Rebirth: Starting from the Cafeteria

Later, Du Shaojie learned that if Li Yumin had not offended someone, he would rather work in a big restaurant. A chef like him can earn a lot of money a month, and he is definitely a high-income earner among the crowd.

It's a pity that he offended someone and no local restaurant was willing to invite him.

Time flies.

Du Shaojie's cooking skills of Fujian cuisine are improving rapidly.

That day, Li Yumin came to the yard where he rented and started to prepare various ingredients with him.

This is the last dish he taught Du Shaojie, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, known as the "King of Fujian Cuisine". The ingredients of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall are varied, and some ingredients need to be soaked in advance, so the preparation alone takes a long time.

These ingredients were all prepared by Du Shaojie himself. After all, there were many precious things in them and they cost a lot of money.

This dish uses dozens of high-end and precious ingredients such as abalone, shark fin, oyster, sea cucumber, etc., and different ingredients are processed in different ways.

Either fry, stir-fry, cook or deep-fry, and finally seal it in a jar and simmer for several hours. The aroma of various ingredients blend together, and the nutrients are integrated into the soup, making it taste extremely delicious.

"The key to this dish is the selection of ingredients. The quality of the ingredients will directly affect the quality of the dish, so the ingredients must meet the requirements. In addition, you must remember the processing methods of different ingredients. Don't forget this."

For this dish, Li Yumin's shop closed for two days.

He told Du Shaojie all the tricks and demonstrated it himself.

Over this long period of time, Du Shaojie has also taught the other party many classic Cantonese dishes. The two of them each get what they need and get along very well.

After the dish [Buddha Jumps Over the Wall] was ready, he finally experienced the real delicacy.

Wang Yongli and others were also fortunate enough to taste it, and they all felt that this "King of Fujian Cuisine" was indeed worthy of its reputation.

That night.

Du Shaojie has been practicing this dish since he entered the simulated space. The ingredients in the simulated space are inexhaustible, so waste can be avoided.

For three whole days, he did not leave the house and was always studying this dish "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall".

From the fourth day, Du Shaojie returned to the shop.

Li Yumin knew what the other party was thinking, so he gave the stove to the other party and went to another stove.

The effect is very good, the business in the store is as hot as before, but the speed of serving the dishes is much faster. After all, there are two chefs working at the same time, which definitely has different reactions.

A week has passed.

Li Yumin had to admit that Du Shaojie's level in Fujian cuisine was no less than his own, and even seemed to be slightly better.

After finishing his work that night, Du Shaojie took the initiative to take Li Yumin to his residence for a drink.

"Master Li, I have to go now. Thank you for your selfless teaching for so long! Before I leave, let's get to know each other again."

The two drank a few bottles of beer and started talking more.

Li Yumin knew that the other party would leave sooner or later. Given his age and skill level, how could he possibly stay here forever?
Although he felt a little reluctant, he didn't say anything.

In the end, it was Du Shaojie who introduced himself again, which surprised him.

The position of the president of an association is just that, after all, it is just an industry organization with no real power. But the position of the boss of a large restaurant chain is quite extraordinary.

"Look at you, you're obviously a big boss, why are you still practicing cooking?"

"Even big bosses have to have things to do, otherwise it would be boring. I am not very interested in managing a business, so the company's daily affairs are handed over to others, and I am just a hands-off boss."

Because the two of them got along very well and Li Yumin never kept anything to himself when teaching him skills, they became friends.

Since we are friends, there are some things that cannot be hidden, otherwise we will not be able to meet in the future.

Li Yumin's emotions fluctuated for a while, but then he calmed down. The two talked and laughed until late, and then went home.

The next day.

Du Shaojie, Zou Xiaohe and Zhong Qing flew to Beijing together, while Wang Yongli and Peng Yongjun stayed there.

The boss gave them a task, which was to find a storefront suitable for opening a restaurant, and if he found a suitable one, he would buy it.

He returned to the capital and stayed with Qi Yan and his daughter for half a month, and then returned to the provincial capital of Fujian Province.

"Boss Du, we found two storefronts that meet the requirements. Would you like to go take a look tomorrow?"

After meeting Du Shaojie, Wang Yongli first reported the results of his search for the storefront.

Du Shaojie saw that it was still early, so he immediately went to these two places to look at houses. One of the stores was very large, with two floors, which met his requirements.

So he happily bought the storefront.

This afternoon.

Li Yumin had just finished his work when he saw Du Shaojie.

"Huh? You haven't left yet. I thought you went back a long time ago."

"I left and came back again. Enough of small talk, Master Li, I came here today to ask you, are you interested in opening a restaurant with me?"

Du Shaojie felt that he still needed to delve deeper into the preparation of Fujian cuisine. After all, he had learned a lot in the past period of time and already had a vague feeling that he was about to make a breakthrough.

Therefore, he needed a bigger stage. In addition, Du Shaojie admired Li Yumin's character and cooking skills and was unwilling to let a top chef be buried in a small restaurant.

"Boss Du, I'll be honest. As for the money, I can still come up with some, but I really don't know how to manage a restaurant."

At this moment, Li Yumin was really moved.

If he came forward, he would be able to raise a hundred or eighty thousand yuan, but the key was that he could not manage a big restaurant.

"You don't have to worry about management, just take care of the kitchen. I'll give you a portion of the restaurant's shares, 30%, do you think that's okay?"

Du Shaojie plans to find a professional manager to manage the restaurant and will also give Li Yumin a portion of the shares.

He calculated that the total investment for this restaurant was about 20 yuan, and Li Yumin needed to raise 6 yuan, which should not be a problem.

He bought the storefront and would rent it out to a restaurant later. He only needed to pay the rent on time every month and did not need to tie up any funds on it.

"Okay! But I'll reiterate, you can leave the kitchen stuff to me. But I'm not good at management, and I'm even worse at dealing with people."

No matter how slow Li Yumin was, he knew that this was his chance.

So he didn't hesitate and directly agreed to the other party's offer to open a restaurant together.

[Fujian cuisine] is not very popular and may not be popular outside the local area. This is one of the reasons why he suffered from exclusion but did not leave his hometown.

Another reason is that there is a patient at home who needs long-term treatment and he cannot leave.

"Then let's go and look at the storefront together. I have a storefront here in a good location. If you think it's suitable, we can open the new restaurant there."

Afterwards, Du Shaojie took Li Yumin to see the store he had just bought.

This area has a large flow of people and convenient transportation, it is indeed a good place to open a restaurant. Moreover, Du Shaojie's own storefront is cheaper than the rent outside.

Li Yumin immediately agreed to rent the house.

Afterwards, Du Shaojie took Li Yumin to find a local decoration company. After finalizing the design plan, the project started immediately.

The next step is recruitment. The restaurant manager must be recruited locally, and the same goes for other staff.

While they were busy, Meng Gang and Xiao Jianjun showed up unexpectedly.

"Mr. Du, we had planned to open a store here before. However, considering the difference in food tastes, we decided to start with the [Seafood Restaurant] first."

Every place has its own food characteristics, but the influence of foreign food culture is not ruled out.

For example, Sichuan cuisine can be found almost everywhere in the country, the only difference is the quantity.

Relatively speaking, the food system here is relatively closed, and Meng Gang made a great decision before deciding to come here to develop the market.

To be on the safe side, I plan to open a seafood restaurant first.

"Then hurry up and rent a storefront. I opened a Fujian cuisine restaurant with a partner. It's currently under renovation and I'm busy all day."

Du Shaojie hasn't done this kind of thing personally for a long time. Since Meng Gang and others are here, he asks them to help recruit employees.

The restaurant he and Li Yumin jointly opened does not belong to the company, but the company can help look after the store here in the future.

He himself was too lazy to come often.

A few days passed quickly.

The recruitment work was basically completed, and Du Shaojie personally participated in the subsequent employee training.

Anyway, he would go to Beijing every month to reunite with his wife and children, and he was not in a hurry to leave. Wang Yuxiu went to Shanghai to help Xiaoya take care of the children, and he returned to Guangzhou alone.

Whether it is recruitment or employee training, President Fang of the Municipal Association has provided great help.

Du Shaojie also gradually figured out the situation of the local catering industry. The owners behind several well-known restaurants have close ties with each other, forming a relatively close interest group.

No wonder the association president’s words are not effective. Li Yumin suffers setbacks everywhere when he offends someone.

"Boss Du, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have enough kitchen staff."

Although the average level of kitchen staff is relatively low, Li Yumin is very satisfied to be able to recruit people.

The influence of the bosses behind those big restaurants in the local area cannot be underestimated. Chefs with a certain degree of fame will not get involved with Li Yumin.

Du Shaojie was naturally well aware of this situation. However, he transferred several insightful chefs from Xiao Jianjun's staff and believed that they would grow up quickly.

After all, with the presence of chef Li Yumin and the level of the people transferred here is also quite good, it is not difficult to learn how to cook Fujian cuisine.

this day.

Du Shaojie and Li Yumin's restaurant opened. There were not many guests coming to congratulate them, but the business was very good after the opening.

The restaurant is mid- to high-end and currently has moderate prices, but it serves all kinds of classic Fujian dishes, including the "King of Fujian Cuisine" [Buddha Jumps Over the Wall].

The price/performance ratio is quite high.

These days, Du Shaojie has been staying in the back kitchen, he is the second cook, and Li Yumin is the first cook. After all, he is just a guest, it is impossible for him to stay in the restaurant all the time.

Before he knew it, he had mastered 50 classic Fujian dishes, and he cooked them quite well. (End of this chapter)