber.

"If you choose large sea cucumber, you should place it according to the position. When arranging the dish, the scallions and sea cucumber must be beautiful. The scallion sauce should be served, but not too much. It can be served when the customer needs it. Rice does not have to be served directly."

Kong Xingli was a little surprised when he heard this: "Wouldn't it be better if we gave all of these together?"

Feng Zhengming shook his head: "If it is my store, then I will definitely give it to you, but if it is your high-end restaurant, I definitely cannot give it directly, because high-end restaurants have to provide services to customers.

So don’t be afraid of trouble. If customers have needs, just provide corresponding services according to their needs.”

Kong Xingli really had a new respect for Feng Zhengming.

Although Feng Zhengming does not run a high-end restaurant, what he said is indeed very professional.

After listening to Feng Zhengming's various suggestions, Kong Xingli felt that his trip was not in vain.

There were many things he hadn't thought of, and Feng Zhengming almost always pointed them out.

After listening to Feng Zhengming's various suggestions, Kong Xingli felt that he could only be a student.

Because Feng Zhengming is indeed very experienced in running restaurants.

Finally, when it comes to publicity, Kong Xingli's idea is to learn from Feng Zhengming's way of publicity.

But Feng Zhengming said that his high-end restaurant cannot learn to promote itself.

“My promotional method is to take the mass route and try to attract mass customers to eat in my restaurant.

But you are going to open a high-end restaurant. People usually don’t go to those restaurants. If you advertise in my way, it will only lower the high-end feeling of your restaurant.”

When Kong Xingli heard this, he felt that this was indeed the truth.

He quickly asked: "Then how should I promote it?"

Feng Zhengming gave his suggestions with a smile.

“If you go the boutique route, you need to maintain your sense of luxury, attract some wealthy people to experience it, and then let those people promote it in their circles.

The most important thing is that you have to give those people the impression that it is prestigious to treat them to a meal at your restaurant."

Kong Xingli seemed to understand, but felt that he did not fully understand.

Feng Zhengming concluded by simply saying: "It is to satisfy the vanity of the customers." (End of this chapter)