Restaurateurs get lucky, tap a niche with Fortune Cookie
Updated: 2015-03-30 08:18
By Matt Hodges(China Daily)
|
|||||||||
New Yorker Fung Lam (center) and business partner David Rossi also double as waiters. [GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY] |
Getting an alcohol license is easy in Shanghai but finding a premium location can be a battle, as the co-founders of Fortune Cookie discovered. It claims to be the first and only American-Chinese food restaurant in China.
"It's way different here. You could spend up to half a million dollars to get a liquor license in New York, whereas here it costs next to nothing," said David Rossi, 34, from California.
Picking Shanghai was a nobrainer for Rossi and his business partner, American-Chinese restaurateur Fung Lam, whose family has 15 restaurants in the US.
They opened Fortune Cookie, their first project, in July 2013 in the city's former French Concession, where expats, bars and international restaurants abound, and business has been booming. They open every day.
"It takes time to find the right spot and get a business license," said Fung, 32. "You can get a restaurant built here in six weeks, but the paperwork takes time."
"The problem is that there aren't many streets here where you want to open up on, and they are very high in demand from restaurateurs. This creates a bubble and pushes up rents," he said. "Doing human resources in Chinese can also be a headache."
The two came to China with a business model based on the kind of operation Fung's grandfather ran in Brooklyn in the 1960s. The family business has since shifted to buffet-style eateries seating 300-500 people, Fung said.
Fortune Cookie has found its niche by offering friendly US-style service, dishes that are familiar to American expats but a novelty for Chinese, and takeaway boxes that are commonplace in New York, where Fung was born, but new to the mainland.
The dark wooden décor, matching venetian blinds and sofa booths exude American coziness, while the box-shaped lights and shelves visually align with the Chinese takeout box theme.
The ingredients are fresh and the two owners double as waiters. Even with customers lining up, Rossi found time to go through the menu and tick all the gluten-free choices. Top-sellers include Orange Chicken, Beef and Broccoli, Brooklyn Kung Po Chicken, Moo Shu Pork, Tsingtao Can Chicken and Mapo Tofu Fries with Cheese. Mains cost about $10.
- China to evacuate citizens from Yemen
- Two graft-involved Chinese fugitives taken back from Laos
- Consumer poll reveals products with lowest satisfaction scores
- China unveils action plan on Belt and Road Initiative
- BRICS countries consent to promote judicial cooperation
- Asian countries to seek win-win co-op: Xi
- Rio bay won't be clean for sailing: organizers
- Lee Kuan Yew eulogized at funeral as architect of Singapore
- Voting for presidential election begins in Uzbekistan
- Myanmar ethnic joint group calls for ceasefire amid peace talks
- Australia announces it will join China-proposed bank
- Germanwings pilot planned big gesture, says ex-girlfriend
- Rio bay won't be clean for sailing: organizers
- Tech tycoons' take on innovation in BFA
- World dignitaries at state funeral of Lee Kuan Yew
- Sandstorm shrouds Beijing
- Yangshuo, a county of karst landforms
- World leaders open Boao Forum for Asia 2015
- Buildings covered by fog in China's Qingdao
- Across America over the week (from March 20 to 27)
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Full coverage of Boao Forum for Asia |
Annual legislative and political advisory sessions |
Spring Festival trends reflect a changing China |
Patent applications lead the world |
BC lures Chinese tourists |
Festival Special: Apps that make holiday shopping easier |
Today's Top News
China, US 'cannot afford' maritime dispute
China-US 'new diplomacy' discussed
China eyes $2.5 tln annual trade volume with Belt and Road countries
Chinese Vice President attends Lee Kuan Yew's funeral
Youku Tudou faces class
action lawsuit
LA commuter train hits car, partially derails; 21 hurt
Asian countries to seek win-win cooperation: Xi
'Made in China' to 'Made in USA'
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |