What it takes to be industry trailblazers
Three women heading restaurant groups in Hong Kong reflect on the challenges they have overcome and the importance of remaining passionate, creative and resilient
People would say, you don’t have experience … you don’t know what you’re doing
YENN WONG, JIA GROUP
As women, we shouldn’t really … stereotype ourselves in a certain category
ELIZABETH CHU, ZS HOSPITALITY GROUP CHAIRWOMAN
When she was 23, Yenn Wong was asked by her father to move from Singapore to Hong Kong to open the Jia Boutique Hotel in Causeway Bay.
“It was completely disastrous, because it was during [the Sars outbreak in 2003],” she recalls. Nonetheless, with just one assistant and one project manager, she managed to build up the boutique hotel from scratch – despite no contacts, colleagues or friends in the city.
That was how Wong’s entrepreneurial spirit was ignited. She has since founded and expanded JIA Group, a Hong Kong restaurant group whose portfolio has grown to more than 10 restaurants, including the Michelinstarred Duddell’s, Louise and Mono.
ZS Hospitality Group chairwoman Elizabeth Chu Yuet-han and Meraki Hospitality Group co-founder Laura Offe, too, can thank their parents for playing similar, pivotal roles in their paths to becoming entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry.
Chu, after graduating from the University of Hong Kong with a politics and public administration degree, took over management of ZS from her parents in 2017.
Now the group boasts five restaurants, including Hansik Goo, Whey and Ying Jee Club, all of which have been awarded Michelin stars (one each for Hansik Goo and Whey, two for Ying Jee Club), and a corporate kitchen.
Offe was inspired by her father, a chef who tried to dissuade her from the industry, given its gruelling reputation. But Offe saw how passionate he was about his work, and that led her to Parisian hospitality school CMH Academy, and to jobs at different hotels, including being part of the Ritz-Carlton’s launch team in Hong Kong.
Eventually, she and her brother Alex decided to open their own business. They started by opening Brazilian-Japanese restaurant Uma Nota in 2017, before adding Middle Eastern restaurant Bedu to the mix.
What unites these three women is that each is a trailblazer in an industry that is still male-dominated. Driven by passion and defying their doubters, they have made a lasting mark on Hong Kong’s dining scene.
“People would say, you don’t have experience, you’re a girl, you’re so young, you don’t know what you’re doing,” Wong says, recalling the opening of Jia Boutique Hotel. At the time, she was only a few years out of her studies at the University of Western Australia.
“I don’t really get undermined or get upset when people make comments like that. I really don’t. Because I feel like you just don’t know what you’re talking about.”
If anything, these comments motivated her even more. She notes that women and men bring different leadership strengths to the table, and that women can be better multitaskers and communicators, with higher emotional intelligence.
For Chu, her third-generation Chinese-Vietnamese mother was a prime example of how a woman could find her own path to success.
“It was very difficult for my mum when she started to operate her own business in Saigon. It was 40 years ago, where women were expected to be housewives,” she says.
“My mum was establishing her real estate companies, and she was doing so well, so successful in her own way. It’s very encouraging for me because I feel that, as women, we shouldn’t really perceive ourselves or stereotype ourselves in a certain category.”
When Chu started running ZS, she was not only a woman, but also very young, which should have been a double disadvantage. “But I feel lucky that, at least with the chefs and the partners I worked with, I feel that they really respect women [and] how we can contribute to the business.”
Offe notes that the hospitality industry today is more amenable to freedom and self-expression than it was. Younger professionals feel like they can exercise more creativity in food, design and service – “I wore heels for a long time, and I can tell you that I’m very happy to not wear heels any more,” she says, jokingly.
There have been shifts to make the industry more female-friendly and more welcoming in general, with many companies moving to a five-day work week instead of the usual six.
Emphasis on more maternity leave and a better work-life balance means that those who want to start a family won’t feel as deterred from joining the industry as before.
The increased inclusivity in the food and beverage industry goes beyond the kitchen, and there are plenty of positions for women – even within just one restaurant group.
“At one point, all of our management was women. Except for my brother; he was surrounded by women,” Offe says.
“We really want to encourage the participation of women in [the food and beverage industry without limiting it] to just the kitchen,” Chu says.
“It can also be at the front of house, or it can also be at other aspects of the business, which also used to be male-dominated.”
The key ingredients in the success of all three entrepreneurs are passion, resilience and creativity.
“With JIA, we try to always portray ourselves as being very open-minded – we are a company that goes for quality,” Wong says. “We care a lot, not just about the food, but also about the five senses for the customers.”
Before every restaurant opening, meticulous research and analysis is conducted and the target market established.
“I feel that Hong Kong customers, they’re very demanding because they are very knowledgeable, very well travelled,” Chu says.
“So it’s always important for us to always be competitive and to be creative, and of course to be resilient and adaptive as well, because there’s always some situations where there’s some sudden change in the policy [because of Covid-19].”
The three entrepreneurs have navigated their careers with optimism and positivity, which has surely aided in their success.
“I always view it as a happy business. I feel like it’s really fulfilling – even though it’s really [stressful], at the end of the day, it’s a business where people go to a place and have a good time,” Wong says.