Master Li spread out his notebook with sauce on the table: “The problem with the spicy rice cakes has been investigated. The amount of Korean hot sauce used by the afternoon team is 15% less than the standard.” He took out his mobile phone to play the surveillance video. In the video, the kitchen assistant Xiao Wang was scooping the sauce with a spoon at random, not following the standard operation at all. “It is recommended to install a quantitative dispenser in the back kitchen, and each portion of sauce should be taken strictly according to the scale, so as to ensure the stability of the taste.”

Purchasing supervisor Lao Zhao interrupted, stroking his stubble, “Speaking of standards, the price of lettuce has increased by 40% recently, and the cost pressure is too great. Should we replace the romaine lettuce in the salad with iceberg lettuce? The price of iceberg lettuce is relatively stable, and it is available locally.”

Wang Jianye tapped the glass with his pen, thought for a moment and said, “Change it, but add a sign – due to supply chain adjustments, this month’s salad base is upgraded to local organic romaine lettuce. This can not only solve the cost problem, but also give customers a reasonable explanation, and it may even become a selling point.”

At 50 o’clock in the afternoon, Master Li came to the kitchen with his tool box. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of various ingredients, and the chefs were busy. Master Li unpacked the quantitative dispenser that had just arrived and demonstrated to the chefs watching: “Look, the hot sauce is packaged in 30 grams each time, and the seafood soy sauce is packaged in grams each. Everyone should follow this standard in the future, and don’t make mistakes again.” The stainless steel utensils jingled on the operating table, and the kitchen assistant Xiao Liu whispered: “This is too troublesome. In the past, I could just scoop it casually, but now I have to keep an eye on the scale.”

Master Li glared at him and said, “Last Wednesday you put less hot sauce in the product, which led to three bad reviews. The bonus you deducted was enough to buy ten sets of these tools. What do you think is more important, a little trouble, or losing bonuses and customers?” After hearing this, Xiao Liu lowered his head and said no more.

Sister Zhou, who was cutting kimchi, tried to smooth things over: “I think it’s good. It’s not easy for a novice to make mistakes. This will ensure the quality of our products in the kitchen.” She picked up the dispenser and tried it. The red hot sauce fell accurately into the measuring slot. “Hey, this buckle design is very smooth and convenient to use.”

Wang Jianye suddenly came in with a tasting plate in his hand, lifting the plastic curtain and saying, “Come and taste the new apple cider vinegar samples to see which one has the right acidity. We are going to use it in new dishes, so we have to choose the most suitable one.” Five small porcelain plates were arranged in order, with the acidity increasing from No. 1 to No. 5. After tasting No. 3, the kitchen helper Xiao Wang grinned, “This will definitely make you watery if you eat it with kimchi, it’s too sour.”

Everyone tasted the food and expressed their opinions. Master Li wrote down the number 2 sample that most people chose in his notebook, then turned to the purchasing department and said, “Order 200 bottles of number 2 from the supplier. They must have a shelf life of this month. Ask them to deliver the food as soon as possible so as not to delay the development of new dishes.”

……

At the same time in Wang’s All-Inclusive Restaurant, the atmosphere in the training room on the second floor was tense and heated, and a unique situational drama was being performed. Chen Yu was playing the role of a picky customer at the moment. He frowned and looked dissatisfied. He slammed the menu heavily on the table and asked loudly: “I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes, and the appetizers haven’t been served yet! How do you serve people like this?”

The new waiter Xiao Yang stood aside with slight sweat on his forehead, but he quickly calmed down and followed the training process. He quickly bent down 45 degrees and said with an apologetic smile on his face: “I’m very sorry for giving you a bad experience. I’ll go to the kitchen to urge the order right away. Please try our special Hibiscus tea first to calm you down.” As he said that, he carefully handed over the prepared apology drink.

The veteran employees of the observation group sat aside, carefully observing Xiao Yang’s every move and expression, and then raised the scoreboard: 8.5 points. Chen Yu stepped forward and pointed out the problem: “The tray shook too obviously, and two drops of tea spilled. Remember, when dealing with a crisis, every move must be steady, which not only reflects our professionalism, but also calms the customer’s emotions. Think about it again, when handing tea, how should you communicate with the customer with your eyes?” Xiao Yang nodded thoughtfully, silently memorizing these key points in his heart.

In another group in the training room, Zhang Ting, the foreman, was demonstrating the exclusive member service. She stood tall and straight, smiling, and handed the menu with a golden cover to her colleague who played the role of “customer” with both hands. Her left hand was elegantly behind her back, and her right forearm was at a 75-degree angle to the table. Her voice was crisp and pleasant: “Mr. Wang, as a gold card member, you can upgrade the shrimp variety of the seafood pot for free today. Look, it’s in the bold prompt column on the menu.” As she spoke, she pointed to the corresponding position and detailed the exclusive member discounts and benefits. The other waiters gathered around, watching attentively, and discussing from time to time.

At 1pm, the technical department office was busy, with the sound of keyboards coming and going like a tense battle symphony. Programmer Xiao Wu stared at the screen full of code, his eyes bloodshot. Suddenly, he slammed the table and shouted excitedly: “I found a bug! The algorithm of the points exchange module converts the consumption amount and points 1:, forgetting to multiply by the member level coefficient. I was wondering why there have been problems with points exchange these days.”

When Chen Yu heard the voice, he quickly moved closer to the screen and asked anxiously, “Diamond members should get 1.5 times the points, right? Fix it quickly. This is a big problem. Many members have reported it.”

“Yes, I’ll add a conditional statement now.” Xiao Wu didn’t bother to wipe the sweat off his forehead, his fingers flew rapidly on the mechanical keyboard, and lines of code rolled on the screen like a waterfall. The electronic clock on the wall ticked, and time passed by minute by minute. When the pointer jumped to 19:48, Xiao Wu took a deep breath, pressed the Enter key, and stared at the screen nervously. After a moment, a relieved smile appeared on his face: “Test account 0089, spending 200 yuan, accumulating 300 points normally! Finally done.” Chen Yu also breathed a sigh of relief and patted Xiao Wu on the shoulder: “Thank you for your hard work, and we’ll add a meal tonight. Everyone is exhausted.”

At 10 o’clock in the evening, the whole city was brightly lit, but the lights in the purchasing department’s office were still on. Lao Zhao sat in front of a desk piled with documents, his tie pulled loose by him, his face full of fatigue and anxiety. He shouted into the speakerphone: “The salmon was supposed to arrive at 7 o’clock this morning, why did you change it to the afternoon? Do you know how much impact this has on our restaurant?”

The supplier’s excuse came from the other end of the phone with a sound of electricity: “Brother Zhao, I’m really sorry! The cargo hold of the airline is crowded with the luggage of the tour group. We have no choice but to pay more for cold chain land transportation. Please bear with it.”

Lao Zhao grabbed a calculator and started typing away, calculating the losses. Then he said seriously, “The six-hour delay caused a shortage of sashimi at lunch. According to the contract, 15% of the balance will be deducted. I’m not deliberately making things difficult for you. It’s you who didn’t deliver the goods on time.”

“Brother Zhao, don’t be like this. I will give you priority space next time. Please be merciful this time and don’t deduct the money.” The supplier pleaded quickly.

“Fax the compensation agreement now, otherwise all orders will be transferred to the Kuala Lumpur supplier tomorrow. We can’t always be so passive. If you don’t take it seriously, this business won’t be able to continue.” Lao Zhao hung up the phone, leaned back in his chair, drank half a cup of cold coffee, and rubbed his aching temples.

During lunch time the following week, the restaurant was bustling with activity, and the turnover rate in the member area increased by 40% compared to the previous week. The white-collar lady at table number seven was dining while scanning the code to check her points, and suddenly exclaimed: “The points I spent yesterday have been credited! This is too fast.” Her colleague next to her curiously looked at her phone and said in surprise: “Really? This exchange mall can actually exchange for SPA coupons? This membership benefit is too rich.” The two of them discussed excitedly, attracting envious glances from other customers around them. In the back kitchen monitoring room, Master Li stood in front of the huge monitoring screen, his eyes fixed on the real-time picture, with a satisfied smile on his face, and he couldn’t help but nod and praise: “This quantitative dispenser works really well, keeping the sauce error of each serving of spicy fried rice cakes within ±3 grams, and the taste is much more stable.” In the picture, apprentice Xiao Zhang was strictly following the process to immerse the squid in lemon water, and the timer next to him was flashing a green prompt light, and everything was going on in an orderly manner. Chef Li turned to his assistant and said, “Look, now everyone is following the standard process, the quality of the dishes is guaranteed, and there are fewer customer complaints. But we still can’t relax, keep watching.”

The evening sun shines through the glass curtain wall and shines on the information desk, where five customers are queuing up to register as members. When Chen Yu was patrolling the lobby, he noticed an old man repeatedly flipping through the brochure with a puzzled look on his face, so he took the initiative to ask, “Hello, do you need help explaining the points rules? I see you seem to have some questions.”

The old man pushed his reading glasses, raised his head, and said with a smile: “My grandson said that he can win a Disney ticket if he registers. Is that true? He really wants to go to Disney.”

Chen Yu smiled and pointed to the event details on the poster, patiently explaining, “Yes, if you spend 500 Singapore dollars this month, you will be eligible for the lucky draw. And our lucky draws are open and fair, and many customers have won their favorite prizes. Do you want me to help you register with your phone? It’s very simple.”

The old man took out the latest foldable screen mobile phone, waved his hand and said: “No need, my son taught me how to scan the code. The service in restaurants nowadays is really not simple, with more and more tricks, but your service is really thoughtful. My grandson and I like to eat here.” Chen Yu smiled and chatted with the old man for a few words. He waited until the old man registered as a member before turning around and leaving.

At the regular management meeting on Friday, the atmosphere in the conference room was warm and solemn. Wang Jianye stood in front of the whiteboard, pasted the new version of the flowchart on it, and said seriously: “From now on, every Wednesday will be set as optimization day, and each department will report three improvement measures. We must continue to make progress, not be satisfied with the status quo, and stand out from the competition.”

Chen Yu stood up and demonstrated the new features on the mobile phone: “The real-time evaluation system has been launched. Customers can scan the code to rate specific dishes. In this way, we can get customer feedback in the first place and improve the dishes in time. For example, yesterday a customer reported that a new dish tasted too salty. We immediately adjusted the recipe, and today the praise rate of this dish has increased a lot.”

Chef Li brought out a sample box with color labels, placed it on the conference table, and introduced: “These are four newly developed spiciness sample packs. They will be distributed free of charge in the waiting area starting next week. We want to understand customers’ preferences for spiciness in this way so that we can better adjust the spiciness of dishes to meet the needs of different customers. You can also try them and give your opinions.” As he said that, he opened the box and took out a few sample packs to share with everyone.

Lao Zhao patted a thick stack of contracts with a proud smile on his face: “We have negotiated direct supply from two local farms, and the cost of leafy greens has dropped by 12%. This will not only reduce our costs, but also ensure the freshness and quality of the ingredients. In the future, we will have a better guarantee for the supply of ingredients.”

……

In the following days, various improvement measures in the hotel were steadily advanced. The self-service tea station in the waiting area was quickly set up, with various teas and snacks neatly arranged. Customers could take them while waiting, which relieved their irritability. The real-time queuing system of the WeChat public account was also launched as scheduled. As long as customers take a number on the public account, they can check the queue progress at any time and arrange their time reasonably.

In the kitchen, the use of quantitative dispensers has greatly improved the taste stability of dishes. The chefs have gradually become accustomed to taking sauces according to the scale, and the number of negative reviews for dishes such as spicy fried rice cakes has significantly decreased. The new apple cider vinegar also arrived on time. Chef Li and the chef team began to develop new dishes around the new apple cider vinegar, and they were busy in the kitchen every day trying various combinations of ingredients and cooking methods.

Chen Yu paid close attention to comments on social media and data from the membership system. He found that as various improvement measures were implemented, the number of positive reviews gradually increased, and the activity and repurchase rate of members also further improved. He compiled these data into reports and reported them to Wang Jianye regularly.

Wang Jianye felt a little relieved when he saw these positive changes. But he knew that the competition in the catering industry was fierce and he could not slack off. He began to think about the next development plan, such as further expanding member benefits, launching more special dishes, and enhancing the hotel’s brand influence. He called another meeting of the management team to discuss the future development direction.

“We cannot be satisfied with the status quo and must continue to innovate and improve,” Wang Jianye said at the meeting. “Everyone can bring forward any ideas and we will discuss them together.”

Xiao Li from the marketing department suggested: “We can hold some themed events, such as the Korean Food Festival and Singapore Food Week, to attract more customers.”

Chen Yu went on to say: “We can also cooperate with some well-known brands to launch joint packages to increase the popularity of the restaurant.”

Everyone was talking at once, and the discussion was very lively. In this process, the hotel’s development blueprint gradually became clear. With the joint efforts of all employees, Wang’s entire chain of hotels is moving towards a higher goal, striving to stand out in the fiercely competitive catering market and become the first choice in the hearts of customers.

…(End of chapter)