From a humble restaurant housed on a quiet corner in Sheung Wan to an expanding chain of eight restaurants pioneering the dining concept, Oyster Station continues to provide Hong Kong diners with a fresh perspective.

How did the idea of Oyster Station come about?

It dated back to 2003 when I wanted a career change from the construction industry for a better future. My business partner and I started our first 20-seat restaurant in Bridges Street, Sheung Wan, all was born from a simple idea of serving freshly shucked oysters at reasonable prices to seafood lovers in Hong Kong. Like all growth stories, the early days were not smooth sailing. A huge six-fold rent increase forced our Bridges Street restaurant to close after some 10 years in business. While we have faith in our market positioning, it was not easy to secure good locations with good foot traffic, we also made a lot of trial and errors in adjusting and finetuning our business model.

During those years, what was the most valuable lesson you’ve learned?

To be able to identify, develop and implement a winning strategy, especially at times when business was slower than expected. We were then inspired by the HK$1 chicken promotion by another food chain, and started to offer HK$10 oyster as our signature dish with a hope to reverse the slowing business. This offer was a big hit, and patrons queued outside our restaurants every day. The patrons spread the words for us and returned with friends. From that on, our group of restaurants has been on steady growth and expansion. Now we have three new shops in the pipeline through year-end.

How do you manage employee turnover, a common issue faced by restaurants?

At Oyster Station, a structured promotion and bonus plan enables everyone to have a path to move up the career ladder. We celebrate success at work with year-end bonuses, typically months of salary. This is our way to say thank-you and recognise exceptional efforts. Once employees are motivated and empowered to take ownership of their work, they know working here is an investment in their future.

What is your priority in training your team?

A wide variety of trainings have been provided to add value to our people. In order to encourage our team to learn essential skills to develop their careers, we focus on mindset trainings. Cooking contests open to employees across all restaurant locations are held every quarter with cash prizes for winners. The stringent judging criteria provide great learning opportunities for participants, whether they win at the contest or not.

How do you find the right locations for your restaurants?

As we continue to grow and expand, shopping malls has become our preferred locations as the advantages can outweigh the rental costs. We started our first shopping mall location in Tseung Kwan O, followed by the second at Citywalk, Tsuen Wan. Shopping malls attract steady flows of new patrons to our restaurants in all weathers. Even better is during festive occasions, there will be promotional events at shopping malls to attract and engage shoppers. Enhancing customer flow and creating a pleasant shopping experience can definitely open up more business opportunities for us.

What kind of dining experience do you want to bring to your patrons?

We hope our patrons, mostly families, can savour fresh oysters of top quality from around the world, complement with a variety of delectable international dishes in a cosy environment. Our restaurant at Citywalk is an example of our dream shop with its relaxing ambience and views of the outdoor vertical garden.

How would you want Oyster Station to be viewed by your patrons?

Over the years, we earned a reputation for serving excellent oysters with good value, and we shall continue this commitment to our customers. We managed to source fresh oysters of outstanding quality from oyster farms in Ireland and South Africa. Through maintaining good relationships with our oyster suppliers as our business expands, we can have better control of budget and quality to offer customers the best price.