Siheyuan: A Cook in the 60s

"For a wedding."

"This place is used for banquets. There are big rooms and small rooms. Ours is considered a small room. Most wedding banquets have one or two tables. We come here to have a banquet and join in the fun. It's like having our own place, and it's festive and joyful."

"Then what about this Master He you mentioned?" The big boss was also curious.

"Oh, the price for making a banquet is different from the price downstairs. As you can see, it is quite expensive to decorate this room."

The leader nodded in agreement. It was indeed expensive. The sofa and the coffee table were not cheap. It could even be said that the TV was nothing compared to these two.

"Actually, what's expensive is not the room, but the chef's craftsmanship. The room can only be considered a decoration. There are different prices for booking a table here, but the lowest price is more than fifty yuan. I'm talking about the price for a table."

"Is there anyone willing to pay this price?!" The big boss' eyes widened.

As a leader, he is too sensitive to economic issues. The average salary of the people is only a few hundred yuan a year. But the problem is that this is an average. Even in the old city, there are many people who can support their families with only a dozen or twenty yuan. Fifty yuan for one table, isn't it too outrageous?

"Yes, quite a few. We have people who are good at various cuisines here. Before placing an order, we will ask the other party about their tastes and let them discuss with the chef about what dishes to prepare. After all, this wedding banquet is only once in a lifetime. If you grit your teeth, it can be considered a good meal."

The advantages of Cao Wei’s wedding banquet are too obvious.

He can get the source of the ingredients.

The chef's skills can be verified by his head chef, so it's no big problem to say that he ranks at the top.

While we were chatting, the food came.

"Shall we eat first?"

"Okay! Eat it."

For men, eating is a fairly fast process, especially if they only eat and don't drink, the process will be even faster.

Sha Zhu's cooking skills have improved a little. At least, under Cao Wei's encouragement, his level has been raised to a higher level.

Everyone ate so much that their bellies were full.

"A little worse than you, but already very good." The big boss has the final say.

"Hahahaha, you've finally earned some money over the years. This table alone must be worth dozens of dollars." The leader made a joke.

"Don't say that. It's different. When I go to the big leader's house, I don't need to prepare ingredients and I can take some home. In fact, it was the big leader who kept my cooking skills up all those years. Would you like some tea?" Cao Wei asked.

"Okay, drink some."

Several people sat back at the coffee table.

"Speaking of which, Xiao Jing is really distressed because of you. You have to compensate him a little bit."

"Oh? What exactly are you worried about?" Cao Wei asked while making tea for them.

"Ah." Jing Yu sighed: "Actually, after coming to your place, I am not so resentful. I can't say that you are doing too well and it makes it impossible for others to do their jobs. That would be too unreasonable."

"A few days ago, quite a few restaurants opened one after another. In the past few months, some stayed and some closed." Cao Wei paused and said, "In my opinion, they just can't adapt. They don't adapt to my model."

"Your pattern? Can you tell me more about it?"

"It's nothing. The most important thing is to see what the diners need. For example, the big canteens are for people who want to try new things or don't want to cook. The prices are not high and the food is good. This is defined as fast food. There are still many people who need this kind of restaurant here. After all, there are still many people walking around the streets and doing temporary work. On weekdays, they can't bear to go to a restaurant, so they bring food from home. It's okay in the summer, but in the winter, the food is hard and inedible."

"The lobby on the first floor is for those who want to dine out and get together with friends." The leader drew inferences from one example: "So, the tables downstairs are not that big, with seats for three or four people, and the big tables can only hold seven or eight people. The second floor is used for banquets, and such a big table can easily accommodate more than a dozen people."

"Yes, that's what I mean." Cao Wei nodded. "Another thing is to make sure that the food is ok. After all, we are eating food, so the kitchen must be clean, and the food we buy must be fine. If it's not fresh, we will throw it away. But we have never seen any unwanted food here, and we sell it out every day."

Thinking of the different times, Cao Wei added another sentence.

"The last and most crucial step is the chef's skills. Internally, we have divided them into five levels. In the canteen, one is considered an apprentice. The third stove is the second stove, the third stove is the first stove, and the last stove is the head chef. For example, Master He mentioned earlier is the head chef, and the head chef is responsible for five to eight chefs."

"We have formed a group. Some are responsible for the banquet, and some are responsible for the first floor. The dishes in the restaurant are not too bad. They are all controlled by the chef."

"It's both inside and outside." The leader said with emotion: "If you were asked to open another store in this food street outside, what kind of store would you choose?"

"Then you can open a lot of restaurants." Cao Wei was happy: "You don't have to open a restaurant. You can open a roast duck restaurant, I think it's good. Or a hot pot restaurant, that's fine. There are so many foods to cook, why do you have to focus on restaurants? Or if you have good skills, you can open a targeted one. For example, you like Sichuan cuisine, and you open a Sichuan restaurant outside. What would you choose between a big restaurant and a Sichuan restaurant?"

"Of course it's the Sichuan restaurant. The name 'Grand Restaurant' sounds good, but I feel that the Sichuan restaurant is more to my taste."

Jingyu next to him seemed to be lost in thought.

The leader patted him on the shoulder and said, "This is business, this is competition, survival of the fittest. I think you should carefully ask everyone who plans to rent a house from you to open a restaurant what they want to do. Analyze carefully whether it is suitable to open a restaurant here. It is not easy for ordinary people to make money in their lifetime. When they see that he is making so much money here, they naturally want to follow suit. The results are mostly unsatisfactory. So, you have to check this carefully."

"You can just talk to me." Cao Wei cheerfully gave advice.