1st interview 2nd interview 3rd interview 4th interview 5th interview

The record of the interview

First interview:
Time: 4:00 pm, November 13th, 2008
Place: Yung-Fu Restaurant
Interviewee: Mr. and Mrs. Chun-Fan and Chih-Chiang Pan
Participants: Ming-Huei Dai, Yin-Luo, Jeng-Shiou Chang, Wei-Shan Liu, Yi-Chin Chen, Mr. Sung-Ming Ku, and Ms. Szu-Yi Tu

Contents of the interview:
Q1: How did you feel when you first entered this career?
A: It was passed down from my parents and we have run it for two generations and almost forty years.
Q2: When did you start learning the cookery? Where did you learn it? What is the name of your master? How many years have you learned cooking so far?
A: (1) I learned it by working aside my parents and helped wash the dishes when I was young.
  (2) I learned it from my parents in Lai-Tzai Keng, Yung-Fu Village, Nei-Men Township, Kaohsiung County
  (3) My master’s last name is Pan, and I learned it in Lai-Tzai Keng, Yung-Fu Village, Nei-Men Township, Kaohsiung County.
  (4) It has been twenty years since I completed my military service and I am doing the business on my own now.



Q3: What is the compulsory requirement to be a chef?
A: We have to be very hard-working toward our job and create new dishes to cater the needs of our clients.
Q4: What are the obstacles you have been through since you were a chef and how did you overcome them?
A: (1) The obstacles I have been through were the unfair demands from the clients, the difficulty for hiring my crew, the bad weather condition, such as heavy rainy days or windy days. For instance, I had to meet the needs of the client even we ran the banquet in one typhoon day.
   (2) I would face the problems and tackle them right away.

Q5: What is the process of preparing your food and setting up your work?
A: I have to finish some parts of the job three days ahead of the banquet. The jobs are as follow, making orders, confirming the number of the tables and employees, making sure the menu. One day before the banquet, we have to count how many tables we need and set them up on our truck. As for the time setting out for the banquet, we have to set out before five if the banquet takes place at noon, while we only need to leave for the banquet at noon if the banquet is held in the evening.
Q6: What should you take care when running one banquet in terms of the order, food purchasing, and contacting your crew or the host family?
A: I will assure the freshness of the food since the savor of fresh food tastes not only good but healthy.

 Q7: How many people would you employ when running your banquet?
A: It all depends on how many tables have been reserved by the host family. If there are three tables, I will hire three employees, while I will hire thirty people as my crew if I’ve got the order for one hundred tables. I will ask other chefs for help on condition that I have received a big order of tables.
Q8: From the very beginning of your career, what is the most impressive experience of yours?
A: Those big events, such as political election, god birthday celebration of the temple, the yearly feast of one company left me the exclusive impression.
Q9: What is the best dish of yours? What is the most expensive dish of yours?
A: (1) In order to be an excellent chef, you have to be good at every single dish; otherwise, your clients will have a complaint.
   (2) So far the most expensive meal is ten thousand dollars, which includes lobster ,abalone or some luxurious food.
Q10: What is the biggest number of tables have u been in charge of?
A: I have ever be responsible for running one hundred and twenty tables, which often takes place when the host family is affluent or when there is a political campaign.