From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 234 Another old man who helps behind the scenes

On the train all the way back, Chen Sifu and Master Yan had a very lively chat.

Master Yan's many concepts have changed a lot from his chat with Chen Sifu.

Feng Zhengming also noticed that Chen Sifu was very simple in his clothes, even compared to his master, he looked like an ordinary old country man.

However, Chen Sifu's words and deeds, especially some of his ideas, seemed to be somewhat ahead of his time.

For example, when Chen Sifu mentioned the development of Shandong cuisine, he pointed out some problems of Shandong cuisine very simply and directly.

"Our Shandong cuisine can indeed be made very exquisite, but the cost of exquisite Shandong cuisine, especially the dishes cooked in some restaurants, is also very high, and not ordinary families can afford it, so in fact, many times, We should try to simplify it as much as possible, or find some low-cost alternatives."

Chen Sifu not only pointed out problems, but also gave some solutions he thought of.

"For example, Zhengming's dry rice shop, his meat is actually very economical and can reflect the essence of our Shandong cuisine. The key is that it may be easier to promote, but if you want Going beyond the borders of our province, we need to consider the tastes of other regions."

Feng Zhengming was touched by Chen Sifu's words, and he vaguely felt that he had grasped some of the key points.

Chen Sifu continued: "So Zhengming, you can't just stick to the old recipe and make it according to the recipe given to you by your master and grandfather. You also need to make some developments and improvements to make the meat suitable for the tastes of people in different regions. "

When Chen Sifu said this, Feng Zhengming nodded in agreement.

"Uncle Chen, you are right. We cannot just stick to the old taste. We still need to make some adjustments to the taste according to the people in different places, so that the taste of the meat can be accepted by more people."

Chen Sifu continued: "There is another point that you are doing very well now, which is to improve your reputation. In fact, we in the north don't have much understanding of brand effects yet, but many cities in the south have begun to pay attention to brand effects. , many foreign brands have entered the country.

The things may not be much different from many things in China, but people rely on the brand and can sell products far higher than the value of our domestic products. "

When Feng Zhengming heard this and looked at Chen Sifu, he felt more and more that the old man in front of him was unusual.

He is far from the identity shown by his current appearance of a rustic old country man.

Chen Sifu looked at Master Yan and said, "Brother Yan, your son is going to return to Quancheng and open a shop under the name of 'Yan's Cuisine'. This is actually a brand effect. There is also Zhengming's Fengjiagan Restaurant, which is now the best restaurant in Quancheng." s brand.

We need to have our own brand. Only when our brand is established can we better compete with others in the market. "

Master Yan couldn't help but say after hearing this: "So, what Brother Chen means is that we must be high-profile? Let's spread our reputation first?"

Chen Sifu nodded: "Yes, you must first promote your reputation in a high-profile manner. Of course, behind the high-profile, you need to have strong support, just like the craftsmanship of your son and apprentices, Brother Yan, which is very strong support."

Along the way, through chatting with Chen Sifu, Master Yan gained unprecedented changes in some of his concepts.

When everyone arrived in Quancheng and got off the train, Master Yan immediately invited Chen Sifu to sit with him at Feng Zhengming's restaurant.

"Brother Chen, let's go. Let's go to my apprentice's shop together. You haven't been back to Quancheng for so long. Go and try the most famous meat in Quancheng. How does it taste? Give me some advice for this junior."

Chen Sifu smiled and said: "Brother Yan, you are too polite. I am not a chef, so I am not as professional as you in cooking matters. And I am not a gourmet, so I really can't give any opinions."

Feng Zhengming also immediately said: "Uncle Chen, you can go and see the operation of my shop and give me some business suggestions."

Master Yan nodded: "Yes, you go and give Zhengming some business advice."

Chen Sifu saw that it was difficult to reject the warm invitation, so he had to agree to go to Feng's restaurant together.

The group of people walked out of the train station and saw Chao Xingxing opposite the train station.

It was just after noon at this time, and Chaoxingxingli was still crowded, and it seemed that business was very good.

Chen Sifu and Master Yan looked at Chao Xingxing and couldn't help but feel that the location of this store is very good.

Chen Sifu said: "The location of this store is really good. It is right opposite the train station. You can almost see this store as soon as you get out of the station. The reason why the business is so booming is really due to the geographical location."

Master Yan looked at it carefully and asked, "Is this shop opened by Zhao Chaoxing?"

Feng Zhengming replied from the side: "Yes, it's a shop opened by Zhao Chaoxing. I also gave them an idea to make meat and lunch boxes like I did before."

Chen Sifu was a little surprised when he heard this: "You actually gave them some ideas? Don't you think this store is your biggest competitor?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and shook his head: "I think it's okay. After all, my shop has limited space now, so I can't receive many customers. Chao Xingxing can just make up for the shortcomings, and he also makes handfuls of meat, so he can help. Let’s promote the meat together and let more outsiders who come to Quancheng become familiar with the meat.”

After listening to Feng Zhengming's words, Chen Sifu looked at him carefully.

Then the old man turned to Master Yan and said: "Brother Yan, this young apprentice of yours is really very courageous. He can tolerate the existence of competitors, give advice to competitors, and is willing to share the market with competitors. With this courage, his future achievements will be I’m afraid it will be limitless.”

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "Uncle Chen, you really praised me a lot along the way. There is no need to continue to praise me."

Chen Sifu said: "No, your generosity and magnanimity are indeed more worthy of praise. When others see someone making the same thing as themselves, they think of how to defeat their opponents and how to seize more markets, but you The idea is that everyone can coexist and share the market together.

The more important point is that you can think of letting Chao Xingxing help you promote the meat in Quancheng. This is really an idea that ordinary people cannot think of or even have. "

Master Yan also agreed very much with Chen Sifu's words.

"Yes, Uncle Chen is right. If you can think about the problem from the promotion of the meat, your height is really much higher than that of ordinary businessmen."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "It's not as exaggerated as Uncle Chen and Master said. I just think that Chao Xingxing is advertising for me at the train station."

Chen Sifu said with a smile: "So Zhengming, you have a great situation. In ancient times, you were not the kind of general who planned for a city or a place, but the kind of capable minister or tycoon in troubled times who directly planned for the country."

Master Yan immediately laughed and said: "Hahaha, the Zhengming in Brother Chen's eyes turns out to be someone like Cao Cao."

Feng Zhengming was also a little bit dumbfounded: "Uncle Chen's evaluation of me is too high."

Then the group left the train station and took a taxi to the Feng Family Restaurant.

Arriving at Fengjiagan Restaurant, Chen Sifu stood on the road and looked at the shop carefully.

After observing carefully for a while, Chen Sifu followed everyone into the shop.

The dry rice shop is not closed yet, but there are not many customers left.

Chen Sifu carefully observed the shop again. Feng Zhengming asked his senior brother to help greet his master and Uncle Chen. He walked inside first, said to the third senior brother, and asked the third senior brother to help prepare a few dishes.

Soon, the third senior brothers Yang Bin and Feng Zhengming went out to meet Master and Uncle Chen.

Master Yan saw the third apprentice there and asked with a smile: "How is the third apprentice doing here at Zhengming?"

When Yang Bin faced his master, he still replied respectfully: "It's a good master. My junior brother takes good care of me. I am also very happy with my junior brother."

Master Yan nodded: "Just do it happily. If you brothers can cooperate well, I, as the master, will feel relieved."

Yang Bin said: "Master, please sit down first. I will cook some dishes for you. I will invite you and Uncle Chen to taste them later."

Master Yan smiled and said: "Okay, you can do it, don't be embarrassed."

Yang Bin promised seriously: "Master, don't worry."

When Yang Bin went back to the kitchen, Feng Zhengming went to get a handful of pork, five-spice boneless pork trotters and Sixi meatballs for Chen Sifu to taste.

Chen Sifu did not rush to taste it, but asked Feng Zhengming to sit down first.

"I looked carefully at the door. The location of your shop is not too bad, but it is a bit small. The overall appearance looks a bit petty. Moreover, there are some clothing stores next to you. Those stores do not promote you much. On the contrary, your shop will bring them some business.

They are taking advantage of your situation, and they cannot promote the development of your shop, so this is not good.

If your shop only sells meat, then your current scale is enough. But if you obviously also do stir-fry, then your current scale is too small. "

Feng Zhengming was a little surprised when he heard this and asked, "Uncle Chen, you mean, I should change places?"

Chen Sifu shook his head: "No, it's not about changing places. You should take down the shop next to it, and then expand your dry rice shop to occupy at least half of the shop on this road. Only in this way can it have enough scale so that others can better enjoy it. I will remember your store and will come here specifically to find you."

Feng Zhengming immediately understood what Chen Sifu meant.

On this return train, Chen Sifu already understood some of Feng Zhengming's business philosophy.

He agreed and supported Feng Zhengming's idea of ​​establishing a brand.

So now, Chen Sifu gave some plans for a dry rice shop based on Feng Zhengming's ideas.

Chen Sifu pointed out clearly: "According to Zhengming's idea, if you want to build your own brand, the current scale is too small. You must take over at least two stores on both sides of you, and then connect them all, and then build a whole The decoration is just like the Chaoxingxing restaurant at the train station.”

When Feng Zongguo saw Master Yan and Chen Sifu coming in together, he also came over to greet them.

I happened to hear Chen Sifu giving Feng Zhengming advice on expanding the business of Fengjiagan Restaurant.

Feng Zonggu sat down with a smile and said, "This man has a very good idea. I have also been thinking about asking Zhengming to expand the space of the shop."

Feng Zhengming quickly introduced it to his grandfather.

Chen Sifu stood up and reached out to Feng Zongguo.

"Brother Feng, your grandson is really a great young man. Not only is he kind-hearted, but he is also a young man with a big picture. I believe he will achieve a great career."

Feng Zonggu responded with a smile: "Thank you for your compliment. He is clearly a good boy and I believe he can achieve great things."

The three elderly people present were all full of expectations for Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming looked helpless: "Uncle Chen, Master, Grandpa, you think so highly of me, it really puts me under a lot of pressure. I'm afraid I won't do well in the end."

Feng Zong smiled and said: "It doesn't matter. If you don't do it well, grandpa will give you the answer."

Master Yan said: "Yes, if you really make a loss, master will recommend you to become a teacher in a vocational school."

Chen Sifu couldn't help but laugh too: "Hahaha, when Zhengming becomes a teacher, it will definitely be a very interesting situation."

Third senior brother Yang Bin quickly prepared several dishes and brought them out to everyone.

When Feng Zhengming saw that the third senior brother had served the food, he naturally hurriedly asked his master, Uncle Chen and his senior brother to eat first, and asked Uncle Chen to taste the meat, pig's trotters and Sixi meatballs to see how they tasted.

Chen Sifu naturally used his chopsticks to taste it.

After eating, Chen Sifu couldn't help but sigh: "No wonder it is said that if you want to eat meat in Quancheng, you must come to Zhengming's shop. The meat in your shop tastes really good."

Feng Zhengming said: "Thank you, Uncle Chen, for the compliment. This is all thanks to the recipe given by master and grandpa."

Chen Sifu then said: "Zhengming, you have to remember to maintain this taste, but you can't just stay here. As a chef, you must ask yourself to continue to improve and make the taste better."

Master Yan agreed very much with Chen Sifu's words: "Yes, we can't stop learning and making progress."

Feng Zhengming listened carefully and took note of the words of the three old men.

After having lunch, Chen Sifu spoke highly of it.

"Now I understand why, Zhengming, your dry rice shop only has such a small one, but the business is still so good. Even though the location of your shop is not that good, it's because your craftsmanship is so good."

Before Feng Zhengming could speak, Chen Sifu added: "I also understand why you didn't take Chao Xingxing seriously and gave them ideas for the store at the train station. Chao Xingxing poses no threat to you, and neither do you." There is no need to compare with Chaoxingxing, you should set your sights higher, the dry rice shop is just your starting point."

Before Chen Sifu left, he left a phone number for Feng Zhengming: "If you need any help, you can call me on this number."

Feng Zhengming didn't think much about it, he just accepted the phone number and expressed his gratitude to Chen Sifu.

Finally, Chen Sifu was put on his bus home.

Feng Zhengming didn't know that after Chen Sifu returned home, he made a phone call and asked the person on the phone to find out more about the ownership of the shops on the street where Feng's Restaurant was located.

I learned that several shops next to the Feng Family Restaurant have been purchased privately by Feng Zonggu.

Chen Sifu didn't ask any more questions.

(End of this chapter)