Feng Yifan and Shi Jiahui came to a very famous hotel in Huaicheng.
Entering the hotel lobby, Shi Jiahui saw that the suppliers were actually already waiting on the sofa in the lobby.
Shi Jiahui led Feng Yifan over and met with the suppliers one by one.
Among these suppliers, there are those that specialize in supplying various seafood from the Bohai Bay, and there are also those from the Northeast that specialize in dealing in various wild delicacies.
There are also suppliers of beef and mutton from the grassland.
There are even some from the Yangtze River Basin, some that specialize in river seafood business.
It can be said that it covers a wide variety of food suppliers from all over the country.
There are even two that specialize in domestic ham business.
Of course, one of them is Jinhua ham and the other is Nuodeng ham.
Feng Yifan shook hands and greeted each of these people very seriously, and got to know each of them one by one.
After getting to know each other for a while, Feng Yifan said, "Thank you, thank you all for taking the time to come here. My restaurant will be open for trial operation tonight, and I hope you all will come and taste our restaurant and give us some pointers."
After hearing what Feng Yifan said, the straightforward supplier of wild delicacies from Northeast China spoke first.
"Chef Feng, you're too polite. Although this is the first time we meet, we have heard of your reputation a long time ago. We have also seen your cooking techniques on the Internet. We have to say that we really admire you."
The seafood merchant from Bohai Bay said, "Yes, and with the two Shi chefs and Mr. Zhuang guaranteeing you, we will definitely do our best to provide you with the best ingredients."
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Thank you, everyone."
The subsequent negotiations went relatively smoothly.
Several suppliers are willing to supply fresh goods to Feng Yifan's restaurant on a weekly basis. As for various dry goods, they can be supplied once a month, or if Feng Yifan needs it, he can contact them at any time for delivery.
As for the price, because Shi Jiahui was present and had the support of two state banquet chefs, Zhuang Daozhong and Shi Jinbin, the suppliers naturally did not dare to offer an out-of-this-world price.
Compared with some foreign ingredients, the prices of ingredients from domestic suppliers are indeed lower.
In fact, these domestic suppliers also have their own difficulties.
"Many domestic restaurants often promote foreign ingredients as a gimmick, which results in our domestic ingredients becoming unpopular. This really makes us, the domestic raw material suppliers, feel disheartened."
Hearing this, Feng Yifan also said seriously: "Don't worry, as long as the quality can be guaranteed, I will definitely be your long-term partner, and in the future I will definitely stand up for our domestic ingredients and let more people know that many of our domestic ingredients are not inferior to those abroad."
Feng Yifan's words were unanimously praised by the food suppliers present.
However, Feng Yifan did not care about their praise, he still gave a few serious instructions.
"Let me be frank with you. If your quality does not satisfy me, I will get angry at any time. Don't blame me for not notifying you in advance.
And tonight you will probably see some of the foreign food suppliers I invited, so what I want to tell you is that I am Feng Yifan, and I have worked as a chef for many years both at home and abroad. I have very high standards for many things, so please don’t joke with me about the quality.”
I heard Feng Yifan's warning.
Everyone present looked at each other, and then unanimously assured that there would absolutely be no quality issues.
After dealing with these suppliers, Feng Yifan and Shi Jiahui got up to say goodbye, and said that everyone could go to Fujinglou to try the food at noon.
"Fujinglou is also one of our restaurants. Although I am not the one cooking, the Huaicheng specialties there are very authentic. You can go there to taste them at noon. Of course, the lunch is free."
The suppliers also expressed their gratitude and stood up to see Feng Yifan and Shi Jiahui off.
After leaving the hotel, Feng Yifan returned to the car and started screening.
He directly eliminated two of them.
The reason is actually very simple. Judging from the attitude of the two people, the other party is not a very honest person.
Moreover, from some conversations, Feng Yifan quickly determined that the two companies could not guarantee the quality and even did not understand many things at all.
Feng Yifan didn't want to break up with the other party in public, but after dinner tonight, he would not cooperate with the other party anymore.
When Shi Jiahui saw the two companies that were shortlisted, he sighed helplessly.
"I didn't expect that these two companies used to deliver goods to my restaurant in Shanghai, but in just a few years, they have become like this."
Feng Yifan asked: "Big Sister, they probably didn't send any more to your restaurant later, right?"
Shi Jiahui thought for a moment and said, "It's been a long time since I've sent one."
Feng Yifan nodded: "So, some things can be seen, there must be something wrong, so it was replaced by someone else."
Shi Jiahui also agreed: "Well, it should be, but I didn't pay attention to it."
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "It's okay. The ingredients need to be screened."
On the way back, Shi Jiahui asked again: "Do you also need to screen those overseas suppliers?"
Feng Yifan smiled and nodded: "That's right, don't think that those foreigners are all honest people. When they are cunning, they are simply not comparable to domestic suppliers."
Shi Jiahui was a little curious: "Is it that exaggerated?"
Feng Yifan said: "Of course, those foreigners usually use overt schemes, such as tampering with the contract. Even a small flaw may cause you to lose a lot of money, so you must be very careful when signing a contract with them."
Shi Jiahui asked even more curiously, "Then how are you going to sign an agreement with them? I'm afraid you won't be able to find any problems with the contracts if you look at them yourself, right?"
Feng Yifan said: "First, I asked them to give me a Chinese contract. Second, I have asked the former Perovence restaurant's lawyer team to help me review their contract in advance to ensure there would be no problems."
Shi Jiahui was a little surprised: "You can still use the lawyers of Perovence Restaurant?"
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "There's nothing I can do. They are too enthusiastic and insist on helping."
This matter actually happened when Feng Yifan went to Shanghai last time and met Rodney on a yacht. Rodney had called him specifically.
On the phone at that time, Rodney very politely expressed his willingness to help contact the supplier of ingredients and would let the legal team of Perovence Restaurant help review and negotiate the contract.
Feng Yifan asked directly at that time, what kind of conditions did Rodney need
After some intrigue on the phone.
In the end, Rodney compromised and expressed some of his and the senior management of Perovence Restaurant's ideas.
In fact, the reason why they helped Feng Yifan in this way was to make Feng Yifan agree to allow some apprentices from the Perovence restaurant to come to his Western restaurant to study in the future.
Rodney even guaranteed that Perovence Restaurant would pay tuition to Feng Yifan for any apprentice who came to study.
For such a deal that was almost certain to make a profit, Feng Yifan naturally had no reason to refuse.
Moreover, once Feng Yifan's restaurant becomes famous, even if the apprentices return to Perovence restaurant after completing their training, they will not be able to use Feng Yifan's restaurant menu at will.
Because the data was used without authorization, the financial loss suffered by Perovence Restaurant is small, but the damage to the restaurant's reputation is irreparable.
Therefore, Feng Yifan would not be too opposed to helping the other party train some chefs.
After all, during the training process, those apprentices who were sent here can also work for Feng Yifan's restaurant.
After listening to Feng Yifan's words, Shi Jiahui suddenly understood.
"I see. No wonder you said before that you needed to hire people, but soon you asked Catherine and the others to postpone the recruitment. It turns out that the Perovence Restaurant will send apprentices here, and you plan to use those apprentices first, so you are not hiring for the time being?"
Feng Yifan nodded and said, "Not recruiting for now doesn't mean we won't recruit in the future. The main reason we're not recruiting for now is that our restaurant has just opened and many things are not on track yet, so we can't recruit apprentices who don't have a foundation.
Once we are on track, we can recruit apprentices who are starting from scratch.”
Shi Jiahui laughed: "You are indeed a cunning old man."
Feng Yifan laughed loudly: "I can't be considered cunning and sly, I'm still young, okay."
Shi Jiahui said: "Okay, you are a little fox."
Feng Yifan was very happy. He whistled and drove back to his community.
After returning to the community, Feng Yifan parked the car and did not go upstairs. Instead, he went to the restaurant with his senior sister.
Because in the next period of time, all of us will have to prepare together.
Although the trial dinner will not start until the evening, a lot of preparation work still needs to be done in advance.
In the kitchen of the western restaurant, Ma Xiaolong and his friends had already arrived.
When they saw Feng Yifan and Shi Jiahui come in, everyone greeted them very seriously.
"Hello, chef, hello, sous chef."
Shi Jiahui smiled and said, "I'm not the sous chef here. Catherine is the sous chef here."
Katherine said, “No no, you’re the sous chef for all of us.”
Feng Yifan said, "Don't be polite, Senior Sister. They are all young and need you to be their backbone. There are still many things that need you to handle."
Shi Jiahui looked at Feng Yifan, then at the other people in the restaurant, and couldn't help but say, "Why do I feel like you guys have some conspiracy? Do you want to praise me to a higher level, and then one day, you will take away the ladder and let me fall hard?"
Feng Yifan waved his hand: "How could that be? Don't think too much, Senior Sister."
Before starting to prepare, Feng Yifan asked again: "By the way, Senior Sister, has Senior Uncle Ten arrived?"
Shi Jiahui nodded and said, "Don't worry, my father came yesterday and should come with my uncle."
Feng Yifan nodded: "Okay, let's get started. For today's dinner, everyone must go all out, understand?"
Everyone immediately responded in unison, very impressively: "Yes, Chef."
Next, everyone started to get busy and prepare some ingredients in the kitchen in advance.
From slaughtering to cleaning to various pre-processing, it can be said that everyone takes every step very seriously.
Even Ning Cheng was extremely serious at this time. He followed his senior brother Ma Xiaolong and processed each ingredient very carefully according to the requirements.
Because many ingredients are expensive, there can be no deviation in their processing.
Feng Yifan will personally take charge and carefully clean some important ingredients.
At this time, everyone once again witnessed how powerful Feng Yifan was.
He was always able to clean all kinds of ingredients very carefully and almost accurately. The sharp knife in his hand was like a very obedient paintbrush. He was always able to draw what he wanted and what met his requirements.
Ning Cheng often would quietly approach Feng Yifan and watch his master's actions.
Feng Yifan wouldn't mind, and would even say a few words from time to time to teach his apprentice.
Whenever Feng Yifan taught, not only Ning Cheng, but everyone else would watch and listen carefully.
Even Shi Jiahui would come closer and take the opportunity to learn.
It can be said that the overall atmosphere in the kitchen is very harmonious.
Everyone learns from each other and encourages each other, so the entire kitchen is making progress together.
Especially Chen Xu and Luo Yu, under such circumstances, both of them really felt a lot of pressure.
But at the same time, both of them learned a lot in this environment.
Even when it comes to making desserts, the two can get some inspiration from each other.
This may be a kind of mutually reinforcing effect, because in the kitchen, everyone has their own characteristics and strengths, and after exchanging them with each other, everyone can make progress.
It was almost noon, and Feng Yifan temporarily handed over the kitchen affairs to everyone.
"Thank you for your hard work, I will go next door and make our lunch. After all, we have some guests at home. At noon, everyone can go over to eat together, but remember to finish the work on your hands."
Everyone still responded in unison: "Yes, Chef."
Feng Yifan then went to the kitchen of Su Ji's restaurant next door.
After pushing the door open, he was surprised to see that everyone in the family was in Su Ji.
"When did you come here?"
When Feng Ruoruo heard her father's voice, she immediately ran over and threw herself into her father's arms.
"Dad, let's come over to cook. Grandpa said he would make delicious food for us at noon, so we came together. Grandpa, grandma, grandpa and great grandma have all cooked. Look, they cooked a lot."
Feng Yifan did not expect that his family members had quietly come to Su's kitchen and had already prepared some dishes for lunch.
Although everyone's dishes were homely, Feng Yifan thought these were the most delicious.
Feng Yifan picked up his daughter, walked in and said, "Thank you everyone."