Overreaction

Chairman's Office, Top Floor, Headquarters Building, Dongbei Catering Group.

At 8:40 a. m., sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the dark walnut wood desk. On the desk sat a set of purple clay teaware, the edges of the tea tray already gleaming with a warm patina. Hanging on the wall was a calligraphy scroll by a local calligrapher—"Freshness comes first in food."

Zheng Dong sat in a large leather chair, his fingers swiping across the tablet screen. He was in his early fifties, his hair neatly combed, with a few graying temples, but his face was well-maintained, making it hard to guess his actual age. He wore a dark gray cashmere sweater, and on his wrist was an Omega De Ville, a classic style that wasn't flashy.

This is his daily routine: drinking tea while reading public opinion briefings.

Every morning at 8:30, the public relations department compiles all public opinion information related to "Dongbei Catering" from the previous 24 hours into a PDF and sends it to his email. It is usually only two or three pages long, mostly ordinary customer reviews on Meituan and Dianping, with the occasional Weibo or Xiaohongshu post.

But today, when he saw the third one, his finger stopped.

It was a screenshot from a 15-second short video, accompanied by the text. "Douyin blogger ' Taste Detective Xiao Yang ' posted a video questioning the use of frozen pre-prepared food at our service area stores. Currently, it has 12,000 likes and about 2,000 comments. Public opinion risk level: low."

Below is the video link.

Zheng Dong clicked on it.

The phone's speaker was playing a somewhat unclear conversation.

"Boss, this fish isn't right."

"Frozen."

"The meat is dry and lacks the elasticity of fresh fish..."

Then came the voice of another young man, calm, even somewhat nonchalant:

"That's normal. Many chain restaurants nowadays use central kitchens for unified distribution to ensure efficiency and control costs..."

Zheng Dong's face darkened.

He stared at the face of the young man in the jacket on the screen, and looked at it again. Then, he slammed the tablet face down on the table.

The tea in the purple clay teacup has gone cold.

Nine o'clock sharp, in the small conference room.

Seven or eight people sat around the oval conference table: Zhao Bin, Brand Public Relations Director; Li Li, Deputy Director; Old Chen, Operations Director; Vice President Sun Manager in charge of supply chain; and several managers from relevant departments. The morning meeting was held once a week, mainly to report on the operational data of each store, the progress of new product development, and the marketing plan for the next stage.

Li Li was presenting a summary of last week's public opinion in front of the projector. "... Overall, public opinion was stable. Negative comments mainly focused on 'long waiting times' and 'service attitude at some stores,' which have been distributed to district managers for follow-up rectification. There's also a short video..."

She switched to the next page, which showed a screenshot of that fifteen-second video.

The post on Douyin TikTok) shows two customers dining at a restaurant in the G60 East Gate Service Area questioning whether the fish was pre-frozen and pre-prepared. Currently, the post isn't generating much buzz, and we assess it as low-risk. We suggest observation, but no intervention is necessary at this time...

"Low risk?"

Zheng Dong's voice came from the end of the conference table, not loud, but the conference room fell silent instantly.

Everyone looked over.

Zheng Dong leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table, his fingers interlaced. His expression was calm, but his eyes were fixed on Li Li, a gaze that made Li Li feel a chill run down her spine.

"Director Li," Zheng Dong began slowly, "Do you consider it low-risk to have customers openly say that our fish is frozen, the meat is tough, and the sauce is just to cover up the fishy smell?"

Li Li's throat was a little dry, but she still kept her voice steady. "Chairman Zheng, from a professional public opinion perspective, this video doesn't provide any substantial evidence; it's just a customer's subjective evaluation. Furthermore, the blogger doesn't have a large following, limiting its reach. The discussions we've monitored are also concentrated in the food category, showing no signs of going beyond its core audience. Therefore, our assessment is..."

"Subjective evaluation?" Zheng Dong interrupted her, his voice still steady, but each word struck like a stone. "'It's normal for the quality to be a little lower'—listen to that! What is that? That's industry jargon! What does 'centralized kitchen distribution' mean? What does 'cold chain' mean? Is that something an ordinary customer would say?"

No one spoke in the meeting room. Operations Director Old Chen looked down at the data sheets in his hand, Vice President Sun picked up his teacup and took a sip of water.

Li Li opened her mouth as if to say something, but Zheng Dong continued speaking.

"Dongbei has been doing this for twenty years." He stood up from his chair, walked to the projection screen, and pointed to the "Dongbei Catering" sign in the video screenshot. "From a small 30-square-meter restaurant to more than 200 stores nationwide, what's the secret?"

He turned around and scanned the people around the conference table.

"It's all about word of mouth. It's what the neighbors say, 'You can eat with peace of mind at Dongbei's restaurants.' It's what repeat customers say, 'Their fish is fresh and their meat is of high quality.' It's what we used to do: go to the seafood market at three in the morning to pick out live fish, go to the butcher shop to choose the freshest pork tenderloin, and wouldn't even put a wilted vegetable in the pot."

His voice gradually rose in volume.

"And now? Now some people say our fish is frozen, the meat is pre-cooked, and the sauce is just to cover up the fishy smell. Others are 'educating' us, saying this is standard practice in the industry, it's about 'controlling costs' and 'ensuring efficiency'!"

Zheng Dong slammed his hand on the table, making a dull thud.

"Is this the norm? Maybe it is for others, but not for Dongbei!" His cheeks flushed slightly with excitement. "What's our slogan? 'Fresh ingredients, cooked to order!' It's written at the entrance of every store, printed on every menu, and appears in every advertisement! This isn't just empty words; it's our promise to our customers!"

He walked back to his seat, but instead of sitting down, he leaned forward, his hands on the table, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces.

"This video, these two people, they're not reviewing a dish. They're ruining the reputation Dongbei has built up over twenty years!"

The conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The air conditioner vents hissed, blowing warm air.

"Director Zhao," Zheng Dong looked at Zhao Bin, the brand's public relations director, "What's your opinion?"

Zhao Bin was a middle-aged man in his early forties, wearing gold-rimmed Glasses, and usually not very talkative. He adjusted his Glasses and carefully began to speak, "Chairman Zheng's concerns are reasonable. Although the video isn't currently very popular, if it's exploited by someone with ulterior motives, or used against it by competitors, it could trigger wider scrutiny. Especially... the topic of 'pre-prepared meals' has been quite sensitive in the catering industry over the past six months."

"It's not just sensitive, it's a red line." Zheng Dong sat down again, tapping his fingers on the table. "At Dongbei, we never use pre-prepared dishes. Our central kitchen does the initial processing—standardized cutting and seasoning—but the core cooking process must be done in the store's kitchen, using fresh ingredients and cooking on the spot. This is a matter of principle."

He looked at Li Li: "Reassess the risk level. This isn't low risk; it's medium to high risk."

Li Li quickly nodded. "Understood, Chairman Zheng."

"Furthermore," Zheng Dong continued, speaking quickly, clearly having already devised a plan, "Three things, get them done immediately."

He held up one finger.

"First, remove this video from all online platforms. Douyin, Bilibili, Weibo, Xiaohongshu —all platforms—if it's this video or a similar edited version, contact the platforms to delete it. Use our legal letters, our public relations channels, use every means possible. I don't want to see this video circulating online before I leave work today."

"Second," he raised his second finger, "Contact that blogger and ask him to delete the post and apologize. Tell him that the content of his video is false and has damaged our company's reputation. If he voluntarily deletes it and issues a public apology, we can let it go. Otherwise, our legal department will prepare a lawyer's letter and sue him for defamation."

"Third," the third finger, "Find those two people in the video. Especially the one in the jacket who's speaking. I need to know who he is, what he does, and why he said those things. Find him and make him apologize publicly. If he doesn't..."

Zheng Dong paused, his voice turning cold.

"Then let our lawyer talk to him."

The meeting room was quiet. The only sounds were the air conditioner and the soft hum of the laptop fan.

A few seconds later, Zhao Bin spoke up, "Chairman Zheng, the third point... finding the person involved might be a bit difficult. The video only shows their profile, not their face, and the service area is crowded..."

"License plate," Zheng Dong said.

Everyone looked at him.

"In the background of the video, towards the parking lot, you can vaguely see the rear of a car." Zheng Dong swiped his finger a few times on the tablet, pulled up the video, paused it, and zoomed in. "Although it's blurry, you can tell it's a black SUV with a temporary license plate. Contact the service area, check the surveillance footage, and find the license plate. Highways now have ETC records; as long as you know the license plate, you can find the owner's information."

His tone was matter-of-fact, as if it were the simplest of things.

"But Chairman Zheng," Li Li said cautiously, "Retrieving service area surveillance footage and ETC records requires procedures from the police or relevant departments, which our company might..."

"Then let's figure something out." Zheng Dong looked at her sharply. "Use connections, find a third-party company, spend money. I don't care about the process, I only care about the result."

Li Li swallowed the rest of her words and lowered her head. "Yes."

"Furthermore," Zheng Dong added, "Before we find the person involved, the official account should not respond at all. No explanations, no arguments, and no giving them any attention. Once the matter is resolved, post a positive announcement, such as a real-life photo of our kitchen or a supplier inspection, to steer the conversation away from the issue."

"Understood." Zhao Bin nodded.

"Alright," Zheng Dong waved his hand, as if to brush away something unclean, "Other topics proceed as usual. Director Li, go and handle these three matters now. I need to see progress before tomorrow's morning meeting."

"Yes, Chairman Zheng."

The meeting continued, but the atmosphere was noticeably different. When discussing store promotion plans and new product development progress, everyone spoke very quickly, as if they wanted to end the meeting as soon as possible.

Zheng Dong leaned back in his chair, picked up the now-cold tea, and took a sip.

The tea is very bitter.

He put down his cup and looked out the window. From this height, he could see the outline of almost half the city, towering buildings and winding streets. How many people were eating at Dongbei's restaurant in those buildings and on those streets? How many of them, after seeing that video, would have even a sliver of doubt about the fish on their plates?

Once doubt is planted, it's like a crack in porcelain; it will only grow larger.

He cannot allow it.

Dongbei was founded by him, growing from a small shop to its current scale. He knows better than anyone that in the catering industry, reputation is everything. A single sentence like "not fresh" can ruin a store. A label like "pre-made food" can destroy a brand.

The young man in the jacket spoke with such a calm, matter-of-fact tone...

Zheng Dong's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table.

"It's normal for the quality to be a little lower."

normal?

No, this is not normal. At least not for Dongbei.

He wanted to let that person know that some things shouldn't be said carelessly.