Retail News CRM

Tag: resturant

  • Fortnum & Mason To Open Store and Restaurant in Hong Kong

    Fortnum & Mason To Open Store and Restaurant in Hong Kong

    Fortnum & Mason, the British retail and hospitality brand, is pleased to announce  the opening of a new site in K11 MUSEA, a unique retail destination situated in the heart of Hong Kong’s US$2.6billion Victoria Dockside redevelopment. The Fortnum’s shop and restaurant will open in September 2019.

    This opening represents a significant milestone for the business as the first Fortnum’s store and restaurant concept outside of the UK. Responding to the thriving international demand for Fortnum’s products, service and hospitality,  the shop and restaurant are set to complement its current retail partnerships across Asia including Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Isetan Mitsukoshi in Japan and, most recently, Shinsegae in South Korea. It marks the continued development of the business and creates an opportunity to extend its best selling products to new and existing customers in Hong Kong, Mainland China and beyond.

    “Fortnum’s is a business which, for centuries, has thrived on delivering a sense of pleasure for our customers. Building on our 47 years of experience in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, our latest expansion in Asia is an important next step for us, as we extend our reach further across the world ” says Kate Hobhouse, Chairman of Fortnum & Mason. “We have seen significant appetite for the Fortnum’s brand and products in the region, with impressive year-on-year sales growth. We are therefore incredibly proud to continue our record of investment and growth by expanding our business into new markets, and reinforcing our support for amazing producers and suppliers  and creating new job opportunities.”

    “We are excited to establish our presence in Asia in such a pioneering development. K11 MUSEA, a unique retail destination in Hong Kong, speaks to the growing consumer demand for immersive experiences of art, culture and commerce,” says Ewan Venters, CEO of Fortnum’s. “As a business with creativity and innovation at its core, we believe that our partnership with K11 MUSEA is a natural fit for us.”

    The latest evolution in Fortnum’s 312-year history, this announcement marks the ongoing growth of the retailer following its most recent opening at the Royal Exchange in London. As with previous store and restaurant openings, Fortnum’s is proud its continued growth creates new job opportunities both at home and in the region, with c.90 new roles in Hong Kong. This also represents a significant opportunity for Fortnum’s British suppliers who produce 86% of the retailer’s products in the UK.

    The beautifully designed 7000 sq. ft. space will include a store, featuring an edit of Fortnum’s most cherished products, from Tea, Biscuits and Wine, to joy-giving gifts such as champagne and stunning teaware and of course people will be able to enjoy the award winning hospitality of Fortnum’s in the restaurant upstairs while taking in the stunning views across the iconic Hong Kong harbour.

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  • Introducing BistroChat, Hong Kong-based restaurant booking app

    Introducing BistroChat, Hong Kong-based restaurant booking app

    An innovative restaurant booking app by chat recently penetrated the Hong Kong market. Alexandre Sonier, co-founder of the application BistroChat, defines it as being similar to “having WhatsApp, but with restaurant contacts instead”. Its features let its users chat directly with the staff to make restaurant bookings easy, hence making it unique in Asia Pacific.

    Today, BistroChat mainly seduces expatriates living in Hong Kong, and especially women. People aged from 25 to 40 years old with high standards of living generally use this app. According to Alexandre, settling in Hong Kong was a choice. In his vision of the industry, trends are different from a market to another. He justifies his point by saying that it is difficult to launch a new application in China, as everything is concentrated on QQ and WeChat platforms. In the same way, “the US is saturated, as the app offer is too wide”. This is in opposition with Asia Pacific, and especially Hong Kong, as BistroChat co-founder says “people buy more and more smartphones, while constantly looking for new apps. We think this it is the right time to launch a new app in this region”.

    This application is the work of three men who used to work in different startups across the world for a few years. As app developers, they managed to cover all the skills needed to launch their project, making it possible to build it in-house. Raised investments led to the creation of an MVP, allowing the company to grow within the industry.

    The particularity of BistroChat is that it is hassle-free. Today, two options are possible when it comes to booking a table in a restaurant: calling; or online reservation, which can take more time because of a longer process. By entering the market, BistroChat offers an instant connection between restaurants and its customers. Making a reservation via this app is done through chat, hence directly relating the client to the staff.

    Furthermore, competitors send an email to the restaurant in order to notify them of a new booking. Alexandre notes that this cannot work with last minute bookings, hence justifying that chat is more convenient. According to him, instant confirmation can be made, and name and phone number spellings are no problems anymore. Those features make the app more appropriate for special requests.

    It is thus with the objective of standing out from the broad app offer on the market that BistroChat maintains its efforts and innovation processes. As its co-founder states: “we don’t see an app as a one-time development but as a continuous process of improvement”. This leaves plans for building new features such as the AI, which would suggest and recommend to users new and trending restaurants, based on their preferences.

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  • Alarming fall in holiday restaurant bookings

    Alarming fall in holiday restaurant bookings

    Fewer people are planning to eat out on the eve of the Lunar New Year, a restaurateur said. The bill per table is expected to be about HK$4,800 on the eve of the holiday down from HK$5,300 last year Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades chairman Simon Wong Ka-wo said.

    He also described a drop in reservations as “alarming.”

    Wong added: “We annually see an 8 to 10 percent increase in reservations, but this year we are seeing a drop of around 5 percent.

    “This is due to a drop in consumption, with many consumers opting for cheaper meals.” Wong said owners have adopted a conservative approach in ordering their supplies after noticing that overall consumption has been affected by the mainland’s economic slowdown.

    Association for Catering Services Management chairman Yeung Wai-sing feared that some restaurants may have to close as sales are expected to drop further after the holiday is over.

    “This is likely to happen in April when the spring dinners of companies are over and the so-called off- season begins,” Yeung said. “I will not be surprised if some restaurants close down then.”

    Hong Kong Inbound Tour Operators Association chairman Ricky Tse Kam-ting said the weaker economic outlook is also based on the 60 percent plunge in mainland tour groups for this Lunar New Year.

    “This is the coldest year I have experienced in the industry. The figures might be shocking to you but the estimation is pretty conservative,” Tse said.

    “We had around 400 to 500 groups in the past but only around 100 groups this year.”

    The number of mainland arrivals was 45.62 million last year 2.9 percent lower compared with 2014, according to the Immigration Department. Many mainlanders are now heading for Japan and South Korea due to the exchange rate, while the younger ones prefer Europe, Tse said.

    “Most of the visitors are middle-aged or older they have already visited Hong Kong and are looking for something new,” he said.

    “Social media plays a big role with the younger generation. They see pictures and news about other countries and it is understandable that they want to go beyond [Hong Kong].”

    A jewelry retailer also claimed that this is “the most difficult” year. Government data showed total retail sales in December last year dropped 6.1 percent, and the value of sales of jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts shrunk 17 percent.

    Jimmy Tang Kui-ming, chief of Prince Jewellery and Watch, expects sales in February to drop 20 percent from last year.

    “The devaluation of the yuan, the stock market plunge and decreasing home prices are like a trio hitting the retail sector,” he said.

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