One is a local snack that originated in the streets of the city, and the other is a western restaurant that was very noble when it came out, what would it be like if the two were combined?
Yes, Tianjin's two long-established enterprises, the private enterprise "Ear Eye", acquired a 60% stake in the wholly-owned state-owned enterprise "Cheeselin" at the end of 2019.
Tianjin "Cheeselin", a long-established brand in China, mainly engaged in Western food and western pastry, was founded in 1901, the founder was a chef in the German barracks who came to Tianjin with the Eight-Power Alliance at that time, named Albert Cheeselin.
Spanning two centuries, It is 119 years old.
Screenshot of the Chinese time-honored information management platform of the Ministry of Commerce
According to the Information Management Platform of The Ministry of Commerce, the registered trademark of Tianjin Cheeseling Hotel is "Cheeseling", which was recognized by the Ministry of Commerce as a Chinese time-honored brand in 2006, and the registered trademark of Tianjin Cheeseling Food Factory is "Five Rings", and the time of being identified as a Chinese time-honored brand was 2010. Previously, Tianjin Kisling Food Factory belonged to Bohai Light Industry, but later the enterprise was integrated and reorganized, and it was assigned to the name of The Cheeseling Hotel, which was originally under the umbrella of Tianjin Ershang.
Image from the web
At the end of 2019, Cheeselin completed the mixed reform, from a wholly-owned state-owned enterprise under Tianjin Food Group to a private enterprise "Tianjin Ear Eye Fried Cake Catering Co., Ltd." with 60% equity holding and 40% of Tianjin Food Group's shares. Tianjin Cheesering Food Co., Ltd., the main producer and operation of candy, pastries and other products, is still 100% owned by Tianjin Cheesering Hotel Co., Ltd.
(Note: Ear Eye Fried Cake Company obtained 60% of the equity of Cheeseling Hotel through capital increase and share expansion, and the third-party inquiry platform for enterprise industrial and commercial information shows that the registered capital and equity change time is December 12, 2019.) ）
Also as a "ear eye" of China's time-honored brand, in addition to the traditional project - one of the three best in Jinmen , "fried cake", it is also currently operating a high-end catering industry. This large-scale purchase of 60% of the equity of Shilin must have long-term plans. However, in the first half of 2020, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, we have not seen obvious movements for the time being. According to industry insiders, Ear Eye is likely to open a number of branches of the Cheeseling Hotel.
01
Timeline
Regarding the creation and development history of the Cheeseling Hotel, there have been many people on the Internet who have summarized and sorted out, and the content is similar. This article will present you more clearly with the 119-year-old Chinese time-honored brand - Cheese forest in a time-of-year manner in the form of a timeline according to important time nodes.
1900: To Tianjin
In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance captured Tianjin, and soldiers from various countries were stationed in various parts of Tianjin to undertake the defense of Tianjin. In the german barracks, the meals made by Albert Cheeselin, a second class soldier, were delicious and delicious, and his origins were not simple. Cheeseling was the royal cook of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and it is said that Li Hongzhang personally cooked Western food for him when he visited Germany in 1896.
Albert Cheeseling (infographic)
1901: Opened
On September 17, 1901, Albert Cheeselin, who was bent on opening a Western restaurant in Tianjin, finally opened the first Western restaurant in Tianjin history with the help of the German Han Nagen and the Tianjin comprador Gao Xingqiao in the Middle Street of the French Concession (near the intersection of today's Jiefang North Road and Harbin Road in Tianjin). The early Cheeseling West restaurant was mainly run by three people: cheeseling was in charge of the stove, his wife was the host, and a hired German, Loris, was an assistant. Cheeselin captured the hearts of the tianjin people with his own specialty dishes.
Qishilin old store in Tianjin French Concession (data map)
1914: Relocated
Because of its proximity to the French Public Council (today's Tianjin Antiquities Office building), the Cheeseling Restaurant has a large number of French diners, many of whom are officials of the French Public Council. One day, two disheveled French soldiers entered the restaurant. Seeing the appearance of the two French soldiers, his wife, Fitti, hurried to dissuade them. Unexpectedly, the French soldiers not only did not listen, but also blamed and humiliated Fitty and the restaurant. Albert was so angry that he fought with the French soldiers, which led to a group beating of Cheeseling by all the French who were eating. Finally, French Concession officials ordered Cheese Lam to move the restaurant out of the French Concession within three days. In desperation, Albert had to go to the Guanglu Cinema on the middle street of the German Concession (today's Tianjin Beijing Cinema) opposite. After the reopening, the business was not bad, but more and more popular, in addition to the frequent visits of overseas Chinese and officials from all over the world, Tianjin's dignitaries also entered the Cheese forest restaurant.
Relocation of the opening of the Cheese forest (infographic)
1937: Decline
In 1937, the Japanese army officially invaded China in an all-round way, Tianjin fell, and the business of Cheeselin was in a slump, until after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, with the recovery of the entire Western food industry, Cheeselin's business improved.
Employee group photo in 1937 (infographic)
1949: Taken over
After the liberation of Tianjin in 1949, the Tianjin Municipal People's Government established the "Enterprise Management Committee" to take over overseas Chinese enterprises. Cheeselin and the then Vigdoli restaurant, as well as later the cadre club, Tianjin Hotel and other foreign-funded industries, were all under the management of the Enterprise Management Committee.
1953: All-in-one
In 1953, under the instructions of Premier Zhou, the five flavors of German, Russian, British, French and Italian stores such as Cheeseland, Noble Hotel, Victory, Yishunhe were merged, and the name was unified as "Cheeseland", and officially moved to today's Cheeseland Building.
Entrance to The West Restaurant in Cheeseling (infographic)
Early days of the Cultural Revolution: Destroyed
During the "Cultural Revolution", Cheeselin was seriously affected and was forced to change its name to "Tianjin Restaurant" and "Workers' and Peasants' Soldiers' Restaurant", and fried potatoes, boiled cabbage, flatbread nests, soy milk, fritters, and tofu brain replaced Western food and bread.
Infographic
1970: Restoration of Western food
In 1970, the staff of the Cheeseling Restaurant jointly wrote a letter to Premier Zhou Enlai, and on the seventh day, the Tianjin Municipal Government received a reply letter from the General Office of the State Council to the employees, agreeing to restore the old brand of "Cheeselin" and continue to operate Western food.
Exterior view of Cheeselin (infographic)
1990: Renamed
On July 5, 1990, The Kishilin was officially renamed "Kisling Grand Hotel", which not only has a Western restaurant, guest rooms, but also a dance hall and karaoke and other ancillary facilities.
2001: Centennial celebration
In 2001, the Grand Hotel Raised held a grand centenary celebration, Albert Cheeselin's son Winau Cheeselin came from Germany to Tianjin to participate in the celebration, and was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen" by the Tianjin Municipal Government.
Albert Cheeseling and the YoungEst Son (Infographic)
2019: Mixed reform
In December 2019, Tianjin Cheeseling Hotel completed the mixed reform, Ear eye became the controlling shareholder, and Cheeselin became a mixed ownership enterprise with state-owned participation.
Ear eye logo
Cheeselin logo
What kind of collision will occur when Cheeselin, which specializes in Western food and Western pastry, is now married to "Ear and Eye", which is famous for its Chinese snack "fried cake" and is currently expanding into the field of halal catering. Will the combination of these two old brands be greater than two? As a state-owned shareholder, what kind of support will Tianjin Food Group give to the "new cheese forest"? "In fact, many of us in the industry are also waiting and watching," said a person who pays attention to the development of Tianjin's catering industry.
02
celebrity
As the earliest Western restaurant in Tianjin, Cheeselin spread the Western food culture and is also a legendary chapter that the older generation of Tianjin people relished, and it is called the four major Western restaurants in China along with the Jacques Red House Western Restaurant in Shanghai, the Maxim Restaurant in Beijing and the Huamei Western Restaurant in Harbin.
As mentioned above, Albert Cheeselin had personally cooked Western food for Li Hongzhang before founding the "Cheeseling West Restaurant", when Cheeselin was the royal chef of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Li Hongzhang was visiting Germany. The year was 1896.
Photos of Li Hongzhang during his visit to Germany in 1896 (data map)
However, Qi Shilin's name is well known to the people of Tianjin and is inseparable from Yuan Shikai. It is said that after Yuan Shikai oversaw his command, in order to establish good relations with diplomats stationed in Tianjin, he often held cocktail parties in Tianjin. As a former imperial cook, Cheeselin was invited to make several good dishes and called Yuan Shikai and the dignitaries a comfortable meal. As soon as Yuan Shikai was happy, he rewarded Qi Shilin with 100 taels of silver, albert wore a chef's uniform and performed a military salute to express his gratitude, and the standard military posture and discordant costume formed a very funny contrast, which made everyone present laugh. The next day, this matter spread in Tianjin City, and for a time, the cooking techniques of Cheeselin became more and more divine, and many rich people in Tianjin were eager to taste what Western food was like.
Group photo of Yuan Shikai with the great powers (data map)
It is said that Yuan Shikai and Li Yuanhong also had a small story because of Qi Shilin's birthday cake. On Yuan Shikai's 46th birthday (1905), Cheeselin made him a mountain-like multi-layer cake, very "tall". Later, Li Yuanhong celebrated his birthday in Tianjin and asked Cheese Lin to send a square shouzi cake, a cake with a height of 1 meter and a width of 48 small shou characters, which is simply a work of art. After Yuan Shikai knew, his jealousy and hatred were so itchy that he let Qi Shilin make a cake bigger than that the next year. Li Yuanhong is also innocent enough.
Funny, it is said that when Li Yuanhong went to the field, there were still people in Cheese forest to pick up the wind for him. Later Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui also had a deep relationship with Qi Shilin.
The above are all political figures in the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic of China, and the one to be talked about below, I believe everyone is very familiar with it, that is, Zhang Ailing, a talented woman of the Republic of China.
Zhang Ailing's childhood photos (data map)
Zhang Ailing's grandmother was the eldest daughter of Li Hongzhang, who was born in Shanghai in 1920, but her childhood from the age of 3 to 8 was spent in Tianjin. In 1944, the 24-year-old Zhang Ailing wrote in "Whispers": "My aunt and grandmother did not like my brother, so they lifted me up and took me to Cheese forest every night to see the dance." I sat at the table. The white cream on the cake in front of me raised my eyebrows, but I ate all of it, and gradually took a nap in the reddish dusk, and as usual, at three or four o'clock, I lay on the back of the servant and went home. "
Zhang Ailing (infographic)
In the last years of the Republic of China, Tianjin Cheeselin opened a branch in Shanghai, and Zhang Ailing was a regular customer there. She later recalled: "In Shanghai, next door to our house is the newly moved Cheeselin Cafe in Tianjin during the war, every day at dawn to make bread, pull up the smell of the alarm, a fragrant breath broke through the air, there is a long wind, and it is the softest alarm clock, as if it is not the right time, white wakes people up, like annoying spring colors make people helpless." With this neighbor, it is really a kind of harassment. ”
With Zhang Ailing's pen, Cheeselin became synonymous with "petty bourgeoisie". To this day, many people with moody outsiders go to Tianjin for business or play, and they still hope to sit in Cheeseland.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Cheeselin received a large number of national leaders, including Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Nie Rongzhen, Deng Yingchao, Liao Chengzhi, as well as foreign dignitaries such as Cambodian head of state Sihanouk, former US President Bush, and many international friends.
03
develop
"Nowadays, western restaurants of all grades have blossomed everywhere in Tianjin, people's choices are not as limited as before, the old brand Cheeselin has become more of a nostalgia, and now young people have a fast pace of life, they prefer to go to the simple Western restaurant in the commercial center, and they can also visit the mall and do beauty without going out of the building after eating." Ms. Zhang, who has been engaged in the catering industry for many years, said.
Different from Ms. Zhang's view, Mr. Zhang, who was born in the 1960s, believes that "Western food must pay attention to the sense of ceremony, important friends or important family gatherings, if you choose Western food, you must be very exquisite, Western food is the atmosphere and ceremony, so the restaurant culture is very important." But when asked whether he would choose Cheeselin, Mr. Zhang said that it is not the only choice, "There are many high-end Western restaurants now, and we must consider the cost performance and service experience." ”
From the comments of netizens on the third-party review website, it is found that the people who go to Qishilin are mainly divided into three categories: the nostalgic group of middle-aged and elderly people, the young group that takes middle-aged and elderly elders to nostalgia, and foreign tourists. "The generations born before the 1970s have a deep affection for Cheeselin, and some people even take out a month's salary to go to Cheeseland for a meal, and now young people's consumption concepts are different and there are more choices," said an old Tianjin native.
The sudden outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2020 has brought a fatal impact on the catering, tourism, physical retail and other industries, and the full outbreak of the epidemic in China is only two months after The Ear Eye became the controlling shareholder of Cheeseland. The epidemic has had a great impact on the original industry of ear and eye, and how to reform and innovate in the next cheese forest depends on the cash flow of ear and eye.