Is the Party Over?
sushipanda 2 Comments »I have noticeably neglected this blog for most of August I’ve tried to get my bearings as the food editor for Shanghaiist. Basically, instead of trying to come up with the droll and self-deprecating content that has provided a select few of overseas readers with something to kill during their toilet time, I’ve been trying to come up with post-worthy news about the restaurant and food scene in Shanghai. It’s actually been much more challenging than I originally thought it would be, not least because I am a shamefully slow writer with a full time job that occasionally requires consecutive days of concentration. Still, I’m hoping that as I gain traction with the Shanghaiist readership and venue owners start realizing that there is a “go to” person they can deluge with copious amounts of promotional material, I’ll be able to churn out more and more at a quicker pace. This should allow me to revert back to my original infrequent frequency of posts on sushipanda.
Yesterday, while doing some superficial research into the popular Shanghai restaurant Blue Frog for a Shanghaiist post, I came across the interview that Dan did with Blue Frog owner Bob Boyce almost two years ago. In addition to the 6 Blue Frog restaurants sprinkled throughout Shanghai, Boyce also owns KABB in Xintiandi, which has been one of our personal brunch favorites for quite a long time now (although the impacts of inflation have shown up on their menu and have forced us to look elsewhere). Add in the fact that next week, guests who enter the brand new Venetian casino in Macao will be greeted by the sight of a Blue Frog inside inside the resot hotel, and Boyce has got a pretty damn good portfolio of assets under his belt.
The interview was fascinating for me because it revealed a lot about how he got started in the first place. Back then, in the late 90’s, there really weren’t a lot of options for residents or visitors to Shanghai who wanted good western food. Through a combination of sheer luck and prescient thinking, Boyce was able to take advantage of the explosive growth on both Maoming Lu as it took the mantle of bar/party street away from Julu Lu and at Xintiandi as construction was just beginning on the future expat locus. The general feeling he conveys about that period was that Shanghai was truly a boomtown where anyone who had a good business idea and some smarts could start something and really have it take off. I found the below quote particularly of value:
It was just on fire, everybody was enthusiastic and excited. I feel very fortunate to have been here at that time and to be a part of what the city has become and where it is going. It’s been such a ride. And I think all of us who have been here feel the same way. We just feel we’ve been a part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves. I think most of us who have been here for a while have really started to notice a change in the last year. It’s changed from developing to developed. That’s also an exciting period of time, but I think there are more than few people who are mourning the loss of — not really an innocence, but an excitement of being part of something new.
Not trying to undervalue the work that people like Bob Boyce put into their enterprises, but there are distinct advantages to being “first movers” in any industry. The western restaurants that we liked going to when I first got here in ‘03 were typically first movers, with some of them, like Blue Frog and Element Fresh, really taking their business to new levels by capitalizing on their brands and their networks to expand within and outside of the city. That elusive brand identification and credibility is why the recent explosion of small boutique PR and below-the-line advertising agencies, just as an example, are trying so hard to establish in an increasingly competitive and saturated market. The first mover advantage in any industry is appearing to becoming more and more on the brink of extinction.
That makes me wonder: is the party over? Ever since Bob Boyce came to Shanghai in 1994 and thought the place had no hope, the city has continued to grow and morph and puff up in ever more conspicuous grandeur and ambition; put another way, it’s been one huge party. The second night after I moved here, I went to Pegasus to meet up with Judy. My Frommer’s guide listed Pegasus, Windows, Park 97, Malone’s, the Long Bar, and the spots at Xintiandi as the only real places for night-life. Besides Pegasus, our only other options for hip-hop music, now matter how generic, was the still thriving Guandii and Windows. Now, we can go to Muse, Babyface, Bling, Volar, C’s, Attica, Bon Bon, Fantown, and almost any other club of the month and hear hip-hop. In early ‘04 I paid nearly 200 RMB to go to Rojam of all places to stand with maybe 100 other kids to listen to John Digweed. These days, if someone paid me that much to go, I’d have to think about. I’m not trying to say I’m above any of it; it’s more a testament to the glut of supposedly world-famous and top-ranked DJ’s that now frequent Shanghai. The excess of clubs and bars in Shanghai is well-documented, but still worth noting as a reflection of just how competitive starting any kind of business here has become.
The city that housed the “anything is possible” spirit has not only been long displaced, there now seems to be a prevailing sentiment that the shark has been jumped when it comes to the excitement and free-for-all energy of Shanghai. I don’t know if I’m in the minority when I make a statement like that, but it definitely comes from a very sincere place. Maybe I’m channeling my inner sore-loser, considering that I didn’t have the balls or the drive to even attempt venturing into something new and uncharted when I had the chance. Still, it’s hard to think that the competitive landscape now is just as fertile and rich as it was even as early as ‘03.
After I wrote my little post on Blue Frog opening in Macao, I had a hankering for the restaurant’s much-hyped burger, so I invited my mom to join me for dinner at the Blue Frog on Hongmei Lu. I had never been to that location before, and was expecting the usual laid-back and low-lighted vibe. To my very real surprise, the Hongmei restaurant was packed to the brim, overflowing with families and groups of friends alike. I had never seen a western restaurant in Shanghai this packed and loud and raucous on a normal night.
We were “lucky” enough to grab a table next to a table of 20 or so high school students, no doubt from the neighboring international schools, who were just as loud and annoying and spirited as high school kids back in the States. They were celebrating someone’s birthday party.
My mom yelled at me over the din. “So, would you ever consider opening up a place like this? It’s doing so well!”
I wondered if someone like Bob Boyce were to come to Shanghai now with visions of opening his own high quality western restaurant, how would they react at seeing a mob scene like the one at Blue Frog that night. Sure, he might jump right in the way Boyce did back in the 90’s and pull it off with a good strategy and lots of hard work. Or, he might pull up a chair and order a beer and think about opening in Dalian instead.
I replied to my mom: “No, I don’t think so. The party is over.”
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