GMBA LIVE Event: A Dialogue with Entrepreneurs

The latest LIVE Event was held on March 29 at NTU and covered the Taiwanese HORECA industry (Hotel, Restaurant, and Cafe Keepers). The event panel consisted of four speakers within the industry.

The first speaker was Carlos Couto, owner and founder of Tuga, a Portuguese restaurant that is the largest importer of Portuguese wine in Taiwan. He discussed many of the hurdles he has had to overcome to set up Tuga. From finding the right location to the ambience to the menu to the stocking of inventory (wine), he expressed how difficult it is to be in the restaurant business. The greatest take away from his speech was his principle that you should never serve to customers what you wouldn’t eat or drink yourself.

The second speaker was Wayne Lin, founder and chef of Make My Day Cooking Lab. Wayne talked about his main target customers ranging from tourists to Japanese wives living in Taiwan as well as the main courses he offers, including traditional Taiwanese dishes and Italian dishes. He shared that he is close to maxing out at his current capacity and hopes to begin selling some of his own products at his location to pair alongside his cooking classes.

The third speaker was Stevi Chen, founder of BS and Drink coffee shop. Stevi warned of all the expenses that go into setting up a café and how you really have to be passionate about what you do in order to succeed in the industry. Stevi was generous enough to hand out some of her own packaged instant coffee for attendees to take home and try.

The last speaker on the panel was Morgan Boudet, founder and manager of Triangle Bar and Blue Rooster restaurant. Morgan talked about how his experiences led him to acquiring Triangle Bar and his thoughts on how to not only run a successful bar but a successful business. Morgan expressed that what you want is not always what the customer wants, and that you need to be following and listening to what they want above all else.

Overall, the speakers were very engaging, and each spoke passionately of what they do. Many of them warned of the difficulties but also shared their successes and the lessons they have learned from being entrepreneurs in one of the most difficult industries around.

(Chinese text by GMBA Office; English text by Dana Shires, first-year student of NTU GMBA Program)