From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

In order not to put too much pressure on Xia Mingye, Feng Zhengming did not stay in the store.

He unconditionally believes in Xia Mingye's ability.

However, Feng Zhengming still removed the Jining branch from this year's recommended street shop guide.

It's a way to show everyone that you are fair and just.

At the same time, it also gives Xia Mingye a chance to prove himself.

After arranging the Jining branch, Feng Zhengming, his wife Luo Qing and their daughter spent a few days in Jining.

Waiting for the evaluation results of the recommended guidelines review group on major restaurants in Jining.

According to the final review results, one restaurant in JN city received points to be included in the recommended guide.

Xia's Shili Restaurant in Qufu actually managed to get five stars in the rating.

While Master Xia felt gratified by this, he also couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Master Xia was worried that maybe because of his relationship, the judges gave preferential treatment to Shili Restaurant?

When Feng Zhengming learned of Master Xia's concerns, he took the initiative to talk to Master Xia.

"Master Xia, you are really worrying too much. Think about it, if it were you, would you give Huiquanlou any special consideration when scoring because of me?"

Master Xia: "This is different. This is different. Your Huiquanlou is indeed doing very well in all aspects. It is a benchmark."

Feng Zhengming: "You are wrong to say that. Huiquanlou is not as good as Jubinyuan in terms of service, isn't it?"

These words made Master Xia fall into silence.

Feng Zhengming then pointed out some other problems with Huiquanlou.

"Also, Huiquanlou is not as good as Jufengde and Taifenglou in some traditional Shandong dishes. These are obvious problems."

Master Xia: "You said this on purpose to comfort me."

Feng Zhengming: "This is not to comfort you, this is the truth."

Then Feng Zhengming pointed out some problems with Shili Restaurant.

"Just like the Xia family's Shili Restaurant, there are also some problems. For example, the service is not as good as that of Jubinyuan, and the traditional Shandong cuisine cooking level is also somewhat behind Jufengde and Taifenglou.

Another point is that Shili Restaurant has some minor flaws in quality control.”

After pointing out the problem, Feng Zhengming expressed his attitude very seriously.

"But as the saying goes, flaws do not outweigh merits. Shili Restaurant has its own originality in Confucius Mansion cuisine. It is not bound by the complicated forms of the past, but uses more beautiful cooking to show the charm of Confucius Mansion cuisine.

This is what Shili Restaurant does very well, coupled with the dedication of the kitchen staff at Shili Restaurant to the Confucius Mansion.

So Shili Restaurant is better than most restaurants and should get five stars.”

After some persuasion from Feng Zhengming, Master Xia finally accepted the scoring results.

"Zhengming, if there is anything wrong with Shili Restaurant in the future, you must not show mercy for my sake."

Feng Zhengming: "Okay, I promise you."

The review in Jining was over, and Feng Zhengming and his team did not continue heading south.

The review team first went north to Liaocheng, and then went south to Heze.

Then head east, passing through Zaozhuang, Linyi and Rizhao.

The journey was relatively smooth.

The results of the review did not completely disappoint the masters.

There are still one or two restaurants in every city that meet the recommended guide standards.

But according to the ratings, it can only be three stars or two stars.

This aspect did not surprise the old masters much.

"To be honest, Zhengming has relaxed the standards. If they really strictly follow the standards of Quancheng, it may be difficult for restaurants in various places to be included in the recommended guide."

Master Cui was quite outspoken and pointed out some problems in restaurants in various places.

Master Yan: "It is because we did not pay enough attention in the past, which led to the restaurants in various places being operated too casually."

Master Sun: "In the past, there were people in charge, but now they are all contracted out, or run by private owners. No one is in charge of them, so they start to run wild."

Master Su still has a hot temper.

"Zhengming is soft-hearted. If you ask me, it would be better not to let them be included in the recommended guide. See if they are embarrassed. This way, they can correct themselves."

When Feng Zhengming heard what Master Su said, he couldn't help but smile and speak.

"Uncle Su, it's better to give them some face in this matter."

Grandfather Feng Zonghe also agreed.

"Yes, give them some face and let them correct their mistakes."

Master Su: "I am afraid that this time, the recommended guidelines will make them feel that they are good enough and they don't know how to improve themselves."

Master Su's concerns are not groundless.

From the performance of several restaurant owners that were included in the recommended guide this time, it is not difficult to see their little thoughts.

It seems that they think that being included in the recommendation guide of Feng Zhengming, the top scholar, is a good opportunity to help increase the popularity of their restaurant, even if it only gets three or two stars.

Grandpa Situ laughed and said, "I'm afraid that those restaurants will use this as an excuse to raise their prices."

This statement immediately won unanimous approval from the judges on the bus.

Master Cui: "Zhengming, you really have to be careful about this. If those restaurants raise their prices, their service and quality control will go down, which will ruin your reputation."

Master Su: "When the time comes, just delete them from the recommended guide."

Master Xia: "It's not that simple for Lao Su. After being included in the recommended guide, their reputation has already been established. Even if it is deleted later, it will still affect the credibility of Zhengming's recommended guide."

After hearing what Master Xia said, the masters and judges on the bus became a little worried.

Feng Zhengming smiled and comforted everyone.

“Don’t worry, although they can all be included in the recommended guidelines now, the release of the recommended guidelines is scheduled for the end of the year, so there are still a few months in between.

During this period, I will also send some reviewers to conduct unannounced inspections. If there are any variables, I will not allow them to be included in the recommended guidelines. "

Feng Zhengming's arrangement has indeed put an end to the problem of some restaurants taking the opportunity to raise prices and reduce service and quality control after the evaluation.

However, the two grandfathers and masters were still a little worried.

Grandpa: "It's really a thankless job for you to do this."

Grandpa Situ nodded: "Yes, it has a significant impact on your reputation."

Master Cui: "It's still not enough to constrain them."

Master Sun: "Yes, we don't have any binding force."

Master Xia: "We need to slowly change their concepts and let them know how to run a good restaurant."

“Looking back now, it was right for Zhengming not to make a restaurant recommendation guide in the beginning.” Master Yan gave his own judgment.

"Every restaurant has problems to some extent, unlike small restaurants and snack bars, which simply pursue better business and will spare no effort to make their products better."

After hearing what Master Yan said, everyone felt a little regretful at that moment.

I feel like Feng Zhengming shouldn't be asked to make this restaurant recommendation guide.

Feng Zhengming guessed what the masters were thinking, and he smiled and expressed some of his own ideas.

"Making this restaurant recommendation guide at least puts pressure on restaurants in various places, allowing them to run their own restaurants well, improve their services, and better control the quality of their dishes.

This is the effect that a recommendation guide should achieve, so I think there is nothing wrong with making this recommendation guide. "Grandpa Situ: "Zhengming still has a big enough vision."

This statement was unanimously agreed by the veterans on the bus.

The judges from the other two groups also felt that Feng Zhengming was indeed a man of great vision.

He doesn't just think about making his dishes well.

It's not just to make my own store do well.

He is really working hard to inherit and develop Shandong cuisine, and more importantly, to promote it.

Doing these things did not help his own store much.

It may even affect his ability to run his own store because he needs to do more work on recommendation guides.

Just like the situation he faced in the Jining branch.

This is because Feng Zhengming is unable to take good care of his branches.

But even so, Feng Zhengming still has to work hard to do it.

Just to make Shandong cuisine develop better.

But Feng Zhengming's intention cannot be understood by everyone for the time being.

Some restaurant owners now use his recommendation guide as a channel to help them attract customers.

Perhaps in the future they will complain that Feng Zhengming was too harsh in his evaluation of them.

In short, in the eyes of those who have no ambition, what Feng Zhengming did cannot be used by them, and he is deliberately finding fault and harming them.

Feng Zhengming had already thought of these possibilities, but he still insisted on doing so.

In his opinion, as long as the service of restaurants in various parts of Qilu can be improved and the chefs in restaurants can be urged to cook well.

Then it doesn't matter if he suffers some criticism behind his back.

In front of the masters, Feng Zhengming still acted as if he didn't care.

"It doesn't matter. I don't ask them to remember my kindness in the future. As long as more people can recognize the beauty of Shandong cuisine, it will be enough. It means that I am quite competent as the top scholar."

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

Master Cui: "I am afraid that all the famous Shandong cuisine restaurants in Qilu will become your property."

Everyone was stunned at first, then several old masters and the two grandfathers understood and started laughing.

Grandpa Situ: "That's not bad, at least Zhengming has preserved the heritage of Shandong cuisine."

Master Su: "Yes, Zhengming has preserved our heritage. Rather than letting Jufengde's reputation be ruined in the future, I would rather let Zhengming acquire Jufengde."

Master Sun also expressed his opinion: "That's right. If the chef of Taifenglou is not good enough in the future, you will buy Taifenglou as well."

Feng Zhengming was dumbfounded.

"No, my fellow masters, you think too highly of me. How can I be so powerful as to buy out all the restaurants in the province?"

Without waiting for the masters to speak, Feng Zhengming continued, "Besides, if I were to acquire Jufengde and Taifenglou, how much would it cost? I really can't afford that much money."

As a result, after Feng Zhengming said this, Master Su said.

"Don't be afraid, I might give it to you for free when the time comes."

This made everyone in the car laugh.

Everyone wondered what Master Su meant by "free gift"?
This obviously means that Jufengde's reputation has been damaged and it can only be restored by Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming: "I still hope that it won't come to that. We should also allow a hundred schools of thought to contend with each other in Shandong cuisine."

Hearing this, the old masters couldn't help but sigh again at Feng Zhengming's vision.

The group took a bus to their next stop, the island city.

Arriving at the island city, Gao Fengyi and Gu Zhicheng both came to greet everyone.

Now Gu Zhicheng’s status in the island city’s culinary industry can be said to be second only to his master Gao Fengyi.

Among Feng Zhengming's branches in the province, there are three stores that were expanded in advance.

Apart from the one in Taicheng, there is also the one in Daocheng that is managed by Gu Zhicheng.

Moreover, the restaurant that Gu Zhicheng was in charge of not only expanded its storefront, but was also completely transformed into a two-story restaurant.

Just like Feng Zhengming’s old shop in Quancheng.

This branch of Fengjia Dry Rice Shop in Zhengluxing, Daocheng, also has private rooms upstairs.

The difference between this and a restaurant is that the store does not accept wedding banquets.

However, Gu Zhicheng was indeed asked by a customer if it was possible to hold a wedding banquet in the branch he managed?
Gu Zhicheng directly refused this.

The main reason for the refusal was that Gu Zhicheng felt that hosting a wedding banquet was too troublesome.

After all, this branch in the island city is the most profitable of all Feng Zhengming’s branches in the province.

At one point, its revenue was even higher than that of the old shop in Quancheng.

So for Gu Zhicheng, why did he have to go through all the trouble of attending a wedding banquet?

At that time, due to preparations for the wedding banquet, the store will not be able to receive other customers.

It is not certain how much money can be made from a wedding banquet.

When Gu Zhicheng met Feng Zhengming, he confessed the matter to Feng Zhengming.

After hearing this, Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "That's right, Zhicheng, if you really want to run a restaurant, I can invest in you and help you open another restaurant in the island city. How about that?"

Gu Zhicheng shook his head without hesitation: "No, no, I don't want to work as a chef in a restaurant."

Gao Fengyi next to him looked at his disciple with a strange expression.

"Why don't you want to run a restaurant?"

When faced with his master's question, Gu Zhicheng hesitated for a moment but still answered directly.

"Master, I think it's too hard for you to run a restaurant. I'm already busy running the branch here as chef. If I run another restaurant, I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. If you go to work in a restaurant, I will arrange for someone else to take over your management of this branch."

Gu Zhicheng looked nervous: "Chef, you are not going to fire me too?"

It seems that the news that Feng Zhengming fired everyone in the Jining branch has spread.

It is obvious that Gu Zhicheng already knew about the Jining branch.

Seeing his frightened face, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but smile and patted him gently.

"How is that possible? I told you I would help you open a restaurant. Then you will be the head chef of the restaurant in Island City."

Gao Fengyi quickly reminded his apprentice: "Hurry up and thank Uncle Feng."

In the end, Gu Zhicheng still firmly refused.

"Uncle Master, I really don't want to be the head chef of a restaurant. I think it's good for me to continue working in the branch."

Gao Fengyi couldn't help but frowned: "Can't you be a little more motivated?"

Gu Zhicheng still insisted: "Master, it's not that I don't have ambition. It's because I run this branch well that I am also a top chef and the head chef of the branch."

Feng Zhengming stopped Gao Fengyi from getting angry: "Brother Gao, since Zhicheng is willing to work in the branch store, you should respect his own ideas."

After hearing Feng Zhengming speak, Gao Fengyi didn't know what to say anymore. (End of this chapter)