Founders of Concubine KL, Nico and Andy, were sourcing for train carriages for a potential F&B concept. Instead, they stumbled upon a 125-year old shop lot in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur. A lot is going on in the bar scene of Chinatown, Nico shares “In the past, many people in the area launched establishments from the perspective of 1920s old-China, or from the era of opium. It is fantastic but at the same time, predictable. We decided to break away from what everybody’s trying to do so, we kept our approach in the present. There is a certain old-world charm with the exterior of the building and we were mindful to be very respectful with its heritage while making it look like a bar of the present.”
Concubine KL first opened in November 2019 and quickly gained its reputation as a must-visit bar in Chinatown. Less than 5 months in, everything came to a grinding halt as the worldwide pandemic swept across the nation. But for Nico and his team, they were quick to adapt to the lockdown and managed to pull through with sales picking up by the time dining spaces were safe to reopen. Here, Nico shares his strategies on weathering through a crisis (pandemic included) with tips on how to serve your community to managing rainy day cash reserves.
It all started out with the idea of a bar concept that is open to everyone, an all-rounded type of bar for lunch, dinner, and drinks. One of the key things about Concubine is that it is not a specialized bar, Nico prefers to call it a gastro-bar. It’s a place where you come for dinner, and you can stay on for drinks and then, if the night goes well, you go dancing. It’s a place where you can come at any time and you will always find what you are looking for.
Table of Contents
Key learnings
- The ability to inspire confidence in the market. Guide your customer through your concept. Customers must feel that they are coming to a place where we(business owners) know what we’re doing, and we will continue to bring you an experience – to be a place where people want to be.
- Earn the trust of the customers and make sure that they feel safe dining at your place – through communication, strict hygiene rules, ambience, quality, well-trained team and so on.
- A healthy F&B business must always have adequate cash reserves for, it may be for a virus, renovation, or whatever disaster; at least three to six months would keep you afloat.
- Your team is your most important asset. When customers come back and they see the same team, they(customers) will appreciate what you’re doing. It also gives your staff fulfilment when the customer recognizes them so, it goes both ways.
- Keep innovating, keep getting the word, keep people wanting more, keep up the excitement, and keep telling people that, “Hey, we’re here!”
We started promoting the place without having anything. In the beginning, we didn’t know what Concubine would be yet but we started hosting parties.
Then the next party was when we had tiles on the floor and then progressively, the next was when we had a bar, a kitchen and so on. Friends of ours came for these parties, and the word started to go out on when the next one would be. You start to see more of Concubine coming to life! There’s some kind of excitement as the community grows with the progress.
So, we always have to make a place feel a bit like a community. It’s a place where people can relate to. That’s a bit more our style.
Surviving through the pandemic
Even with our doors closed during the lockdown, we continued to send the word out that we’re still doing things – to be able to tell people something. There was a lot of communication on our side to the public on our social media platforms.
Sales were terrible when the lockdown started – it was no more than RM500 a day. We did not have any takeaways before MCO so we were not prepared for that. We had to quickly adapt, whipping up takeaway-friendly menus, we signed up for third party delivery platforms and launched our own distribution platform. The most important thing:-
I think that the secret is to inspire confidence in the market. You’re coming to a place where we know what we’re doing, where we’re able to navigate through this pandemic and we continue to bring you an experience – to be a place where people want to be.
Personal touch
I personally take care of all our bookings. When people call, I can basically do a bit about one-to-one communication, share the menu, I want to make sure that the experience goes well and also, feedback.
- Share the menu so they can make pre-orders or can already anticipate their food orders – this helps with cost control
- Maximise turns of tables. If a party is coming for an 8.30 pm reservation, I can fit another party for 6.30 pm who may likely just have a meal and leave by 8.30 pm. I train my staff on how to how to identify groups and types of customers.
- From dinner onwards, customers might stay for a drink, and then a little dancing or more. For later crowds, the idea is to make them stay longer by proposing our drinks packages.
It is basically sensing what people are comfortable with and be very flexible in what you’re doing. It was all food focus the last few months, especially from May to July. I am challenging my chef to launch a new brunch menu with more Asian inspired dishes, because there’s potential with the lunch crowd. Now, people are slowly warming up to the idea of coming out for drinks. We are launching an entirely new cocktail menu soon, so you can anticipate that.
Cash Reserve Management
Another thing that we did for Concubine to survive this is our cash reserve management. (I do not speak on behalf of any other F&B business) For us, our business model is to have a cash reserve that can weather through at least three to six months on losses. Our profits go to the bank and we do not operate our cash flow on a “day to day” whereby whatever earnings made today is distributed among the partners tomorrow. We do not operate in this manner.
Managing staff morale and well-being
We also prioritize in keeping our staff. Nobody knew how long it would last.
We kept all our staff with full pay in the first month and then in the second month we had to reduce, obviously, but now we’re back to normal already, even from the beginning of July. But can we survive a second hit? We don’t know but I would make sure we don’t fire anyone.
They have been through the good and the bad times with us – there are times when you make money and there are difficult seasons. For me, it’s to show respect for them. They’ve helped the business when we were doing good and now I help them when we’re not doing so good. Obviously, to a certain extent, and to the best that we can – even if we have to invest a little bit more, it pays back.
My staff also already have a good rapport with the customers so when customers come back and they see the same team, they will appreciate what we’re doing. It also gives the staff fulfilment when the customer recognizes them so, it goes both ways.
How to keep going
Nico shares these key pointers to keep your business in check:
- To know your differentiating edge. What can you offer that others (within the radius) do not?
- Keep asking yourself, what makes you, (name of restaurant or bar), you?
- Make sure that you communicate with your customers. What are your mediums of communication and how are you communicating?
- To have a point of dialogue and a reason for people to talk about you. Not just your menu offerings but what are the needs of your community that you are fulfilling?
Guide your customer through your concept. Customers must feel that they are coming to a place where we (business owners) know what we’re doing, and we will continue to bring you an experience.
Suggestions such as organizing events, launching menus, partnerships:
I can tell you about the most recent collaboration I’ve engaged with. The concept of Concubine is fun and present. We collaborated with fashion designers during KL Fashion Week during the RMCO period. The whole idea is to reinforce Concubine’s story. We offer our space and in return, we invite designers to use Concubine as their backdrop.
It gives us, another point of dialogue and reinforces the concept of the venue
Your concept needs to be expressed through the space so that no matter what virus comes, when you’re new and you have a strong concept, people will come back on the basis of trust.
Earn the trust of the customers and make sure that they come and they feel safe dining at Concubine
At Concubine, we will keep innovating, keep getting the word and the stories out, keep up the excitement, and keep telling people that, “Hey, we’re here!” so we can make a strong comeback when we are back in full swing. And we did.
Images credit: Concubine KL. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Interview and written by Theri B. Edited by Lim Aileen.
