The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 204 Cooperation with Wang Shulan
There was nothing exciting about the entire competition in the morning. All the contestants cooked the "scallion fried lamb" quite well, and some of them did not perform as well as usual due to nervousness.

There is nothing surprising about the individual dishes. Lao Tan can beat them when Yang Zhijun comes.

At [-]:[-], all the contestants finished the game. After leaving the venue, the kitchen staff of the wealthy banquet came in to clean up the venue and prepare for lunch.

Lao Tan met the head chef here - a Cantonese chef.His surname is Zhang, his name is Zhang Qiang, he is in his thirties, he is fat, and he looks like a Northeasterner.

The two chatted for a while, chatting very speculatively, because they were about to start lunch, Lao Tan didn't stay long, left the phone with each other, left the kitchen, and came to the front exhibition hall.

The judges have finished scoring all the dishes. At this time, there are many people gathered in the exhibition hall, some are taking pictures with cameras, and some are tasting the dishes, which seems a bit noisy.

Lao Tan didn't look at the dishes, mainly in the kitchen, and also saw the whole production process, so he lost interest.

Straight out of the exhibition hall to the lobby, saw several judges sitting on the sofa chatting, President Lang was also there, so he walked over.

"How is it, work hard." Chairman Lang asked first.

Old Tan smiled and said, "It's okay." Then he nodded to the others.

"I will assign you an assistant in the afternoon, so I can take care of you." President Lang said.

"Alright." Old Tan replied.

To be honest, there really should be an assistant. Lao Tan is not familiar with the kitchen here, and some contestants don’t know where to find something. It’s quite a struggle.He also distributes the essentials such as eggs, oil, starch, onion and ginger used by the contestants by himself, which is really a bit of a rush.

"In the morning, there are some chefs from Qixian County. Their skills are mediocre and there is nothing special about them. It will be better in the afternoon." President Lang said.

"Oh." Old Tan nodded thoughtfully, and then said: "The craftsmanship is almost—is it all called by the association?"

"Yes, the sheep cooking competition. If we don't participate in the industry in our region, it will be considered a hot spot and gain popularity."

Old Tan smiled, expressing his understanding.

A few people didn't talk too much, and returned to the hotel around eleven o'clock.Lao Tan saw Kang Min in the lobby and asked why he hadn't seen her all morning.Kang Min said that the video was recorded here, and he will go to the night banquet of a wealthy family in the afternoon.

"Mr. Tan, did you have a good time with Mr. Wang last night?" Kang Min asked meaningfully, with a teasing smile on his face.

Old Tan was stunned for a moment, then immediately came back to his senses and said, "Don't make trouble."

"Hehe, it looks good." Kang Min laughed.

"Well, it's good. I vomited in the bathroom and cleaned it for a long time. When I went back, I found that the whole bed was occupied. I slept on two sofas together, you know." Old Tan said.

"That's right, who would believe it?"

"Lamps in the house."

"Okay, I won't tell you anymore, it's probably the same." Kang Min smiled, and then said: "Let's go, let's eat, four dishes and one soup."

The two followed each other to the restaurant, Li Xue had already occupied the seat, and greeted them from a distance.Lao Tan first went to Chairman Lang's table to say hello, and then walked over.

After Lao Tan sat down, Li Xue said: "Mr. Tan, I called home. My dad said he didn't want to do it anymore. He was too tired. Besides, my dad and mom are getting old. My brother's family has two children, one five." They are three years old, and my sister-in-law and her mother have always taken care of them. Now the old lady has been diagnosed with pneumonia and cannot take care of the children. My parents are thinking about cashing out the restaurant and taking care of the grandchildren at home."

Lao Tan said: "It's also very good. I have been busy all my life, and I should enjoy the family happiness."

Li Xue said: "I have already advised them not to do it. If they don't listen - they can't keep up with the trend, let alone management. The main reason is that they have been working for a long time and they are all repeat customers, otherwise they would have died."

"I didn't tell your father, you don't have to worry about cooperating with Mr. Tan, just count the money at home." Kang Min said.

"I've said it, the main reason is that the old couple don't want to do it anymore—it's fine if I don't do it, and I won't worry about it." Li Xue said.

Old Tan said: "What should be remembered should be remembered, especially when you are a daughter."

"That's right, think less about it like this, at least you don't have to worry about it—I have the opportunity to cooperate with you. I grew up in a restaurant." Li Xue laughed after finishing speaking.

The game in the afternoon was better than in the morning, but not exciting.

With an assistant, Lao Tan is not as busy as he was in the morning. If he has time to communicate with the players, it is easy.

Kang Min and Li Xue took the camera crew to record the scene for half an hour. When they left, they said they would go to have a barbecue at night, but Lao Tan shook his head and refused, saying that he couldn't go because he had something to do.

He mainly didn't want the embarrassing incident of last night to happen again.

After the competition ended in the afternoon, Chairman Lang called the judges from the two venues to have a small meeting, and then had dinner together.

Lao Tan went back to his room after eating, and was about to have a good sleep. Unfortunately, Mr. Wang came at this time.

She came here for no other reason, one was to apologize for the absurd thing last night, and the other was to get straight to the point and say that she wanted to cooperate.This woman gave Lao Tan a different feeling when talking about it, she was very fast and not sloppy at all.

Even so, Lao Tan still made up his mind.

This woman has been working with Zhou Yujun for a long time, and now she is going to cooperate with herself. Isn't this change a bit fast?Although I don't have a good impression of Zhou Yujun, but I can live with face, and I can't break up because of a woman.

He could imagine the consequences after agreeing to cooperate—the rumors that Wang Shulan would not play with Zhou Yujun anymore, had found a new target, and began to switch to Lao Tan would spread in the Hohhot circle.

After all, this woman's reputation in the circle is not very good, and she always circles among men.

Do you want to cooperate with this woman?A decision needs to be made now.

Lao Tan is not a procrastination person either. After thinking for a while, he came up with pros and cons and decided to cooperate.There is also part of the reason for looking down on Zhou Yujun.

He told Mr. Wang that the cooperative stores are only opened in second-tier cities, not in Hohhot.Mr. Wang readily agreed, and said that he planned to leave Hohhot otherwise.

"I'm going to Xilinhot. There are some acquaintances there, and it's quiet. The environment is good, and there are no such things as in Hohhot. It's good to open a small dumpling restaurant, so you don't have to worry about it, and you can rely on it for your retirement." Mr. Wang said.

"Xilinhot is a bit far from Hohhot, and the management is a bit out of reach—" Lao Tan thought for a while before asking: "How is the development of that place? Is it big?"

"The place is okay, not too big, but the catering industry is well developed, and people eat it. The main reason is that the consumption is low, the income is high, and they dare to spend money. There are many people in the Northeast, which is a bit like your provincial capital. Xibei and Sanqianpu are there. There are branches, I have been there, and the business is very good, better than Hohhot.” ​​Mr. Wang briefly introduced.

"That's really okay." Old Tan nodded, and said: "The Li Xue's family who drank together yesterday belongs to Xilinhot. Her family has opened a restaurant and is just about to exchange money."

Mr. Wang asked: "I don't know what the position is like?"

Old Tan said: "I don't know, I haven't been there, I heard it's been open for a long time, so it should be about the same."

"Do you have her phone number? Just ask, and I'll go if I can," Mr. Wang said.

Old Tan picked up the phone and called Kang Min, but Kang Min didn't answer, and just opened the door and came in.She and Li Xue were going out to have a barbecue, they were bored, although Lao Tan said he had something to do in the afternoon, but when he saw Lao Tan came back, he came over to call him.

Seeing Mr. Wang there, Kang Min thought that the two of them would continue their relationship, and seemed very embarrassed about that, so she said awkwardly, "Excuse me."

Old Tan knew what she was thinking, and didn't explain it, telling her to call Li Xue over to inquire about the restaurant.Kang Min said it was just right, let's go out to have a barbecue together, chatting while eating.

So it was the same as last night, the four of them sat together.

Li Xue heard that Mr. Wang was going to buy her restaurant, so she mentioned the location of the hotel. Mr. Wang was familiar with Xilinhot and felt that the location was okay.There are photos of the hotel in Li Xue's mobile phone, Mr. Wang looked at it and expressed his satisfaction, and decided on the spot to go and have a look in half a month, if there is no problem, the matter will be settled.Then I talked with Lao Tan about the specific matters of the cooperation, and the three-headed two-horse decision was made.

It seems a bit sloppy, but carefully, this woman is a person who does things, and she will do what she decides to do to the end.

Since she has worked with Zhou Yujun for a long time and knows a lot about e-commerce, Lao Tan asked some questions about online sales, and she answered them one by one.

"For the catering industry, most of the online sales are takeaways. Hungry Bar is doing very well now, and there is Dianping. But they charge a lot, and the profit is low for the merchants, which is not worthwhile. In my opinion, it is better to sell online Members make a fuss about it and get to the bottom of it. Catering is a physical store, and it is always consumed in the store, especially Chinese food. Takeaway is only part of it, and it can be taken into account.” Mr. Wang said.

"That's true. But takeaway is extra income, and it's okay to cook it well. Now there are a lot of people ordering food online, and it will be a trend in the future." Lao Tan said.

"Yes." Mr. Wang nodded in approval, and then said: "Now the takeaway is concentrated in fast food and online celebrity stores, including some instant snacks, and traditional Chinese food is not dominant.

But your dumplings are not bad. I sometimes order takeaway, and your family can be ranked in the top [-]. "

Old Tan smiled.

"I ordered your dumplings, but the effect was not good. They all lumped together when I ate them." Kang Min said.

Lao Tan said: "Dumplings are fond of lumps, and many customers have reported this situation. I am planning to change the single-format lunch box to pack dumplings specially. This time, I even changed the small material box, and it is in place in one step."

"That's about the same." Kang Min laughed.

"Mr. Tan, why doesn't your family engage in franchising?" Li Xue asked suddenly.

Lao Tan thought for a while and said, "Don't we all pay attention to the economic community now? Joining is good, saves trouble, and doesn't worry about it, but it's easy to ruin the brand. We've all seen this before, right?

Cooperation is different. Technology and management are in their own hands, and they will not be out of shape, and they can do better and better.Although worry a little, but why not worry?As long as the process and standards are set, opening a store is copying, which saves trouble.

To put it bluntly, it is brand effect. As long as the brand does not fail, keep pace with the times, innovate constantly, keep up with the trend, and make money wherever you do it. "

"It's true, but you guys are smart in business, and your brains are incomparable." Li Xue said.

"Boss Tan has such a brain, he is not an ordinary person, even the organizing committee invited him to be a judge." Kang Min complimented Old Tan in a timely manner.

"I'm a fake judge. I don't get paid. I eat and drink for nothing. The only advantage is that I have learned a lot. I know how to cook mutton, and I know that the mutton in that place is good." Old Tan laughed.

(End of this chapter)