Ep 140.2: The Secret to Picking F&B Winners & Winning Michelin Stars | Loh Lik Peng (Founder & CEO, Unlisted Collection)
Hey STIMIES!
Welcome back to Part 2 of the So This Is My Why Podcast with Loh Lik Peng - CEO & Founder of Unlisted Collection.
In Part 1, we covered Lik Peng’s journey from wanting to become a doctor (just like his parents) to becoming a commercial litigator and purchasing his first hotel property: Hotel 1929.
The property that kickstarted his crazy career pivot.
But the F&B industry is a tough place to be. You need a good dose of hard work, luck and… a talent for spotting F&B talent (which Lik Peng has!).
In this episode, we dive into the intricacies of his international hospitality business, tackling questions like:
- Why does he give equity to his chefs?
- How does he identify and convince culinary talents like Rishi Naleendra to come on board?
- How does he work together with the chefs to ensure that they have everything they need to build a thriving business?
- How attaining a Michelin star flipped a switch within the chefs he works with
- What are his thoughts on brand building?
- When is it time to pull the plug? (His most painful failure was with One Leicester Square in London)
- His big passion with museums; and
- So much more
If you haven’t heard Lik Peng’s origin story, listen to the previous STIMY Ep 140 Part 1 episode first.
And if you have, then stick around for Part 2!
Are you ready?
Let’s go.
Highlights:
- Lik Peng’s hands off approach
- Discovering Rishi Naleendra & being a good spotter of F&B talent
- Did Lik Peng conduct any due diligence on his potential talents?
- Building the infrastructure for an F&B business
- “I didn’t understand what P&L was before. If I knew, I would’ve never said yes.”
- Keep an eye on the numbers!
- Winning a Michelin star flipped a star switch…
- When are chefs ready to strike out on their own?
- Brand building
- Overcoming moments of blind panic
- When do you let go?
- Biggest failure
- Passion for museums
- Do you still identify as a lawyer?
- Which pivot was the easiest and why?
- Finding your second & third act in your career
- What book are you reading now?
- Art of finding the right talent
- Any non-compete clause?
- Three key things that you’d attribute your success to
- One COVID casualty
- Luck
📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/140
🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/w22CAJupO48
💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062
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