Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Liang
I am a professional worker who has been in the catering industry for 20 years, specializing in Cantonese cuisine, particularly Hakka dishes. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I had 13 outlets. However, the pandemic led to a significant decrease in customers and intensified competition among restaurants, highlighting the flaws and shortcomings of some restaurants, which led to the closure of five outlets.
Reflecting on why I started a restaurant, it stemmed from my frequent dining experiences, where I found that restaurants either had subpar food or poor hygiene; those with good food and an environment were too expensive. If I were to open a restaurant, I could address these issues and do better. With the support of friends and the employment needs of my family, I found a location and opened my first outlet, which was just a tiny restaurant at the time.
In the early days of entrepreneurship, I was unfamiliar with the industry and lacked resources and understanding of its people, especially professional chefs. I was easily deceived by the chefs or faced with their refusal to cooperate. It was only through observation, understanding, and making friends in the catering industry that I resolved these issues.
For many, Cantonese cuisine is one of the eight major Chinese cuisines and is widely popular. It emphasizes the freshness of ingredients and a diverse range of cooking methods, integrating Western coastal influences, including Shunde and many other local styles from Guangdong, forming a cuisine over hundreds of years. For me, Cantonese cuisine is a profession and business I have been engaged in for twenty years, and it should be my lifelong career unless something unexpected happens. Building a brand requires a lot of effort, but it also brings considerable returns, such as economic benefits and the joy, happiness, and satisfaction of achieving something. Over the years, I have also trained many people, providing better economic support to many individuals and families.
Furthermore, in recent years, due to changes in the catering industry and the input of resources from other industries, regional characteristics of dishes have become more integrated. In every restaurant offering a certain cuisine, you can find traces, characteristics, and cooking methods from other cuisines. For example, some Cantonese restaurants also serve spicy Sichuan and Hunan dishes and barbecues with a Northeastern flavor. The transformation of the catering industry, apart from the integration of flavors, also includes its presentation methods. Advanced equipment for automatic roasting and stewing, including pizza-making techniques and presentation styles from Japanese and Korean cuisines, are now reflected in Cantonese cuisine. This is called borrowing and transformation. The prevalence of pre-made dishes and the entry of more standardized high-quality ingredients into Cantonese restaurants represent changes in the supply chain. These changes have a significant impact, as customers now have diverse needs and are unsatisfied with good-tasting food. They also care about aesthetics and hope to enjoy a richer variety and flavor in one restaurant.
Although the catering industry is very complicated and hard work, it is one of the industries most closely related to people’s daily lives, including clothing, food, housing, and transportation. Although competition has caused short-term impacts, it is also necessary for any business. On the contrary, competition can bring out the best highlights and minimize the shortcomings, making the excellent even better. This is the original intention of the catering industry: to maintain good quality and provide good products and friendly service to our guests and service objects so that everyone can eat more substantial, affordable, delicious, and healthy food.
- Mr. Liang
China
Interviewee | Mr. Liang
Interviewer | Jenny
Editor | Victor & Jasmine
Translator | Yingying Dai
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