The Northern Stories of Chef Lao Tan

Chapter 380 Two Dumplings

On the sixth day of the lunar new year, Lao Tan got on a plane to Hohhot and came to Hohhot.

The weather in Hohhot is as cold as the provincial capital, gray and wintery.

After Lao Tan thought about it on the plane, he went to see Yanzi and Zhang Yu first, and he hadn't chatted with them for a long time.Although they don't care about things, they are directors and bosses after all, and they need to report to them for some work and listen to their opinions at the same time.

Now it's not only that the two of them don't care about things, Yanhua is waiting to give birth, and they don't care about things in two months' time, the old Tan of the whole group has the final say.What you say is what you say, but after all, you are not the boss, you must ask for instructions, and you can't mess up the rules.

Lao Tan does this well. He never puts himself in the position of the boss.If this kind of work is placed in the public sector within the system, it should be a model worker and an advanced model.

He knew Yanhua, Yanzi, Zhang Yu, including Lao Deng.None of the four had any ambitions or suspicions. The original intention of opening a restaurant was just to make money and make life better.

Unexpectedly, Aqiao could develop into such a situation. In eight years, she became a well-known dumpling brand, and it became bigger and bigger.

People are selfish in the face of interests and easily get carried away.Many restaurants began to go downhill when they reached their peak, and the reasons were the same-unequal distribution of benefits, internal struggles began, and finally fell apart.

Fortunately, Yanzi and Yanhua are not like that.

Yanhua is kind, easy-going, magnanimous, and has a more open-mindedness than a man.Although she is a female stream, it is commendable to look at things in the long run and know how to be willing.

Because of this kind of morality, she has the trust in people, and makes people who follow her willing to do it, so Ah Qiao is what she is today.

Yanzi is also kind and easy-going, but not as generous as Yanhua.

She is the first to understand herself.When you understand a lot of things in life, you can take them lightly, live a meaningful life with a peaceful mind, and enjoy life.

Both Yanhua and Yanzi are older than Lao Tan. At first, Lao Tan was their teacher and introduced them to the catering.After eight years of ups and downs, the two have grown up, and now they are Lao Tan's teachers in some aspects - such as family, such as mentality.

People grow through constant experiences, so don’t say that you are great at any time, for every gain is bound to be a loss. The so-called greatness is only achieved in a certain field, and it may be a failure in other areas.

Objectively speaking, as a child from the countryside, Lao Tan has achieved what he is today after more than [-] years of hard work.

Although Aqiao is a small dumpling restaurant, it is not comparable to a big restaurant, but there are more than [-] restaurants in the country, and each restaurant has [-] employees, there are more than [-] people.To put it bluntly, as long as Ah Qiao is open for one day, more than [-] people will give hope to life. If it closes, more than [-] people will have to be laid off and have to find new jobs to make a living.

For the sake of more than [-] people, Lao Tan still can't stop, he has to be at his best all the time, sitting on the shaft of Aqiao's carriage, yelling and shouting with all his strength pull forward.

The plane landed steadily, Lao Tan walked out of the tunnel, passed the gate, Zhou Xiaomei was smiling and waving at him.

The two got into the car.

"I planned to pick you up at my house, but Sister Yan and Zhang Yu said they were ready at home and asked me to take you to his house." Zhou Xiaomei said while driving.

"Then go to their house, I want to chat with them too." Old Tan said.

"Everything is going well, uncle?" Zhou Xiaomei asked.

"Well, everything is fine. Are your parents okay too?"

"Okay, my dad is still waiting to drink with you."

"Tomorrow, it won't work today. By the way, when will your dad return to Beautiful Valley?" Old Tan asked.

"On the ninth day of the ninth day, the wineries will start working on the ninth day." Zhou Xiaomei said.

Lao Tan smiled and said yes, and then asked: "How is He Jiadong? It's good?"

"It's fine, everything is fine." Zhou Xiaomei had a happy expression on her face.

Yanzi and Zhang Yu have been busy since eight o'clock in the morning.Braised oxtail, stewed chicken with cordyceps, roasted river fish, grilled lamb chops, these troublesome things have to be prepared in advance, so don't rush all night.

Two cold dishes are also ready, one is pickled vegetables with chicken feet, and the other is dried tofu mixed with soy sauce, both of which are Lao Tan's favorite.

Chicken feet and pickled vegetables are home-cooked dishes in Chaoyang and Chifeng areas.

In the past, the days were poor, and the common people had nothing to eat during the Chinese New Year. They chopped up the chicken skeleton, removed the oil, washed and chopped the pork skin, and soaked the soybeans in advance.

Put these four things together and boil them like skin jelly. After boiling, put them outside to dry overnight, and it will become jelly.It tastes crunchy and crispy, with both saltiness and taste, and it is a good dish to go with wine.

Although this kind of farmhouse dish can't be used for banquets, it is delicious, with the taste of hometown and mother's taste.

Lao Tan carefully researched, produced, and sold the three dishes of chicken feet pickles, pig head stew, and Wantuoer in his hometown. To be honest, except for the three restaurants in Chifeng, the restaurants in other regions were not good, and they were finally cancelled.

Local dishes have certain regional characteristics, and people in different places have different eating habits. This is as good as Changsha’s preserved chicken and preserved duck. It’s the same reason that ordinary people in Northeast China don’t like to eat it—they are not used to it.

After Zhou Xiaomei picked up Lao Tan, she called Yanzi, and when they arrived, the dishes were ready and put on the table.

The four of them exchanged pleasantries first, and then got to the topic—drinking, eating and chatting.

After two glasses of wine, Zhang Yu raised his glass and said to Old Tan: "Old Tan, you are the most hardworking in our family. You can't be idle for a year. Today, tomorrow, everything depends on you. I, Yanzi and I, toast you!"

Yanzi also raised his wine glass and said sincerely: "Yes, our family depends on Lao Tan. Without Lao Tan, there would be no Aqiao. The two of us said this under the covers."

Lao Tan raised his glass and touched the couple, and said, "You are polite, the main thing is that you two trust, be bold and rest assured."

Zhang Yu and his wife finished respecting Lao Tan and Zhou Xiaomei, said thank you, and then played freely.

Yanzi and Zhou Xiaomei talked about women, while Lao Tan and Zhang Yu talked about men.

Lao Tan said: "My plan this year is to build the central kitchen store in Changsha, and then open two more stores, so that there will be four stores in total. Changsha will temporarily have four stores, and will not open more. From next year, we will start to repair and practice internal strength. .”

"I agree." Zhang Yu nodded, "It's time for you to take a rest, you can't do it all. Let's stabilize it, repair it for two years, and then expand in [-]."

"Well, I think so too. Now the dumpling market is saturated, and once the market is saturated, the competitiveness will be great, chaos will arise, and there will be a lot of imitations, and there will be a price war." Lao Tan continued: "Our advantage is the small dumpling restaurant. , mobile and flexible, the dumpling wine culture has been finalized and has become a signature, which cannot be imitated by others.

So far, the price increase of raw materials has not had any impact on our family, and it is estimated that it will be soon.I have adapted the recipe for each region, mainly for dumplings.

We don't fight price wars, instead we give away profits.Now there are [-] dumplings per plate, and the number will increase to [-] from March [-]st, and the price remains the same. "

Hearing what Lao Tan said, Zhang Yu calculated it, and then said: "The gross profit rate of dumplings is 70.00%, you mean to drop to 60.00% six?"

"Yes, give up four points to earn money back and guarantee popularity." Lao Tan argued: "Our family is a small dumpling restaurant, a community store, which mainly serves the common people. The common people come to the store to eat dumplings, and the attention is on the dumplings. On the dumplings.

Customers don't pay attention to whether the dishes are changed or not. The dumplings are different, and it is clear whether there is one more or one less, and it has a lot to do with it.The price remains the same, and there are two more dumplings for each serving. He feels that it is a good deal and he has taken advantage of it, so he doesn't want to go to other people's homes. "

Zhang Yu pondered, nodded after a while, and said, "I agree."

Although Yanzi and Zhou Xiaomei chatted lively, Lao Tan and Zhang Yu listened to everything.

Swallow interjected: "I also agree, it used to be good to eat sixteen dumplings, but now it is full to eat eighteen dumplings, it is not bad to eat two dumplings, but the mood is bad.

No price increase will make customers feel comfortable eating two more dumplings, and the dining experience will be improved. This is the winner. "

(End of this chapter)