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F&B Super Groups Every Shanghai Resident Should Know

ShanghaiWOWeng 2018-11-27

Shanghai’s urban culture is comprised of countless restaurants and small shops. Some, however, go beyond noodle shop or café, some have grown into enormous city staples we can’t imagine life without. But how much do you know about these F&B super groups?

 

ELEMENT FRESH


 


We see Element Fresh so often in Shanghai that it’s easy to forget they don’t exist outside of China.  Their trendy interior design, consistent food quality and healthy options have served as a shining beacon on a hill for many of today’s upstart healthy restaurant franchises.


Everything began in 2000, with Scott Minoi and Sheldon Habiger starting a catering service together, then a health food and juice bar. In July of 2002 they got their location at the Shanghai Centre and opened the first Element Fresh. They now have 27 restaurants in 7 cities throughout China.


Unique edge:

• One of the very first to offer healthy food in China with a variety of salads, juices, smoothies and light meals.

• Actively involved in the community and promoting events and activities

• Employees are at the heart of growth by ensuring employee wellness

• “Optimistic energy and persistence” have been their guidelines  for the last 14 years




SHERPA'S



Existing since 1998 in Shanghai, Sherpa’s is a more than a monument in the city. Considered by all of us as the most convenient service, Sherpa’s connects you with your favorite restaurants. Plus you can even order vodka, wine and large bags of ice. This is the epitome of convenience… unless it’s raining and you have to wait longer for deliveries…


Unique edge:

• Work with the largest selection of international restaurants with over 500 branches of tried and tested establishments.

• They send a professional, anonymous taster to every restaurant before they consider working with them.

• Hygiene is crucial and all their delivery guys have a hygiene license. Plus, all delivery guys are employed by Sherpa’s, not outsourced to other companies. Last point- the uniform is awesome and unmistakable.



CONSTELLATION




Constellation 1.2.3.4.5.6… These bars spring up like mushrooms in the city, delicious cocktail blooming mushrooms from the heavens. It’s high quality from the inside out. There’s a lounge bar with a wide selection of whiskeys. They also do shows, offer catering service… and their bartender might be the best in the country. The first Constellation launched in 2000 by Kin-San. They now have 7 venues in Shanghai and one in Ningbo.


Unique edge:

• extensive selection of high end whisky from all over the world

• First bar to educate the market toward the pleasure of liquors  through the use of whisky maps & menus with alcohol percentage for their drinks

• authentic British gentlemen’s  club, out of the British island




LIZZY’S ALL NATURAL




Lizzy’s All-natural may be one of the trendiest names in the city. Lizzy started her brand last year but the sky seems to be the limit with two locations, and popping up at numerous organic and healthy lifestyle events.


Unique edge

• A full holistic healthy experience beyond producing blends.

• Successful crossover of food and nutrition, especially with her nutritionist background.




HUNTER GATHERER



Not only a restaurant, it’s also a market and a network of farms. Honestly who doesn’t like Hunter Gatherer? It looks great, smells nice, it tastes incredible… with three stores already opened and a fourth on the way, they are among the first to provide a restaurant crossover with natural market to create a healthy concept.

 

Unique edge:

• Have their own farms in Yantai, Shangdong, Chongming, and Shanghai. They plant crops with organic farming methods, using no chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers.

• The venue gets the occasional celebrity visit at their Anfu location!




LOST HEAVEN




At the start, Lost Heaven was the project of three Tawainese brothers. Since they are all pretty involved in art they landed in China hoping to open an art gallery. However, after discovering the Yunnan cuisine which is part of their cultural heritage, they decided to create Lost Heaven instead; a place to promote food as well as traditional Yunnanese lifestyle and tribal art. Never ceasing to travel the world, these three founders developed similar ideas for south Asia (coconut paradise) The middle east (Silk road) and Europe (Lost Bakery) . Lost Heaven group brings some serious magic to Shanghai F&B world.


Unique edge:

• At Lost Heaven art is merged with food to create a unique ambience. The experience is similar to dining in a authentic southeast Asian temple with commissioned paintings and authentic wooden sculptures.

• They respect and adore a traditional and peaceful lifestyle that many forgot when they arrive in Shanghai

• Because nothing scares them, instead of using the same idea and cloning their first Yunnan concept, The Lost Heaven Group decided to go through a new challenge by exploring new cuisines each time.  Big risks, big rewards.




EL WILLY "FUN F&B GROUP"


Before them, no one was doing real Spanish food. Then Willy Trullas Moreno arrived in town in 2007 and changed the game. El Willy consists of 5 venues in Shanghai and 2 in Hong Kong: El Ocho, El willy, Elefante, Paloma, Tomatito, and Fofo. The concept of Fun F&B group is genius, their communication plan is super efficient: cute, funny and richly informed website, frequently updated facebook pages when they push forward each person of their team, hundreds of pictures of them having fun in the kitchen…  Serious work, friendship, jokes, passion, good food and family values… all mixed together. This is El Willy recipe for success.  


Unique edge:

• They’ve been here long enough to know their costumers, and exactly how to please them.

• They make everything they do look fun and cool. It makes people want to be a part of it.




SIMPLY THE GROUP 




This company lifestyle brand started in 1999 and includes Simply Thai (food), Simply Life (furniture), Pin Chuan Sichuan Restaurant, the Party People (Catering) and The Village. In total 14 venues, not too bad! If Lost heaven is for Yunnan, simply life is for Sichuan and Thailand.


Unique edge:

• Brand boasts the perfect combination of traditional and modern Asian concepts, from their design to the food.

• They strictly guarantee food safety and environmental protection.




DRAGONFLY




Dragonfly raises the standards in term of massages in this city. Before, having a massage was always in a pretty gloomy area where you couldn’t be 100% relaxed because you were worried about hygienic conditions and cigarette-burned couches. Dragon Fly was founded just over 12 years ago in Shanghai by Georgie Yam, a Hong Kong celebrity hairstylist who came to China after more than 30 years in the boutique beauty business in Singapore. They completely transformed the experience and added some services that didn’t exist before in Shanghai. Dragonfly was the first to offer waxing and shellac… and we all should thank them for it. Their motto: "To Relax the World” is fulfilled by focusing on high quality treatments.  


Unique edge:

• All of their venues are tastefully decorated and remarkably affordable.

• Through quality and great service, they’ve garnered great word of mouth promotion by their passionate customers.

• They do a fusion of Asian massage techniques that includes Japanese, Indonesian and Thai influences.




BOXING CAT




Boxing Cat Breweryis a group which also includes Liquid Laundry and Cobra Lily. All started 12 years ago when the founder Kelley Lee chose to build her life around her passion. Each place has been a pioneering establishment in the city. Boxing Cat was the first craft brewery in Shanghai, Liquid Laundry the first which brings a DJ in a dining area….  Always on new projects, Kelley Lee has been a model for many. Who rules the world? Girls.


Unique edge:

• They always have a new, huge, amazing project in the works and yet somehow the old ones never lose a step.

• Their concepts are always extremely well thought-out, perfectly branded, and the coolest joints in town.

• They’re themes are always unique, one-of-a-kind, and bring huge crowds who keep coming back.





WAGAS/ BAKER AND SPICE




Wagas has been in the city since 1999 and now they are pretty much everywhere.  Baker and spice (their other project) is a deliciously scrumptious bakery café chain in Shanghai. Turkish pie, chunky fruit loaves, carrot cake, delicious Danish pastries, sinful cakes, cupcakes… 100% Danish rye breads. Wagas, on the other hand, serves delicious everyday western food – sandwiches, pasta, salad, cake, fresh juice, smoothies & coffee. The weekly specials with the freshest seasonal ingredients guaranteed to spark everyone’s taste buds.


Unique edge:

• They use their very own coffee beans and imported, hand-selected wines - Unique labels at unbeatable prices.

• The now have over 50 stores in mainland China and are constantly expanding and adding venues.

• Because Wagas is a great option for convenient, healthy meals, in some of the most convenient spots around the city… and they always have great wifi.


 

NAKED HUB/RETREAT/ STABLE/ BITES 




Naked HUB may be the best place to work and this inspiring concept should be copied all over the world. Naked HUB provides co-working spots for renting among companies of various sizes

 

Unique edge:

• Their design and branding is perfect

• Their modern concept attracts outside the box thinkers.

• Because the price of renting a space with them is pretty low, compared to renting your own office

• They always have events going on which are community based and often focus on promoting charity or good causes.

 

However Naked is not only Naked hub, it s also Naked Retreat (they are going to open a castle in December) Naked Bite, Naked travel… check their website, it’s huge.




BLUE FROG 



From brunch to dinner, blue frog serves the classics of Western cuisine, with strong North American flavors and influences. They have so many venues in Shanghai that we stopped counting them a long time ago. They even opened venues in Beijing and Nanjing….The story started in 2003 when Bob Boyce opened the first venue on Maoming lu.  Since then they’ve come a long way and even opened a second branch: Kabb, also a North American cuisine, more ‘gastro’ but with the same causal vibes. It has three venues in the city and one in Chengdu.


Unique edge:

• They pioneered the idea of casual, relaxed western food and drinks in the city.  

• One of the most well-known deals in the city: Monday is B1G1 burgers at Blue Frog




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