Activities

Hakkasan Limited is the fast-growing and award-winning restaurant group founded by Hong Kong-born restaurateur Alan Yau, who had already made a name for himself with the Wagamama Japanese noodle bar concept he created in 1992. Yau sold the then two-strong Wagamama business in 1998.

Hakkasan’s London venues have revitalised the Oriental genre at both the top and the cheaper ends of the market and the group is now looking to spread its wings overseas.

The current line-up comprises Busaba Eathai (quick and affordable Thai canteens with sharing tables), the fine-dining Hakkasan (currently the only Chinese restaurant in Britain to hold a Michelin star) and the Yauatcha dim sum restaurant and teahouse.

Yau has built up an enduring partnership with French interior designer Christian Liagre to devise the décor in his restaurants.

Timeline

• 1999: Yau opens his first Thai canteen, Busaba Eathai, in Wardour Street, London.
• 2001: The group opens the fine-dining Hakkasan in Hanway Place, London. In 2003 it becomes the first Chinese restaurant in the UK to win a Michelin star.
• 2003: A second Busaba Eathai opens in London’s Store Street.
• March 2004: Yauatcha, a Chinese dim sum restaurant and teahouse, opens in Broadwick Street, London.
• May 2005: The third Busaba Eathai opens in Bird Street, London.
• November 2005: Yau announces plans to open a 100-seat, top-end Japanese restaurant on the site of the former Italian-Japanese Shumi restaurant in St James’s Street, London.
• February 2006: The group introduces a takeaway service at its two existing Busaba Eathai restaurants.

Operating data

Number of employees: more than 500

Number of restaurants: five
Hakkasan: London (Hanway Place)
Busaba Eathai: London (Bird Street, Store Street, Wardour Street)
Yauatcha: London (Broadwick Street)

Key directors

Director and founder: Alan Yau

Contact

16-19 Gresse Street
London
W1T 1QL

Tel: 020 7907 0700

Commentary

Yau has a number of new openings lined up for both the UK and overseas.

On the UK front, the group’s fourth Busaba Eathai Thai restaurant is scheduled to open in London’s Floral Street in late 2006. There are also tentative plans for a new restaurant called Chowbar in Kingley Court, London, which Yau has described as a “reworked chop suey house” and as “Hakkasan’s naughtier little brother”.

In 2007, Yau will open the top-end Japanese venue Cha Cha no Hana on the former Shumi site in St James's during February followed in April by a Spanish tapas restaurant in Norman Foster's landmark offices on the Thames between the Battersea and Albert Bridges.

Yau also intends to expand the success of Hakkasan (the restaurant) overseas. In an interview with Malaysian newspaper Straits Times, Yau was said to be looking to have 15 Hakkasans outside London by 2010.

However, his first overseas venture is likely to be an up-market Chinese restaurant that will open in Ian Schrager’s Gramercy Park hotel in New York in 2006.