hello there, i was wandering if you could help me with some questions,my husband and i and our two teen agers are going to be moving to hsinchu by the end of summer,we were thinking about opening a nice little italian resturant,i am from italy(naples)could you please advise me on how difficoult of an endevour that is, about the legal aspects of it, and also if there is still a need for such a business or the market is saturated,any think that could help us to get an idea if this is a good move on our part,your help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
If I were you I’d be inclined to visit the local Italian eateries before you decide on that business proposition.
I’m sure you would find a clientele among the foreigners, however there arne’t that many of us, so you would need locals coming to:
Pricing
Food
both of these would be important to get right, since local tastes are somewhat different in both respects.
Kenneth
The market for Italian restaurants, at least here in Taipei, has been flooded over about the past year and a half with a lot of places that turn out low quality food and try to undercut their competition in price. This, unfortuantely, tends to happen with any food trend that becomes popular here. There is a market for good, genuine food from any country, but as Ken mentioned, the bulk of your clientelle is not going to be foreigners who can discern between good and bad food and are willing to pay more for quality, but locals who may not and for whom price is usually a major consideration. The locals who do want the genuine article are usually very discerning in their tastes, very well-off, and not concerned about how much they have to pay for a meal. This, like foreigners, is a small percentage of your potential customer base.
A few friends are in the business; they make a good living, but they’re not getting rich from it.
Good luck,
CK
The market for Italian restaurants, at least here in Taipei, has been flooded over about the past year and a half with a lot of places that turn out low quality food and try to undercut their competition in price. This, unfortuantely, tends to happen with any food trend that becomes popular here. There is a market for good, genuine food from any country, but as Ken mentioned, the bulk of your clientelle is not going to be foreigners who can discern between good and bad food and are willing to pay more for quality, but locals who may not and for whom price is usually a major consideration. The locals who do want the genuine article are usually very discerning in their tastes, very well-off, and not concerned about how much they have to pay for a meal. This, like foreigners, is a small percentage of your potential customer base.
A few friends are in the business; they make a good living, but they’re not getting rich from it.
Good luck,
CK
Lucy … before you start ANY business, you need to learn that success depends on 3 things … LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
Many people have romantic ideas about owning their own restaurant or coffee shop and think what fun it would be to have one. Here’s a wake up call, it’s not fun at all, it’s long hours and hard work and quite often the rewards aren’t there at the end of the day.
Restaurants turn over so fast in this country it’s scary. My husband is a professional chef and I have stood by and watched him with that business. It’s seriously not that much fun.
You want to open up in Hsinchu - you should make sure you scope out a good location with lots of foot traffic. You need to go down there a couple of times to see where the busy areas are and then make a determination on your hours of operation. This is a good start. Once you have done the minimal groundwork the real challenge starts.
- Can you find a space to rent that will be affordable?
- What is the price point of your food?
- Who are you trying to attract - and don’t say everyone - you must be specific.
- What is your concept?
- Why will people want to eat at your place?
- What skills, or talents do you bring to your own place?
- If you are not available to manage the place, who will be your backup?
- What will your menu look like?
These are all the basics. Send me a PM if you’d like to learn more.
If you don’t have any experience running a restaurant, it’s going to be very difficult. Rents in good locations are going to put a lot of pressure on you and you’ll most likely have to hire people to help you run it.
There are tons of cheap Italian places right now. There seem to only be two choices in Taiwan…go cheap or go really high end…there’s no middle ground. Also, you may find that the authentic Italian dishes that you cook are not well received.
Authenticity in western food is not highly prized here. I would advise against any plan to open an Italian restaurant unless you are confident you can adequately Taiwanesify your food.