Lao Tan had just returned from the Humble Administrator's Garden when he answered Zhou Xiaomei's call. Today, when the store was handed over, Gu Yi found a decoration company, looked at it together, and decided on a decoration plan.
On the phone, Zhou Xiaomei told her about employee referrals coming to give extra points. Lao Tan thought it was good and asked her to come up with a plan and give some suggestions.
The introduced employees must have worked for three months;
Aqiao’s corporate culture must be recognized;
Forming cliques is not allowed, and introduced employees are not allowed to work in the same store as the introducer.
Although there is a shortage of waiters, it is better to be short-term than inundated. At this time, we must be more cautious. It may seem unkind, but we must plan for the long term.
Based on Lao Tan's suggestion, Zhou Xiaomei quickly made a plan, sent it to Yanhua and Lao Tan via email, and then discussed it in the senior management group. Everyone thought it was good and could be implemented.
The power of the crowd is great and the waiter's problem was solved quickly.
The Suzhou store was Ah Qiao's first store in the south, and Lao Tan paid special attention to it. He transferred Li Shuang and Xiao Gao over, with Li Shuang serving as the general manager and store manager of the Suzhou region, and Xiao Gao serving as the head chef.
The dumplings were prepared to be transferred to Wang Hong, but later on, Wang Hong had to sit in the provincial capital and could not move, so Yaru was transferred over, and Meng Meng took over her job in Hohhot.
Dumplings has developed a local flavor of lotus root filling dumplings based on the original.
Dumplings with lotus root stuffing have been around for a long time. The so-called development is to add Northeastern dumpling technology to the original basis to make it have a prominent main flavor and a balance of freshness and meaty flavor. Not only locals love to eat it, but Northeasterners also like it.
The cold dishes walk on two legs. A chef was transferred from the provincial capital to take care of the Northeastern style. At the same time, a local chef was recruited to make local cold dishes.
The kitchen is open, this cannot be changed.
The dishes are naturally based on Northeastern cuisine, and most of the ingredients are shipped from the provincial capital, such as sauerkraut, mushrooms, vermicelli, cordyceps chicken, etc. In order to ensure the original flavor and authentic taste.
People like Li Shuang, Xiao Gao, and Yaru couldn't always stay in hotels after they came here, so they had to solve the problem of accommodation. At the same time, they had to rent dormitories for employees. The rent in Suzhou is high, and Gu Yi searched for two days but couldn't find a suitable one.
As the saying goes, you don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are before you start a restaurant. Before you opened a restaurant, you could live your life on your own, and you never cared about spending money. Now that you have opened a restaurant, money is spent like water, and you know how to be frugal.
It happens that Sister Wang, who works in the court, has an old house near the Humble Administrator's Garden, close to the hotel. She used to rent it to a friend who was in the silk business as a warehouse. Now that they don't do it anymore, the house is idle.
Sister Wang told Gu Yi that the house was old and the bungalow was a bit old, but it had complete water and electricity, so it would be no problem for people to live in it. If they didn't mind using it, just pay some rent.
At first, Lao Tan felt that the bungalow was inconvenient and that it would be difficult for the employees to take a shower, but he was told and couldn't refuse, so he asked Li Shuang and Xiao Gao to follow Gu Yi to have a look.
When Li Shuang and Xiao Gao came back after watching it, they happily told Lao Tan that the place was great, no less than a courtyard house in Beijing.
"Master, you didn't see it. The place is getting better." Li Shuang introduced to Lao Tan: "It is a separate courtyard with a big yard. Yes, this place is called a patio. There are six main rooms in a row. There are everything inside, including bathrooms, upper and lower floors.
The water and water heater work well, and there’s also a study room.”
"Really?" Lao Tan opened his eyes wide.
"Yes. There are five wing rooms on both sides. They were used as warehouses before. There are bathrooms and running water inside. The eight concierge rooms in the front are smaller, but clean and tidy. There is no problem in using them as dormitories." Li Shuang said excitedly.
"Siheyuan?" Lao Tan asked.
"Yes, it's a courtyard house, a very large one." Xiao Gao said.
"There is a river in front of the door, a bridge on the river, white walls and black tiles, like a Jiangnan house." Li Shuang described it.
After hearing what they said, Lao Tan was a little moved and wanted to take a look. So Li Shuang led the way, and the master and apprentice walked over.
This is an old residential area preserved in the Humble Administrator's Garden. There are about 20 households, all of which are courtyard houses in the past. They have white walls and black tiles, small bridges, flowing water, and green trees. It looks like a condensed Jiangnan water town.
To be honest, the people who can live here all have backgrounds, either rich or noble. It seems that Sister Wang’s family is not ordinary, not as simple as it appears.
Gu Yi had already called the people from the decoration company to arrange for the dormitory to be dressed. Seeing Lao Tan coming, he said happily: "Brother, this time everything is solved. Not only is the dormitory enough, but there is also a place for us."
Lao Tan looked around, and it was just like what Li Shuang said. There were six main rooms, ten side rooms, and eight gatehouses. The patio was spacious and there was a small flower bed in the middle. The whole courtyard was clean and tidy, comfortable and elegant.
"Sister Wang is very capable. Renting out this yard as a warehouse is awesome," Lao Tan said.
Gu Yi said: "What I know is that her old man has a background, and she is considered the second generation of celebrities. She is the only child in the family, and her parents died in the first few years. She doesn't live here, so why not rent it out?"
"The rent should be quite high," Lao Tan said.
"It's not much, I don't need money." Gu Yi said.
Lao Tan said: "We can't give less if we don't need money. This big yard------"
To be honest, Lao Tan would rather spend more money than owe favors. Sometimes favors are more valuable than money. Of course, this is a different matter than Gu Yi's life-saving grace to Sister Wang.
Everyone moved in that day. Lao Tan and Gu Yi lived in two main rooms, a study room and two other rooms for offices, and there was even an office space.
Xiao Gao, Li Shuang, and Yaru live in the east wing, the west wing is for the front and rear supervisors, and the remaining rooms are used as dormitories for employees.
Who would have thought that the dormitory of a dumpling restaurant is a courtyard, and it is a very high-end one, no less than the high-end apartments Haidilao rents for its employees, and it is even better in terms of comfort.
Everyone was happy to have a place to live and cooked a few dishes in the evening to celebrate.
"Come, let's have a drink together to celebrate that we have a family." Gu Yi said with a smile on his face.
Everyone responded and drank it all in one gulp.
Putting down his glass of wine, Gu Yi said to Lao Tan beside him: "Brother, today is a good day, let me say a few words."
Lao Tan looks at everyone, and everyone looks at him.
"Tell me a few words." Old Tan said: "To be honest, I'm very happy. Firstly, I have a family, and secondly, it's so nice and comfortable. I don't want to go back."
Everyone laughs.
Lao Tan continued: "Let's go south to Suzhou. Whether we can do well depends on everyone. As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses must go before the food and grass are used. Today we have a base camp and no worries. The only thing left is to work hard and strive for a success.
"
"Master, it's necessary." Li Shuang said confidently.
"It's necessary." Xiao Gao followed his wife.
"Commander Tan is sure of it," said Li Gang, a new local cold dish chef.
Yaru and the cold dish chef from the provincial capital, Mo Zhisheng, had the same expression as the others - a look of confidence.
"I have a hunch that our store will be very popular when it opens," Gu Yi said.
"It's good to have confidence." Lao Tan first affirmed everyone, and then said seriously: "Everyone has eaten in several restaurants in the past two days, and I guess they all have a general understanding of Suzhou's catering. Let me tell you, Suzhou's catering market is better than the provincial capital.
Good, relatively complete, but competition is fierce.
We are not the only ones who make dumplings, there are others who are better than us. In addition, we can spot the Suzhou market, and so can others.
As far as I know, there are Harbin Dumplings, Oriental Pearl in Changchun, and Fuji in the provincial capital that have opened stores in Suzhou. Unfortunately, none of them have established a foothold, and the longest one lasted two years.
I analyzed it and found that it’s not that people don’t recognize it, but that it has no characteristics and is not adapted to the local environment. I feel that it is the boss in the Northeast. The dumplings are authentic and do not integrate with local catering. In the end, they all became yellow shops.
At present, there are not many dumpling restaurants in Northeast Suzhou, most of them are snack bars, and we are the only one with a large scale."
Speaking of which, Lao Tan lit up a cigarette and everyone waited for him to continue.
"If you want to gain a firm foothold in artillery, you have to think carefully about it. You can't just move it out intact in the provincial capital or Hohhot just because it works fine.
What we are facing are guests from the south. Their tastes and eating habits are different from those in the north. This requires us not to operate in the same way as the north, but to improve fusion. Isn’t fusion cuisine popular in provincial capitals now? Integrate dishes from Jiangsu and Zhejiang into Northeastern cuisine. , the people accept and love it.
I have eaten twice at "Shenshui Jiangnan" and "Fuya Xiaoju" in the provincial capital, and they felt good. Their dishes retain the cooking methods of Northeastern cuisine, while also having the lightness and exquisiteness of Jiangnan cuisine, which gives people a refreshing feeling. Just looking at it makes me want to eat it.
Also, they have thoroughly studied Jiangnan’s old wine, and you must drink old wine when you visit their store. This is the highlight.
Jiangnan cuisine can be fused to the north, and Northeastern cuisine can also be fused to the south of the Yangtze River. While highlighting our characteristics, we must combine it with local catering to make Ah Qiao's fusion cuisine and lead Suzhou.
There is also our health-preserving wine, which is the highlight. Jiangnan cuisine has entered the Northeast, making it fashionable for northerners to drink Huadiao old wine. We go south to the south of the Yangtze River to make it fashionable for people in Jiangnan to drink health-preserving wine."