Will street food set HK Restaurant Trend 2019?
More restaurants bring in overseas street food concepts to HK. What are their successful essentials? Will street food become HK restaurant trend in future?
Street food was once a cheap option of food eaten on streets only. Nowadays, more and more restaurants in Hong Kong are using street food as their restaurant theme. Will street food continue to be one of the key Hong Kong restaurant trends in 2019?
To name a few successful restaurants who put overseas street food in their menus:
- 11 Westside HK – Westside serves authentic Mexican street food with tacos as signature dish.
- Chua Lam’s Pho – Chua Lam, a celebrity food critic, sets up a Vietnamese Pho restaurant in Central. Pho is a popular Thai Street food.
- Bedu HK – Bedu serves food and drinks of Middle East. This hip restaurant is not promoting a particular type of street food, but its menus are very authentic and full of colour of street food.
- Hotel Colombo – Black Sheep Restaurants Group brings in Hotel Colombo which is specialised at Sri Lankan street food.
11 Westside HK is a trendsetting restaurant for Mexican street food
Street Food in Restaurants
Street food started in Asia and set the trends to America and Europe. As a daily necessity in many cities, street food represents a city’s history, weather and culture. Indeed, there are a lot of stories behind a street food concept.
Generally speaking, street food is eaten on streets, in markets or seasonal festivals. But now, you’ll probably find more restaurants serving quality and delicious street food.
In Hong Kong, many restaurants have already put burgers in their menus. Burger is a kind of street food which is exceptionally popular in America. Pho, a well-known street food in Thailand, took Hong Kong by storm last year.
Hong Kong is a city with mixed culture. It provides a haven for the Eastern and Western restaurants. Hong Kong is also ranking as one of the highest density of restaurants in the world.
No doubt at all, foodie customers in Hong Kong are comparatively sophisticated and adaptive to new food concepts, from street-style comfort food to fine dining. That’s why so many restaurant operators are eager to bring in new food concepts to Hong Kong.
5 Essentials of Successful Street Food Restaurants
When more restaurants are jumping into the wagon of street food themed restaurants, but how many of them can make a fortune in this concept?
Let’s explore the key essentials of a successful restaurant with street food concept here:
(1) Right food concept
Food concept done the wrong way can backfire, resulting the failure of a restaurant business. In this post, we’ll discuss our ideas about the key essentials which are crucial to the success of a street food restaurant from a dynamic prospective.
Among all, building the right food concept is the priority. Wrong concept will damage more than doing good. Since building a restaurant needs huge investment, you should avoid choosing a food concept which will not be acceptable by local customers.
Customers are the ones who can vote for or against your food concept, and then determine whether your restaurant is successful.
Selecting the right food concept is the essential of any successful street food restaurants
(2) Chefs
Chefs create and prepare food for customers. They should know to cook well. Also, they need to be expertise in recognising the street food speciality of a particular city or country.
Hotel Colombo HK brings in a Sri Lankan chef for traditional street food
Chef Esdras Ochoa from LA brings in authentic Mexican street food to HK in 11 Westside
(3) Restaurant ambience
When street food is served in restaurants instead on streets, customers are expecting to feel the ambience of a particular street food, whether it’s the decor, music or relevant ambience in the restaurant.
Hotel Colombo HK brings Sri Lankan street food to HK in a chic restaurant setting
11 Westside HK is serving Mexican street food in a hip dining ambience
(4) Drinks & desserts
Apart from food, drinks and desserts are also essential items in menus. Definitely, customers will add extra marks to a street food restaurant which provides drinks and desserts related to that particular food culture.
Lion Beer, a Sri Lankan brewery brand, is served in Hotel Colombo HK
Bedu HK serves speciality sweets (Al Bohsali) from Beirut
(5) Restaurant location
When street food represents a new hip food culture, restaurant location is also part of the feel of this popular trend.
Bedu HK is located at a trendy corner in Central
Attracting first crowd of customers to try a new street food concept might not be so difficult at the beginning. But how to maintain repeated visits and new customers are crucial for a sustainable business in the long run.
Will customers become bored of a particular street food concept soon? Can the original food concept be revamped with something new and attractive to customers? It would be a challenge indeed!
Will this long queue be the wish of all street food restaurants?!
What’s Next?
Lacrucci has talked with some restaurant operators in Hong Kong. Still, most of them believe that street food will continue to be a restaurant trend in Hong Kong.
Not only does Michelin Guide include a section of recommended restaurants of street food, but also more F&B groups are creating new restaurant concepts with street food elements in it. Let’s keep a close watch!
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