The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Chapter 401: Chapter 400: The Opportunity Has Arrived

Hearing that it was Gao Wenjing calling, Fu Yu was somewhat surprised.

If something was needed from the back kitchen, they usually contacted Zhao Meng and Gu Yunwu.

Now that she was contacting him directly, it certainly wasn’t good news!

Especially since Gao Wenjing called personally, it seemed urgent!

It wasn’t that there was a problem with the previous barbecue delivery order and a customer was calling to complain.

It could also be a big order coming in, with special requests from the customer that needed individual attention.

Both scenarios were troublesome enough.

Fu Yu quickly leaned over to the phone and said, ”Sister Gao, are you looking for me?”

”Yes, the front desk just received a call for a barbecue delivery order!”

Gao Wenjing, usually calm and composed, now had a touch of urgency in her voice.

Fu Yu quickly asked, ”Sister Gao, is there a problem with this order?”

Gao Wenjing said in a deep voice, ”There’s nothing wrong with the customer’s order list, but I’ve just received news that this delivery order was placed by a trending food critic who plans to do a barbecue delivery evaluation!”

Fu Yu was stunned, a barbecue delivery review?

What does that mean?

Reviewing what? The taste of the barbecue?

But... isn’t that quite normal?

Doesn’t the restaurant often receive such orders from influencer food critics?

”They have chosen a total of seven restaurants for the barbecue evaluation, apart from our place, the others are all prestigious barbecue establishments with excellent reputations. Be careful during the grilling so they don’t pick out any faults.”

Fu Yu was taken aback, ”Sister Gao, could it be a mistake? If they want to evaluate professional barbecue restaurants, how did they end up choosing us? I mean, Zhang’s, the Feng family, the Brothers, Qilin Barbecue, or even the Four Seas Banquet’s roasted lamb spine...”

Gao Wenjing sighed, ”All these have been ordered together. Though it’s just an online review, it actually has little impact, but this influencer is quite famous, gathering these well-reputed places together. I’m just a bit worried, since we’re new in promoting in the barbecue sector, we might be outshone, which won’t look good.”

Fu Yu finally understood. It seemed like this barbecue delivery evaluation was about bringing together deliveries from several places for a unified taste test and review.

After chatting with Gao Wenjing for a few minutes and hanging up, he immediately received another incoming call.

Fu Yu glanced at it, surprised to see it was Luo Rang.

Ever since the previous in-person service encounter with Luo Rang and subsequent cooking collaboration, they hadn’t been in touch.

Now Luo Rang was suddenly calling, leaving Fu Yu puzzled about the matter.

Fu Yu quickly answered the phone.

”Chef Luo?”

On the other end, Luo Rang got straight to the point, ”Chef Fu, you received Bo Ming’s delivery order too, right?”

Fu Yu was confused.

Bo Ming?

Isn’t he Liu Yici’s younger brother, Lin Minghao’s school principal, the top national sales guru?

Without waiting for Fu Yu to speak, Luo Rang continued, ”They are making quite a big deal out of this review, and I got the news that he’s gathered several popular food critics to simultaneously evaluate seven restaurants. It’s being discussed in live streams right now, you should take a look to prepare your mind.”

Fu Yu quickly responded, ”Okay, I’ll check it out soon.”

Luo Rang added, ”If possible, pass this order along. I’m telling you, now’s not the time for heroics. These so-called reviews are definitely rigged! It’s not a time for us to stick our necks out.”

”You know who Bo Ming is, right? Not just anyone. Although he hasn’t debuted in entertainment, he’s no different from a celebrity. If he criticizes us, the business will surely suffer; you won’t have peace of mind, and who knows what other trouble might come. Just giving you a heads-up so you won’t rashly stand out!”

Fu Yu acknowledged, ”Got it, don’t worry, I already took this order, so it can’t be passed on, but I will grill carefully.”

Even then, Luo Rang couldn’t help but give some more advice: ”That’s good. I also need to oversee things here as they ordered Four Seas Banquet’s roasted lamb spine too—I’m not too confident in their preparation, so I need to see for myself.”

”Keep an eye on things, I’m heading to get busy, we’ll be in touch.”

Fu Yu smiled, ”Chef Luo, thank you.”

Luo Rang replied, ”Between friends, no need to be so formal.”

Fu Yu hung up, feeling warm inside.

He realized Luo Rang was worried about him being unaware and handling it as a regular customer, possibly leading to a mishap and making things awkward in the store.

Just then, the order slip was brought over by a food runner.

Fu Yu took a quick glance.

A total of five items ordered, all of which are the restaurant’s highly praised seafood barbecues.

The notes clearly specified the request: [Five portions of barbecue, each with a different flavor].

Fu Yu was taken aback, finally noticing that the order was indeed for five seafood barbecues, but each item was ordered in five portions.

This request...

Fu Yu chuckled.

He thought, the system never assigns tasks that are impossible to complete.

Here’s the chance right now.

News travels fast in the restaurant.

Liu Yuqing took the chance while delivering the order slip to run to the barbecue area to find Fu Yu.

”Chef Fu, I heard your order is from Bo Ming’s delivery?”

Fu Yu nodded, ”How did you know?”

Liu Yuqing quickly took out her phone, ”People are talking in the group, and I’ve checked out Bo Ming’s live stream—they are live right now!”

Fu Yu took the ingredients handed by Zhang Jinyu, ”Oh, then let them stream.”

Liu Yuqing worriedly asked, ”Aren’t you nervous?”

Fu Yu shook his head, ”It’s just a barbecue delivery order, what’s there to be nervous about?”

Though Fu Yu spoke lightly, he took this order very seriously in his heart.

After all, it was related to a task.

Moreover, if his improved barbecue sauce didn’t win the approval of Bo Ming and others, the live audience might steer public opinion in an unexpected direction.

You must know that public opinion pressure is always terrifying.

He recalled hearing in idle chatter about a food critic tasting a restaurant’s food and giving it a poor flavor review, which led to the restaurant’s menu being flooded with malicious comments like ”tasteless, don’t order” on delivery platforms.

The public opinion intensified, affecting not just the delivery platforms but also their regular offline business,

Eventually, the owner had no choice but to shut down.

So, getting a positive mention from influencers who attract lots of attention and can easily spark discussions could boost the restaurant’s traffic.

But messing up and being mocked could mean disaster.

Watching Fu Yu’s calm demeanor, Liu Yuqing suddenly felt relieved.

This person always seemed so steady!