“The ones that have survived have reinvented themselves to be very profit-driven, less about customer experience, less about hospitality,” he told“The interaction, the good service, we’re strong in that. We wanted to see more of that in Sydney, and we don’t want that to be lost in this current climate where everyone’s struggling.
For the roll-with-the-punches trio, it was a wake-up call to take a firm approach to finances. “You can’t keep doing things on gut feeling,” says Wu.Amalgamating all three venues into a singular ‘group’ made sense: Hatena Group was formed in June, streamlining back-end functions like payroll, promotion, marketing and accounting. To keep momentum going, they added an executive chef and a general manager.
But the co-owners admit they have not spent much time worrying about the staffing shortages that are crippling the hospitality sector, driven by the absence of the migrants, backpackers and international students that often power venues. “We didn’t really think about that,” says Somehara.A substantial factor in the trio’s success has been their Japanese-inspired philosophy of customer service that they worry is being slowly eroded by.
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