From high-flying restaurateur to investor
Hans Gill takes the next step in his business journey
FROM borrowing RM250,000 to pursue his dreams of opening a restaurant back in 2010 to selling a restaurant for Rm1.5mil a few months ago – that’s the story of Hansjeet Pal Gill, better known as Hans Gill, who is now looking to raise Rm10mil and convince sizeable food and beverage (F&B) companies to allow him to join them as part of their shareholders.
Owing to his over a decade of experience in the F&B industry, he is confident of convincing the companies that he has set his eyes on.
Currently, the 40-year-old sees a future in the cafe business that has been a roaring success post-covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking with Starbizweek, Gill says he hopped into the F&B industry as a waiter, joining Benjamin Yong’s Delicious restaurant before leaving to Australia to pursue his studies.
Bear in mind that Yong is one of the most recognisable names in Malaysia’s F&B industry, according to Tatler Asia.
Yong, the founder of Big Group, is known to have spiced up Malaysia’s F&B scene with his
expertise in introducing new restaurant concepts.
In Australia, Gill also worked as a waiter in an Italian restaurant, known as Bosari Ristorante, while studying.
Following his graduation with an information technology degree, Gill worked in the corporate world at a technology company.
However, shortly after that in 2010, Gill decided to pursue his dreams of opening a restaurant and decided to borrow RM250,000 from his mother for the setting up of the restaurant.
Having been in the industry prior to graduation, Gill believed he knew what it took to open and run a restaurant. However, it was easier said than done.
He kickstarted D Legends Bar in a 1,800 sq ft shoplot, under a private limited company called PHG One Venture Sdn Bhd wholly owned by him.
It took Gill 25 months to recoup the money he had pumped into the business.
Then, in August 2015, Gill decided to sell the restaurant-bar for RM600,000 as one of his regular customers had approached him.
According to Gill, from the third to the fifth year of his ownership, it was purely profits.
So why would he sell a profit-making business then?
“In the entrepreneurial world, if you cannot sell, you lack one part of the journey,” says Gill.
On the back of a clause in the sales contract which restricted Gill from opening a bar for six months from the sale of his restaurant, he decided to tour around Europe for a month while sourcing for ideas.
As he was journeying around in Spain, Barcelona’s pintxos, a snack typically eaten in bars, attracted Gill.
However, after trying out Spanish restaurants in Malaysia as soon as he got back from Europe, Gill thought the food here was as good as what he had savoured in Spain.
Therefore, instead of the idea of a Spanish restaurant, Gill opted for fusion food, serving Spanish, Italian as well as Asian dishes.
“The idea was to replicate good cuisines from different countries, giving customers a wide range of options,” says Gill.
Nine months after selling D Legends Bar, and with the idea of hybrid or fusion food, he opened Tiki Taka, which went on to win multiple awards.
Gill, however, was not the sole owner of Tiki Taka, as he had sourced for investors, giving them 41% of the company in return for RM630,000.
The idea of Tiki Taka, according to him, was pitched out to about 40 investors before being able to secure three investors that favoured the deal.
Meanwhile, the idea of having investors was to raise funds intended for the setting up of the restaurant.
Additionally, Gill also gave 2% share each to the chef and the general manager, leaving him with 55% of the company.
Tiki Taka, known for its warm ambiance and wide array of small bites, went on to win four awards in the first five years, picking up Tatler Malaysia’s best new restaurant award in 2018 as well as best restaurant award in 2020 and 2021.
Unfortunately, just like every other restaurant, the pandemic negatively affected Tiki Taka.
The restaurant even opted to have delivery during the tough times, but it was not sufficient due to the high rental and low revenue generated.
“Revenue from the delivery was less than 5% of its daily revenue pre-pandemic,” Gill says.
Pre-pandemic, the restaurant was generating slightly below Rm2mil in revenue annually, with a net profit of about RM73,000.
Fortunately, the company survived the pandemic, owing to good money management prior to the coronavirus hitting.
“We thought of keeping the money for a rainy day, without knowing that the rainy day would be a pandemic,” says Gill regarding the company’s cash reserves.
During the pandemic, he also partnered with David Gurupatham, his business partner, to come up with Projek Satu Hati, a charitable initiative that helped frontliners and people affected by the pandemic, simultaneously helping restaurants.
Instead of providing uncooked food, the project served cooked food from restaurants, including Tiki Taka, for the community that was impacted by the pandemic.
The idea was to raise money, making sure restaurant owners would be able to pay the staff salary and rent, while at the same time providing food to the needy as well as the frontliners.
The project helped over 40 restaurants, delivering over 1,000 food packs per day across Kuala Lumpur.
Other initiatives to survive the pandemic, include the opening of a curbside stall that sold nasi lemak and burgers, making up 20% of Tiki Taka’s revenue.
Following the reopening of the economy, Tiki Taka’s business went through the roof, with numbers bouncing back even higher than pre-pandemic levels.
In May 2022, Gill decided to sell Tiki Taka for Rm1.5mil and now, he’s looking to take a step forward and be an investor in other established F&B businesses.
In the recent sale of Tiki Taka, there was a clause restricting Gill from being a majority shareholder in a business for three years.
When asked about advice for young business owners, Gill advocates creating standard operating procedures (SOPS) for the business to run smoothly, with or without its owner.
“You as the owner can come out, but the business musn’t crumble,” he says.
Further, having cash reserves as well as good cash flow will be crucial, especially during tough times such as the pandemic, he adds.