Siheyuan: Starting as a Chef Apprentice

After the call was connected, he said hurriedly: "Hello, Lao Zhang, are you free? Come to my Pengcheng Restaurant as soon as possible. I have something important to discuss."

After hanging up the phone, he called several other local restaurant owners.

Not long after, several familiar figures appeared in the private room of Pengcheng Restaurant.

These people are familiar faces in the local catering industry in Xuzhou.

There was a bald-headed boss named Zhang Dali, who was stocky with bulging muscles on his arms. He usually spoke in a very loud voice and was considered a well-known figure in the area.

There is also a tall and thin boss named Li Jianguo. He has a slender figure, always wears a clean and neat shirt, and often has a thoughtful expression on his face.

In addition, there is a boss wearing glasses, named Zhao Wentao, who is gentle and cautious in his work.

These people usually have a good relationship with Liu Decai. In Xuzhou, each of them runs his own restaurant. Although the business is not as good as Pengcheng Restaurant, it is still okay.

"Old Liu, what's the matter that you called us here in such a hurry?" Zhang Dali asked casually as soon as he entered the private room. He sat down on the chair, causing it to creak.

Liu Decai looked at everyone, cleared his throat, and said solemnly: “Everyone knows that a Wang’s full-line restaurant has recently opened.

It's only been a few days and they've already taken away a lot of our business.

We can’t just sit there and watch, we have to think of a way to bring customers back, otherwise our future will be difficult.”

Li Jianguo frowned, nodded slightly, and said, "This Wang's Restaurant is indeed quite capable. I went to try it a few days ago. The dishes tasted good and the service was very thoughtful. We have to think carefully about how to deal with it."

Liu Decai sneered, a cunning look appeared on his face, and said: "I think we have to make some trouble for them.

We spread the word among the customers, saying that the food at Wang's Restaurant is not fresh and the hygiene is not up to standard.

Everyone knows that when doing business, word of mouth is of utmost importance. As long as customers believe these words, their business will definitely fail.”

After hearing this, some people immediately nodded in agreement, such as Zhang Dali, who slammed the table and said loudly: "Lao Liu, your idea is great! We need to teach them a lesson and let them know that it is not so easy to break into the Xuzhou catering industry."

But Zhao Wentao looked hesitant. He pushed his glasses and whispered, "Old Liu, isn't it a bit unkind to do this? After all, we are all doing business. It's not a good idea to do this."

Liu Decai glared and raised his voice and said, "It's already this time, and you still care about whether it's genuine or not? If we don't do this, our business will be snatched away by them, and we will be left with nothing." After Liu Decai's persuasion, everyone finally decided to participate in this malicious competition together.

Before long, rumors about Wang's Restaurant spread quickly among customers in Xuzhou City like wings.

You can always hear people talking about it on the streets.

"Hey, have you heard? Don't eat the food at Wang's Restaurant. The ingredients are all bad. I heard that the kitchen is so dirty that it's unbearable to look at."

"That's right. A friend of mine went there to eat and came back with vomiting and diarrhea. It was really painful. Don't go there again in the future."

These rumors spread quickly among the crowd like a virus. Customers who were originally curious about Wang's Restaurant gave up the idea of ​​dine-in after hearing these words.

At Wang's Hotel, the lobby that was once bustling with activity has now become deserted.

The waiters stood in the corner of the lobby, doing nothing, with anxious looks on their faces.

They looked at each other, occasionally talking in low voices, their eyes revealing their worry about the slow business.

Manager Zhang Feng was extremely anxious at the moment, pacing back and forth in the lobby with quick and heavy steps.

He looked at the door from time to time, his eyes full of anticipation, hoping that customers would come in.

But after waiting for a long time, the door was still deserted. Occasionally a few people passed by, but they just took a look and left in a hurry.

Zhang Feng really couldn't sit still anymore, so he quickly walked into the office, grabbed the phone on the table, and dialed Wang Jianye's number with trembling fingers.

"Hey, Mr. Wang, something bad has happened!" Zhang Feng's voice was filled with obvious anxiety, almost shouting, "Now customers have been misled by those rumors and are afraid to come to our store.

Today, only a few tables of customers came to the store. If this continues, how can we run this store?" On the other end of the phone, Wang Jianye was silent for a moment, and then a steady voice came: "Xiao Zhang, don't panic.

Let's keep our composure first, observe the situation, and first understand where this rumor came from.

Go ask your old customers where they heard the news.”

Zhang Feng quickly responded: "Okay, Mr. Wang, I'll do it right away."

Zhang Feng put down the phone and immediately called a few waiters who usually had a good relationship with customers and said to them, "Listen carefully, our store is in big trouble now.

Someone outside is spreading rumors about us, causing customers to be afraid to come.

Mr. Wang asked us to quickly find out where this rumor came from.

You guys, go contact those old customers and ask them who they heard these words from and whether they understand them. " The waiters nodded and took quick action, picking up the phone and contacting old customers.

After some inquiries, they found that most of these rumors came from Pengcheng Restaurant, and several local restaurants also helped spread them.

After Zhang Feng learned the news, he quickly called Wang Jianye again and reported the whole situation to him.

After hearing this, Wang Jianye's face turned serious and he said, "It seems that Pengcheng Restaurant wants to show us a warning, but we are not easy to bully."

He thought for a while, then said to Zhang Feng: "Let's organize an open day for customers right away, invite everyone to visit the kitchen, show the freshness and hygiene standards of our ingredients, and let everyone see our strength with their own eyes.

At the same time, we will increase the promotion of our dishes to highlight our characteristics.

I believe that as long as customers understand the real situation, they will no longer be misled by those rumors."

Zhang Feng listened, nodded repeatedly, and said, "Okay, Mr. Wang, I will arrange it right away and make sure it's done well."

In the next few days, Zhang Feng and his employees were very busy.

They found paper and paint, made exquisite invitations by themselves, and wrote the words of invitation stroke by stroke.

At the same time, a large poster was posted at the door of the store, which read "Wang's Hotel Customer Open Day, you are sincerely invited to visit", and detailed the content of the open day activities.

In addition, they also left messages to some old customers through the paging station that was popular at the time, inviting them to participate in the event.

In the kitchen, the chefs were also busy. They arranged the ingredients neatly, sorting the vegetables by type. The green vegetables, red tomatoes, and yellow pumpkins were soothing to look at. Meat and seafood were also sorted and placed, and each ingredient was labeled with its origin, purchase time, and expiration date.

The walls and floor of the kitchen were polished to a shine, and all kinds of kitchen utensils were wiped clean and placed in an orderly manner.

On the day of the customer open day, a lot of people gathered in front of Wang's Restaurant early in the morning.

There were food bloggers carrying cameras and holding notebooks, their eyes full of curiosity and anticipation, ready to record what they saw and heard that day.

There were curious ordinary citizens standing in groups of three or four, talking in low voices.

There were also some old customers who were originally skeptical. They stood in the crowd, with both expectation and a hint of suspicion in their eyes.

Zhang Feng stood at the door with a warm smile on his face, greeting every guest who came.

“Everyone is welcome to attend our Wang’s Hotel’s Customer Open Day.

Today, everyone is free to visit our kitchen, learn about our ingredients and production process, and feel free to ask us any questions you have. "

As he spoke, he distributed the activity schedule to the guests.

The crowd slowly walked into the restaurant and first came to the food display area.

There is a wide variety of fresh vegetables, meat and seafood on display here.

A food blogger with long hair and wearing a T-shirt with food patterns on it picked up a vegetable, looked at it carefully, and then asked the chef next to him: "Chef, where did you buy this vegetable? It looks really fresh."

The chef smiled and replied, "We purchase these vegetables from nearby vegetable farms. Every morning before dawn, the farmers deliver the freshest vegetables to us. Look, there are still water drops hanging on them. They are all freshly picked from the fields."

The food blogger nodded and pointed to the meat beside him and asked, "What about the meat? How do you ensure the quality?" The chef pointed to the label on the meat display rack and said, "Our meat is all imported from regular slaughterhouses, and each batch has a certificate of inspection.

You see, the label clearly states the origin and inspection date, so you can eat with confidence.”

Then, everyone came to the kitchen operation room.

The chefs were seen wearing clean white work clothes, tall chef hats on their heads, and masks on their faces, revealing only a pair of focused eyes.

They are preparing dishes in an orderly manner, some are cutting vegetables with skillful movements; some are frying, and the vegetables in the pot are emitting an enticing aroma as they are stir-fried.

The walls and floor of the kitchen are so clean that you can see your reflection in them. All kinds of kitchen utensils are neatly arranged, and the pots, pans, and bowls are all wiped clean to a shine.

An old customer, with gray hair and wearing a washed-out shirt, couldn't help but say, "This kitchen looks quite clean, not like what people say outside."

Zhang Feng heard this and quickly stepped forward to explain: "Yes, we have always paid great attention to the freshness of the ingredients and the hygiene of the kitchen.

Those rumors are spread by people with ulterior motives, so please don't believe them.

We thoroughly clean and disinfect the kitchen every day to provide everyone with a clean and hygienic dining environment.”

During the visit, Zhang Feng also introduced the special dishes of Wang's Restaurant to everyone.

“Our signature dish is made with fresh local lamb, slow-cooked with our special seasoning.

The mutton is slaughtered on the same day and is guaranteed to be fresh.

The special seasoning was formulated by our chef team after many experiments. It is delicious and nutritious. "

As he spoke, he asked the chef to prepare a special dish on the spot. When the steaming dish was served, the aroma was fragrant.

Customers came forward and gave thumbs-up after tasting the food.

“It tastes really good. The ingredients are really fresh and taste good.”

"Yeah, it seems I was fooled by those rumors. I have to eat here again in the future."

After this customer open day event, the reputation of Wang's Restaurant gradually improved.

More and more customers have learned the truth and no longer believe those rumors.

Over at Pengcheng Restaurant, Liu Decai was so angry that he stomped his feet in the office when he saw that Wang's Restaurant's business was picking up again.

"This Wang's Restaurant is really capable. It was able to restore its reputation."

He spoke to several restaurant owners who were engaging in malicious competition.

"Old Liu, what should we do now?" Zhang Dali asked.

Liu Decai frowned, pondered for a while, and said, "Let's see the situation first. Since they can think of this trick, we have to think of a more powerful one. We can't just let it go like this."

In this fierce competition, Wang's Hotel temporarily stabilized the situation by relying on its own strength and proactive response measures.

……

In Xuzhou's autumn, coolness seeps into the wind, as if God is quietly reminding everyone that winter is slowly approaching.

The plane trees on the street, whose once lush green leaves have now begun to turn yellow, as if they had been gently brushed by the brush of time.

From time to time, a few leaves could not stand the pull of the wind, and slowly fell down in a circle, adding a few different scenes to the gray ground.

Although the storm of malicious competition caused by Pengcheng Restaurant seemed to have gradually subsided, for Wang's Restaurant, life was still tight and not comfortable at all.

Ever since that terrible incident, the hotel's customer flow has been declining like a slide.

The employees in the store all go to work with their heads down, feeling anxious and worried that the restaurant will not be able to survive one day and they will have to pack up and leave.

In the kitchen, the fire in the stove was burning brightly, emitting hot steam, but the thick smoke could not dispel the gloom in the chefs' hearts.

Master Li, an experienced chef who has been working in the kitchen for many years, was mechanically stir-frying the vegetables in the pot with his hands, but his eyes were wandering and staring at the stove in front of him. His anxiety was like the smoke in the pot, which was increasing.

"How long can our store last if we continue to struggle like this?" Master Li couldn't help but mutter, his voice full of helplessness and worry. (End of this chapter)