Eclipse sets the spotlight on Shanghai 6th Aug 2004 Back   Micky Doherty and Clayton Parker run Eclipse Management – with a list as long as your arm of bars and restaurants on the books at present. This extremely successful restaurant and bar management company has been part of the changing the face of Hong Kong – and Bangkok, Taipei, Singapore and, in a trans-pacific leap of faith, Nashville Tennessee – since its inception back in 1995. Their most recent venture has been to take the plunge into the Mainland, with the Ashanti Dome in Shanghai. May saw the opening of this old Russian orthodox church, a building with tonnes of character, which makes for a beautifully bijou fine dining restaurant upstairs and a Shanghai version of Hong Kong’s Boca Bar downstairs. GSA caught up with Micky in the original Boca during one of his stints in Hong Kong and found out just how different it is working across the border… “We had been looking in Shanghai and Beijing over the years but not very aggressively,” said Micky, “as there is still lots of opportunity in Hong Kong. In fact, the restaurant in Shanghai, the Ashanti Dome, fell into our lap. Manfred Shoeni*, God rest him, was a friend of ours. He loved Boca; this is his table we are sitting at actually. He suggested we go into partnership with him in Shanghai, injecting a new lease of life in terms of capital and design to the restaurant. But rather than a partnership, we bought him out. He was up there just two days ago… We’ve maintained the character of the building and respected its history. It was a Russian Orthodox Church until 1949, the time of the revolution. Then it became a washing machine factory. So we aren’t the first to desecrate the holy walls! There's a picture of Mao on the facade. Apparently during the great Leap Forward the Red Guard came to burn the building but the washing machine factory put the picture up and persuaded them not to. Said that Mao liked it! In Shanghai one of the things we found so pleasing was the actual buildings. There are so many gorgeous buildings. Churches and places like Sasha’s, old rich homes. Some are dilapidated but you can pick them up tomorrow and renovate them. In Shanghai you wouldn’t consider taking a place this small,” he says looking round Hong Kong’s Boca, “and for rent you can get something much bigger. It made sense to the do the same concept as Boca. Hong Kong is much further ahead than Shanghai in terms of appreciation of wines and sophistication. This place is three years old, and three years ago it was Hong Kong’s first real wine bar outside a hotel. We had 24 wines by the glass. In shanghai we are trying to do the same thing. People are ready I think, they just don’t have the access yet. The customers cover a broad range. There are a lot of expats who are obviously as sophisticated as in any other city. There are a lot of overseas educated Chinese who have lived in Sydney and San Fran for example. There are the affluent locals who are keen to learn, and then there are the affluent locals who don’t’ quite get it. But it is our responsibility to educate them. Shanghai is really exciting and there are a lot of great concepts here, but the problem is that the hardware (rent) is the same as Hong Kong, London or New York, while the software is so far behind - i.e. staff, levels of training, language. We are having problems already finding staff who are reliable, who actually show up! Finding staff who are interested in learning is the biggest challenge by a mile. The problem is that the demand for English speaking staff is so high that people make do with mediocrity and staff will jump ship at the drop of a hat. They don’t think if it being the start of a career. But they’ll get there and it is our responsibility to change that culture. It won’t change by itself, it’s going to take time persevering and educating. In Hong Kong F&B is a nice community. Everyone is helpful, open and friendly. Some people are good friends, like Chris Lenz. In Shanghai the community is even more friendly. It is smaller and everyone is so helpful. People from M on the bund and the guys at 97 across the road.” It’s hard to believe that Micky himself started out on the path to accounting. “It was the late eighties, Maggie Thatcher ruled. It was money, money, money. A career in music would have been more fun but accounting made more sense. Then I realized I hated accounting. It’s true what they say!” He worked through college at Tetley bars in Leeds “rough as you like” and when he finished his degree he followed his dream to go to Beijing. “I was 23 when I arrived in Hong Kong. I went to Beijing and realized that either Beijing wasn’t ready for me or I wasn’t ready for Beijing.” A blessing in disguise he found himself back in Hong Kong, and working for Sherman Tang at Café Flipp, one of the forerunners of Lan Kwai Fong, followed by Delaney’s and then in 1995 he and Clayton set up Eclipse which took over Delaney’s and never looked back. “Back then Lan Kwai Fong didn’t have any open fronts. That all changed with Al’s Diner and Schnurrbarts. It was easier with the economy then too, in the last five, six years the competition has become more intense. You’ve got to be a better businessman now, you can’t just get lucky. We have to go after the local market more. It is a big challenge for me and Chris, but a good challenge. Sometimes I miss the one-on-one contact with the customer, but in terms of career challenge what I’m doing now is a lot more rewarding. It’s a bit like running a hotel, having six F&B outlets. You can’t be in all of them all of the time. So it is important to check and maintain standards. The key is to put really great people in charge and pay them well. And it is just as important to have good back up in the office with HR, management and the marketing team and a great financial controller. Hong Kong is on a par with New York and London, or at least it could be if there were more sites available of a decent size and if the government let us do more outdoor dining. I’ve been trying to find out for ten years about that health and safety issue.” Other countries with Eclipse outlets include Bangkok and soon to be Taipei, maybe more in China – Guangdong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou. They had to close their outlet in Nashville Tennessee, the bus fare got to be too much. “You need to have a few outlets to make it worthwhile. Economies of scale mean you have a good central office, if there is only one outlet it is a heavy burden. Shanghai is a good address, and yes we are looking for another project. Beijing will follow in a few years time. It is a whole different animal but maybe the Olympics will change that. That would be closer to the time, maybe the end of next year when people start getting a buzz about Beijing. I don’t know if I could handle the cold! Opening a restaurant is the biggest buzz,” he smiles. “The feeling of creating something, the challenge of seeing a site with nothing in there become a restaurant, and seeing people come in there and enjoy themselves – it’s the biggest buzz. And to do that in different countries… Ashanti Dome is the pioneer of Eclipse’s new concept of fine dining. “After so many Irish bars one of my personal joys is the new food concepts. I have learnt a lot, visiting countries and there is certainly room for more concepts although we will replicate some that work, for example Coyote in Bangkok. But the Ashanti Dome I’m really enjoying.” When I ask Micky what his favourite food is, he returns to his roots. “When I go back home to Ireland it’s always a greasy breakfast, fish and chips, and curry!” Advice 1 hire good managers for individual outlets and pay them well. 2 get a good financial controller – know how you are performing 3 when you do start going multiple remember it is a business. Check your emotional attachment and make whatever strong decisions are necessary. *Footnote Manfred Schoeni, one of Asia’s leading art dealers, was tragically killed in the Philippines in May of this year. He pioneered promoting Mainland Chinese artists around the world, and his Hong Kong gallery, Schoeni (27 Hollywood Road) continues his legacy.