Boshan food culture has a long history and a long history, and occupies an important place in Chinese food culture. Long-term inheritance and historical accumulation have made Boshan cuisine form a distinctive cooking technique and its own feast customs, which are unique in Chinese cuisine, and Boshan has thus become the birthplace of Lu cuisine. Proverbs such as "When you want to eat a good meal, go around Boshan", "Eat Boshan rice, turn around the world" and so on push Boshan cuisine to a well-known degree.
Liu Xinyou
Generally speaking, Boshan cuisine is mainly based on local traditional dishes, and the legend of tofu boxes and crispy fish pots gives Boshan food a unique cultural connotation. More than 80 years ago, a foreigner named Wang Wanqi came to Boshan, took root here with profound culinary skills, and brought a new variety of Halal cuisine to the Boshan diet, and the Qingmeiju he founded has also become a wonderful flower of Boshan cuisine. Time passed, more than 60 years later, after experiencing many restructurings such as Huimin Hotel and Boshan Commercial Service Company, the baton of the "Qingmeiju" brand was put into the hands of Liu Xinyou, and the love affair between Liu Xinyou and Qingmeiju also began.
In the 1990s, due to the impact of the market economy, Boshan Catering industry suffered an unprecedented impact, and Boshan Commercial Service Company (the former name of Qingmeiju's restructuring) was also facing a difficult situation of insolvency and on the verge of bankruptcy. In March 1997, the party committee meeting of Boshan Commercial Corporation was held, and it was decided that Liu Xinyou, who was then deputy director, would concurrently serve as the general manager of Boshan Commercial Service Company. After reading out the decision, the leaders put forward only one demand: do everything possible to invigorate the economy and keep the jobs of all workers.
Liu Xinyou, who was in danger, was very confused in his heart. I have been engaged in administrative work for many years and have no idea about business operations. However, in the face of the earnest gaze of the participants, Liu Xinyou was really difficult to refuse, and he agreed to it with a straight face, and said on the spot that he would definitely advance and retreat with the company, develop together, and put himself into the company's work with the attitude of a "fighter", and never give up until he saved the enterprise. Liu Xinyou did not expect at that time that a vow at that time would be answered by himself with decades of time.
Stepping into a new post and facing a new working environment, Liu Xinyou knows that the company's embarrassing living environment does not leave himself too much learning and adaptation time, and he must make the company improve in the shortest possible time and let employees have expectations. Therefore, he immediately carried out non-stop research work, on the one hand, he intensively visited the old employees and seniors to listen to their opinions and suggestions; on the other hand, he went to the library and archives bureau to check the company's past and sort out the company's development context. During the day, he kept visiting and researching; at night, he shut himself in his room and meditated, looking for an exit to solve the company's dilemma.
In the process of dealing with enterprises for many years, Liu Xinyou knows how much influence enterprise managers have on enterprises. Enterprise managers must not only often imagine how to face the future and adapt to the ever-changing market conditions and move forward steadily; but also start from reality, establish and continuously adjust the business philosophy of the enterprise, so that the enterprise can gain a new life; at the same time, we must think from the long-term strategic aspect and determine the direction and goal of the future development of the enterprise, all three are indispensable. And all this co-ordination and planning, and even the final decision, must now be completed by him.
In the face of difficulties, some people choose to retreat and get temporary peace of mind, but they also lose the excitement of the game; some people will face the difficulties, the more frustrated and courageous, and feel the heroism of "hitting the water in the middle of the current, and the waves suppress the flying boat". As a new leader of the enterprise, Liu Xinyou understands that all growth is in himself. Like a pine on a cliff, it is not afraid of barrenness; like a cold plum in the corner of the wall, it is like a snow blooming.
A week later, Liu Xinyou came up with a detailed corporate change plan. The plan clearly proposes to change the enterprise to Shandong Zibo Qingmeiju Food Co., Ltd. and register the trademark "Qingmeiju". He believes that the long-established brands are valuable assets left in hundreds of years of commercial competition, and they have experienced a history of hard work and hard work, reflecting the unchanged service of a hundred years. The time-honored brand is not only a cultural inheritance, but also an advantage that is difficult to replicate in the era of brand economy. How to carry forward these precious heritages is a questionnaire left by history to a new generation of businessmen! Changing the enterprise to "Qingmeiju" can not only continue the responsibility and professionalism of "Qingmeiju" that it has been advocating for a long time, but also make this old brand shine with new brilliance in the new era. Liu Xinyou firmly believes that after surviving the darkest night, there is the brightest light, with the leadership of the superior, and the support of all employees, Qingmeiju will definitely phoenix nirvana and rebirth.
In December 1997, Qingmeiju held the first shareholders' meeting and elected Liu Xinyou as the chairman of the board. In the same month, 3.7 million yuan was raised through employee raising and bank loans, and the Boshan Huimin Hotel was restored. The newly renovated Muslim Hotel is located in the middle of the bustling Tax Street, with a height of 3 floors, a building of 1500 square meters, 15 elegant seats, a wedding banquet hall, can accommodate 300 people at the same time, the main brand is "halal cuisine", the Muslim Hotel has also become one of the largest ethnic hotels in Shandong Province.
As an Old Chinese word, the word "halal" was initially not directly associated with Islam. As early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties Liu Yiqing's "World Speaking New Language" there is a sentence of "halal fasting desire, all things can not be moved", which means pure and simple, dust-free and untainted. Subsequently, successive generations of literati have used the word in poetry many times, referring to the moral standards or high elegance of human beings. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese Islamic scholars referred to Islam as a metaphor for "tranquility and no stains", and gradually used the term "halal" in the field of Islam in China, and "halal cuisine" was slowly popularized as a special dish.
The most distinctive feature of the halal diet is "to nourish, to clean, to morality first", that is, to pay attention to Jiamei nutritious food, pay attention to cleanliness and hygiene, advocate self-control, love natural resources, which contains a very scientific lifestyle and eating habits. The reopened Muslim hotel inherits and carries forward this essence of halal food culture, Liu Xinyou not only grasps the source of ingredients, but also makes detailed and careful arrangements for the production of ingredients, the layout of the dining environment, the instrumentation of the service staff, etc., and strives to soar to the sky and make a splash.
The opening time was not long, and the Muslim hotel quickly attracted the attention of the people in Boshan and the surrounding areas with its renovated interior and good color and taste, and the hotel was full of guests and friends for a while, and it was difficult to find a seat. After more than half a century, Qingmeiju once again shouted with the brand of "halal cuisine" in the mountain city of Boshan.
In the face of the crowd, Liu Xinyou did not revel in himself. The ancients said that "ruling a big country is like cooking a small fresh", so on the other hand, "cooking small fresh" naturally needs to be like "governing a big country", which requires a precise division of labor and cooperation, so as not to be sloppy and perfunctory. Therefore, he hit the iron while it was hot, and together with the board of directors, formulated practical rules and regulations from business objectives, talent introduction, job optimization, to financial audit management, marketing, and post wages. These systems are based on the reality of Qingmeiju, with clear goals and strong operability, and quickly reached a consensus among all personnel, which also laid the foundation for the future development of Qingmeiju.
When it comes to Qingmeiju dishes, many Boshan people will be like a number of family treasures: garlic fried beef, coriander bursting Dan, flavored lamb chops, fried lamb with green onions, minced meat and sea cucumbers. The most representative of these is the crispy beef jerky.
Beef jerky was originally a food for Muslims in the western region. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Wanqi's grandfather Wang Daolun improved it. After Inheriting Wang Daolun's craftsmanship, Wang Wanqi combined with the tastes of the locals and further processed it, making this traditional Western cuisine not only have national characteristics, but also suitable for public food tastes, and crispy beef jerky has gradually become the signature dish of Qingmeiju.
The production of crispy beef jerky, the selection of ingredients is extremely exquisite, the past generations have been based on Rusi yellow beef, select eye meat, cucumber strips, knee circles, buttocks and other parts, after splitting, soaking, boiling, cooling, slicing, frying, impregnation and other production processes; using the exclusive preparation of secret recipes to cook, only the package has cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, fennel and other 20 flavor condiments, and add some aged soup, proportionally matched into juice. When cooked until seven ripe, remove to cool and slice. Slices are one of the key steps in making crispy beef jerky, which is not crispy when thick, easily charred if the slices are thin, and fragile when the fibers are misaligned. Therefore, only experienced masters can cut into thin slices about two millimeters thick. After the beef is sliced, the moisture is basically removed by frying and drying to ensure a crispy taste. The crispy beef jerky made by this method is as thin as autumn maple leaves, as thin as paper, as bright as fat, as bright and warm as gloss, and is crispy and fragrant in the mouth, which is known as "a must in Shandong".
When Wang Daolun improved this dish, because of its clear veins and shaped like maple leaves, it was named "maple leaf beef", and Wang Wanqi directly named it "Huimin beef jerky", which was called for more than 60 years. After Liu Xinyou took charge of Qingmeiju, he decided to make it one of the many special cuisines of Qingmeiju and carry out factory production. One of the more important links is to reposition the name of the dish. If you change it back to "maple leaf beef", although it is reflected in the color and form, at first glance, it is easy for consumers to misunderstand it as a common brine product on the market. It is necessary to take an appropriate name, which can fully reflect the characteristics of the dish and let the consumer remember it.
At a team meeting, Liu Xinyou put forward this idea for everyone to discuss. Deputy General Manager Zheng Jie said: "Grasping the attributes and characteristics of the product, the name has been successful for a long time. Since this product has the main characteristics of 'thin, fragrant, crisp, crisp', then simply call it 'crispy beef jerky'! After listening to Liu Xinyou, he thought that this name not only closely followed the characteristics of the product, but also achieved conciseness, and after soliciting everyone's opinions, he officially named this dish "crispy beef jerky".
With the advantages of maple leaves, thin and transparent, crispy entrance and long aftertaste, crispy beef jerky has won many honors for Qingmeiju, and "Qingmeiju Fragrant Beef Jerky Handicraft" has been included in the list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage". In 2019, Qingmeiju crispy beef jerky won the first batch of "Chinese Old Taste".
Since entering the 21st century, with the development of the economy and the improvement of people's living standards, people's consumption concepts have also undergone tremendous changes. In terms of catering consumption, people have newer and higher requirements for the content of the catering industry, especially the nutritional value of the food itself. Liu Xinyou is keenly aware of this change in concept and envisions the comprehensive implementation of the concept of therapeutic and healthy catering in Qingmeiju. He believes that at present, the pressure of social competition is great, most people's physical and mental health are in a sub-healthy state, and people pay more and more attention to the role of food health. Creating a qingmeiju dietary health diet can not only further refine its main ingredient - the unique effect of beef, but also add a new highlight to the future development of Qingmeiju.
Therefore, Liu Xinyou began to pay attention to the study of health dishes. He starts with existing dishes to see which ones fall under the category of health dishes. After careful study, he was overjoyed that many of Qingmeiju's existing dishes were already fully equipped with the factors of health dishes. One of the more typical is their prestigious specialty, sesame beef.
When sesame beef is made, it is generally necessary to hang a layer of egg white and starch on the surface of the beef slices, and then stick the layer of dense sesame seeds, carefully cooked, the color is golden, the outside is tender and tender, the aroma is attractive, and people can't help but move their index fingers. This dish has thus become the housekeeping dish of Qingmeiju. Liu Xinyou said that in the past, only the research on the color, taste and shape of this dish was paid attention to, ignoring the mining of its own nutritional value, resulting in this typical health dish being mixed with general dishes for a long time. He found that beef is rich in protein, can improve the body's ability to resist diseases, suitable for the middle of the air hidden, shortness of breath, muscle and bone acid, anemia for a long time and yellow face of people to eat, and for growth and development and postoperative and post-illness care of people, in supplementing blood loss, repairing tissue and other aspects have obvious effects. Sesame contains a lot of fat, protein, lecithin and other nutrients, which can regulate cholesterol, prevent the harm of peroxidized lipids to the skin, offset or neutralize the accumulation of harmful substances in cells, and make the skin white and moist. After the combination of the two, the symptoms of postpartum milk deficiency, anemia, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, elderly asthma, tuberculosis, as well as hives and habitual constipation have been significantly improved in women. Sesame beef not only embodies the "nutrition-oriented" in halal food culture, but also a powerful annotation of the "medicinal food homology" of traditional Chinese food culture, which can be called the representative of health dishes.
Since then, Liu Xinyou has carefully studied more than 50 classic dishes of Qingmeiju, refined the health elements in them, and finally created a formed Qingmeiju health banquet, which has also become a highlight in boshan catering industry.
While strengthening the research and development of dishes, Liu Xinyou has also set his sights on pastry making. In view of the uneven quality and variety of pastries on the market, Liu Xinyou has formulated strict standards from the beginning, refining them from the aspects of material selection, production, molding, taste, etc., to ensure that Qingmeiju cake debut is the peak. Especially during the production process, he stressed that traditional pastries must be handmade in traditional methods so that the traditional taste of pastries can be preserved. If you blindly pursue automation equipment and pursue output, you will give up your money and end up, and in the end, you will be damaged. Facts have proved that his decision was correct, Qingmeiju used traditional methods to handmade lantern crisp, chrysanthemum cake, white goose crisp, bergamot crisp and other 8 different varieties, once introduced, that is, with fine production, exquisite selection of materials, crispy soft, color and fragrant sky but famous, well received by the market, is still in short supply.
Liu Xinyou said that the traditional old craftsmanship reflects the taste of this year. Qingmeiju pastry, each small process, contains the dedication and love of Qingmeiju people for work. Only in this way will it be favored by consumers, and the tomorrow of Qingmeiju will be a smooth road.
Today, when consumers are the guest room Ofan Xiang's Qingmeiju, whether it is to observe the variety and colorfulness of each dish, or to taste its rich and mellow flavor, the flavor is timeless, all of which bring people the enjoyment of beauty.
Since the restoration of the Muslim Hotel in 1998, Liu Xinyou and his team have not stopped for a moment, traveling for the expansion of Qingmeiju. In April 2004, Zibo Qingmeiju Food Factory, covering an area of 15 acres, was established in Boshan Development Zone, and in June of the same year, Qingmeiju Restaurant resumed business. Since 2008, it has invested more than 2.6 million yuan to establish Qingmeiju Restaurant, invested more than 5 million yuan to set up Qingmeiju Food Zhangdian Liantong Road Store, Zhangdian Center Road Store, Zhangdian West Sixth Road Store and Boshan Bus Station Store, food processing and catering services have reached a new level. From 2011 to 2013, it has invested more than 20 million yuan to establish Qingmeiju Trading Co., Ltd., founded the Qingmeiju Banquet Bin Building, restored the Qingmeiju Shabu Xiang Lou, invested more than 2 million yuan to set up the Qingmeiju Food Shantou Daguanyuan Store and Zhangdian Xincun Road Store, and the Qingmeiju series of foods was identified as halal food. After 2014, Shandong Qingmeiju Catering Management Co., Ltd. was registered and established, and Qingmeiju Group was established. Invested 50 million yuan to build the Qingmeiju Building. It has successively opened Qingmeiju Food Linzi Specialty Store, Zhangdian Renmin Road Specialty Store, Xincun Road Specialty Store, and registered and established Qingmeiju Table Food agricultural products Co., Ltd. and Qingmeiju Chestnut Planting Professional Cooperative.
So far, Qingmeiju has developed into an enterprise group integrating food production, catering services, trade circulation, ecological agriculture, tourism, hairdressing and beauty.
Standing at the tide of the new era of the stormy times, people will have a deeper sense of history about yesterday, today and tomorrow - history is the most objective witness and the greatest writer. We are both the people in the drama of history and the creators of the future. Together with many of his employees, Liu Xinyou has always been vigilant and self-reflective with "clean and upright, wind and bone like plum", and established the business philosophy of authenticity, innocence and trustworthiness, step by step, perfectly interpreting the connotation of being a person's shoulder morality and establishing morality first. Qingmeiju has been able to continue the inheritance for hundreds of years thanks to the foundation of this business road.
Enterprises are getting bigger and bigger, there are more and more employees, and in the face of thousands of people, management has become the top priority. Whether the management system is perfect and whether the execution is smooth up and down has become the key to the survival of an enterprise. Liu Xinyou has his own opinion on this, he believes that reasonable rules and regulations help employees to clarify their rights and responsibilities; at the same time, compliance with rules and regulations is more acceptable than complete obedience to the will of arbitrariness. Good rules and regulations enable employees to predict the possible consequences of their own actions and efforts on themselves and their units by assigning specific positions and specific rights and obligations and responsibilities, thereby stimulating the enthusiasm of employees for work, and ensuring that such a large team is like an arm, an arm, and a subordinate.
Therefore, Liu Xinyou and his colleagues on the board of directors carefully analyzed each of their enterprises and carefully formulated one management plan after another. He will say to every employee: "If an enterprise wants to continue to develop steadily and healthily, it must establish rules and regulations and take the road of standardized and standardized production and operation. The system has been formulated, the key lies in implementation, can not be limited to writing on paper, hanging on the wall. For products and dishes, production standards must be stipulated and strictly enforced to ensure product quality and escort the permanent development of enterprises. At the same time, he also stressed that once the rules and regulations are established, everyone from the board of directors to the front-line employees must be conscientiously implemented, and there can be no extralegal place, let alone privilege. As a result, he took the lead in conscientiously implementing each system, and also set an example for the employees below.
Ren Zhengfei famously said: "In the face of the times, I do not understand technology, management and finance, I just lifted a bucket of paste, united Huawei employees, and formed a cluster with strong combat effectiveness." It can be said that it is Ren Zhengfei's "inaction" that has achieved Huawei's "China Has Done" today. At this point, Liu Xinyou can be said to be the same as Ren Zhengfei. He knew that the ability of one person is limited, and the subjective initiative of all personnel must be exerted in order to achieve great things. As a leadership, we must learn to grasp the overall situation, grasp the center, grasp the key points, grasp the key points, and make good arrangements for major affairs, big principles, and general directions; the principle of grasping the big and letting go of the small will always be the only principle for doing the work to the extreme or even reaching the standard. Therefore, in his daily work, Liu Xinyou only grasps his own duties according to the division of labor, never crosses the line, and does not meddle in the grassroots, providing a stage for every employee to display his talents.
More than a thousand years ago, Su Shi wrote in the "Theory of Chaotic Errors": "Those who have established great things in ancient times not only have supernatural talents, but also have the will to persevere." "The development path of Qingmeiju for more than 20 years is a true portrayal of Liu Xinyou's more than 20 years of leadership. We have no way of knowing what kind of tribulations and setbacks Liu Xinyou has experienced in the past twenty years, but what is certain is that during this period of time, he persevered in boundless loneliness with the wind and bone of "breaking the wall in ten years of facing the wall, and it is difficult to reward the hero of the sea", and with the fortitude and tenacity of the foolish man moving the mountain to crack the spirit of "Tianwen", he finally completed his own transformation, and also made a once insolvent enterprise achieve group development. His dedication, the road of no return, the journey of finding past lives and the process of self, let us see that a person is far more powerful than we imagined, see that a person's potential is unpredictable, realize that the brilliance of life is endless, and feel the charm of the results like an epic.
As a result, today we have seen the dazzling achievements of Qingmeiju one by one: Qingmeiju was identified as "China Time-honored Brand" by the Ministry of Commerce, and the trademark of "Qingmeiju" was recognized as "China Well-known Trademark" by the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and was identified as "Famous Trademark of Shandong Province" by the Shandong Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce. Qingmeiju Food was rated as the "Top Ten Brands" of cooked meat products in the fifth Shandong food industry, twist tripe was rated as "China's Famous Dish", crispy beef jerky was identified by the Shandong Provincial Tourism Bureau as "100 kinds of delicacies that had to be eaten in Shandong", cherry beef and hand-torn beef were rated as "China's Famous Snacks" by the China Hotel Association, sesame beef was rated as "Gourmet Shandong Characteristic Home Cooking" by the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province, and Qingmeiju brand beef steamed dumplings, mutton dumplings and sesame beef were rated as "Qilu Famous Food" by the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province. Behind each achievement is the condensation of their blood and sweat.
In the face of the future of the enterprise, Liu Xinyou was full of ambition, he said: "If Qingmeiju wants to continue to develop, it is necessary to gradually establish a modern enterprise system, combine the cultural connotation inherited by Qingmeiju in the past hundred years with modern enterprise mechanisms and management methods, so that Qingmeiju will become an old-fashioned brand enterprise based on the advanced modern enterprise system, use the brand value of the old brand to further promote the development of Qingmeiju, constantly introduce new things, and constantly expand new areas in innovation and development to adapt to market competition and make the brilliance of the old brand more brilliant. Carry forward the old brand".
The most rare thing for people is to find the light that they are willing to pursue all their lives, choose one thing, respect one karma, and live a lifetime, which is the most ideal state of work and the happiest life experience. Liu Xinyou tells us from his own experience that at all times we must hold on to a hope, encounter a setback, and sometimes there may be an opportunity and a new path. At all times, be convinced, "What I'm doing today is far better than what I've done in the past." "After all, all that passes away with the wind belongs to yesterday, and all that has survived the wind and rain is the future."
Spring rises, the future can be expected; all things work together, a clear. Year after year, with the efforts of Liu Xinyou and all colleagues, Qingmeiju has continuously opened new chapters and produced new fruits; it also gives us reason to believe that when the petals of plum blossoms full of clean and clean air bloom in the first stage, Qingmeiju will surely bring people more signs of primrose and signs of happiness.
Text/Li Fuyuan