Mr. Song is going to open a school!
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the main hall of the Song family courtyard was filled with people. Tao Mu gathered everyone together to discuss the matter of using the Songji brand to run a school.
"This is a solid idea!" Qin Miaoru slapped her thigh and was the first to agree: "Mr. Song's cooking skills are so good, and Song's is such a famous brand. Setting up a school at this critical juncture can just help to attract some attention. Let Xiao Mu promote it on Feixun.com, and there will definitely be a lot of people willing to sign up. By then, Mr. Song will have disciples all over the world, and all the good chefs in China come from Song's. Let's see who dares to say that the Song family has no successors."
Da Fei, the current editor-in-chief of the entertainment department of Feixun.com, who once wanted to recognize Mr. Song as his godfather, also clapped his hands and expressed his support: "I also think this can be accomplished. Yao Sheng'an and Sheng'an Group just rely on their large numbers to bully Songji, which has a small number of people. Now we open a school to attract students, and when we train good chefs, we will let them open Songji branches all over the country. We will also strive to create a listed group. We will squeeze them to death."
In comparison, Liu Yaomengqi's ideas are much more realistic.
"Opening a school is a good thing. The Song family has a clean and upright family tradition, and Songji is a century-old brand. If it can be passed on in this way, it would be great." Meng Qi said with a smile, "It's about teachers and teaching materials. The old man is old, and if he really teaches on the front line, I'm afraid he won't have enough energy. Besides, he can't handle it all by himself. It would be great if we could find other brothers from Songji."
Tao Mu turned his head and looked at Mr. Song: "I remember that the old man had two apprentices at that time. In addition to Yao Shengan, there was also a second apprentice brother, who seemed to be called Wang Yipin, right? Can you still find my uncle now?"
Old Master Song shook his head slowly: "He's long gone." The Song family didn't have many descendants. After the disaster that year, his fellow disciples all died or scattered. In the first few years after Mr. Song returned to Yanjing from the farm, he also asked around for the whereabouts of other people. Unfortunately, most of those senior brothers and uncles were much older than him. Some did not survive that era. There were also some who survived and lived to be in their seventies or eighties, but they all passed away one by one. As for the remaining family members and descendants, things were fine at first, but as time went on, they gradually stopped interacting with each other.
Song Daozhen was the only one left guarding the Songji plaque, quietly waiting for the moment when he would be gone too, so that he could take the Songji signboard into his coffin.
But Song Daozhen never expected that one day he would have the opportunity to revive Songji.
"Although there are not many direct disciples in the Song family, Song Ji still trained a lot of apprentices in the past. These apprentices were unnamed disciples. Because of their poor talents, they were not accepted into the Song family. They were not allowed to sell food under the name of Song Ji. I just don't know if these people are still there now. If so, are they willing to come and be teachers?"
Song Daozhen said this, but he actually didn't have much hope. At first, the Song family disliked these people for their lack of talent, and taught them skills but did not allow them to use the Song family's name. So those people may not necessarily have any feelings towards Song Ji. Of course, there is no obligation to revive Songji. Besides, the Song family looked down on them in the past, but now that Songji is empty, they remember them again. Mr. Song didn't know whether those people would agree or not.
Liu Yao frowned and said, "In fact, we shouldn't think about it so complicatedly. It would be great if we could recruit a chef who has a connection with Song Ji. Even if we can't, we can recruit from outside. I remember that the boss of Wen Juxiang also learned cooking skills at Song Ji, right? Boss Wen has been in the catering industry for so many years, he should have connections with many chefs. Why don't we ask him to help introduce a few reliable chefs, and then let Mr. Song check it. If there is no problem, we can ask them to be teachers in the school."
This is a solution. But Tao Mu knew what was on Mr. Song's mind. The old man wanted to revive Song Ji, so of course he wanted to find someone who had a connection with Song Ji. Otherwise, if the school opens, but none of the teachers are from the Song family, the old man probably won’t be able to get over this hurdle.
"I'll call Wen Bao - never mind, I'll just go to Wen Juxiang and talk to my uncle."
"That's fine." Liu Yao said, "I'll go around with your father Xiao Qi to see if there are any schools for sale. If that doesn't work, we can buy some land and build a school ourselves. Mr. Song can sort out the Song family motto at home, as well as how the Song family trained apprentices in the past. Let's first come up with a set of teaching materials and teaching procedures. If that doesn't work, we can go to other vocational schools for chefs to learn from them."
Once the school site is selected, we will go through the procedures for building the school. Liu Yao also asked the old man to stay at home and think carefully about the name of the school. With Song Ji as the first, whether it is called Song Ji Chef Training School, Song Ji Cooking Academy, or Song Ji Cooking School or something... This is a big deal.
Old Master Song was originally depressed and worried because of what Yao Sheng'an did. But after being urged by Tao Mu and his son, he no longer felt depressed and worried. He spent several days in the small study room writing the Song family motto in large characters, and finally named the school Songji Apprentice Training School.
Just like when the Song family opened a restaurant and taught apprentices their skills, they also picked out those apprentices who were pleasing to the eye and had good character to recruit as their disciples. This is Song Ji’s heritage and is a part of Song Ji. And Song Daozhen was responsible for teaching apprentices back then.
In Song Daozhen's opinion, the purpose of establishing a school now is to recruit apprentices and then select the right students from among them. So the school is named this way, which to some extent is also inheriting the history of Songji.
When Tao Mu and others heard the name of this school, they all praised Song Daozhen for his grand name.
"Song Ji Apprentice Training School. In other words, students who graduate from this school are merely qualified apprentices of Song Ji. But we must ensure that all apprentices from Song Ji are better than those regular chefs." Qin Miaoru clapped her hands and gave a thumbs up. Then he asked doubtfully: "How long will our training period take?"
The training period in a general chef school ranges from three months to two years. Qin Miaoru was particularly curious about Song Ji’s training time. If it's short, she's also prepared to go in and learn a few tricks.
Song Daozhen was silent. When Song Ji was training apprentices, the rules were actually not strict. Because the apprentice is not an entry-level disciple, he cannot use the Songji name. So generally speaking, you can come and go freely. Some people study hard for three to five years, while others just give up after a few months.
"How many years do chefs who can stay in Song's kitchen have to learn?" Tao Mu asked in a different way.
This time Song Daozhen agreed quickly: "At least three years." Chinese cuisine is about color, aroma and taste, and every skill of the knife and the cooking time are important. Without three years, if you can’t even master the basic skills, you can’t even get promoted to a kitchen helper in Songji.
"Then the semester will be three years." The same as the vocational college time: "The systematic study time is three years. But Songji guarantees job placement. Any apprentice who successfully graduates can stay in Songji's kitchen. Anyway, we will open branches all over the country in the future. We are not afraid of having too many chefs, but we are afraid of not having enough chefs."
“What about the tuition?” Dafei, who is now the editor-in-chief of the entertainment department of Feixun.com, is still obsessed with his dream of becoming a chef. I want to take advantage of some free time at work to retrain my cooking skills.
Tao Mu was a little stuck: "...take some time to visit other training schools." He felt that with the Song Ji brand, it should at least be at the high-tech level, right?
Old Master Song started to speak, "When the Song family taught apprentices skills, it was actually free. Our family just wanted more people to master a skill to support the family. Of course, if we want to run a school now, we must not charge a penny. But I still think it shouldn't be too expensive. Just enough to keep the school running. At least it should be affordable for most people. As for those who can't afford it but really want to learn the craft, the school can also pay for them to learn the craft. Anyway, they will stay to work at Song's in the future."
Compared to Tao Mu, who was so cruel that he would not pay for his life, Mr. Song's thoughts were still very simple. He has always believed that the Song family's cooking skills are priceless, but an apprentice is not considered a member of the Song family and cannot learn the essence of Song family cuisine. So if they charge too much, it would be a bit of a rip-off.
Tao Mu scratched his eyebrows with some regret, and decided to follow the old man's idea - after all, it was to fulfill the old man's wish.
Tao Mu has always been vigorous and resolute. I told the old man that I wanted to start a school, and that afternoon, I took him to Wen Juxiang to eat mutton hotpot. By the way, please consult about the teaching staff.
Boss Wen was an apprentice of Song Ji back then. It was with this skill that he was able to open Wen Juxiang. Now he is considered a well-known boss. In fact, he was particularly grateful to the Song family for passing on his art to him. It's been so many years, but I haven't found the opportunity to repay you. Now that he knew that the Song family was going to open a school and make it prosperous, Boss Wen said without hesitation that he was willing to be a teacher at the school.
"Mr. Song, you don't know. In fact, we apprentices are also very grateful to Song's. If Song hadn't taught us the skills, we wouldn't have been able to make a living. In fact, many of Song's apprentices are now chefs in major restaurants. With just one word from you, at least half of them will be willing to come to the school to be part-time teachers."
Song Daozhen didn't expect to hear such words from Boss Wen. Boss Wen looked at Song Daozhen's expression, took a gulp of white wine, and said sincerely: "Mr. Song, I know that we apprentices don't have good talents, and the Song family looked down on us back then. They also didn't allow us to use the Song's name. But no matter how you look at us, this skill has been passed on to us. The Song family has done good deeds for several lifetimes and has taught so many apprentices. There are ungrateful people like Yao Shengan. But there are also many people who remember the good things about the Song family." He is one of them.
"So you don't have to worry about this. You are just a teacher. Although we apprentices are not as skilled as you, we can teach you and help you screen the seedlings."
Boss Wen said this and smiled, "Speaking of this, I have one more thing to say. If you still trust me, why not let me handle the specific matters of running the school. For example, I can find cheap and good suppliers for you, such as the custom-made kitchen utensils and food supplies for the school. And I can also help sell the ingredients used up every day, such as the shredded potatoes and radishes cut by practicing knife skills. Although the money is not much, it can avoid waste."
Song Daozhen stared at Boss Wen for several times. After a while, he raised his glass and said, "Come on, let's go for a drink together."
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