In many old Wuxi, old diners have the impression that the Yingbin Building located in Chong'an Temple is an old brand in everyone's memory, and has also been called one of the "Three Buildings of China" with the same name as Hangzhou LouwaiLou and Suzhou Songhe Tower by Suzhou gourmet Lu Wenfu. However, in the recent period, many people have found that this long-established brand in Wuxi has actually closed its doors, and many old Wuxi have sighed: It is a pity!
Welcome House Restaurant
YingbinLou Restaurant was founded in 1930, in 1954 it was interrupted, and when it was restored in 1959, it was still characterized by the operation of Beijing and Suzhou flavor, in the 1980s, Yingbin Lou was taken over by Wuxi Catering Service Company, in the eyes of the old Wuxi people, the Yingbin Building at that time was taking a tall route.
townspeople
People's facades are two or three open, it is five open. At that time, the floor was also very high, and it was relatively tall in the hotel.
It's comfortable to eat over there, and you can't eat enough food. Because at that time, a plate of fried eel paste only cost eight cents.
Not only that, Yingbin Lou has also written a number of "firsts" in the history of Wuxi catering:
The first hotel to host a modern and civilized wedding
The first Western-style wedding in Wuxi held in the Yingbin Building
At that time, there was a spacious banquet hall downstairs in the Yingbin Building, a number of private rooms called "Elegant Seats" upstairs and downstairs, plus a turntable staircase, and many celebrities and giants in Wuxi held new-style modern civilization wedding ceremonies, all of which were selected in the Welcome Building. Moreover, there was already a car for the marriage that year, and the road in the entrance of the Yingbin Building was 12 meters wide, and it was possible to drive from the railway station to the entrance of the store, which made the Yingbin Building the first hotel in Wuxi to undertake Western weddings.
The first restaurant to be branded "Kyoto"
The welcome building is full of dishes
"Kyoto" was the golden sign in the national catering industry at that time, but those who dared to hang this signboard must have the courage to do "Manchurian Full Table", and cuisines throughout the country also cooked everything. Guests order, even if there is no menu, the chef of the restaurant must not only do it but also do it, and must not prevaricate with the word "no".
At that time, there were three hotels in Wuxi with "Kyoto" signs, the Yingbin Building was the first, and the other two were "Yingyuanchun" opposite the Yingbin Building in 1942 and the "China Hotel" opened on Gongyun Road in 1947.
The first offer to recruit a waitress did not materialize
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In the second half of 1948, in order to improve the quality of service, Bao Shiyou, who was the manager of the Yingbin Building, planned to recruit several waitresses and change the stereotype that had been used for thousands of years in the restaurant hall, but this plan was immediately strongly opposed by the colleagues of the catering company.
At that time, the colleagues in the catering company were very old-fashioned and conservative, and they believed that the nature of the waitress was the same as that of the waitress in the Shanghai tea room at that time, and some of them were secretly engaged in pornographic services. Due to the unanimous opposition of the industry, the plan to recruit waitresses in the welcome building did not come to fruition.
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In 2004, the Yingbin Building was demolished with the renovation of Chong'an Temple, and in 2009, the renovation of Chong'an Temple began, and the Yingbin Building was planned and built by Wuxi Chong'an City Investment and Development Co., Ltd. In March 2012, the Yingbin Building opened its doors for the third time.
Today, in the second phase of Chong'an Temple, the reporter saw that the door of the Yingbin Building was locked, and through the glass window, he saw that the objects inside had been basically emptied.
The relevant person in charge of Chong'an City Investment told reporters that this old-fashioned signboard will not be lost, and this time it is just the opportunity of the transformation of Xinsheng Road to carry out renovation, hoping that after adjustment, the brand of Yingbin Building can be done well. After the renovation, the operation team of the Welcome Building will be adjusted to meet the needs of the public.
【Words Mei said】
Why are "old brands" disappearing?
With the acceleration of urban transformation, due to the problem of demolition, some long-established stores have moved out of the bustling area, lost their representative positions, and have no "geographical advantages".
Loss of geographical advantages, material labor and other costs rise, management, service levels decline, food prices rise, reception capacity and other issues seriously restrict the development of long-established brands, in order to seek a way out, many long-established restaurants have taken high-end routes, relying on tourists to do "a hammer" business.
At this time, foreign fast food such as KFC and Dicos have rushed to the bustling section of the beach to fill the gap in mass catering. There are also some old-fashioned restaurants that have made new attempts, such as large stores demolishing small shops, entering some urban complexes to open shops, but it is difficult to change the pace of their decline, and the economic benefits are getting worse and worse.
What do we need to do?
The old brand carries some of the historical, cultural and folklore genes of a city, not just the rise and fall of a company, and cannot be left to fend for itself.
In the interview, Xiao Yuemei found that many citizens have good memories of Wuxi's time-honored restaurants. The government attaches importance to and supports it, and perhaps it can preserve the nostalgia of the public.
Partial source: Service car