Siheyuan: Starting as a Chef Apprentice

Another special dish is the "Chinese, French and American Family Set". This set takes into account the needs of family customers and includes a variety of dishes suitable for the whole family to share. Among them is the Chinese sweet and sour pork ribs, which are made from fresh pork ribs and cut into evenly spaced small pieces. The chef first puts the ribs into the oil pan and fries them until golden brown, then removes them for later use. Then, add appropriate amounts of sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and other seasonings to the pan to make a thick sweet and sour sauce. Then pour the fried ribs into the pan and stir-fry evenly, so that each piece of ribs is covered with the sweet and sour sauce.

French cream of mushroom soup is also unique. The chef washes and slices fresh mushrooms, stir-fries them in a pot, adds appropriate amounts of cream and broth, and stews until the mushrooms are soft and the soup is thick. Finally, blend it into a fine paste with a blender and season with a little black pepper and salt. American-style roasted chicken wings use tender chicken wings, marinate them with salt, pepper, soy sauce and other seasonings for a period of time, and then bake them in the oven. During the roasting process, the chicken wings gradually become golden and crispy, and the skin sizzles with oil, exuding an attractive aroma.

The set meal is also served with fresh salads, using seasonal vegetables such as lettuce, cucumber, and tomato, and adding olive oil, vinegar, and a little honey to make a refreshing salad dressing. The special dessert is a cake that combines the characteristics of China, France, and the United States. The bottom layer is an American biscuit base, the middle is a French cream layer, and the top is a Chinese red bean paste decoration. It has a rich taste and is sweet but not greasy.

The opening day of the Queens branch finally arrived. Early in the morning, the employees began to get busy. They cleaned the restaurant spotlessly, checked whether the tables and chairs were neatly arranged, and whether the tableware was fully prepared. There were opening signs and signs at the door to guide customers in.

At noon, customers started arriving. A family of four walked into the restaurant, parents and two children. The waiter immediately came forward and said with a smile, "Welcome, how many people would like to eat?"

After learning that they were a family of four, the waiter guided them to a spacious seat. The children looked at the artwork on the wall with curiosity. One of the children pointed to a painting and said, "Mom, this painting is so interesting."

My mother smiled and replied, "Yes, these were all drawn by uncles and aunts in the community."

The waiter handed over the menu and began to introduce the dishes: "We have the new 'Multicultural Risotto', which combines the characteristics of various cultures, and the 'Chinese-French-American Family Set Meal', which is perfect for the whole family to enjoy together." After hearing this, the parents decided to order a family set meal.

Soon, the dishes were served. The children saw the colorful grilled chicken wings and couldn't wait to grab them. The father tasted the sweet and sour spareribs first and nodded, saying, "This tastes quite authentic, just the right sweet and sour taste."

The mother tasted the cream of mushroom soup and said, "This soup is very rich and tastes good." The family shared their feelings about the dishes while eating.

At the same time, the community food sharing activity was also going on in an orderly manner. Several long tables were placed in the restaurant, filled with newly launched dishes. Community residents came one after another and lined up to receive food. A gray-haired old man picked up a "multicultural risotto", looked at it carefully, and took a bite.

The staff member next to him asked, "Uncle, how do you think this tastes?"

The old man replied: "It's quite special. I can taste a lot of different flavors. The combination of seafood and chili is quite fresh." The staff carefully recorded the old man's feedback.

In a food culture education activity in cooperation with local schools, Wang Jianye led a team of chefs to the school. In the classroom, students sat neatly and looked at them expectantly. A chef walked up to the podium and said, "Students, today we are here to introduce the food culture and cooking skills of China, France and the United States to you."

The chef first demonstrated how to make Chinese fried rice. He skillfully poured the rice into the pot, quickly stir-fried it, and added various side dishes. His skillful movements amazed the students. Then, another chef introduced French baked rice, explaining the making of the sauce and the baking process. Finally, when introducing American risotto, he emphasized the combination of ingredients and cooking points.

The students asked questions actively. One student raised his hand and asked, "Why do we put these methods from different countries together?" The chef replied, "Because there are many people from different places in Queens, and everyone has their own favorite food. If we combine them together, everyone can taste more different flavors."

After the event, the students said they had learned a lot. One student said, "I didn't know there were so many details about these delicacies before. I will ask my mother to cook for me when I go home." These activities have helped the community residents gain a deeper understanding of the restaurant and increased their recognition and favorability towards the restaurant.

Over time, the Queens branch has built a strong reputation in the local community.

Families like to bring their children here to enjoy a warm dining time, immigrants can taste the flavors of their hometowns and new fusion flavors here, and nearby office workers also choose to dine here during lunch breaks or after get off work.

The restaurant is often packed, and the waiters are busy and orderly moving between the tables to provide thoughtful service to customers.

……

In New York, the Manhattan and Queens branches of Wang's entire restaurant chain have established themselves in the fiercely competitive restaurant market with their unique menus and high-quality services, and their business is booming.

Wang Jianye was keenly aware that a complete and efficient management system was essential for the brand to continue to flourish and further expand its influence. Therefore, he made a decisive decision to set up the New York Regional Management Center in a modern office building in the core area of ​​Manhattan.

The office of the management center is spacious and bright, with a reasonable layout and clear division of functional areas, which are responsible for important tasks such as procurement, personnel deployment, and market promotion.

In the purchasing department, the staff were very busy. The desks were piled with all kinds of documents, and the information of suppliers kept flashing on the computer screen. A purchasing specialist, holding the phone in his hand, said seriously: "Hello, we are the New York Regional Management Center of Wang's All-Series Hotels. We have very high requirements for the quality of cheese and wine. We hope to establish cooperation with your company and purchase high-quality products from France. Can you give us a detailed introduction to the specific situation of the products?"

After the other end of the phone responded, he quickly wrote down the key information in a notebook. His colleague came over, looked at the record and asked, "Does the supplier we contacted this time have a full range of cheese varieties? Several dishes in our store require a lot of cheese." The purchasing specialist nodded and replied, "The other party said that the varieties are quite rich. I will confirm it carefully later. It must meet the needs of our dishes."

At the same time, the purchasing staff responsible for contacting Chinese suppliers was carefully checking the list of special seasonings and teas. He looked at the list and said to himself: "Star anise, cinnamon, Longjing... these are all key ingredients for dish innovation, and none of them can be missing."

In order to find the most suitable suppliers and obtain the best quality ingredients, they not only communicate repeatedly through emails and phone calls, but also often conduct on-site inspections of the suppliers' production environment and product quality.

The staffing department also carried out its work in an orderly manner. The staff stared at the computer screen, which showed detailed information of all employees, including work performance, skill level, work experience, etc. A person who looked like a person in charge pointed at the screen and discussed with his colleagues: "The Queens branch has seen a large increase in customer traffic recently, and the service staff is a bit tight. We should transfer a few experienced people from the Manhattan branch. Take a look at the information of these employees. Which one is more suitable?"

The colleague leaned in close to the screen, and the two carefully checked each employee's file, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. The colleague pointed to an employee's profile and said, "This Xiao Li has good reviews at the Manhattan branch and is very good at handling customer issues. He should be able to adapt quickly if he is transferred to Queens." The person in charge thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, then contact Xiao Li, explain the situation to him, and see what he personally wants to do."

In addition to staff transfers based on branch business needs, promotion is also an important responsibility of the staffing department. In a conference room, an employee evaluation is in progress. Standing in front of the conference room, the employee nervously reports his work results and future plans to the management. The management sits in the audience, listens carefully, and asks questions from time to time.

A manager asked, "What did you do last time when you handled a customer's special request for a dish?" The employee calmly replied, "The customer wanted the steak to be cooked more thoroughly and the sauce to be richer. I immediately communicated with the kitchen, adjusted the frying time of the steak, and asked the chef to add more sauce. I also asked the customer if he was satisfied, and the customer was quite satisfied with the result."

Managers listen and take notes in notebooks. After the evaluation, they will decide whether to give the employee a promotion opportunity based on his or her performance.

In order to motivate employees to work actively, the staffing department has also formulated a detailed employee reward mechanism. At a staff meeting, the host stood on the stage and said with a microphone: "Our hotel has always attached great importance to the development of employees. In order to encourage everyone to work actively, we will now announce the list of employees who have received bonuses and promotion opportunities this month."

The staff in the audience immediately quieted down and listened attentively. When they heard their names, they could not hide their joy and walked up to the stage to receive their awards. The host continued, "I hope everyone will take them as examples, work hard to improve themselves, and contribute more to the development of the hotel." The audience immediately burst into warm applause.

The marketing team made full use of New York's rich media resources to actively carry out brand promotion. Advertising planners sat in front of their computers, concentrating on designing newspaper and magazine advertising layouts.

They carefully selected exquisite pictures of the hotel dishes and matched them with concise and powerful texts. A planner looked at the draft design and murmured to himself: "Combining the flavors of China, France and the United States, Wang's full range of hotels will bring you a unique dining experience.

This slogan should attract a lot of readers." A colleague next to him came over to take a look and suggested: "The picture should highlight the special features of the dish, such as the tender texture of the steak, which will be more eye-catching." The planner nodded and immediately made adjustments.

The staff responsible for advertising at radio and television stations are also communicating frequently with media organizations. Sitting at their desks, they said on the phone: "We hope to run advertisements during prime time to highlight our advantages in providing catering services for corporate business events. We would like to trouble you to coordinate the duration and frequency of the advertisements."

After the ad was produced, they closely monitored the effect and collected feedback. One of the staff members would sort out the data every day and report to the team: "After the radio ad was released today, the number of people who consulted through the hotline increased by 10 compared to yesterday, and the popularity of online searches for the TV ad also increased."

The hotel also vigorously strengthened cooperation with local enterprises. Business development personnel shuttled between various enterprises and actively negotiated cooperation matters with the heads of enterprises. In the office of a company, the business development personnel introduced to the head of the company: "Our Wang's full-line hotel can provide customized catering services for your company's business activities, annual meetings, etc. From the selection of dishes to the service process, we can meet your company's needs and improve the quality of the event."

After listening to the discussion, the company manager asked about the types of dishes, prices, number of service staff and other details. The business development staff answered in detail: "In terms of dishes, we have special dishes that integrate the flavors of China, France and the United States, such as American steak with Chinese and French sauces, multicultural risotto, etc., which can also be customized according to your requirements. The price will be determined according to the dishes you choose and the scale of service to ensure high cost performance. The number of service staff will also be reasonably arranged according to the scale of the event to ensure thoughtful service." After some communication, the two parties reached a cooperation intention.

Inside the hotel, the chef team attaches great importance to the innovation and inheritance of dishes. The regularly held internal dish development competition is an important platform for chefs to showcase their creativity. Before the competition, the chefs were busy in the kitchen operation room.

A young chef was concentrating on cutting the ingredients, thinking about the combination and cooking methods, muttering quietly: "The combination of these ingredients and the heat must be controlled well to create a unique taste."

The chef next to him was adjusting the sauce, constantly trying different seasoning ratios, and muttered to himself: "If we add a little more of this spice, the taste should be more layered."

On the day of the competition, the kitchen was filled with new dishes carefully prepared by the chefs. The judges were composed of hotel managers, senior chefs and some customer representatives.

They tasted each dish in turn, carefully recording the characteristics of taste, flavor, appearance, etc. After a customer representative tasted a new dish, he said to the chef: "This dish tastes very special, but I feel that the overall taste can be more balanced, and some seasonings are a bit strong." The chef listened carefully to the advice and nodded to express his gratitude.

For classic fusion dishes, the chef team focuses on optimizing and standardizing the production. Take "American steak with Chinese and French sauce" as an example. The detailed production process standards are posted on the kitchen wall. When a chef makes this dish, he strictly follows the standard. He first accurately weighs the seasonings needed for marinating the steak, evenly applies them on the steak, and says: "Marinating time is 30 minutes, not a minute can be wrong." (End of this chapter)