Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Wanting to be Invited to the Tavern, Just to Be the Boss!
Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant became a hit, and guests flocked in upon hearing the news. The first day was merely crowded, the second day grew quite busy, and by the third day, it was completely swamped.
Nobody knew who started the rumor, but now everyone was aware that a formidable Sichuan chef had joined Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant. However, this chef was rather mysterious, with no known background. Renowned chefs typically have detailed resumes, outlining when they became an apprentice, when they started as a head chef, and when they took the helm at major hotels, which allows guests to gauge their level of expertise.
The kitchen at Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant even had added security, with Shen Hai personally guarding it to prevent diners from entering. A sign effectively stated: "Kitchen Area: Staff Only." Moreover, Jiang Feng wore a mask in the evenings and moved quietly, thus going unnoticed.
The news kept spreading and quickly reached a certain Sichuan dining establishment. This place was called Taste of Sichuan, an established, three-story Sichuan restaurant located in the bustling old city center, which had always enjoyed good customer flow and a solid reputation.
But lately, the restaurant had encountered a significant issue. The owner had taken a young new wife, Yang Juanjuan, and had handed over management to her. Yang Juanjuan was rather stingy. Knowing that the executive chef in the kitchen received not only a salary but also commissions, she began to find various faults, aiming to push him out. This executive chef was a renowned figure in Sichuan cuisine, highly skilled, with several apprentices under his tutelage. Including the restaurant’s commissions, his average monthly earnings were between seventy to eighty thousand, sometimes even reaching a hundred thousand. Yang Juanjuan felt he was overpaid; an ordinary head chef earning eighteen thousand a month was already considered high, so seventy to eighty thousand a month was unbearable for her. She intended to dismiss him.
After a series of her machinations, the executive chef couldn’t stand the treatment and quit on the spot. A few chefs followed him, and with two head chefs gone, Yang Juanjuan hired other Sichuan chefs to replace them.
In this day and age, where couldn’t you find a few impressive chefs? she thought.
But as it turned out, they were indeed hard to find, as top-notch chefs were not so easy to come by. These were individuals who had trained under particularly impressive masters and worked their way up to the executive chef level, their accumulated experience and skills far surpassing the ordinary.
Consequently, the reputation and sales of Taste of Sichuan Restaurant began to slide, as the cuisine prepared by the newly hired chefs was merely mediocre. This incident was what sparked the viral online phrase, "Layoffs cut into the main artery."
Later, Yang Juanjuan began to scout aggressively for a great Sichuan chef, offering high salaries. However, the former executive chef had connections, and other notable chefs either wouldn’t work for Yang Juanjuan or were genuinely too busy.
Today, Yang Juanjuan heard about Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant. Her subordinate, who was also her cousin Yang Dalong, reported to her excitedly, "Sis, this chef is definitely the real deal; his culinary skill is something else! It’s only been a few days, and that little restaurant is doing incredibly well. If we bring him over, our dining hall is guaranteed to reignite!"
Upon hearing Yang Dalong’s words, Yang Juanjuan immediately wanted to verify it herself. She had no choice; if they couldn’t hire a great Sichuan chef soon, the business was genuinely going to tank, and they would start losing money. After all, employee wages and the various expenses for utilities and ingredients were all costs.
「So, at lunchtime, Yang Juanjuan took Yang Dalong, a driver, and an attendant with her, and the four of them drove straight to Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant.」
Yang Dalong was now the floor manager of Taste of Sichuan Restaurant. The driver was a distant relative of Yang Juanjuan, and the attendant was also a relative from her mother’s side of the family. This was her way of being responsible to her own family, by arranging jobs for them all in the restaurant, but in doing so, she was doing a complete disservice to the establishment itself.
The four of them soon arrived at Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant. Before they had even parked, they saw a large crowd of customers lined up outside. The scene was extremely lively.
This was Jiang Feng’s third day at Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant. The restaurant had become popular incredibly quickly. It couldn’t be helped; there were many repeat customers, causing the restaurant to get busier by the day. New customers, seeing the buzz, wanted to come in and try the food, and then they, too, became repeat customers. The restaurant was on fire. The core reason was the exceptional taste of the food.
Jiang Feng was busy in the kitchen, completely immersed in the process of creating culinary delights. Of course, cooking a few dishes is enjoyable, but preparing dozens is tiring, and over a hundred is downright exhausting. The restaurant now closed at 2:30 PM and reopened at 5:30 PM, specifically to allow Jiang Feng some rest.
Outside the restaurant, Yang Juanjuan’s party, including Mina, had taken a queue number and were waiting.
At that moment, several people nearby were chatting.
"Today, I want to try the spicy chicken. I heard it’s exceptionally good; I didn’t manage to get it yesterday."
"Yeah, yesterday I had the shredded pork with garlic sauce and the husband and wife lung slices. Both were so tasty!"
"Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant has been open for quite a while; how come it has suddenly become so busy these past few days?"
"I heard the previous chef was hospitalized, and the owner spent a lot of money on a new chef, who is incredibly talented."
"It’s delicious. I ate here yesterday, and I’m already back for more today."
Yang Juanjuan listened quietly, knowing that customer feedback was the best indicator of a chef’s abilities. She was a shrewd person, just excessively stingy and prone to nitpicking, feeling uneasy when she saw her employees earning well. Such an attitude might work for a small business owner, but it was unsuitable for managing a large restaurant.
Yang Dalong said beside her, "Sis, I wasn’t wrong, right? The chef this restaurant hired is extraordinary. It’s only been a few days, and it’s already this popular. Didn’t you ask me to keep an eye out for any outstanding Sichuan chefs? I made a special effort to find this out."
Yang Dalong was eager to take credit, practically patting himself on the back.
Yang Juanjuan nodded. "Let’s taste the food first. I need to assess his skill level."
Some say that the food at small eateries is tastier than at big hotels. That’s actually not the case. As the TV show ’Black Ice’ put it, if small eateries truly served better food than big hotels, the big hotels would all have closed down by now. The dishes at big hotels—from ingredient selection and staffing to cooking techniques—are all rigorously vetted, with every chef being a professional. At small eateries, however, everything depends on the personal skill level of the head chef. So, under normal circumstances, the dishes at big hotels are definitely tastier. Yang Juanjuan, managing a large restaurant herself, held this exact mindset and looked down on the Sichuan cuisine from small eateries.
「After about half an hour, their number was called. The four of them entered the restaurant and found a table.」
Yang Juanjuan didn’t hold back, directly ordering eight dishes, all of which were signature Sichuan specialties.
Quickly, the dishes were brought out one by one. With each dish served, they immediately picked up their chopsticks to taste it. They hadn’t thought much of it, but once they tasted the food, they discovered that the Sichuan cuisine prepared by Jiang Feng was exceptionally good, without a single flaw to be found. It was extremely authentic.
Having frequented Sichuan restaurants, the four of them had a decent ability to judge the cuisine. Without a doubt, the person cooking these Sichuan dishes was definitely a formidable chef. After tasting all eight dishes, each could only be described as perfect.
Yang Juanjuan immediately began to consider hiring Jiang Feng. In her eyes, her grand Taste of Sichuan Restaurant was certainly superior to a small place like Taste of Yore Sichuan Restaurant.
"The taste is really good, no worse than our previous chef!" one of them exclaimed.
"If we offer him a high salary, our restaurant’s business will definitely boom!"
"Right now, we just lack a chef who can handle top-level banquets!"
"Exactly! Retaining those VIPs is the most important thing! Casual diners are secondary!"
The group discussed excitedly. For them, retaining high-paying guests was paramount, as these patrons were generous, and a single meal from them brought in high profits. Currently, the restaurant was seeing a decrease in the number of such VIPs.
At this moment, Yang Juanjuan saw Shen Hai emerge and quickly signaled him over.
Shen Hai approached their table, smiling. "Hello, how can I assist you?"
Yang Juanjuan immediately stated her purpose, "Boss, I want to confirm something. The head chef cooking here is only working at this restaurant for a few days, is that right?"
Hearing this, Shen Hai thought for a moment and, feeling it was acceptable to share, replied, "Yes, I specially hired him to help out temporarily, just for a few days."
"That’s great!" Yang Juanjuan said, not beating around the bush. "Boss, I’m the chairman of Taste of Sichuan Restaurant. Could you help me get his contact information? Once he finishes here, I’d like to hire him at a high salary." She spoke with a mixture of urgency and sincerity.
Her words took Shen Hai by surprise. Of course, he knew of Taste of Sichuan; it was a much larger Sichuan cuisine restaurant, its volume over ten times that of his own eatery. Previously, experienced chefs from his own restaurant had applied to Taste of Sichuan but were rejected for not meeting their standards.
Realizing this could be important for Jiang Feng, Shen Hai immediately said, "Okay, but I need to ask him first."
"That would be wonderful. Thank you."
「So, Shen Hai hurried to the kitchen.」
"Boss Jiang, Boss Jiang, I have something to tell you," he said. "Some guests outside, they say they’re from Taste of Sichuan Restaurant, the chairman in fact. They want to hire you at a high salary to be their head chef."
"From what they said, they’re willing to pay a very generous salary."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng remained expressionless and continued stir-frying. He had no interest whatsoever in being a chef. However, he was very interested in their restaurant.
"Taste of Sichuan?" Jiang Feng asked while cooking. "Where is this restaurant located, and what’s its geographical position like?"
Shen Hai, thinking Jiang Feng was interested in the offer, explained, "Oh, it’s an exceptionally nice restaurant, quite famous in our area. It’s situated in the bustling part of the old city district, has three floors, and the building has an antique-style architecture. It’s considered one of the city’s signature Sichuan restaurants, though not quite top-tier, more like first-tier, you could say."
Hearing this, Jiang Feng nodded. "Please decline their offer for me. I have no interest in being their head chef."
"However," he added, "I am very interested in their restaurant. You don’t need to get involved in this; I’ll go check out Taste of Sichuan myself when the time comes." Jiang Feng said this with a relaxed demeanor.
"Okay, I’ll decline then," Shen Hai quickly replied.
After Shen Hai left, Jiang Feng thought to himself:
Taste of Sichuan, worth investigating.
Maybe I can even acquire it.
Yang Juanjuan probably never imagined that while she was scheming to hire Jiang Feng as her head chef, Jiang Feng was contemplating how to become the owner himself.
Jiang Feng, a talent of his caliber, was not so easily swayed.