From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After creating a good atmosphere at the Weifang branch, three groups of judges began to review the restaurants in Weifang over the next few days.

The restaurant that was the focus of the review was naturally the Weifang Restaurant, where Chef Sun’s apprentice was the head chef.

Feng Zhengming and his wife also took their daughter to a big restaurant for a meal.

The overall experience is above average.

It can also be seen that in order to cope with the review of this recommendation guide, the restaurant has indeed made some self-optimization.

A lot of effort has been put into the service, and the quality control of the dishes is also pretty good.

Just because he is Master Sun’s apprentice, the taste of the restaurant’s dishes is indeed very similar to that of Taifenglou.

Even Feng Zhengming ordered a dish of braised sea cucumber with scallions, and the scallion sauce was almost the same as that of Taifenglou.

Master Sun also obviously noticed this, so after the review, he found his apprentice and gave him some advice.

"Don't just imitate me blindly. You are my apprentice, but you have already graduated. You are now the head chef of the restaurant. You must have your own style and characteristics."

After receiving the instructions from Master Sun, the apprentice naturally took them seriously and said he would make some adjustments and improvements in the future.

Master Sun also reminded: "You must maintain the quality of your service and the quality of your dishes in the future. You performed very well this time and can get four stars, but don't be complacent.

Your uncle Yan's apprentice in Yancheng has received five stars. It is the only restaurant outside of Quancheng and Daocheng that has received five stars so far.

Compared to others, you still have a lot of shortcomings, which requires you to learn and improve yourself and the restaurant in the future."

After hearing this, the apprentice was also a little surprised. He obviously didn't expect that the restaurant in Yancheng could get five stars.

But on second thought, the apprentice asked Master Sun: "Master, the chef of the five-star restaurant in Yancheng is Master Yan's apprentice. Is that Feng Zhengming's senior brother?"

Master Sun nodded: "Yes, he is your junior brother Feng's senior brother."

The disciple suddenly understood: "No wonder, Junior Brother Feng's senior brother must have some preferential treatment for him."

Master Sun suddenly looked serious: "What nonsense are you talking about? Are you questioning Master's judgment?"

After hearing what the master said and realizing that the master was angry, the disciple quickly apologized.

"No, Master. I am not questioning you."

Master Sun waved his hand and said, "Alright, I know you must be unconvinced in your heart. If you are unconvinced, then do better than him and try to keep your four stars and get the last star."

The disciple heard the severity in his master's words and naturally did not dare to question it anymore, and quickly agreed seriously.

Although he agreed, the apprentice couldn't help but ask: "Master, Feng Zhengming is the top scholar in the country, and his Zhengluxing Catering Group has also opened many Fengjia Dry Rice Shop branches in various places in the province.

This time his recommendation guide was successful and gained extremely high recognition.

Wouldn't it mean that his position in Shandong cuisine and in the provincial chef community will be unshakable from now on?"

After hearing this, Master Sun looked at his apprentice.

"If you can become the top winner in the national cooking competition and surpass the others with your cooking skills, you can also learn to do these things from him. You can also become the unshakable peak of Shandong cuisine chefs."

These words left the apprentice speechless.

In fact, most people would feel somewhat dissatisfied with the dominance shown by Feng Zhengming.

But when it comes to craftsmanship, everyone has to admit defeat.

You can say that Feng Zhengming has been too strong in recent years.

You can also say that Feng Zhengming is involved in too many things regarding Shandong cuisine.

You could even say that Feng Zhengming deliberately set a set of standards to suppress other Shandong cuisine chefs.

But there is one thing that no one can deny, that is, Feng Zhengming can accomplish everything because he does have solid skills.

Moreover, many of Feng Zhengming's groundbreaking dishes have indeed become a trend that leads to the further development of Shandong cuisine.

Just like this trip, the master chefs discovered that there are always some dishes created by Feng Zhengming in restaurants in various places.

Those dishes would be regarded as traditional Shandong cuisine by many people, but the old chefs knew very well that those dishes were designed by Feng Zhengming.

Even in some restaurants, the presentation of dishes is copied from Feng Zhengming's dry rice shop branches in various places.

His subtle trend-setting ability is truly admirable.

Finally, Master Sun warned his apprentices: "Put more effort into cooking. It will be difficult for you to surpass Feng Zhengming, but you must be able to keep up with him, otherwise you may not even be able to keep the four stars."

The apprentice was a little surprised: "Master, will I be deducted stars again?"

Master Sun nodded: "Of course you will be deducted stars. Maybe in half a year, Zhengming will arrange a secret visit. If you can't maintain the current evaluation level by then, you will be deducted stars."

"Will it be like this again?" The apprentice was really quite surprised.

Master Sun: "This is to urge you to stick to your craft and improve the quality of the restaurant's service."

After hearing what the master said, the apprentice was silent for a while, but soon agreed.

"Master, rest assured. I will take this seriously and our restaurant will maintain its current quality."

Master Sun is quite satisfied with his apprentice's attitude.

After all, the apprentices are truly willing to preserve their skills and improve the quality of the restaurant.

In this regard, it is definitely better than some restaurants that are unwilling to make any changes.

Before leaving Weifang, Feng Zhengming still held a small summary meeting with everyone.

At the meeting, reviewers from the other two groups raised some points.

"Feng Zhuangyuan, during this trip, we felt that due to the differences in development in different places, the biggest gap between many restaurants is in service. Should we lower the rating standards for service?"

"Yes, the chefs in many restaurants are quite skilled, but their service is not up to par."

"Lowering the service rating standards may make restaurants in various places more motivated."

Feng Zhengming heard this point of view from the other two groups of judges.

He said seriously: "No, if it is a small street restaurant or a street night market food stall, we can not emphasize the service, but if it is placed in the middle of a restaurant, we must take the service into consideration.

It's not that I'm overly demanding of them, it's just that service is what a restaurant should do well.

Otherwise, why would people go to restaurants to eat? Do people hold wedding banquets in restaurants just to have more tables? "

Feng Zhengming spoke very bluntly, but the old masters all agreed with him.

After hearing what Feng Zhengming said, the other two groups of judges thought about it carefully and felt that this was also true.

When reviewing a restaurant, the service standards should not be lowered.

After all, if the service of a restaurant is not as good as that of a small street restaurant, then the restaurant has indeed lost all its advantages.

Feng Zhengming: "The development of different places is indeed different, but the quality of service is not directly linked to the development of different places. Even if the development is not good, as long as there is a will, the service can still be improved.

Therefore, our review and service standards must not be lowered." In fact, Feng Zhengming's idea is to improve the service first, and then gradually increase the quality control requirements.

He believes that as long as restaurants across the province get accustomed to the recommended guideline standards.

In the future, there will be no need for recommended guidelines, and the standards of restaurants across the province will naturally improve.

To promote Shandong cuisine, improving its quality is a must.

Only when the restaurants in Qi and Lu can guarantee the quality, will Shandong cuisine have enough strength to compete with other local cuisines in its subsequent promotion.

Feng Zhengming then took out the draft of the Shanghai recommended restaurant guide that he had received.

"This is a draft of a restaurant recommendation guide for Shanghai. The official version has not been released yet. You can take a look at some of the restaurants in Shanghai."

As he spoke, Feng Zhengming handed the draft out, and it began to circulate among the old masters, the two grandfathers, and then to the other judges.

After reading it, everyone was quite shocked.

Judging from the draft, the standards in Shanghai are obviously higher than those in other places in Qi and Lu.

If we go by Shanghai's standards, many restaurants across Shandong and Qi are probably not qualified to be included in the recommended guide.

After a period of silence, Master Cui was the first to speak.

"It seems that we still have a long way to go. The standard of this recommendation guide in Shanghai is really high for us in Qilu. We have been to most places in the province, and many restaurants are very different."

After Master Cui said this, several other masters all nodded in agreement with serious expressions.

Master Yan: "The gap is quite big. The standards of these restaurants in Shanghai are indeed quite high."

Master Sun: "I thought our standards were high enough before, but it seems they are still low."

Master Xia: "We still need to work hard to catch up in the future."

Master Su, on the other hand, is not that pessimistic.

"That's nothing. Shanghai is a metropolis after all. It has long welcomed a large influx of people from home and abroad. It's natural that the standards there are higher. But in terms of craftsmanship, we are no worse than them."

Master Su's words gave everyone some encouragement.

Feng Zhengming: "Master Su is right. Our Shandong cuisine is indeed not inferior to those restaurants in Shanghai in terms of craftsmanship. So if we really judge it based on craftsmanship, we may not lose to the restaurants in Shanghai."

The old masters all nodded in agreement, and everyone was confident enough in their craftsmanship.

What's more, most of the chefs in the restaurants in Shanghai come from all over the country.

Shanghai's high standards are achieved by gathering the best chefs from all over the world.

So there is really no need to belittle yourself.

Feng Zhengming didn't want to use the Shanghai City Recommendation Guide to attack Qilu.

He hopes to inspire everyone's fighting spirit.

Let the masters realize the gap, so that they can better urge apprentices in various parts of the province to take it seriously.

The old masters also became serious.

Those who had previously raised the question of whether the service review standards could be lowered no longer agree to lower the standards after seeing the draft of the recommended guidelines for Shanghai.

The standards of restaurants in Shanghai are higher. Qilu is the birthplace of Shandong cuisine, which is the mother cuisine of all local cuisines, so naturally they cannot lose in this regard.

At the same time, everyone seemed to understand why Feng Zhengming wanted to develop a recommended guideline in the province.

It seems that he is establishing his authority on Shandong cuisine.

In fact, he is also using his own way to promote some changes in Shandong cuisine so that it can keep up with the development of the times.

After realizing this, the other two groups of judges present suddenly felt the heavy burden on their shoulders.

"Now I finally understand why Feng Zhuangyuan is so strict."

"Yes, Mr. Feng is really urging us to better develop Shandong cuisine."

“I hope that our Shandong cuisine can keep up with the times and not be left behind by the times.”

"Feng Zhuangyuan is worthy of being Feng Zhuangyuan. He is wholeheartedly working for the development and promotion of Shandong cuisine."

"Thank you Mr. Feng for giving us the opportunity to participate in such an event."

Feng Zhengming smiled and looked at everyone: "I also want to thank you all. You have been very hard-working during this period of time, and you have also carefully reviewed each restaurant. You have done a really good job."

Facing Feng Zhuangyuan's thanks, both groups of judges felt a little embarrassed.

They all felt that they were somewhat unworthy of this thanks.

In terms of professionalism, many of them are actually not professional.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming covered all the travel expenses, food and accommodation for this trip.

This made them feel even more that they had not been serious in judging, and that they might really have felt a little sorry for Feng Zhuangyuan.

"Mr. Feng, please don't say that. We are lucky to be chosen by you."

"Yes, after following them out this time, I realized that I have many shortcomings."

“I wanted to review it carefully, but I found that I was not professional enough.”

"I can only judge and score according to my own feelings."

Feng Zhengming: "You are required to rate according to your own feelings. Who do restaurants and hotels serve? They serve not me, my master, my uncle and my uncle, but you and the public.

You represent the public. If you don’t think it’s good, how can you expect your customers to think it’s good?”

Master Cui: "Zhengming is right. The recommendation guide is to recommend the restaurant to customers, and you are the representatives of the customers."

Master Yan: "So we have to make you feel good first before we can recommend the restaurant to other customers."

Feng Zhengming took back the words: "You must remember that your review is not responsible to the restaurant, nor to me, but to the customers.

So you must be serious and express your own dining experience seriously, and rate it according to your intuitive feelings. "

The two groups of judges understood their respective responsibilities through the words of Master Cui, Master Yan and Feng Zhengming.

They are customer representatives, and they judge and score based on their own intuitive feelings.

Customers who see the recommendation guide should know how to choose a restaurant through their intuitive feeling.

Feng Zhengming finally smiled and said, "Okay, everyone, keep working hard for a while. There are still a few cities to come. We need to maintain our current progress and standards and make the recommended guidelines truly good."

This summary meeting allowed the judges to take their respective identities more seriously and put themselves in the right position.

They are all ready, and we are seriously preparing for the remaining city restaurant review. (End of this chapter)