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, 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, the hobbies and interests in our national heritage and traditional culture are generated by collecting.

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

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

In the current 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 rapidly increasing.

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 advantages he occupies are 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 incredible 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 almost perfect opening ceremony held on August 27, 1983 did herald great success.

Relying on the help of friends from all walks of life in the media, including newspapers and TV, the effect was remarkable.

It was like a two-foot 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 of 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, and it was soon broadcast on television.

Beijing Radio Station also produced an exclusive interview program for "Tan Palace". Ning Weimin personally participated in the interview 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 advertisement, most of the 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.

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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 balcony", 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 there are delicacies from the mountains and seas here, "Tan Palace" does not use this as its main selling point.

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

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

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

Not to mention anything else, here you can eat grape paste sticks, jade dew frost, water dumplings, milk pastry, lala, glass powder, and pigeon pine vegetable buns.

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

These items, which have long since been nowhere to be seen in the market and are rarely mentioned by anyone, are genuine palace snacks.

It is far from comparable to pea yellow, ai wotou, minced pork sesame cakes 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 "Danmian Cang" 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, as early as 1980, the couple Guo Peiji and Liu Guixian of Cuihua Hutong Yuebin Restaurant, the first independent restaurant in Beijing, joined together.

"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. It’s 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 foreign ones. 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, medicines were prescribed according to the prescription, and the rule was also changed to the rule of eating first and giving money later.

Although in order to prevent dirt and reduce the need for 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 in 1983, the beginning of life for ordinary people in Beijing 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 a pound, Guoguang apples were sold for 47 cents a pound, fresh fish and eggs were sold for one yuan a pound, Grade A peony cigarettes were seven yuan a box, and Huhai brand men's mechanical watches were seven yuan a pound.

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 people. I don't think this restaurant is in the right place. Who can eat it if it's so expensive?"

Are you going? You’ll get old 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 for a meal.

You won’t lose anything 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 thinks of is that if he opens this restaurant, he will have enough to eat and drink for the rest of his life.

So anyone who wants to meet Ning Weimin must ask carefully, what kind of delicacies and palace dishes are we eating today? How is the business going, and what kind of people come to patronize 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.

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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 did not want the couple to be tied to Ning Weimin and live a busy life all day without even having time to spend money.
To be continued...