From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

How many steps are involved in opening a high-end restaurant in Shanghai?
In the eyes of outsiders, there are three steps in total.

The first step is to rent a place, the second step is to decorate it, and the third step is to open it.

But when it comes to Feng Zhengming, the steps suddenly become more numerous.

Buying an old house and renovating its interior are actually just the first steps.

Next he needs to find a suitable supplier.

We must ensure that the materials in our restaurant are better than those in other restaurants and hotels in Shanghai.

In this regard, some good ingredients from overseas are easier to obtain.

Because with the help of Kofman, the quality can be guaranteed.

However, some things in the country have become a huge problem.

Take the most common ham for example.

Even if you are not a chef, you probably know where the best ham is in the country.

But in fact, even if you go to the local area, you may not be able to buy the real one.

Take Jinhua ham as an example.

The best quality Jinhua ham is made with black ham.

But first of all, the slaughter cycle of the Liangtouwu pig is very long.

Secondly, due to the lack of protection of pig breeds in recent years, the number of Wu pigs is small.

So in this case, how could the output of authentic Wujinhua ham be high?

Even if you go to Jinhua in person, you may not be able to find authentic ham even if you walk around the whole city.

Especially in Feng Zhengming's day and age.

Although we have entered the millennium, various counterfeit and shoddy products have not only not decreased, but have become more and more prevalent in the domestic market.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming had a real headache just selecting the materials.

After many on-site material selections, we searched through relationships with friends from all walks of life.

Finally, the supply of some domestic materials was solved.

However, this part only solves part of the problem.

There are some more specific materials that Feng Zhengming still needs to continue to search for himself.

Things like old chickens and ducks for making soup also need to be found specifically.

After returning to Shanghai, Feng Zhengming spent a long time searching and making connections, and finally solved most of the food supply problems.

Of course, this is also thanks to the fact that Feng Zhengming has been working hard to promote himself over the years and made his fame big enough.

Only in this way can you rely on your reputation to obtain certain resources that others may not even have access to.

Of course, while Feng Zhengming was looking for top-quality ingredients, he also found a lot of substitutes for his four stores in Shanghai.

This was a disguised way of reducing the costs of its other four stores in Shanghai.

Even Jiang Chengzhe admires Feng Zhengming in this regard.

"Chef, I really admire you. How on earth can you find these good and cheap things?"

Feng Zhengming: “In fact, there are many good things, but the suppliers are mostly family workshops, their businesses are relatively small, and most of the time they can only supply to large merchants.

Can you imagine how those big merchants would exploit them?"

Jiang Chengzhe: "I think I understand. They sell it to us for 10 yuan, but they probably give the small merchants 5 yuan at most."

Feng Zhengming: "You think they are too kind. I can tell you that if they sell it to us for 10 yuan, they may only give 1 yuan, or even less than 1 yuan, to the small farmers who actually plant and raise these crops."

Jiang Chengzhe was immediately surprised: "Isn't this too dark?"

Feng Zhengming: "Don't rush to think that they are wicked. Think about it, if I hadn't gone there myself, would these small farmers have had a chance to sell these things themselves?"

Jiang Chengzhe was stunned, and after thinking carefully, he understood what Feng Zhengming meant.

Although the domestic economy is developing very well now, the market is not completely transparent.

Many farmers simply don't have the channels to sell their products themselves.

The only option is to cooperate with some acquirers.

Then the price is bound to be pushed down to a very low level by the acquirer.

Feng Zhengming knew that, let alone now, even in the future when the Internet is sufficiently developed, most people in the country will use smartphones and will be able to access the Internet at will.

Many farmers still find it difficult to sell their products on their own.

Feng Zhengming now needs to contact the transportation company himself to ship out the ingredients he purchased from farmers.

As a result, Feng Zhengming couldn't help but wonder for a while whether he should start a logistics company?

Fortunately, highways are being built in various places at a rapid pace, and national highways are being gradually widened, making transportation more and more convenient.

Even so, most of Feng Zhengming's cost for purchasing food is still spent on transportation.

"Good things can't come out, but when we need them, we often have to rely on foreign countries. Isn't this a kind of helplessness?"

Jiang Chengzhe also sighed helplessly: "It seems that the domestic infrastructure needs to be built as soon as possible, and these trading channels also need to be opened up."

Feng Zhengming: "It's really not easy. It's not something you can do just by thinking about it."

Hearing this, Jiang Chengzhe had no choice but to admit it.

"It's difficult."

Feng Zhengming: "We'll take our time. Maybe when our restaurant opens, more people will pay attention to those small farmers and understand that many things may not be bad in China, but people just didn't choose the right supplier."

Jiang Chengzhe: "If everyone knows about this and rushes to buy from small farmers, what will happen if they can't supply them?"

Feng Zhengming: "Hahaha, that's definitely not the case. Which store would do the transportation themselves like us?"

Jiang Chengzhe was immediately amused after hearing this: "That's true. If you transport the goods yourself, all the costs will be covered by the transportation fee."

Feng Zhengming: “Cost is not important. The key is that the product must be good.”

Jiang Chengzhe also had to admit that what Feng Zhengming had selected was indeed good.

Many ingredients are much better than what we used in the past.

And even after factoring in shipping costs, the cost isn’t really that much more.

After finding a suitable supplier, Feng Zhengming next needs to recruit service staff.

The service staff of the Old House Restaurant needs to receive more professional training.

It's not about asking them to smile at everyone.

Does it require the service staff to know exactly what is good about each dish?
In this way, when serving the dishes to the guests, the service staff can give careful explanations.

This can also be considered as providing certain emotional value to customers.

Make the guests feel that the meal is worth the money spent.

Especially since the restaurant is located in Shanghai, Feng Zhengming also needs to recruit some local service staff.

After all, sometimes, when Shanghai locals come to the restaurant to dine.

If the waiters can interact and converse with the other party in the local accent, it will increase the local customers' satisfaction with the restaurant.

Similarly, Feng Zhengming not only recruits local people, but also recruits some service personnel from other places.

It is not necessary to have corresponding waiters for accents from all over the country.

It is to be able to provide better services to customers coming to the restaurant based on the different cultural customs of different places.

Jiang Chengzhe once again had to admit that Feng Zhengming was really amazing when he was serious.

He always perfectly implements the standards he sets for himself. Even Feng Zhengming often does better than the standards he sets for others.

Jiang Chengzhe and several young chefs from the Shanghai store, along with Feng Zhengming's preparations, were also full of expectations for the restaurant in the old villa.

Everyone is looking forward to showing off their skills in the restaurant's kitchen.

Although they are as young as Feng Zhengming, they are not as famous as Feng Zhengming.

But we are all young people, so naturally we have a passionate heart.

When it comes to craftsmanship, it is impossible for everyone to easily admit defeat to anyone other than Feng Zhengming.

Especially during this period in Feng Zhengming's Western Restaurant, Jiang Chengzhe and several young chefs including Deng Huaichuan, Wang Hanwen, Huang Yunliang, Li Yao and Han Rui were competing against each other secretly.

Their respective skills have also been improved, especially in terms of mentality, they have developed a desire to compete with their respective masters.

Of course, they were more thinking in their minds, should they really be asked to challenge their respective masters?
I'm afraid they don't have the courage to do that for the time being.

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing brought their daughter with them to discuss the recruitment of service staff.

During the interview, Feng Zhengming even held his daughter in his arms and listened to his wife talking with the applicant.

After all these years, Luo Qing finally had an opportunity to help her husband.

She took the job application very seriously.

Little Feng Nuanyu seemed to know that recruitment was a serious matter, so every time the little girl sat in her father's arms she was very quiet and would even stare at the applicants.

Feng Zhengming would bring his daughter along, partly because he wanted her to see more of the world.

More importantly, with him holding his daughter next to her, the interview atmosphere was less tense.

Sure enough, the presence of my daughter made the young girls who came for the interview less nervous.

The girls could generally give relatively appropriate answers to many of Luo Qing's questions.

Faced with some tricky questions, the girls may not be able to answer, but seeing the cute little girl sitting in her father's arms will make everyone less frustrated.

Luo Qing understood her husband's thoughts very well and knew that he didn't need someone who could get started right away.

The husband needs to be a service staff who has a good image and can follow the rules.

In this way, no matter what kind of guests the restaurant receives in the future, the service staff will be able to handle it well.

Those good people in Shanghai restaurants are not what Feng Zhengming's restaurant needs.

Because the job of being versatile is done by the chef Feng Zhengming and the proprietress Luo Qing.

The waiter's job is to maintain a decent appearance and provide appropriate service to the guests.

In Feng Zhengming's opinion, many times the service staff's excessive talk will only affect the customers' mood for enjoying the food.

Often the less you talk, the less mistakes you make.

After some screening, Luo Qing selected some suitable waitresses.

We will also recruit some waiters and cleaners in the future.

Feng Zhengming and Luo Qing brought their daughter to interview quite a few people.

It can be said that this has really broadened the horizons of little Feng Nuanyu.

After several rounds of interviews and screening, the restaurant service staff were finally confirmed.

Feng Zhengming's Old House Restaurant has finally officially entered the countdown to its opening.

Many people are paying attention to Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

Including some gourmets in Beijing, everyone is looking forward to the opening of Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

At the state banquet held upon the return of the emperor, all the gourmets had witnessed Feng Zhengming’s brilliance.

I am really looking forward to his craftsmanship.

Later, some gourmets came to Shanghai specifically to eat at the Feng Zhengming Western Restaurant on the street.

I was once again surprised by the many unique cooking methods in the store.

Especially those who can integrate various local cuisines and elevate the deliciousness of a dish, which makes gourmets have to be convinced.

Later, I learned that Feng Zhengming bought an old villa and planned to open a high-end restaurant in Shanghai.

Many gourmets are full of anticipation and can't help but wonder what kind of surprise Feng Zhengming will give everyone in such a high-end restaurant?

But in the end, Feng Zhengming spent a lot of time just decorating the old villa after buying it.

Then when everyone was looking forward to it, he actually chose to review the recommended guidelines.

It can be said that for a long time, Feng Zhengming seemed to have disappeared in the country.

This kind of waiting makes many gourmets quite anxious.

Some who can’t wait can only go to Feng Zhengming’s branch on Shanghai Western Restaurant Street again and again to eat.

It can also be regarded as a delicious comfort for everyone.

Wait until the restaurant recommendation guide for Shanghai and Qilu is actually released.

Everyone also went to some restaurants according to the recommended guide.

They also admitted that Feng Zhengming's ratings for these restaurants were very objective.

Every restaurant that can get five stars is a restaurant that truly has some unique skills.

The key is that the chef has solid basic skills and his exquisite craftsmanship can be seen as soon as the dishes are served.

Then when you eat it, you will feel that both the cooking time and seasoning are unique.

This makes Feng Zhengming's recommended guidelines more authoritative.

There are even gourmets who have publicly stated that they will never go wrong if they follow Feng Zhengming's recommended guide.

This also led to a surge in business for the five-star restaurant.

As a result, those restaurants were quite convinced of Feng Zhengming and were even quite grateful to him.

Although their restaurant business was not bad in the past, the recommendations provided by the recommendation guide have helped their business become better, and these are the most tangible benefits.

But gourmets think that now that Feng Zhengming’s recommended guide has been released, he should open the Old House Restaurant as soon as possible.

As a result, Feng Zhengming disappeared again.

So much so that many people began to wonder if Feng Zhengming was scared?

Do you feel that it is not easy for you to run a restaurant in an old villa, so you are now backing out and don’t want to open a high-end restaurant in such an old villa?

Such doubts make some gourmets feel regretful.

There was even a rumor at one point that Feng Zhengming, the national number one scholar, had run out of ideas and no longer had the kind of groundbreaking new dishes he had introduced in the past, so he was unable to open the old villa restaurant.

When these doubts arose, everyone naturally expected Feng Zhengming to come forward and clarify.

But Feng Zhengming never showed up. He just ignored the criticism and never made any defense.

Even Jiang Chengzhe and others admire Feng Zhengming's psychological quality for this point.

"The chef is worthy of being the chef. He didn't say a word when people said that."

"Yeah, he really is the type who just does his own thing and doesn't care what others say about him."

"With such a good attitude, it's no wonder that the chef is the most famous national champion."

“I wish I could have such a good attitude.”

The supplies, staff and some details of the restaurant interior are all ready.

Feng Zhengming finally announced the opening time of the restaurant.

For a moment, many people at home and abroad once again focused their attention on him. (End of this chapter)