My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 242 Different people see different hard dishes

But the basic specifications are a guesthouse and a canteen.

Now that they were at a turning point, Weidong naturally suggested that they improve things a bit: "A hotel and restaurant. It doesn't have to be luxurious, but it has to be neat, clean, comfortable, and well-equipped to make you feel at home. It should be open to the public on weekdays. There are so many people traveling for business in places like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong, so business is definitely going to be good!"

Everything is clearly written in the report compiled by Lao Qin.

The secretary continued to carefully record the conversation: "Whether business is good or not is not the main point. It cannot affect the main work of the city."

Just to maintain good relations, Weidong asked for nothing and said whatever he wanted. "No, no, no, since we emphasize that this is a demonstration zone and a pioneer in the commodity economy, shouldn't we do something different in the office? Just like with the citrus incident, when the ad came out, there were definitely people asking how much money the newspaper made and whether the red flag fell. But when we disclosed the details, all of them were for public welfare, and no one at the newspaper said anything immediately."

This is what Lao Qin can't see.

The secretary thought for a moment and wrote it down carefully: "Very good, what else?"

Weidong's stay at the foreign-related hotel also enriched his experience: "The gym is essential. Everyone needs to stay healthy to do their work well. The tea room or coffee shop is convenient for discussing various matters. Oh, and the Jiangzhou local specialty store is also a window for us to display all our industrial and commercial products."

The secretary was excited: "Yes, yes, that's great, very good! And then?"

Then, of course, there's the restaurant: "Open a unique restaurant, Jiangzhou...of course, it's hot pot."

The secretary frowned: "We are not all from Jiangzhou. Some of us can't eat spicy food."

Rang Weidong said skillfully: "Two in one. The restaurant will feature hot pot, and they'll borrow some chefs from the Queen's Restaurant to cook Sichuan cuisine... Well, we should create a new dish called Jiangzhou cuisine, so that both business meals and external customers can choose from it."

The secretary hesitated again as he took notes: "For external customers... doesn't it look a bit strange to see so many people coming in and out?"

Let Weidong dig deeper: "The big restaurant faces the outside, and the small restaurant faces the inside. You can also build a movable partition wall. I've been dealing with architectural design institutes every day lately. There's a new type of board called gypsum board."

People recorded: "The construction cost is not low."

Rang Weidong was already a qualified capitalist, but he was not so familiar with the pursuit of power: "The restaurant can be contracted out, and the company will bear all the costs. The hotel can also be contracted out, but this must be strictly controlled. Don't make any mistakes, otherwise it will bring shame to Jiangzhou."

Restaurants are relatively simpler. As long as you don't get food poisoning, it's not a big deal. Hotels are definitely the focus of police and security control, and there are too many troubles.

The secretary was also serious: "Then you can't contract out hotels and restaurants... You can try, I'll report it to you."

As a result, the matter waited for his response and it became: "Why don't you just handle it, and the Municipal Affairs Bureau will assist you. Anyway, you often travel to Jiangzhou and Pingjing, and you are familiar with construction, catering, and hotels. More importantly, you can handle the work in a thoughtful and reliable manner."

Weidong was surprised: "How can this be done without hotels or restaurants in the city?"

Oh, there’s a sign in the restaurant prohibiting assaulting customers.

The same goes for hotels. The Jiangzhou Hotel in the city, which has a better reception level, was actually the Citibank Pilots Guest House before the liberation. They are definitely very respectful when receiving officials, but for externals, it is good enough if they can just look at them straight in the eye.

There is also a guesthouse of the Liaison Office which is actually a state guesthouse. It is only open to officials and foreign guests and is a bit far from the city gardens.

Therefore, the only places with slightly better service attitude are the "joint venture" hotel and restaurant in the new building of Queen's Restaurant.

It is also the key place for the city to receive superiors to conduct reform research work recently.

It is convenient to get to the downtown area, the pier, and government agencies.

But it is precisely because of the old background investment in Queen's Restaurant that the city is reluctant to get involved.

This made Weidong, the new all-rounder, much more useful. "Jiangzhou has a rich culinary tradition. Because it was the temporary capital before liberation, a large number of skilled chefs have survived. Therefore, in the 1950s and 1960s, Jiangzhou was the national catering Huangpu Military Academy. The National Ministry of Commerce's Catering Service Administration and the Jiangzhou Catering Company jointly established a culinary training station in Jiangzhou, which has trained many outstanding top-notch chefs. You should take advantage of the establishment of this office to make some significant contributions to the reform of the catering industry."

No one knew that Weidong was somehow related to the remnants of the Queen's Restaurant.

Just like no one knows that there is a little episode about titanium ingots in his story of making a fortune.

He thought the matter was not complicated, so he agreed to it.

Later I mentioned it to Mr. Shen that if you take charge of this matter, the office will definitely not be under our management, but the restaurant can learn from the strengths of many others, aren't you a good eater?

When I said this, of course the figure who loved to eat also flashed by.

It was just a fleeting moment, and married men wouldn't think much about it at all.

Shen Cuiyue took a different approach: "Let Wu do it. This guy is actually trying to figure out your foreign machine production line technology, saying that it can turn your factory into one-tenth the staff. This is really ruining our position. Get rid of him."

Her shortcoming is definitely that she doesn't understand science and doesn't believe that technology is productive.

But Wu Shengyun, who grew up working in sales at an agricultural machinery factory, understands this all too well.

In particular, he also has some faith in the power of capital.

Wei Dong hesitated a bit: "Participating in the operation of this restaurant will bring me into contact with many people. The risks and benefits are huge."

The combination of Wu Shengyun and You Qili alone made him terrified.

But if we only choose people like Goudan who are obedient and don't cause trouble in this world, it will be impossible to create a new situation.

Since ancient times, high returns have been accompanied by high risks. Shen Cuiyue's understanding of the two meanings was even more cruel: "That's why we let him go. If he's loyal, he can get us some benefits. If things go wrong, it's just a restaurant with official connections. If he's greedy for this relationship, he'll die sooner or later."

So, this world is the most dangerous and straightforward school.

Jianghu girl had no illusions at all.

Neither she nor Rang Weidong liked to get involved in government affairs, but they couldn't avoid relying on him.

It was just the right time to throw the ambitious Wu Shengyun over there.

His success is his ability, and even if he fails, he will have to take the blame.

The key is that this line is the icing on the cake that allows Weidong and his team to have no connection with other businesses and not worry about being robbed.

Because everyone recognized it as Rang Weidong.

Of course, the city is not looking for free labor. They said they have consulted with the relevant departments about the corn bioengineering project, but they have to wait for a response.

So Weidong took the golden boy and jade girl and Lao Qin to connect with the city's cooking technology training station.

The meeting place was near the pier, so Shen Laosan also wore a mask.

Lao Qin had been working in the military depot system for a long time and had little contact with local people, but he had heard of this training station: "There's a long-established restaurant near Haochi Street. I remember it was trained by them. The food is really good."

The Jianghu girl in the co-pilot seat frowned secretly. She definitely didn't know anything about official matters, but there was a cooking technology training station hidden near the dock. How could she not have any impression of it?

As a result, Weidong was met by a catering company executive at the station. After greeting him, he showed him the way to an alley between two buildings. It was a very inconspicuous corner with a smoky sign and no iron cage door!

After parking the car and going in, Wei Dong saw a greasy sign that said "Training Station". It reminded him of the Chinese Culinary School in Shaolin Temple.

Shen Cuiyue stepped back and looked at the street again: "Isn't this the kitchen of Jiangzhou Hotel?"

That’s right, these are arguably some of the best buildings left over from the Republic of China period, similar to the row of old bank buildings on the Bund in Shanghai, which are very grand and magnificent.

It’s just that there is no open space like the Bund, so the buildings here are all tall and thin.

A building with more than ten floors already stands out from the crowd, not to mention that it was built during the Republic of China period.

A catering company official proudly said, "This was the Bank of China building during the Anti-Japanese War. The building next to it was the Salt Industry Bank building. In the 1950s, it was converted into the South Building and East Building of Jiangzhou Hotel, which is also the gathering place of all the catering industries in Jiangzhou."

Indeed, if the Queen's Restaurant is the original team that has been led by Shen Laosan's second uncle, and has its own unique style, then this place is when all the famous chefs in Jiangzhou were caught in the public-private partnership reform!
As an old security guard in the tax compound, Weidong knew that he would be successful if he could get official resources.

Otherwise, why would You Qili stir up trouble in various ways in the hope of becoming famous across the country?

But only when you actually get it, you will know how rich it is.

No wonder so many people are diligently studying how to take this approach to catering to the market.

As the saying goes, goods belong to the emperor. In the past, when chefs were not allowed to open private restaurants to do business, they could only work in government catering companies. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of food in the company cafeteria?
Shen Cuiyue secretly gave Weidong a thumbs up, saying that the quality of this place is even higher than that of the Queen's Restaurant!
But Weidong had already noticed something.

This is Luohan Hall, where we study the techniques of making camphor tea duck smoked with the fragrance of tea and camphor wood, secret shark fin shaped like hydrangea, dried squid with spinach hearts, glass squid with clear soup and transparent fish, as well as works of art dishes such as poker pot stickers, butterfly bamboo fungus, dry-roasted rock carp, and peacock spreading its tail.

At least the Queen's Restaurant was able to maintain commercial operation under the management of the second uncle.

This place has become an ivory tower run by a state-owned enterprise that is obsessed with researching dishes without worrying about sales.

The masters can only cook a few dishes in a whole day, and they have no energy to busy themselves with turning tables except serving a few tables for dinner.

What’s the point of catering if you don’t turn over tables?

First of all, in terms of scale and price, we did not intend to serve the general public.

What’s the difference between this and the SLR camera that Weidong saw at the Xiangshan factory?

It’s not that these things are bad, but they are just special skills that can only serve a few people and are hidden in the deep. Without administrative subsidies, these things have no vitality.

In the past thirty or forty years when there were many rich people, it might have been fine to focus on the high-end market. But now that people are so poor everywhere, what is the point of all these fancy things?

Weidong instead thought it would be best to send them all to Pingjing. After all, everything there was authentic, and no one would know how delicious the food was.

So, he wasn't interested in trying the dishes. He looked at the various menus and said, "First, we need to hire a chef from Liujin Photo Studio to take artistic photos of these high-end dishes. Whether it's for awards or for leaders to taste, at least they'll know what they are at a glance. Don't use such fancy names, especially things like peacock spreading its tail, which I don't even know what it is."

One of the masters' faces turned black.

"Secondly, those who are willing to go to Pingjing can sign up. The salary is definitely high, with travel allowances. You can go there for a few months and then come back to the company to research new dishes and relax. The salary is tentatively set at... 500 to 1,000."

The black-faced master's face immediately turned red again, he wanted to go!
This kind of catering company's daily business must be losing money, and everyone wants to go to a more prosperous place.

Wu Shengyun narrowed his eyes silently.

(End of this chapter)