Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe

It wasn’t surprising to him that someone quickly applied.

Domestic chefs have low wages and low status, often earning similar to waitstaff but doing several times the work.

Chinese kitchens are hot and stuffy, and the iron woks are so heavy; cooking all day long is certainly exhausting.

In big cities, wages might be higher, but chefs in small cities earn at most four to five thousand, with head chefs earning about seven to eight thousand, never reaching ten thousand.

Unless you work in a big hotel, but big hotels value experience, making it not easy to get in.

In contrast, the base salary in Europe, after currency conversion, instantly inflates to nearly eight times more.

Based on the government-mandated minimum wage, post-tax earnings amount to 1400, converting to nearly twelve thousand.

With this base, Radison also provides employee accommodation, and staff meals can be taken care of by the restaurant itself, essentially providing room and board.

Earning over ten thousand a month without extra expenses, the workload is more relaxed than domestically, and working hours are shorter, with overtime paid at 1.5 times, without worrying about wage delays.

Considering these conditions, chefs who are financially tight and have family burdens would certainly not miss such a good job opportunity.

The only downside is having to travel far overseas alone, enduring the loneliness of separation from friends and family.

Therefore, his recruitment criteria aren’t high, but there’s a specialized requirement.

Stable personality, more than three years of work experience, passion for food, strong sense of cultural pride, and mastery of at least one cuisine.

It may seem like a lot of requirements, but actually, there’s almost none; the only strict requirement is mastering one cuisine.

Regarding other requirements, as long as they meet the three-year work condition, they basically qualify.

The service industry is different from other industries, where the work is monotonous and repetitive.

Those who can endure need perseverance, determination, and patience to handle such hardship.

He quickly opened the software backstage and accessed his email.

"Chef at a small Hunan cuisine restaurant with five years of experience? Mastering most Sichuan and Chongqing cuisines? Hmm, sounds good, but unfortunately foreigners can’t handle such a heavy taste, so I’ll postpone this for now."

"Two and a half years of experience, a trainee for a year, knows basic stir-fry? Nope, just blindly applying without looking at the recruitment criteria, pass."

"Six years as a fast-food chef? A Northeasterner? This sounds not bad, a backup."

"Pastry chef from Su Province? Three years of work experience? Hmm... this seems quite promising, although the experience might be a bit less for a pastry chef, the basics must be sound, fooling foreigners should be easy."

"Wow, a Cantonese chef with seven and a half years of experience, previously worked at a stir-fry shop, rice noodle shop, buffet restaurant... you’re the one!"

Lin Chen reviewed resumes for over three hours, checking more than twenty applications, and immediately confirmed three that met his requirements, with eight more to consider.

He didn’t expect so many people to look for overseas jobs, and many resumes seemed quite impressive, hard to distinguish between them.

Originally, he thought hiring two would suffice, but now he realized maybe not enough, needing at least four or six.

He himself was once a solitary overseas job seeker, and he knew those willing to work abroad must have compelling reasons.

If it weren’t for needing money, who would be willing to leave home for a country where the language is unfamiliar?

With more candidates, he felt the restaurant’s operating system might need some tweaking.

However, there’s no rush to change the adjustment plan; final decisions depend on whether they actually come, and it’s best to communicate first.

But the communication didn’t last long. Two chefs with deeper experience left immediately, like they thought it was a scam, when hearing he had only five years of experience and the restaurant was only open for over a week, without giving him a further chance to explain.

Lin Chen shrugged, silently thinking it was a close call.

He deliberately didn’t reveal Radison Hotel and Chef Marchello’s shareholder status first, wanting to see if they really intended to find a job.

Those genuinely wanting a job would certainly have a strong desire, asking detailed questions and considering carefully.

Like these two, dissatisfied after just a brief chat, probably hoped to come and boss around while earning eight times the salary idly.

No wonder they’re still job seeking after working for so many years.

The remaining one was the three-year experienced pastry chef he first favored.

For the Suzhou-style pastry industry, three years basically still consider them a newcomer, probably just started, without many bad habits.

After a brief chat, Lin Chen requested some work photos and portfolio images, and after roughly introducing the work environment and tasks, they agreed to a video online interview tomorrow to show the work environment.

With these three communication experiences, he felt relieved, realizing it’s not just about what he favors, but also the candidate’s willingness, leading him to communicate briefly with the eight backups, finally leaving only three indicating an intent to continue contact.

Among the four, three of them are still quite young, under thirty, with the youngest being only twenty-two, having entered the workforce without even going to college.

The other one is the thirty-five-year-old elder brother, a rural man, honest and simple, who had to look for a job after the restaurant he worked for years collapsed. He has three kids attending school, four elderly relatives with minor health issues, and his wife farming in the countryside. Basically, he’s the sole breadwinner for the family.

If it wasn’t for desperation, how would this rural man dare to think about working abroad?

Although he’s short on cash, he’s very cautious, asking about every detail to avoid being scammed.

His expectations are quite low. As long as one or two of the four are willing to come, things will become much easier.

Lying in bed until the afternoon, he went out to grab a simple bite, and before it got dark, he drove the upgraded food truck onto the highway, heading for Dieppe.

The mid-sized food truck was now allowed on the highway, and with the structural stability already upgraded, there was nothing to worry about—just drive it like a regular van.

Tomorrow marks the start of a new week of business. A meeting was definitely needed tonight; at least, they needed to finalize the new menu and send out the ingredient list.

"Hey, wait a minute, do we still need to serve buffet-style?"

As he was driving, an audacious thought suddenly popped into his mind.

After all, he and Jonathan called the shots in the restaurant; he didn’t need to worry about Jonathan’s side, just manage his own team.

Doesn’t this mean he can utilize the yet unopened outdoor area and set up stalls directly?

The food truck could serve as the outdoor kitchen, allowing him to cook on the spot while customers lined up for meals.

He could leave the indoor space to Jonathan, whether he wanted to do buffet or anything else, it didn’t concern him.

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense: he could openly complete the stall task while providing a comfortable dining environment for the customers. Perhaps Jonathan could even help divert some of the crowd, preventing long waits.

When he arrived at the hotel, Elsa and Lucas were already waiting in the restaurant, while Dais hadn’t returned, but there was no rush.

Seeing the brand-new food truck, the two were surprised, mouths agape.

"No way, in a day, did you just get a whole new truck??"

Lucas, clicking his tongue in wonder, climbed into the truck, curiously inspecting the spacious interior.

"Yeah, the manufacturer had a trade-in promotion. I added some money and swapped for a medium one, moved all transferable equipment over, saved quite a bit."

"What?! Food trucks can be traded in? Which manufacturer did you get this from? I want one too."

"Stop with the nonsense!" Lin Chen wiped the sweat forming on his forehead, jokingly scolding, "Just stick to working for me, you don’t have the skills to set up a stand, nor the time."

"True, setting up stalls is tiring, can’t handle it, just said it offhand."

Lucas and Elsa both raised their hands in favor of Lin Chen’s idea to use the beach area for stalls.

Buying food from a beachside food truck and dining on the sand—that’s summer for you!

Moreover, the indoor space would still be available, letting customers choose where to sit, potentially attracting more curious patrons with this novel operation style.

"So, the question now is, what should we make for breakfast tomorrow? Lunchtime? The same or different?"

"Uh... that’s a great question!"

From the restaurant’s perspective, breakfast and lunch should differ.

But from the food truck’s standpoint, selling the same food would be easier, otherwise, there might not be enough time to prepare multiple dishes.

However, that’s not too severe a problem; Chinese cuisine has plenty of roadside-cooked dishes, it’s all about what we want to make.

"How about making buns for breakfast?"

He’s been craving that for a long time, especially after making beef buns for two head chefs a few days ago, the thought making him drool. Saying he didn’t want them would be a lie.

"We previously did shrimp potstickers for breakfast and got good feedback; I believe buns would also be popular. The only issue is, I’m the only one who can make them, which could affect efficiency."

"Besides buns, we need to prepare at least one other dish that you can make and isn’t too complex. Otherwise, the buns might sell faster than they can be made."

"Then how about thin-skinned dumplings? You need soup with buns, right? I think they’re great, just like the ones you made the other day."

Thin-skinned dumplings?!

Lin Chen’s eyes lit up, and he slapped Lucas on the shoulder.

"Nice, when it comes to food, you’re the go-to guy!"