Recently, the kick-off meeting for the compilation of national professional standards for "beef ramen makers" was held in Lanzhou, which pressed the acceleration button for the development of Longyuan's characteristic food culture. From the livelihood craftsmanship in the streets and alleys to the nationally recognized "formal type of work", from the regional cuisine that nourishes one side to the cultural business card representing the city, today, this bowl of ramen carrying the memory of the city is being empowered by standardization and branding, from the corner shop to the national table, and even fragrant overseas, writing the story of the modernization and transformation of traditional food.
Standard first:
From "experience" to "standardized" to build a solid industrial foundation
In July this year, with the strong support of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and through the cooperation of the human resources and social security departments at the provincial and municipal levels, beef ramen makers were officially included in the National Occupational Classification Ceremony as a new type of work and added to the occupational sequence of Chinese pastry chefs. This breakthrough has injected new development vitality into Lanzhou beef ramen, a national intangible cultural heritage, and has laid a solid foundation for Lanzhou's beef ramen industry to break through the traditional bottleneck and move towards high-quality development from the level of the national occupational system, so that this century-old skill has a more standardized career development path.
Since the announcement of the new types of work on May 8 this year, Lanzhou has begun to build a "trinity" provincial and municipal linkage promotion mechanism to lay a solid foundation for the preparation of standards. In terms of organizational guarantee, the province and city jointly set up a preparation committee to coordinate the forces of all parties, and set up a special working group covering administrative personnel, industry experts, and technical backbones of enterprises to ensure the efficient operation of the preparation work. In the preliminary preparation, the working group systematically sorted out the current situation of the industry, conducted field research on representative enterprises to form an industry analysis report; Organize representative inheritors and technical backbones of intangible cultural heritage to design standard frameworks according to the principles of integrity, hierarchy, standardization, practicality and operability; With the support of the Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, implement the special budget and strive for municipal financial support, and establish a stable funding guarantee mechanism.
"In the past, the inheritance of Lanzhou beef ramen skills was mostly passed down by the master and his apprentices, the strength of the kneading and the thickness of the ramen were all based on the feeling, and the saltiness of the soup was controlled by experience, and the level of apprentices taught by different masters was uneven." Ma Chenghu, deputy secretary-general of the Lanzhou Beef Ramen Industry Association, told reporters, "With the national professional standard, the skill inheritance of Lanzhou beef ramen can bid farewell to relying on feeling and experience, and embark on a scientific and systematic road." We will further promote the standardization of Lanzhou's beef ramen skills training system, form a complete vocational and technical standards, let traditional skills be scientifically inherited, and help the industry develop in an orderly manner. ”
Campus training:
The dual-track training of "skills + management" helps ramen go overseas
On August 21, the reporter came to the Lanzhou Beef Ramen Vocational Training School in Xinglong, Gansu Province, where the young student Xiaolong was focusing on practicing ramen skills, only to see him holding both ends of the dough with both hands, controlling the force with his arms, and gently rotating his wrists, the dough drew an arc in the air like a strip, and then the fingertips were stretched, and the dough was instantly stretched to be thin and translucent, and the dough became a thin noodle with uniform roots during the flipping. "When I first started practicing, the strength of my left and right hands was always asymmetrical, and the face either couldn't be stretched or broken when I pulled it. Fortunately, with the guidance of the teacher, I slowly found the right feel, became more and more skilled in the movements, and finally got on the right track. Xiaolong told reporters that from kneading, kneading to pulling, he insisted on practicing hard for 8 hours a day, and his goal was also clear - after completing his studies, he planned to open a beef ramen restaurant in Alicante, Spain.
"We have split the century-old intangible cultural heritage skills into standardized training modules, from the water-alkali ratio of noodles to the ratio of ingredients for soup, to the force control of ramen, every detail is kept to the authenticity of inheritance." Liang Shunjian, principal of Gansu Xinglong Beef Ramen Vocational Training School and chairman of Gansu Jinweide Ramen Cultural Industry Group, said that in addition to the core beef ramen production, the school also systematically trains Northwest specialty pasta such as steamed noodles and cold noodles, as well as Lanzhou classic snack making skills such as gray beans, sweet wine, and stuffed skin, so that students can master more comprehensive skills. At the same time, the school also provides full-process business guidance such as store design, product positioning, and cost control to help them bring the "taste of Lanzhou" to farther places.
In Liang Shunjian's view, if Lanzhou beef ramen wants to go global, it is inseparable from compound talents who understand technology, foreign languages, and management. At the beginning of May 2023, the Lanzhou Beef Ramen Research Experience Peili Workshop was officially established in Auckland, New Zealand, and launched the first phase of the Lanzhou Beef Ramen Research and Experience experience. "The workshop integrates skills training, fun research, business dining, and cultural experience, breaking through the traditional model of opening overseas stores in the international development of Lanzhou's beef ramen industry." Liang Shunjian said. This kind of "skill + management" compound ability training has also attracted many highly educated young people and overseas Chinese to learn from teachers. Up to now, Jinweide has trained more than 40,000 students at home and abroad.
Brand empowerment:
From "selling a bowl of noodles" to telling the story of Lanzhou
On August 21, the reporter came to the Lanhe Lane Beef Noodle Binhe Road store and saw the "bull head figure" regional public brand trademark hanging at the door eye-catching - a green silhouette plus a round of fiery red sun, with simple and bright lines, complementing the company's own brand trademark. Stepping into the store is like walking into a Lanzhou History and Culture Exhibition Hall. The retro paintings hanging on the wall outline the Zhongshan Bridge with simple lines, and the bridge body spans the Yellow River to connect the two banks, making people recognize this iconic scenery of Lanzhou at a glance; There is a mini waterwheel in the corner, the wooden wheel rotates slightly with water vapor, and the details are full of regional customs. Further inside, the counter is full of pre-packaged beef ramen and other special products, which not only attract tourists to stay, but also take the special products away at any time.
Ma Jinlong, manager of Lanhe Lane Beef Noodles Binhe Road Store, told reporters, "Since the opening of the store, we have been thinking not only to sell a bowl of beef noodles, but also to put Lanzhou's culture into the store." The public brand trademark at the door is to let diners recognize the authentic Lanzhou flavor at a glance, and the Zhongshan Bridge hanging paintings, waterwheel landscaping, and Lanzhou specialties in the counter are all to let everyone eat noodles, look at the scenery, and bring back the characteristics of Lanzhou. Nowadays, many tourists will go to the counter after eating noodles, saying that this will take away the 'taste' and 'memory' of Lanzhou, which is what we want to see most. ”
Previously, the list of the first batch of 30 Lanzhou beef ramen merchants, cultural and tourism integration boutiques was announced, and the store was successfully selected. According to the "Lanzhou Beef Ramen Business Cultural Tourism Integration Boutique Evaluation Standard", in addition to the four standards of quality, service, environment and hygiene, the store needs to implement "double trademark management", and the "bull head figure" regional public brand trademark and the enterprise's own brand trademark must be displayed at the same time in a prominent position at the door; In terms of cultural and tourism integration, the interior decoration of the store needs to create a strong historical and cultural atmosphere in Lanzhou, highlight the Yellow River culture, the Silk Road culture and the century-old beef ramen culture, and set up counters to promote Lanzhou's characteristic cultural and creative and "orchid" products.
This example is the epitome of Lanzhou's efforts to strengthen the standardization and branding of the beef ramen industry, standardize operation and management, and promote the high-quality development of the industry. In recent years, Lanzhou has established the deployment of five major systems including "target system, work system, policy system, responsibility system, and evaluation system" in accordance with the requirements of "playing the industrial card, cultural card, and innovation card", comprehensively strengthened the standardization and branding of Lanzhou's beef ramen industry, standardized and improved the level of production, operation and management, and accelerated the high-quality development of Lanzhou's beef ramen industry. Continue to promote industrial standardization and branding: On the one hand, publicize and promote the regional public brand trademark of "Niutou Figure", and guide the Lanzhou Beef Ramen Industry Association to complete the multi-category supplementary registration of the trademark, which can currently be used in 10 products or fields such as electric cookers for cooking ramen (11 categories). on the other hand, focus on the construction of the standard system, continuously promote production standardization, and standardize store management. At present, Lanzhou has sorted out and established a standard system for the whole industry chain of beef ramen, covering 7 sub-systems, and the current effective standards have reached 533. At the same time, through HACCP, ISO22000 and ISO9001 certification training, we will comprehensively improve the industrial quality service level and enterprise quality management capabilities.
From the entry of new types of work into the classics to the launch of national occupational standards, from the standardization of skills training to the embodiment of brand culture, Lanzhou beef ramen is now maintaining the original taste of quality with standardization, broadening the market space with branding, so that this bowl of noodles carrying the style of Longyuan is not only "certified" to standardized development, but also "wrapped" in cultural fragrance floating all over the world. (Lanzhou Daily all-media reporter Zheng Lijun text/photo)