Chapter 148: Chapter 148 Can We Not Fight Over Good Things?
Jiangyue Terrace was taking off.
In the past few days, the number of people seeking Jiang Feng’s assistance had increased.
Many companies planning receptions were looking to book a large private room on the second floor of Jiangyue Terrace.
Treating clients to a Meimei meal here, wouldn’t that clinch the deal for a big business order?
Moreover, these corporate clients were interested in long-term cooperation.
If they had a good dining experience once, they would bring their future business here.
These days, finding a reliable grand restaurant was not easy.
The private rooms on the second floor had been prepared especially for such clients.
After all, considering the costs involved, Jiang Feng was naturally delighted to take on large orders.
So whenever clients came calling, after Jiang Feng agreed to their requests, he would have Liew Mei handle the coordination.
Liew Mei was a very capable and versatile person. She deeply appreciated the platform Jiang Feng had given her and performed excellently.
The foundation of Jiangyue Terrace was becoming stable.
What remained to be seen was whether they could maintain this momentum.
It was common to see many regulars at Jiangyue Terrace.
Jiang Feng sometimes took the time to check the lobby and would see familiar faces who used to visit his food truck.
It was obvious that everyone genuinely enjoyed his cooking.
Everything he made was delicious.
Jiang Feng also liked the lifestyle of running a food truck; as long as the food was good, there was never a shortage of customers.
In the evening, during their break, Jiang Feng would join the staff for their meal.
Each table had a dish of sweet and sour carp.
Staff meals were normally quite simple, but since the restaurant had just opened, Jiang Feng was generous and added extra dishes for the employees.
He wanted to build a brand with warmth.
Of course, this was contingent on the staff performing well and deserving such treatment.
Jiang Feng sat at a table with Liew Mei and Zhang Hu.
With a smile, Liew Mei suggested, "Boss, have you considered opening a personal short video account? You’d have at least a million followers! You can create gourmet video content regularly, and reaching ten million followers wouldn’t be tough. I’ve seen many chefs making food videos who have tens of millions of followers. There’s a lot of potential in this field."
Hearing this, Jiang Feng nodded. He had indeed considered this before.
During his time at the ranch making Fairy Chicken, Zhang Xinya had filmed the whole process, and the video had been quite popular when posted online.
But most people make videos either to start live streaming or to secure advertising deals.
Jiang Feng would never live stream, and he wasn’t interested in advertising revenue, so it didn’t matter to him.
Besides, cooking while having someone film and then edit the footage was quite a hassle.
"I don’t plan on making short videos myself," Jiang Feng replied. "I don’t have that much energy. However, I would like Jiangyue Terrace Shandong Cuisine Restaurant to have its own video account. We can post about any promotional activities or new dishes on it. Later on, we’ll find some young people who are good at making videos... Hmm... preferably someone more composed. We’re aiming for a composed style. If they’re from the post-2000s generation, we’d need to review their video work first."
The post-2000s generation is particularly adept at creating buzz these days. For instance, during a Year of the Dragon promotional campaign by a certain city’s tourism bureau, a planner from this generation simply had two very simple dragons writhing in a video.
That promotion actually became quite a hit.
However, our restaurant needs to highlight the heritage of Shandong Cuisine. It’s a cuisine featured in state banquets and suitable for grand halls, so a dignified approach is best.
Nowadays, many major dining brands have their own video accounts.
Some are for live-streaming product sales, others for advertising.
Jiang Feng’s words immediately caught the attention of others in the restaurant.
Jiang Feng owned 100% of the restaurant. The building was his, everything was his, and there was no talk of shares.
Therefore, his vision would dictate the restaurant’s future direction.
Liew Mei immediately asked, "Is it for advertising and promotion? I can find an attractive server with a good figure to introduce our restaurant. That could attract some people."
But Jiang Feng shook his head. "No, our videos won’t be for any promotion. We’ll simply publicize the preparation processes of Shandong Cuisine. Each video thumbnail will display the dish’s name. Then we’ll record the cooking process and edit it. We’ll make one every two or three days. I’ll do it first. Then, our kitchen’s head chefs will all film their signature dishes."
Saying this, Jiang Feng looked at Zhang Hu. "Old Zhang, when the time comes, you and the other head chefs should all prepare. Cook your signature dishes. It’s also an opportunity for you to showcase your skills. As chefs, you’d want to be known by more people, right?"
Hearing Jiang Feng’s words, Zhang Hu quickly replied, "Yes, yes, Boss, no problem."
Zhang Hu seemed somewhat excited.
This was definitely a good thing for the chefs.
They wouldn’t need to do anything extra—just explain a few things while cooking as usual.
And they would get to appear in the videos.
If Jiangyue Terrace Shandong Cuisine Restaurant became renowned, it would surely elevate the status of the chefs within the industry.
Jiang Feng’s method was very clever.
Jiangyue Terrace was a major platform. Chefs would cherish the opportunity to work there and thus be motivated to work hard.
Everyone was aiming for better prospects, and with aligned interests, they would naturally work together towards the same goal.
Liew Mei said from the side, "Boss, I’ll start preparing right away. We will need to add a position for video operations."
Jiang Feng nodded. "No problem. You handle this matter. I’ll review the produced videos to set the style and tone. Let’s eat."
Everyone was tired after a busy day. Eating would help them rest well.
The restaurant was quite busy, but with a shift rotation system and decent salaries, the employees had no complaints.
Jiang Feng believed that making videos was a good idea, but since he didn’t have the energy himself, he decided to have Jiangyue Terrace Shandong Cuisine Restaurant do it.
This way, he wouldn’t have to bear too much pressure.
Everything was well arranged.
Jiang Feng told Liew Mei that there was no rush to make videos, at least not during the opening seven days.
There simply wasn’t time, as the back kitchen was too busy.
Every day the restaurant was full, with many customers coming for Jiang Feng’s reputation.
Jiang Feng planned to rest after the seven days were over.
Being the boss is more tiring than being an employee.
In the future, I’ll just go work there occasionally.
「University of Science and Technology.」
The sweet and sour carp that day had Ji Mingming and her friends praising it endlessly.
When they returned and chatted with other girls, they shared their experiences at Jiangyue Terrace.
"That stall owner from the Second Canteen—he’s actually a restaurant owner! His cooking is absolutely fantastic. He could easily be a head chef at a restaurant."
"Oh, what a pity! I never went to the Second Canteen because there were so many people queuing. Thinking about it now, I really regret it!"
"Well, I went every day. The dishes he made were all so fragrant. I was happy to wait in line for half an hour!"
"I can’t believe that stall owner is so wealthy."
"Today’s sweet and sour carp was superb! The presentation was beautiful, the fish meat was succulent, and there wasn’t any fishy taste at all. We really enjoyed it."
People at the University of Science and Technology were talking about Jiang Feng’s story.
His story was quite a topic of discussion.
He had set up a small stall at the university, making delicious Chinese fast food, just quietly cooking every day.
Being handsome, many girls wanted his WeChat.
Everyone thought he was just a young chef with exceptional culinary skills.
Who would have thought that after some time, the next news they heard of him was that he was already the owner of an incredibly popular Shandong Cuisine Restaurant.
The University of Science and Technology now had a legend of a chef.
Students talked about it with great interest, as did the teachers. Even the school’s cleaning aunties and the other stall owners were fascinated by it.
"Boss Jiang is really not an ordinary person. Imagine how wealthy he must be, yet he still came to the university to run a stall!"
"We all run food stalls at the university. How come he’s a big boss, and I’m still just running a stall?"
"Jiangyue Terrace Restaurant is so popular; it’s impossible to book a table."
"You can just queue. It’s not expensive. If you don’t order the particularly pricey dishes, it’s about two hundred yuan for two people. They even have a discount now, so it’s worth going at least once."
News of Jiang Feng’s deeds spread to all the places where he had once set up his food truck: Hongshan Park, resorts, mall food courts, the University of Science and Technology, temples, hospitals, and more.
Hongshan Park had also become quite lively recently.
This was where Jiang Feng had first set up his stall. He became popular right from his first day, with many people queuing in front of his food truck.
Afterward, when he moved to other locations, many local residents would look for him every day.
Now that it was confirmed Jiang Feng was the owner of Jiangyue Terrace, people no longer needed to keep asking around.
People were saying things like, "I think Executive Chef Jiang must be a state banquet-level chef. Ordinary people rarely get to taste food made by chefs of this caliber. We’re lucky to have eaten his food even once!"
"Get in line early! If you manage to eat there, you’ve struck gold!"
"At Jiangyue Terrace, you can eat dishes made by a top-tier chef. Who wouldn’t want to go?"
"The queue is so hard to get into; it gets more difficult every day!"
"Wouldn’t everyone scramble for something this good?"
The local residents were also fervently discussing this.
"To think that the rice bowl I queued for back then was made by a state banquet chef! Looking back, I feel like I really lucked out."
"Good thing I queued up every day back then!"
Jiang Feng’s influence continued to expand.
He, however, remained calm, merely contemplating what dishes to make next.
He planned to make two chicken dishes tomorrow and the day after.
Shandong Cuisine boasts many ways to prepare chicken, such as Zaozhuang spicy chicken, sweet soy-glazed chicken pieces, crispy fried chicken, cloth-bag chicken, yellow braised chicken, and watermelon chicken.
All classic dishes.
His skill in preparing chicken was already at a level of perfection; he had mastered various methods for cooking chicken and handled them with ease.
He would choose a few chicken dishes to make and serve them to customers.
Plates of freshly cooked chicken, fragrant, tender, and smooth, served soft and moist, would surely allow the customers to eat to their heart’s content.