The Game of Life-Chapter 779 - 778 Best Selling
Chapter 779: Chapter 778: Best Selling
Chapter 779 -778: Best Selling
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There were eight domestic competing restaurants and eight from abroad. Given that Top Tier Restaurant was in Beiping, Chef Arno only wanted to battle with Taifeng Building. As the show’s funding came from him, he was the real sugar daddy of the program, and the competition format turned into seven plus one.
The domestic restaurants participating were Top Tier Restaurant, Taifeng Building, Yonghe House, Eight-treasure House, Taste House, Bazhen Restaurant, Cheng Ji Restaurant, and Huaiyang Building. Four of the eight restaurants were in Beiping, with Bazhen Restaurant and Taste House being the most well-known among the remaining four.
As a rare establishment known for its cold dishes, the status of Taste House was naturally self-explanatory. Bazhen Restaurant was once touted as the number one restaurant in Guangdong Province, but due to the fierce competition, a definitive number one has never been decided, somewhat reminiscent of Beiping’s battle for supremacy. Unlike Jubao Building which also specializes in Cantonese cuisine but is not located in Guangdong Province, it easily claimed the title of FJ’s number one restaurant.
Chen Ji Restaurant and Huaiyang Building are both old and established restaurants that specialize in Huaiyang cuisine. Pei Shenghua is currently working at Huaiyang Building, which in earlier years even hosted a state banquet, so its capabilities should not be underestimated.
In comparison, the seemingly reputable yet practically inept Eight-treasure House appeared to be a freeloader who bought its way into the competition, and Jiang Feng seriously suspected that this list of participants was bought through backdoor dealings by Ling Guangzhao.
Indeed, this list was bought by him. The original pick of the production team was Wu Family Restaurant. However, Wu Minqi’s father and Sir Wu had zero interest in participating in a reality show. Wu Family Restaurant has long been dominant in Shu without the need for any promotion. Old Sir Wu didn’t want to trouble himself at his age, and since Minqi wasn’t going to represent Wu Family Restaurant in the competition, they simply declined the offer outright.
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This decision provided Ling Guangzhao with the chance to spend a hefty sum for a spot in the competition.
It was a mystery where Ling Guangzhao got the confidence to join this gathering of culinary deities. Although Eight-treasure House was doing well in business, they didn’t have a single chef who could stand out in such a competition. If they ended up as a mere backdrop and lost disgracefully, instead of garnering publicity, they might deplete the little remaining goodwill they had accumulated over the years all at once.
But that was Ling Guangzhao’s concern, and Jiang Feng didn’t bother with it too much.
Jiang Feng spent a little time looking into the domestic competing restaurants, but he only gave a cursory glance at the eight foreign competitors, not recognizing any of them.
In truth, there was one he recognized, because with the seven plus one format, there was bound to be a Chinese restaurant among the competitors from America, and that restaurant belonged to Peng Changping.
Chinese Food Restaurant
One could tell from the name Peng Changping had chosen for his restaurant that he really wasn’t good with names.
The start date of the competition was set for October 15, a Monday, and Jiang Feng received the list of competitors on October 11. Perhaps to maintain a sense of freshness and mystery, and to prevent the restaurants from scouting out their opponents or engaging in sabotage, the production team only announced the competition process and the participating restaurants, without disclosing the list of competing chefs.
However, the list wasn’t that hard to guess. Each restaurant had only one or two outstanding chefs, and even with eyes closed, one could guess a couple of them; it didn’t matter much if they couldn’t guess the remaining two correctly.
Although the competition format had changed to seven plus one, the actual rules remained the same. Just as previously agreed, four chefs would each draw a dish, and points would be awarded based on weekly sales and customer reviews, good and bad.
As this was a reality show, the production crew signed a contract with Taifeng Building in advance and installed cameras everywhere except bedrooms and bathrooms. In addition to camera installation, a photographer was assigned to each competitor to follow and shoot at all times, which meant a significant investment.
The installation of cameras caused quite a stir within Taifeng Building, and even though everyone knew the reality show hadn’t started filming yet, they couldn’t help but peer and gaze at the cameras as they passed by. Sang Ming kept mumbling in the kitchen, pondering whether he should splurge on a fashionable hairstyle, so he might look better if caught on camera.
In the end, Sang Ming didn’t spend money on a new hairstyle, but Master Wang and Qiu Fu did splurge on hairdos that were hardly noticeable, showing just how concerned the middle-aged chefs of Taifeng Building were about their image.
Jiang Feng thought that if it weren’t for his dad, Mr. Jiang Jiankang, genuinely lacking hair to style, he might have considered getting one too. During lunch these past few days, Jiang Feng often saw Jiang Jiankang staring at his phone, which displayed a black screen, seemingly to check if his bald head looked good.
While others were concerned about whether their hairstyles looked good or if their makeup skills were up to par, related to their vanity, Jiang Feng and the other competitors were worried about something far more important.
The selection of dishes.
The first stage of the competition would score based on positive and negative reviews, as well as sales. While good reviews were important, sales were even more so; excellent quality but insufficient quantity would not yield high scores. Under such a system, Jiang Feng felt that Taste House had an advantage among the eight domestic restaurants, as their best-selling white-case items were pastries – and they could stack up the quantity fast.
Aiming for both quality and quantity, many of Jiang Feng’s dishes would not make the cut, especially the buff dishes.
And ironically, Jiang Feng was most renowned for those very buff dishes.
To prevent restaurants from engaging in price wars and cheating, the production team specifically investigated the dishes and prices of various restaurants beforehand, and the rules explicitly forbade the introduction of new dishes and malicious price-cutting.
What seemed like the easiest stage had become the most difficult for Jiang Feng.
He didn’t have ten dishes.
To be precise, he didn’t have ten dishes that could stack up in quantity.
Recording was set to commence on the fifteenth, with menus due by noon on the thirteenth at the latest. It was already the morning of the thirteenth, and Jiang Feng still hadn’t finalized his menu.
You should know that Sun Jikai only took ten minutes to finalize his menu.
With just four hours left until the deadline, Jiang Feng’s menu currently only had Chicken Douhua and Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, with eight dishes yet to be decided and no ideas in mind.
Jiang Feng could only flip through Taifeng Building’s old menus, muttering gibberish as he read, looking like an idiot.
He had trained so hard at Yonghe House for this competition, perfecting Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup, yet he had failed right at the start.
“Old Sun, I’m really envious of you. You can report your menu without even thinking,” Jiang Feng said despondently as he put down his phone, voicing his envy toward Sun Jikai.
Sun Jikai: ?
I suspect you’re cursing me.
“Fengfeng, can’t you make more servings of your sweet and sour yam?” Wu Minqi still couldn’t understand why Jiang Feng wouldn’t want to change these limited dishes to unlimited.
“No,” Jiang Feng firmly refused, the buff dishes must maintain their final stand.
“Just add ‘Di San Xian’ and Spicy Pork with Peppers— I just checked the previous sales for these two dishes, and they were pretty good,” Sun Maochai said after seriously studying the menu and sales figures.
After discussing for a while, they added Stuffed Crab Oranges to the menu.
Stuffed Crab Oranges needed to be sold with Zhajiang Noodles to trigger the buff; selling them alone made them just a normal dish. Moreover, it was now the season for Stuffed Crab Oranges, and sales should be good.
After two hours of intense discussion, the four of them finally settled on Jiang Feng’s menu with difficulty.
Chicken Douhua, Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, ‘Di San Xian’, Stuffed Crab Oranges, Spicy Pork with Peppers, Stir-Fried Shredded Potatoes, Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes, Salt and Pepper Shrimp, Minced Meat with Eggplant, and pure meat dumplings.
The inclusion of pure meat dumplings on the menu showed just how hard it was to find dishes for Jiang Feng’s menu.
After submitting the menu before the deadline, Jiang Feng let out a deep sigh, feeling that without any surprises, the one holding back Taifeng Building would definitely be him.
If he drew stable dishes like Chicken Douhua, Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, or the pure meat dumplings it would be manageable, but if he ended up with Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes or Stir-Fried Shredded Potatoes, Taifeng Building could probably bid farewell to advancing.
The deadline was at noon, and Jiang Feng submitted his menu at 11:47. At one o’clock, the production team informed everyone of the dishes for the first week of the competition.
Sun Maochai: Superior Soup with Baby Bok Choy.
Wu Minqi: Mapo Tofu.
Sun Jikai: Dry-fried Beef Ho Fun.
Jiang Feng: Stir-Fried Shredded Potatoes.
Jiang Feng: …
When they received the message, the four were just sitting down to eat together.
Jiang Feng gave Sun Jikai a knowing look and even enthusiastically poured him a cup of complimentary boiled water.
“Old Sun, good luck. We’re counting on you this week!”
Sun Jikai’s Dry-fried Beef Ho Fun was cheaper than Ji Xue’s, and his culinary skill had improved during this time. The quality of his dish was now on par with Ji Xue’s, earning it the favor of Taifeng Building’s patrons.
Most importantly, he was lightning fast at making it.
Sun Jikai’s Dry-fried Beef Ho Fun was Taifeng Building’s top-selling single item last month!
Sun Jikai: ???
