Siheyuan: Starting as a Chef Apprentice

When learning the Chinese cuisine cooking techniques, Pierre was fully focused. He followed the chef step by step to learn techniques such as cutting vegetables, side dishes, seasoning, and controlling the heat.

The chef demonstrated how to cut even and delicate shredded meat while saying, "Chinese-style cutting requires skill with the knife. It's not just about chopping the ingredients. Different dishes have requirements for the shape and size of the ingredients. For example, the shredded meat needs to be cut into even thickness so that it can be heated evenly during frying and have a consistent taste. Pierre, you try it."

Pierre took the kitchen knife and started cutting the meat very seriously, although he was a little unfamiliar with it. Although his performance was not ideal at the beginning, he gradually mastered some tricks under the patient guidance of the chef, and the shredded meat he cut became more and more presentable.

At the same time, training on service standards is also being carried out simultaneously on the other side.

Qin Huairu, head of the service department, stood in a corner of the restaurant, simulating various dining scenes and demonstrating the correct service procedures and etiquette to the waiters.

Qin Huairu, the head of the service department, said to Lucy, "Lucy, cooperate with me. Let's simulate the scene after the customer takes a seat."

Lucy hurried to the simulated dining table and sat down. Qin Huairu, the head of the service department, walked forward with a smile, bent down slightly, handed the menu to Lucy with both hands, and said, "Hello, welcome to Wang's All-in-One Restaurant. This is our menu. Today's special dishes are... You can take a look first. If you have any needs or questions, feel free to ask me."

After the demonstration, Qin Huairu, the head of the service department, said to everyone: "As you can see, the action of handing over the menu should be standardized and natural. At the same time, you should keep smiling and communicate with the customers through eye contact, so that the customers can feel our enthusiasm and respect. Next, everyone should practice with each other in pairs, and I will check and guide them one by one."

The waiters began to practice one after another, and the hall was filled with the sounds of communication and instructions.

Wang Jianye personally took part in the training on the integration of Chinese and French catering cultures. He demonstrated some successful catering cases at home and abroad, analyzed how different cultural elements were cleverly integrated together, and allowed employees to draw inspiration from them.

Wang Jianye took a booklet with many case pictures, turned to one of the pages, pointed to the picture of the dishes of a Chinese-French fusion restaurant and said:

"Look at this restaurant. They apply French gratin techniques to Chinese seafood dishes. While keeping the seafood fresh and tender, they also give it a golden and crispy crust. The plating also uses Chinese symmetrical aesthetics.
With some decorative elements with Chinese characteristics, the overall look is both novel and harmonious, attracting many customers. We must also learn to find a fusion method suitable for our hotel from these cases and give full play to the advantages of Chinese and French catering culture. "

While looking at the pictures, the employees listened carefully to Wang Jianye's explanation and exchanged their ideas and insights from time to time.

Just as everyone was fully engaged in training, a potential business war crisis was quietly approaching.

It turned out that after learning the news that Wang's Full System Restaurant was about to open, several restaurants in the surrounding area that were originally in competition with it began to feel threatened, especially an old restaurant specializing in traditional French cuisine and an emerging restaurant serving Asian fusion cuisine. They realized that the unique Chinese-French fusion style of Wang's Full System Restaurant might attract many of their original customers, so they secretly discussed countermeasures.

The owner of a long-established French restaurant called a meeting with his staff, frowned, and said in a serious tone: "The Wang's All-inclusive Restaurant from China is about to open. I heard that they have created a Sino-French fusion, combining Chinese dishes with French elements. This will definitely attract a lot of young people and those who like to try new things. We can't just sit there and do nothing. We have to find a way to retain our customers and try to snatch the customers who might have gone to their restaurant."

A senior chef responded: "Boss, I think we can launch some new special dishes to emphasize the purity and classicism of our traditional French cuisine, highlight our cultural heritage, and let customers know what real French cuisine is like. We can't be confused by those fusion things."

The boss listened, nodded, and said, "Well, this is a solution, but dishes alone are not enough. We also need to work hard on service and marketing. The service should be more thoughtful and meticulous, so that customers can feel our professionalism and dedication as a long-established restaurant. In terms of marketing, we should increase advertising efforts and post more posters in surrounding communities and office buildings to promote our new dishes and promotions."

The new Asian fusion restaurant was also busy. The owner looked at the information he had collected about all Wang's restaurants and snorted disdainfully, saying, "Humph, it's just a fusion of Chinese and French. We have been doing Asian fusion for a long time. What new tricks can they come up with? But we can't underestimate the enemy. We can go a step further in the creativity of the dishes and incorporate some local French specialty ingredients into our existing Asian dishes to create a more unique taste. We can also offer some discounts on the price to attract more customers."

After hearing this, the chefs in the restaurant nodded and began to develop new dishes, preparing for a fierce battle for customers when all Wang's restaurants opened.

Facing such potential competitive pressure, Wang Jianye and his team are still busy with training, but they have also noticed it. Wang Jianye knows that in the fiercely competitive catering market, only by constantly improving their own strength and highlighting their characteristics can they remain invincible.

During a training break, Wang Jianye called a meeting of core team members and said solemnly but firmly: "Everyone knows that our competitors have already started to take action before we even opened our business.

We cannot take it lightly. We must speed up the training process so that our employees can master various skills as quickly as possible. At the same time, we must strive for excellence in opening preparations and fully demonstrate our advantages.

The chef team should continue to develop new Chinese-French fusion dishes to create unique flavors; the service team should keep the service standards in mind and provide a first-class service experience;

The marketing team should also work hard to formulate a publicity strategy to publicize the characteristics and highlights of our hotel so that more people can know us and choose us. Let's work together, we will definitely gain a firm foothold in Paris!"

The core team members nodded one after another, their eyes revealing firm determination and high morale, and then they returned to their posts and continued to devote themselves to their intense work.

……

Finally, amid everyone’s eager anticipation, all Wang’s hotels opened grandly in Paris.

That day, the sun shone on the streets of the old district of Paris, adding a different kind of brilliance to this city full of stories. The entrance of Wang's All-inclusive Hotel was decorated in a particularly festive way, with colorful flowers on both sides and rich floral fragrance filling the air, as if enthusiastically announcing its arrival to the city.

The hotel also specially invited a famous local band to perform to liven up the atmosphere.

The musicians, dressed in neat costumes and holding their instruments, stood at the side of the hotel entrance and played cheerful and rhythmic music. The melodious melody floated in the streets and alleys, attracting many passers-by to stop and watch.

Some of them stopped and looked at the unique exterior decoration of the restaurant with curiosity, and speculated what the scene inside would be like; some were infected by the lively atmosphere, with happy smiles on their faces, and swayed their bodies gently to the rhythm of the music. With the sound of firecrackers, the door of the restaurant slowly opened, and the waiters who had been waiting in the store stood neatly in two rows, with warm smiles on their faces, welcoming every customer who stepped into the store.

The decoration style of the store fully demonstrates the beauty of the fusion of Chinese and French styles. The Chinese screen partitions and the French retro wallpaper complement each other. The Chinese palace lanterns cast soft light, reflecting on the dining table with exquisite tableware, creating an elegant and romantic dining environment.

However, the initial operations were not as smooth as expected.

Although the restaurant's unique decoration style is like a strong magnet, attracting many passers-by to walk into the store to check it out, when customers actually sit down to taste Chinese dishes, problems gradually emerge - customers' acceptance of Chinese dishes is still quite limited.

At lunch time, more and more customers came into the store. The restaurant was filled with the aroma of food and the sound of people chatting, and it seemed lively and noisy.

In a corner of the restaurant, there was a table of French customers. They were chatting and laughing while waiting for their dishes to be served. Their eyes were full of anticipation, wanting to fully appreciate the delicious flavors of the food from faraway China.

After a while, the waiters brought out the carefully prepared Chinese dishes one after another, arranged them neatly, and then stepped aside with a smile.

The customers at this table looked at the temptingly colorful and beautifully presented dishes in front of them, and first uttered a few words of praise. Then they picked up their cutlery and began to taste the food.

But not long after, one of the customers frowned. He put down the cutlery in his hand, with a look of doubt and dissatisfaction on his face, and said to Lucy, the waiter in charge of this table:

"The seasoning in this dish tastes so strange, we are not used to it, and the texture of this ingredient is very different from what we usually eat."

As the customer spoke, he wrinkled his nose slightly, as if he was still savoring the smell that he was not used to.

Lucy hurried forward, still maintaining a polite and enthusiastic smile on her face, slightly bent down, and patiently explained in fluent French:

"Sir, this is our Chinese specialty dish. It uses traditional Chinese seasonings. You may not be used to it at first, but this is the unique charm of Chinese cuisine.

You can try taking a few more sips to experience its rich layers.”

As Lucy spoke, she pointed at the dish with her finger, her eyes revealing sincere expectation, hoping that customers would give this dish another chance.

The customer raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes full of doubt, but out of politeness, he tasted it again half-believingly, then shook his head gently, shrugged helplessly, and said:
"I'm sorry, I still can't accept this taste. It feels too strange and too different from the taste of our French food."

Several other customers nodded in agreement, and one of the ladies continued:

"Yes, although this dish looks beautiful, the taste is really hard to get used to. We may still prefer the taste of the French cuisine we are familiar with."

Lucy felt a little embarrassed when she heard this, but she still tried to maintain a smile and said:
"I understand your feelings, ma'am. Maybe the taste of Chinese food does require some adaptation for everyone.

But we have many other dishes in our restaurant, maybe there will be some that are more suitable for your taste, how about I recommend a few to you?"

The customers at this table looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and politely declined Lucy's suggestion. They said, "Forget it, let's leave it at that for today. Thank you for your service." After that, they paid the bill and left the restaurant.

Such situations were not uncommon in the first few days of opening. Many customers were not satisfied with their dining experience because they were not used to the taste of Chinese food. This made Wang Jianye, who was standing aside and observing all this, very anxious.

He knew very well that if this problem could not be solved as soon as possible and customers could not accept and love Chinese cuisine, the restaurant's operation would face huge difficulties.

That evening, after the restaurant closed, Wang Jianye quickly convened a meeting of the kitchen team to discuss countermeasures.

After finishing their work, the chefs came to the meeting room one after another. Everyone looked a little tired, but they all knew the importance of this meeting, so they cheered up and looked at Wang Jianye intently.

Wang Jianye frowned and said seriously, "As you can see, the situation in the first few days of opening is not very optimistic. Customers' acceptance of our Chinese dishes is much lower than we expected.

I observed carefully and talked to some customers. It was mainly a problem of taste. They are not used to the unique flavors of seasonings and textures of ingredients in Chinese dishes.

Therefore, we have to make some improvements based on the tastes of French customers and try to cater to their eating habits while retaining the Chinese flavor.”

At this point, Wang Jianye stood up, walked to the whiteboard in front of the conference room, picked up a pen, pointed to the names of several dishes written on the whiteboard and said:
"For example, this 'Mapo Tofu', as we all know, is a classic Sichuan dish. Its characteristics are spicy, fresh and fragrant, but the French generally cannot eat spicy food, so we can appropriately reduce the amount of Sichuan pepper to make the spiciness milder to suit their habit of not being able to eat spicy food. This will not only preserve the fresh taste of the tofu itself and the flavor of this dish, but also make it easier for customers to accept it." (End of this chapter)