Rebirth: Starting from the Cafeteria

At this time, Zhong Fuxiang closed his eyes, and the monitor on the bedside made a "beeping" sound.

"All of you get out, the patient needs emergency treatment."

A lot of doctors and nurses came, so Du Shaojie and others had to leave the ward.

Zhong Fuxiang's son Zhong Zhengjun did not come out. It took a long time before he came out and told Du Shaojie: "My dad has survived, but the doctor said not to let the patient get too emotional, so we can only talk outside."

"I understand. I'll go back first. If there are any changes here, call me immediately. We can talk about other things later."

Du Shaojie left the hospital in a very bad mood.

Two days later.

Zhong Fuxiang died of illness in the hospital. Du Shaojie and Dong Jun went together to help Zhong Zhengjun deal with the funeral and attended Zhong Fuxiang's memorial service.

Dong Jun is Zhong Fuxiang's apprentice. He just came back from another place. Several other apprentices of Zhong Fuxiang also came. Others who could not come also called Zhong Zhengjun and Dong Jun to express their condolences.

"Boss Dong, don't be too sad. Master Zhong lived an upright life and trained a large number of skilled chefs. Before Master Zhong passed away, I visited him in the hospital. Let's help Zhong Zhengjun more in the future."

After the memorial service, Du Shaojie and Dong Jun helped invite everyone to dinner at the restaurant.

On the way, Du Shaojie saw that Dong Jun was in a very low mood, so he whispered to comfort him. Dong Jun had a good relationship with his master, and he would take time to visit the old man no matter where he was in recent years.

So he actually knew his master's wish.

"Boss Du, I will. No matter what, I will find a way to keep the hot pot restaurant he left behind."

After hearing what Dong Jun said, Du Shaojie nodded silently.

Since he had promised Zhong Fuxiang, he would not ignore Zhong Zhengjun and would definitely contribute at the critical moment.

More than a month passed.

Du Shaojie came to Shenzhen again and invited Yu Mo to have a meal at Zhong Zhengjun's hot pot restaurant.

"Ajie, the food at this hotpot restaurant is actually pretty good, and the prices aren't expensive, so why is the business not as good as before?"

There were not many customers in the hot pot restaurant, and the occupancy rate was about 50%.

Yu Mo and Du Shaojie simply sat in the lobby, eating and chatting.

"It was mainly due to the impact of chain hotpot restaurants, and I even contributed a little to this. It's too difficult for a hotpot restaurant to survive alone nowadays, and it's not easy for them to stick with it."

Du Shaojie chose to eat here, actually he also wanted to do a field investigation.

With his vision, he could see the essence of the problem at a glance. Of course, he still had a way to help Zhong Zhengjun. Apart from anything else, he only needed to publicly shout a few words to bring a steady stream of business to this hot pot restaurant.

After all, it was just a small store and had no impact on him.

"Okay, I'll talk to the company later. Come here when you want to eat hot pot. I can see that you really want to help this restaurant, but why don't you give him a franchise?"

Yu Mo saw through it and felt that Du Shaojie was a little emotional.

It's not that we can't help the other party, but it's not worth it to use our connections for such a small matter. Instead, it would be better to give Zhong Zhengjun a special license, hang the "Shuweixiang Hotpot" brand, and include it in the supply system and quality supervision system.

If you want to support the other party, you can simply charge less or no franchise fees.

"Mo Mo, you are very thoughtful. I will think about it and inform everyone. Otherwise, I am afraid that the management will have objections."

Du Shaojie responded casually and did not continue the topic.

Yu Mo talked about this matter from the perspective of an outsider. In fact, it is not that simple to register Zhong Zhengjun's hot pot restaurant under the name of [Shuweixiang Old Hot Pot].

As a boss, he has to consider the reactions of his employees. Once this door is opened, it will be difficult to recover.

After dinner, Yu Mo returned to the company, while Du Shaojie stayed and chatted with Zhong Zhengjun for a while.

"Zhengjun, Master Zhong and I have a very good relationship. If you encounter any difficulties in the future, please tell me and I will do my best to help. In addition, what do you think about the future development of this store?"

"Mr. Du, thank you! My father often mentioned you when he was alive. He said he regretted not cooperating with you all the time, otherwise you would have been a veteran of Bailian Catering.

This hot pot restaurant was left to me by my father, and I will do my best to run it. Alas, I was not in the catering industry before, and I often feel powerless. Mr. Du will have to give me more guidance in the future. "

Family members know their own business, and Zhong Zhengjun does not think he is better than his father.

Zhong Fuxiang is a top-notch chef after all, but due to the influence of the general environment, he can only maintain his current status. It is basically wishful thinking to want to grow and develop.

The person Zhong Fuxiang admires the most is Du Shaojie, and Zhong Zhengjun also has the intention of currying favor with him in his words.

"I can't say I'm giving you any advice. If you have any questions, just come to me."

Du Shaojie understood Zhong Zhengjun's thoughts and quickly said goodbye and left.

After returning to the catering company, he called Yu Jianxin, Dong Jun and others to his office. He wanted to help Zhong Zhengjun, but he had to ask for their opinions in advance.

"Mr. Du, we still need to think about this matter carefully. I personally respect Master Zhong very much, and I am willing to help his descendants. But once this door is opened, what if we encounter special circumstances? If there are too many such incidents, the brand of [Shuweixiang Hotpot] might be ruined." Yu Jianxin discussed the matter at hand, not wanting the boss to cause problems in the operation of the hotpot restaurant because of nostalgia.

What he said was true. Today, he opened a loophole for Zhong Zhengjun and let the other party use the name of [Shuweixiang Old Hot Pot]. Although it is possible to supervise the other party's operations in terms of supply, it is difficult to do everything.

What if the other party cuts corners and uses inferior materials in the future operation, wouldn't Shuweixiang Hotpot be the one to bear the blame after the incident?
Besides, if I can make an opening for Zhong Zhengjun today, I can make an opening for someone else tomorrow. If I continue to do this, my brand will be destroyed sooner or later.

"Boss Du, I think what Boss Yu said makes sense. If we want to help Zhengjun, we can use other methods, but we can't harm the interests of the company."

Although Dong Jun had a good relationship with Zhong Zhengjun, he still made some pertinent suggestions.

He doesn't want the company to be harmed because of personal feelings. After all, he is also a part of the company.

"Well, I understand what you mean. Let's put the licensing issue aside for now."

Du Shaojie felt very relieved that Yu Jianxin and Dong Jun first considered the interests of the company and did not act on emotion.

So he adopted their opinions and did not grant any franchise to anyone.

The next day.

Du Shaojie came to see Zhong Zhengjun again, and under his guidance, he went to the kitchen.

There is nothing wrong with the hot pot base recipe and dipping sauce recipe passed down by Zhong Fuxiang, but there are still many areas that can be improved.

Du Shaojie took the initiative to take on this task and promised to help Zhong Zhengjun improve the formula as soon as possible.

"Boss Du, you made me feel embarrassed. Thank you so much!"

Zhong Zhengjun is not an ungrateful person. He expressed his sincere gratitude to such a big boss for personally helping him improve the formula.

He then gave the recipe to Du Shaojie, but kept it hidden from him, which was really ungrateful.

"Why thank you? We are one family. Once I have a new formula, I can help you train your employees. Zhengjun, I hope you can keep doing this and don't let Master Zhong down."

"Well, I will."

Zhong Zhengjun is not without any advantages. It was he who persuaded his father to buy this storefront in the early years.

Now I have saved a lot of money on rent, otherwise it would have been difficult for me to survive until now.

Du Shaojie didn't know about this before, and he only found out about it when he was chatting with Zhong Zhengjun today. Because of this, he couldn't help but look up to Zhong Zhengjun a little bit, and it seemed that the store left by Master Zhong could be saved.

Next.

He spent a week helping to improve the formula. Zhong Zhengjun tried it in the store and the results were truly extraordinary.

Afterwards, all the chefs and waiters in the restaurant were rotated to Yangcheng for training. This was Zhong Zhengjun's shortcoming, and now Du Shaojie helped him make up for it.

After finishing these things, Du Shaojie stayed in Yangcheng with peace of mind.

That afternoon, Liao Yongxin and Zhou Huai'en came back from other places and went to his house to sit for a while.

It took them a long time to find out about Zhong Fuxiang's death. They often traveled with their families and lived a relaxed and comfortable life, but they could not remain calm when facing birth, aging, illness and death.

Du Shaojie cooked a few dishes at home and had a few drinks with the two old comrades.

Liao Yongxin was a little sad and talked about many past events, especially some things he did with Zhong Fuxiang, which are still fresh in his memory.

Zhou Huai'en was also filled with emotion. He and Zhong Fuxiang had little in common, but he still felt a sense of empathy.

Du Shaojie didn't know how to persuade them. Maybe people tend to be more sensitive to some things when they get old. It will be fine in a few days. The only thing he could do was to accompany them to drink a few more glasses of wine. When they were drunk, all their worries would disappear.

In the end, Liao Yongxin and Zhou Huai'en both drank too much.

Du Shaojie asked Wang Yongli and Peng Yongjun to send them home one by one. Liao Yongxin and Zhou Huai'en both bought houses in Yangcheng, so they were not short of money.

Time flies.

The aftermath of the bursting of the Internet bubble is still there, but the spring of the entire industry is quietly approaching.

Pang Weidong and Xu Bo are worthy of being called the "God of Wealth" of the Internet industry. In addition to their main business, they have once again increased their investment in the Internet.

Du Shaojie did not cast a wide net, but only focused on Xiao Ma Ge's company and the three major portals.

The stock trends of the three major portals have improved slightly, but they have not yet broken away from the bottom. Negative news comes out from time to time, and many people are disappointed with them.

After buying at the bottom, he remained unmoved and planned to wait for a few more years.

Recently, Du Shaojie often stayed with Meng Gang. Under the planning of the two, [Northwest Noodle House] continued to conquer the market and fulfilled its promise during the financing.

Even so, the company still had a lot of funds left, and most of it was eventually invested in purchasing storefronts. (End of this chapter)