Trader Vic’s: Closed II – lessons for bar and restaurant owners
Last night, I reported that Trader Vic’s in Beijing has pulled the equivalent of getting a divorce during a honeymoon and closed its doors barely two months after opening. Peter Wright, regular contributor to this site’s sibling blog, Grape Wall of China, reports that Trader Vic’s in Shanghai also shut up shop last Friday. Interestingly, a late December post – “Trader Vic’s to close?” – on The Shanghaiist stated:
Trader Vic’s Shanghai is very likely to close down on January 31st, barely 13 months after opening its doors. Poor market research, choice of a very questionable location of extravagant size and arrogant attitude of the Abu Dhabi-based franchise operators are the main reasons why this USD5 million investment will go down the proverbial drain. Frankies, in the same building and opened by the same franchisees, will apparently also go the way of the dodo, but its death knell will occur on 31st December.
The Shanghaiist later included an “update” that stated that the director of sales and marketing of Shanghai Golden Sands F&B Management Ltd. requested the story be removed. Stated The Shanghaiist: “He also threatened legal action. The author of the post stands by his story, and says his sources included current employees of Trader Vic’s. In his comment below, the Shanghai Golden Sands F&B Management Ltd. spokesman said: “It is absolutely not true the [sic] any of our restaurants are going to close in the future.”
Well, you can’t win them all.
In what should be required reading for those bringing restaurant and bar concepts to China, The Shanghaiist article details what went wrong and why. Live and learn, or better yet if you are pouring your hard-earned cash into a bar or restaurant, learn and live.
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