Gregory Le Cloarec of Gulu's
House

Valery Retski and Angel Lin of
Retski's Kitchen

Basant Joshi and Stephen
Tiay of Little Tibet Restaurant

Dereke Bruce of Finga's Base
Camp

Bringing the Outside In: Foreign restaurant owners overcome challenges to succeed in Taichung

Words by Vesper Stockwell
Translated by Angel Pu

On opening night at its current location, Gulu's House experienced two blackouts while the French bistro was full of customers. The second day, faulty ventilation choked the kitchen with smoke and, on the third, busted plumbing caused the place to flood.

Success in the restaurant business--a notoriously finicky industry--is often determined not only by hard work, tenacity and support, but also a heavy dose of good luck. If the proprietor is trying to succeed in a non-native culture, the need for all these elements is further amplified. So, what inspires someone to wage this uphill battle? The experiences of five foreign restaurant owners in Taichung offer insight into the draw and challenges of this city, the importance of a connection to the community, and the delicate balance of appealing to local tastes while maintaining an authentic brand.

For some foreign restaurant owners, the prime motivation to open a business in Taichung is a combination of their spouse's family ties and a hope for a better quality of life. Originally from Brittany, France, Gregory Le Cloarec, owner and chef of Gulu's House, met his Taichung wife in New York City where he was attending catering school and she was studying English. After working in fine dining in France and London for several years, they decided Taichung offered their best hope for a successful venture because of lower startup costs and taxes, and a more relaxed schedule.

"I don't have to work as long or late as I would in Europe," explains Gregory. "Here, I can arrange my schedule to suit my family life and achieve a better work/life balance."

Others, such as Belarus native Valery Retski, came to Taiwan for different reasons altogether. With a degree in chemical engineering, Valery had been working in paper production until an unexpected offer transported him to Taiwan as a dancer and stuntman at Yamay Recreation World. "I played the good guy who saves the world," Valery relates triumphantly. While saving the world, he met fellow dancer Angel Lin, a Taichung native to whom, after just one month of dating, he became engaged. Valery is one of those people that just do what they love and trust that good things will follow. "If you see a coin on the street, it would be stupid not to pick it up!" he explains. Taking advantage of opportunities as they come along appears to have worked for him so far. Along with his family, he now runs two branches of Retski's Kitchen, offering Belarussian and other international cuisine in a charming wooden cottage that's "just like grandmother's house".

Of Tibetan descent but born and raised in southern India, Stephen Tlay moved to Taipei in 1994 to join his family's imported arts and crafts retail business. After moving to Taichung for its central location, Stephen says in addition to clients' interest in Tibetan crafts they kept asking him what Tibetan food was like. "So, I thought I'd open a small restaurant to give them a taste," he recalls. The result, Little Tibet Restaurant, offers curious customers authentic Tibetan and also Indian cuisine.

However, finding the right business location, one with good visibility and parking, is a common obstacle in Taiwan's cities. Since opening in June, 2010, Stephen believes that Little Tibet's location, with its winding alley and lack of parking, has been its drawback. Its proximity to the Feng Chia Night Market and university also means that the area's potential customers are mainly students looking for cheaper value meals. To respond to this demand, Stephen and Indian chef Basant Joshi have begun testing out curry, rice and Indian milk tea lunch sets for NT$100 each. If these are well-received, they may shift their business model to cater more to this crowd. For Joshi, the biggest challenge of being a foreigner working in Taiwan is missing his wife and 4-year-old daughter back home in India, which he only visits once a year, or every six months if he's lucky.

One of the greatest challenges for Valery and Angel has been training what they refer to as the "Strawberry Generation"--a local term for those born in the '80s and '90s who "bruise easily" in reaction to criticism and hard work. "My wife and I basically have to know how to do every job," Valery says. "It's hard to find young people who have a tough work ethic." The couple relies much on their extended family, including Angel's sister and brother-in-law who, in addition to being certified Belgian-style chocolatiers, also handle the promotional end of the business, using print and radio promotions, VIP point cards and the collective buying "Groupon" style concepts to bring in new customers.

In terms of better training, Chef Dereke Bruce advocates Taichung's need for an effective one-year culinary program that can quickly turn out qualified cooks of Western fare. Hailing from New Zealand, Dereke worked in the restaurant industry for many years abroad before moving to Taipei in 1989 where he met his Taiwanese wife, Lily. After relocating to Taichung, the couple and Lily's family in 1993 created Finga's Base Camp, then the city's first foreign-owned restaurant. From its humble origins as an ice-cream stand in front of their house (so in the middle of nowhere that Dereke says that even he used to get lost going home), Finga's, now in a newer, much-larger location and offering a wide array of fresh, made-from-scratch fare, is a staple among locals and expats alike. "As a foreign owner, the key is to have a local who loves you to bits," says Dereke. "I literally couldn't do it without a wife who supports me."

Another husband-and-wife team, Sherly and Chachi Lin, moved in 2008 from their home in Bandung, Indonesia, to Chachi's native Taichung in order to bring their vision of an American-style bakery to life. With unique offerings like Cranberry and Gouda Cheese Cookies and a Red Wine Beef Bolognaise Potato Pie, Sherly hopes "to expand people's ideas of cakes here". Translating that appeal into the right price, however, has been difficult as customers often compare the dense, hearty pies of de Trio Pastry to local, spongier cakes replete with the ubiquitous white frosting typical of Asian-translated Western desserts.

"People here tend to value quantity over quality," Sherly observes. "But, if we adjust our prices, we have to adjust our ingredients and that will affect our quality. So, we'll try to adjust people's mindsets first."

Similarly, Little Tibet's Stephen believes that "people should adjust to the food, not the other way around". Repeat customers tell him they are hooked on the distinctive flavor of his restaurant's signature Tibetan Mutton with Blue Cheese dish. "That makes me feel successful," he beams. And while Dereke responds to customer demands for new products, whether it's pizza or rye bread, he still insists on developing products according to his own taste standards. "Someone will always think it's too salty or not salty enough," he says. "You can't please everyone."

When he first arrived in Taiwan, Gregory of Gulu's House experimented with everything from peddling Croque Monsieur sandwiches in the parking lot of a massage parlor to selling fast-food pasta to university students. With the help of his wife and her family, he finally opened Gulu's House, offering affordable yet authentic French bistro-style dishes. While he found many local restaurants serving high-end French food, Gregory aimed to show Taiwanese people that French cuisine "isn't all foie gras and truffles". Currently, he estimates that 80 percent of his customers are local Taiwanese. "Since I've stuck to what I know, I've done better," he notes. "If something doesn't work, I take it off the menu. I believe changing it to suit local tastes only makes business worse and me unhappy with what I'm creating."

One year after his opening, Gregory can now laugh at the mishaps of those first nights. Things have been running smoothly since the blackouts, smoke and flooding, and the restaurant's popularity means lunch and dinner reservations are recommended. Like most foreign restaurateurs, his local support has been essential in overcoming the hurdles of logistics, language and cultural translation. "It's important to know how to negotiate--especially in Taichung," he advises, adding wryly, "Construction prices vary greatly."

Chachi and Sherly Lin of de Trio Pastry