The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 278 Cooking
Wang Shulan dressed herself up and went to the airport, picked up Lao Tan and rushed to the city.

The white Land Rover drove across the road full of green cornfields, got on the bridge, and then drove onto the highway.

"Sister Wang, when will the store open?" Old Tan asked Wang Shulan who was sitting next to her.

"The plan is at the end of the month. Now that the renovation of the whole street has not been completed, it may take some time, next month." Wang Shulan said.

"You are running around Baotou, Ordos, Xilinhot, and Chifeng, and you are busy enough." Old Tan said.

"Are we different? Don't you also run around?" Wang Shulan smiled.

Old Tan smiled, it was indeed the same.

Wang Shulan said: "I plan to stop opening the Chifeng store in Inner Mongolia and develop in Beijing. This time I went back and took a look. The capital's catering market is good. There are many people eating and it is easy to make money."

"The main reason is the large passenger flow." Old Tan said.

"Yes. My home is on Liulin Road, Haidian District. There are restaurants next to each other, and every family's business is booming. There is also a dumpling restaurant. I'll go to eat it. No, it's far away from our home, and it's still full every day." Wang Shulan said.

"Didn't you ask how the rent is?" Old Tan asked.

"I asked, it's quite high, 300,000 a year for 25 square meters, this is a good location, [-] a year for a little bit out of the way." Wang Shulan said.

"Oh, it's really high. If it's 400,000 square meters, it's [-]."

"almost."

Lao Tan estimated it based on a storefront of 600,000 square meters, calculated on the basis of 200,000 sales per day, 52 a month, and 74 a year.Now Aqiao's overall gross profit is [-]%, so the gross income in one year is [-] million.

Gross income does not represent net profit. Now the net profit of restaurants is not high, and it is considered good if it can reach 20%.

The net profit of Aqiao stores varies slightly due to different regions. The provincial capital is 17%, Hohhot 19%, Baotou, Ordos, and Xilinhot are similar to Hohhot, and Ordos is less than 17%.

Suzhou is more ideal, 20%.

In Beijing, not only the rent is high, but also the wages of personnel are high, and various expenses will increase accordingly.Let’s just talk about staff dormitories. Renting a three-bedroom apartment in a provincial capital costs [-] yuan a year, but in Beijing it costs [-] yuan, which isn’t even enough.

In this way, the net profit has to be reduced. Conservatively calculated at 18%, the annual net income should be 67.

The 67-square-meter store makes [-] yuan a year, which is neither good nor bad, and it is considered medium.

Of course, this is a conservative estimate, in reality it should be more than this.

"It's time for us, Ah Qiao, to go to Beijing." Lao Tan said to Wang Shulan at the same time that he also said to himself, his goal has always been to go to the south of the Yangtze River and enter Beijing, and now half of it has been completed.

"I'm planning to go back to Beijing once after October for inspection, and then we will go together?" Wang Shulan said.

"Okay, let's go together."

Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of the store that was about to be completed. Lao Tan and Wang Shulan got out of the car. They didn't go in first, but stood in front of the store to browse.

To be honest, this is a storefront that only reflects the style of Banlaer Aqiao Dumpling Restaurant, which looks a bit funny.Of course, this is the feeling of people who are familiar with Aqiao. If it is the first time, people will think it is like this.

"It's a bit off track." Lao Tan said helplessly after watching for a while.

Wang Shulan was also very helpless, but there was nothing she could do about it, the whole street was like this, and Aqiao couldn't be special.I had to say: "No way, I caught up."

Lao Tan used Lao Tzu's words: "Fortune depends on misfortune, and misfortune depends on blessing. There is nothing stereotyped, and it may even lead the trend."

After speaking, he laughed and walked into the store.

As the saying goes, if the meat is not on the pleats of the buns, it will be different when you enter it. It is a new type of restaurant that can lead the trend, and there is no such thing.

Lao Tan walked upstairs and downstairs, and he should say he was very satisfied.

The waiters and kitchen staff were cleaning up. The store manager and the head chef met Lao Tan during the training in the provincial capital, and they all came to greet him warmly.Lao Tan asked the two of them about the sleeping conditions of the employees, and they agreed that it was spacious, convenient, and had everything, just like at home.

Lao Tan has always cared about the dormitory conditions of his employees, so no matter which area the dormitories are in good condition, they are much better than other hotels.Of course, money is also spent.

Don't be afraid to spend money when opening a restaurant, especially on employees, because they are the ones who create wealth.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when Lao Tan got off the plane, and now it's past five o'clock. After coming out of the shop, Wang Shulan led him directly to the Fuxing Building where Wan Jun was invited to dinner last time.

After tasting Chifeng's special "pair sandwich" and local dishes, Lao Tan said: "The pair sandwich is quite authentic, but I don't have a cold for it. It can't be said to be good or bad. This dish is absolutely good and delicious. Almost, with a heavy base."

"I eat a bit salty." Wang Shulan said.

Lao Tan nodded and said, "This place is close to my hometown Beipiao. The accent of the people here is similar to mine, and the food is the same. They can eat salt."

"But I don't think you are serious." Wang Shulan said.

"Cooks are like this, but it can be light or heavy." Lao Tan said: "When a cook goes to a restaurant to eat, he usually doesn't choose a meal. They are all in this business. Eat more if you like it. Next time you come again, eat less if you don't like it. , it’s fine if you don’t come next time.”

Wang Shulan looked at Lao Tan and asked, "Brother, I've always heard you say that you are a cook, why don't you call yourself a cook?"

"I don't dare to be a chef. Who can afford to be a teacher? We can't do it." Old Tan said with deep emotion: "When I was young, I didn't know the heights of the heavens and the earth. When I first learned how to cook, I felt great. I like others to call me Chef, master, master chef, listening to the beauty, thought that he was really a master.

But the more I fry this thing, the more afraid I become, and the more I fry it, the more I feel that I can't cook and I'm not a cook.To be honest, anyone calls me a master now, I feel hairy, I feel that I can cook any dish, but I can’t think about it carefully.

I have been working in a restaurant for 20 years, and now I can’t tell anyone who asks me what dishes I’m good at.I also researched a few dishes, but none of them were ideal. Sometimes in retrospect, it seems that there is not even a special dish. "

Wang Shulan said: "Aren't you researching these dishes in our family?"

"It looks like it is, and it's not. If I dared to say that these dishes belonged to me ten years ago, but I dare not now, they were all left by the previous cooks. I just improved and changed the way to be accepted by the current customers. That's all."

Lao Tan went on to say: "The research and development of any new dish is based on the old dish. What is innovation? Most innovation comes from copying, and new things are added during the copying process.

Take the hot mutton that our family sells now, if it weren’t for the authentic hand-handled meat in the pastoral area, we wouldn’t be able to study it. 70.00% of it is the shadow of the hand-handled meat, and 30.00% is the cooking technique. Can you say it’s my dish? ?I just put it together. "

"Too modest." Wang Shulan said.

"It's not modest, it's just like that. I cook on the stove every month, and every time I cook, I feel different. You don't know, it's only when I stand on the stove that I feel at ease. That's me.

Born as a cook, the three-foot stove is the stage, and the big spoon is the breadwinner.People can't cook good dishes if they don't practice in this life.

Cooking is the same as being a human being.

Good people make good dishes and enjoy them; bad people make bad dishes and they are only cooked. "

"It makes sense." Wang Shulan nodded in agreement, admiring her.

"The ultimate in cuisine is to return to the basics and the original taste.

People can't do kindness, that is, at the beginning of a person, even if they know the ultimate, they can't get rid of it.This is not a matter of craftsmanship, but a matter of character, practice, and being a human being. "Old Tan said.

"The truth is profound, and I am impressed." Wang Shulan said with a smile.

"Hehe, how can it be profound, the principles are the same, and the truth is simple.

The reason why the hand meat in the pastoral area is delicious is that the herdsmen are simple and have no such scheming.The sheep are raised naturally, eat Chinese herbal medicines, drink mineral water, and never fatten.

When the guests come, the sheep are slaughtered, the meat is cooked, and the wine is filled up. "

(End of this chapter)