National Tide 1980

Ning Weimin has never studied hotel management.

His academic qualifications were obtained through part-time work-study at a pheasant university in his previous life. In fact, he was not much different from a scrap of paper.

But he is scheming and has rich social experience, ability to survive, and means of speculation.

There is also the great knowledge of how to behave and treat others that I learned from Kang Shude in this life.

And unknowingly, because of collecting, we have developed hobbies and interests in our national heritage and traditional culture.

These things are far more practical than the knowledge in college.

What's more, he also caught up with the golden business opportunities of a lifetime in the early stages of reform and opening up and economic revitalization.

In today's market, the entry threshold is high, there are only a few truly high-end catering companies, domestic labor and technology costs are very low, and the demand for tourism and catering markets is surging rapidly.

He was able to use the brand name of the first foreign company in the country and rely on the resources of Pierre Carton as a backing.

It even received full support from the Chongwen District Service Bureau and the Temple of Heaven Park, two official partners with power, land and connections.

There are also masters of folk skills from all walks of life such as "Zhang Dashao", Master Pang, Master Chang Jing, Master Ai, Master Luo, Chang Yuling, and Liu Yongqing who sincerely help.

It can be said that the market environment he faced was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The commercial advantage he occupies is also unique and unprecedented.

If under such circumstances, the restaurant he founded still cannot achieve great success, it would be really unreasonable.

It has become an extremely illogical thing that completely violates the laws of the market.

The probability of such an unbelievable situation happening is probably about the same as him drowning in the washbasin or choking to death on a piece of tofu.

So in fact, the nearly flawless opening ceremony held on August 27, 1983 did herald great success.

With the help of friends from all walks of life in the media, newspapers and TV were all fanned out, and the effect was remarkable.

It was like sending a second kick that resounded through the sky above the capital. Ning Weimin successfully launched the "Tan Palace" restaurant's sign almost overnight.

It happened on the second day of the opening ceremony, that is, August 28, when "Tan Palace" officially opened to the public.

Not only did the Beijing TV station broadcast the news of the opening of the "Tan Palace" restaurant on the "Beijing News" program at 18:30 in the evening, allowing the people of the capital to see the lively scene at the celebration.

Several local newspapers in Beijing, including "Beijing Daily", "Beijing Evening News", "Beijing Youth Daily" and "Guangming Daily", also reported this news on important pages with pictures and texts.

In the following days, "Fashion" and "Modern Clothing", two magazines that jointly organized model competitions with Pierre Carton, published photos from the T-stage show at the opening ceremony of the "Altar Palace".

"Art" magazine, which co-organized the sculpture art exhibition with Ning Weimin, also published photos of the interior decoration and partial furnishings of the "Tan Palace" as an excellent example of the practical application of traditional art.

In addition, the documentary filmed by Beijing TV Station on the Temple of Heaven Park also included footage of tourist shops and the "Tan Palace" restaurant, which was soon broadcast on television.

Beijing Radio Station also produced an exclusive interview program for "Tan Palace". Ning Weimin personally participated in the battle to introduce the details of "Tan Palace" to the audience and popularize the palace food culture.

Therefore, through this kind of three-dimensional and bombarding news soft advertisements, most citizens of the capital not only know that there is a third high-end restaurant specializing in palace cuisine in the capital, but also have a general understanding of the unique business characteristics of this new restaurant. .

For example, the "Altar Palace·Royal Dining Official Seat" uses bright yellow, peacock blue, and malachite green as the main colors, and the decoration and furnishings in the restaurant are also extremely gorgeous and exquisite.

Not only palace lanterns, murals, porcelain, classical furniture and various exquisite ethnic handicrafts can be seen everywhere, but there is also a luxurious and exquisite artistic atmosphere everywhere. It looks more like an art museum than a restaurant.

There are also royal ritual vessels for worshiping heaven and Huang Zhou's "Picture of Fortune, Luxury, Longevity and Joy" as treasures of the store.

For another example, the "Tan Palace" not only restored the style and enjoyment of the old palace banquets as much as possible, but also successfully created an aristocratic atmosphere where "the music returns to the courtyard and the lights go up to the stairs", and the business content and methods have also changed. It's different from other restaurants.

Here you can actually eat first and pay later.

Judging from the banquet procedures, there are casual banquets operated by other restaurants here, and convenient snacks here.

However, the formal "official banquet" with complicated procedures and various dishes is the only one here.

Judging from the dishes, although delicacies from mountains and seas are also available here, "Tan Palace" does not use this as its main selling point.

The main thing here is actually fruit and vegetable dishes, barbecue dishes that are not available elsewhere, and pure Manchu flavor.

Even the snacks, snacks, and tea dishes here are different from others.

What we pursue is still pure flavor, well-established and well-documented.

Among other things, here you can eat grape paste strips, jade dew cream, water dumplings, milk pastry, lala, glass powder, and pigeon pine vegetable buns.

Real Manchu people, people who really know something about palace life, or people who study palace life, all understand.

These things that have long been invisible in the market and are rarely mentioned by anyone are the real palace snacks.

Far from comparable to the pea yellow, ai wotou, minced pork biscuits and chestnut flour steamed buns.

Even here, they don't sell "donkey rolling" which is eaten by ordinary people, but only "danancang" which is eaten by dignitaries.

(In the previous menu, the word "Donkey Rolling" was written in the second-class seats. It was an oversight. It cannot be modified, so I can only comment and correct it here.)

What's the meaning?

In fact, essentially, the two things are almost the same thing.

But in terms of materials and production, the difference is that "Donkey Rolling" uses steamed soybean noodles, while "Dan Noodles" uses fried and cooked sesame seeds.

In addition, the meaning of the name is also different. "Donkey Rolling" focuses on the folk interest of making fun of bionics.

And "beating the noodle warehouse" embodies the auspicious meaning of "the warehouse is full and there is plenty of food", which the upper-class rulers long for.

All in all, the "Tan Palace" restaurant created by Ning Weimin has tried its best to restore the palace cuisine by removing the false and retaining the true, removing the unnecessary and retaining the essential.

It is also quite advanced and pragmatic, and has established a food theory and "luxury taste" that downplays the delicacies of mountains and seas, does not regard eating game as a beauty, and only values ​​cooking skills.

It can be said that he has relatively successfully created the impression of himself as a rising star in the palace cuisine, and has become another iconic representative symbol that reflects the ancient appearance and charm of the old capital.

Therefore, it was also talked about by many ordinary people and became a topic of chat for many people during this period.

For example, those entrepreneurs who are also interested in opening restaurants and entering the catering industry can't help but praise the innovation of "Tan Palace".

For example, Guo Peiji and Liu Guixian of Cuihua Hutong Yuebin Restaurant, the first independent restaurant in Beijing, were founded as early as 1980.

"Hey, this place doesn't look like a restaurant at all. If the place to eat is so high-end, then who would care about eating? However, this place is really beautiful. I didn't expect that traditional things are placed there. Together, it looks so high-end. This is no worse than a high-end hotel in the West..."

"No, look at these tablecloths. Westerners always use white ones, but they use bright yellow ones with appliqués. They are definitely more advanced than those of foreigners. I think we can actually learn from them. This is covered with tablecloths. It's different, it does look much more advanced. But you eat first and pay later... Tell me, why aren't they afraid that the guests will wander off after finishing their meal?"

Three days later, tablecloths were also laid out at Yuebin Restaurant.

Half a year later, medicine began to be prescribed, and the rule was also changed to the rule of eating first and giving money later.

Although to prevent dirt and reduce replacement, they put a layer of glass plate on the tablecloth.

Although they were afraid of missing orders, for a long time they were as wary of strangers as they were watching for thieves.

But these changes have never happened in history, and their impact is not small.

Of course, more people focus on the price of an "official seat" here and the taste of the palace dishes.

You must know that the beginning of life for ordinary people in Beijing in 1983 was to wake up in the morning and spend seven cents on a fried dough stick and five cents on a bowl of sweet soy milk.

This year, watermelons were sold for seven cents per catty, Guoguang apples were sold for 47 cents per catty, fresh fish and eggs were sold for one yuan per catty, Grade A peony cigarettes were sold for seven yuan and eight yuan a box, and Huhai brand men's mechanical watches were sold for seven cents per catty. Ten yuan each, the retail price of the famous Yanshan brand bicycle at that time was 165 yuan.

According to Ning Weimin on the radio program, there are only one dim sum shop in "Tan Palace" that adopts policies to benefit the people to ensure that people can afford it.

If you dine on the second floor of "Tan Palace" now, it will be very expensive.

The approximate standard for a banquet is 200 yuan per person for a first-class official table and 120 yuan per person for a second-class official table.

The price of casual seats is about 100 yuan per person for first-class seats and about 60 yuan per person for second-class seats.

This means that ten people can eat about ten watches at a formal official dinner, and five at a casual dinner.

This naturally makes ordinary people whose monthly salary is only a few dozen yuan stunned, and their attitudes are also polarized.

Some people said, "This restaurant is too shady. It doesn't serve the people at all. The Price Bureau doesn't care about it. It should be affordable for the common people. I think this restaurant is in the wrong place. Who can eat if it is so expensive?" Are you going? You’ll be yellow soon..."

And more people are full of yearning. "Hey, you can't say that. Officials can spend public funds. So people still have to pursue an official career. Whenever we want, we can go to a restaurant like this and have a meal. We will not lose money in this life..."

Especially those who knew Ning Weimin, they talked about it endlessly.

For example, the neighbors in Shan'er Hutong all envied Ning Weimin behind his back.

The first thing that almost everyone thought of was that if he opened this restaurant, he would have enough to eat and drink for the rest of his life.

So anyone who wants to see Ning Weimin has to ask carefully, what kind of delicacies and palace dishes are you eating today? How is the business going? Who are the people who come to such a place?

As for Ning Weimin's colleagues who worked at the Chongwenmen Hotel in the past, some were tempted to ask Ning Weimin to treat him, and some were thinking of changing jobs because of the high wages in foreign companies. .

On the contrary, Zhang Shihui and Liu Weijing, who were actually invited, rejected Ning Weimin's kindness after careful consideration.

Their reasons were also very reasonable. They were planning to have a child, and they didn't want the couple to be tied to Ning Weimin and live a busy life all day without even having time to spend money.

There are also the four flowers arranged by Ning Weimin at the Jianguomen specialty store. They are somewhat panicked about Ning Weimin's restaurant.

They were afraid that their manager would become more distant from them and not take the store seriously.

For this reason, when a few people got into a mood, they simply paid their own money to be guests and went to the "Tan Palace" to check out the experience and show off their presence.

I would like to take this opportunity to talk to Ning Weimin about their future prospects.

But unfortunately, they didn't get to see Ning Weimin, but they were conquered by the delicious food here.

As for Qu Xiao’s parents, their reaction to the news was both surprise and excitement.

No one expected that Ning Weimin would handle such a big event quietly after not seeing him for several months.

Especially when Qu Xiao got back four hundred yuan of consumer coupons from Ning Weimin.

This made the couple unavoidably suspicious of Ning Weimin and Qu Xiao's relationship.

It's a pity that it's hard to ask about this fact. God knows how much of what my daughter said to them is true and how much is false.

What's more, Qu Xiao's training and competition tasks have become increasingly heavy recently, and they don't want to distract their daughter from mood swings.

So I had no choice but to suppress the urge to explore and wait for a better time to ask.

Huo Xin, who had just returned from a business trip abroad, was very happy to hear the news.

Although she was still angry because of the quarrel and did not call Ning Weimin to express her congratulations. She only waited for him to take the initiative to talk to her.

But he couldn't help but praise Ning Weimin in front of his parents.

It's just that Director Huo and his wife don't have the heart to love the house and the bird.

In their eyes, a restaurant manager's future is too limited and not as bright as a firefly.

So I can only deal with it on the surface, and secretly worry about my daughter's vision behind the scenes.

The Lan Lan family should be the ones who reacted the coldest to this matter.

Although Lan Lan is happy for Ning Weimin's career progress and achievements.

But due to the disdain of her father and brother, my mother was even disgusted and disgusted.

She had no choice but to hide the joy in her heart and dare not touch it.

Mi Xiaoran's family is just the opposite.

Aunt Mi and Master Mi talked about this incident in their letters to Mi Xiaoxu, praising Ning Weimin for his kindness.

But Mi Xiaoran had a grudge.

I only read this letter once and don't want to read it again.

Moreover, in her reply to her parents, she also emphasized her request, saying that she did not want to know any more news about Ning Weimin in the future.

Of course, there are those who want to be distant and those who want to be close.

For example, the gang of Jiang Hao, Li Zhong, and Wu Shen began to think that Ning Weimin was a friend who should be paid special attention to.

Obviously, Ning Weimin holds such a big restaurant in his hands, and the benefits it can bring to them can be said to be countless.

They have begun to think about how to use such resources.

There are also the heads of the handicraft factories who have business dealings with Ning Weimin. Because of their related interests, they are also happy about the unusual momentum of "Tan Palace".

Ning Weimin's good start and Tan Palace's prosperity are what they are happy to see.