Chapter 822 - Street Food Contest

At around 1 PM, in a luxurious hotel in Beijing…

Qi Yan had just finished telling the staff at the venue about the event changing from being recorded to becoming a live-stream. She had also instructed the judges to ‘strictly evaluate the Cold-Faced Lady’.

The sudden changes made Qi Yan a little flustered. Fortunately, these two changes were not fatal. Thus, the event continued as per normal after taking the time to explain.

Qi Yan was originally the person-in-charge of Cold-Faced Lady’s marketing department. Her job was to follow Meng Chang’s requirements and be in charge of the Cold-Faced Lady’s various marketing tasks.

After the incident with the Cold-Faced Lady, Qi Yan, like the other employees, was at a loss for a period of time.

Meng Chang was already in a terrible fix. Of course, he had no time to bother about her. Qi Yan had been looking for a job for a few days and had yet to figure out where to go. In the end, there was good news: her job was saved!

Now that Tengda had acquired the Cold-Faced Lady, the delayed salary could be paid as usual. Her work could continue as usual!

Qi Yan was both happy and worried at the same time.

She was happy that she did not have to look for a job anymore. Meng Chang was pretty very generous when it came to his employees’ salary. Qi Yan was worried that she might not be able to get her current salary from another company.

However, she was most worried that her career would be affected.

Qi Yan came to the Cold-Faced Lady previously partly because she was attracted by Meng Chang, the “perfect entrepreneur”, and felt that she could learn something from Meng Chang. On the other hand, she was optimistic about the Cold-Faced Lady’s future prospects.

However, not only had the cold-faced lady turned cold, it’s reputation was now so bad that everyone knew about it.

Everyone knew that the Cold-Faced Lady was an unreliable project now. It was hard to say if this experience would be a plus or minus if Qi Yan really worked hard at the Cold-Faced Lady for three to five years and before she jumped ship.

Qi Yan was conflicted. However, she decided to wait and see after hearing that Tengda was the new owner.

Tengda was huge and had a ridiculously good reputation after all. It was trustworthy.

Meng Chang had nothing to do with the Cold-Faced Lady anymore, so He Desheng handed all the matters regarding the Cold-Faced Lady to Qi Yan. Qi Yan would report to He Desheng, and then He Desheng would report to Boss Pei.

The current Cold-Faced Lady was just an ordinary fast food restaurant. What’s more, its business and reputation were not that good. It was impossible for her to report to Boss Pei directly.

Qi Yan’s first big job was this Street Food Contest after the change of owners.

All the marketing activities had been canceled except for this one.

Qi Yan did not know why exactly but she still followed the original plan.

The preparatory work had actually started a long time ago. Some professionals had gone to various cities in the country to search for food vendors with better reputations. They had paid to invite them to the capital to participate in this competition. At the same time, they had also invited several gourmet chefs with good taste to be judges.

The competition was about to start.

Qi Yan took out her phone and looked at the live-stream.

There were just a few pathetic bullet screen comments, it was not that popular at all.

That was to be expected.

It was too rushed to change to a live-stream. Qi Yan had urgently asked the live-stream platform for resources and locations. However, the recommendation spots were all pre-arranged to be given to others. They could not get good recommendation spots, only ordinary spots.

What’s more, it was Monday afternoon. The live-stream platform’s traffic was low to begin with, so no one was watching.

Qi Yan sighed melancholically.

She had planned to spend a huge sum of money on Aili Island’s rankings after editing the event. However, it had been changed to live-streaming with no recommendations. Would it become popular?

If it did not become popular, what was the point of this Street Food Contest? Wouldn’t all the money be wasted?

However, it was useless to worry now. She could only let nature take its course.

…

The Street Food Contest officially began at 2PM!

The male and female hosts came to the camera and began to introduce the organizers, guests, and the specific rules of the competition to the audience.

There were dozens of live audience members apart from a few guests who were good tasters. The live audiences would also taste the food from the stalls and vote.

Guests could comment on it and the weight of their ratings would be higher. The judges and audience would add their ratings together to calculate the total score. The winner of the Street Food Contest would be chosen according to the total score.

The first batch of food vendors had already been prepared behind the emcee. They were of different genders and ages. However, all of them were holding their heads high with stern expressions.

Behind them were snack stalls carts. The first round of competition was the “pancake group”. All the vendors sold good pancakes.

Each stall owner had a serial number. They would make many pancakes in a row and then cut them into small pieces for the judges and audience to taste. Those with higher scores would win.

There were other local snacks after the pancake review.

For example: scallion pancakes, grilled squid, roasted gluten, bean jelly noodles, teppanyaki tofu, Roujiamo, roasted cold noodles, etc.

One could tell that it was very down-to-earth just by looking at the name.

Of course, apart from these common local snacks, there was also a special ‘unpopular snack group’. Some of the rare local snacks competed with each other.

In fact, when it came to local food, stinky tofu should have a name. However, considering that the competition venue was a closed area the smell would not be easy to dissipate, the organizers rejected the few outstanding vendors of stinky tofu with tears in their eyes in order to ensure that the local food competition would proceed smoothly.

The ingredients for these snacks had been selected in advance, and the vendor could choose them based on his own needs and habits. The difference in taste of the final product was mainly in cooking skills and fire control.

Of course, as long as it was a selection, it was impossible to be 100% objective and fair. After all, everyone’s taste and preferences were different.

However, the way the judges and audience gave marks together ensured the fairness of the competition to the maximum. In the end, the food that was selected would definitely be more suited to the general taste.

The camera turned to the vendor after the host introduced the rules and judges of the competition.

Each vendor could make a simple self-introduction of about twenty to thirty words.

All of a sudden, various dialects across the country began to chime in, one after another. The effect of the program was explosive.

This was a luxurious hotel in Beijing. There was a red carpet on the floor, and even the tables and chairs looked luxurious.

The vendors who came were all dressed in formal chef uniforms and wearing tall chef hats. They looked very formal, but their images were ruined when they opened their mouths.

It was quite difficult on the two hosts as well. They would have laughed out loud if not for their professionalism.

This competition exuded a sense of absurdity from head to toe. There was also a hint of magical reality.

The vendors were finally done introducing themselves.

The competition officially began.

The vendors got into their positions. Once the host gave the order, the timer on the screen started ticking!

The stall owners were very skilled. They scooped a spoonful of mixed grain flour and poured it onto the pancake maker. Then, they pushed it in a circle with a wooden spatula. After the skin changed color slightly, they cracked an egg on it…

This step was not complicated. Almost everyone present had seen it many times, but the methods of these vendors were slightly different. The amount of seasoning, the heat of the pancakes, and so on were all different.

The audience waited patiently as they watched the stall owners perform.

For some reason, the atmosphere became tense.