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Wayne Parfitt
Restaurateur Wayne Parfitt has built an international empire by repackaging the spirit of Sai Kung in restaurants such as Jaspas, Cru and Pepperonis.
I love Sai Kung. It’s home. My wife and I came out to Hong Kong in 1991. It was the best thing we ever did. I took a job working in a restaurant in Central for a year and then, spotting a void in the market, we decided to open our own place in Sai Kung. That was Pepperonis, 19 years ago.
Distribution Polly Lee Polly@saikung.com
When we started Pepperonis, we did it all ourselves. We used secondhand equipment, whatever we could throw together. In the first month we made $43,000 and I thought we were the richest people in the world.
Contributors Graham Uden Aani Andriani Becky Merrett Dr Carmel Taylor MVB Denise Li Iain Lafferty Jackie Peers Liz Remington Tingting Peng Zoe Byron Guy Shirra
We kept reinvesting our money back into the restaurants. I brought my brother, Brian, into the business about 17 years ago. And it just kept on growing. We opened Al Fresco's, a little restaurant across the road that has now gone, and then we opened Jaspas. We got more confident. We went to Stanley first, and then Central, then Vietnam. We’ve been in Vietnam for 16 years and have 37 outlets there.
Printer Gear Printing
Basically, we have taken Sai Kung’s casual lifestyle and packaged it in our restaurants. We try to take the country to the city. That’s been our business plan.
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Today we have more than 2,000 staff.
I love the village atmosphere and the great beaches. We spend three to four days on the water each week. I would never leave. What we do is try to encourage our friends to move out here.
Asia is easy for business. The Western world is over-governed. Everything is over-taxed and there is too much red tape. We are also in Australia and I sometimes wish we weren’t.
A new generation of Hong Kong people are waking up to the benefits of Sai Kung. The clean air, the space, the awesome landscape. It’s an amazing place to raise a family.
The secret of creating a great restaurant? Easy – great staff. Pick the right people from the start, give them ownership and make it fun to go to work. Our staff run the restaurants and we stay out their way. In Hong Kong, we have career people who have been with us for 20 years. Sing at Jaspas in the square, is a great example.
I am happy for Hiram’s Highway to be widened but I hope they never ever bring an MTR line here. We would lose everything. It’s the small businesses that make the town and give it character – the pharmacist, the veggie guys, the stationers. I don’t think people want to see the big chains here. If we don’t get an MTR, we can stay small and stay unique.