Richard Feldman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Association, has made a meal of Hong Kong's infinite business opportunities

To some who spend time in Hong Kong's sophisticated food and beverage zone in Central, the name Richard Feldman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Association, is synonymous with building up the area's reputation. In the 15 years since his first job here, Canadian Mr Feldman has worked in food and beverage operations in the heart of the mushrooming Lan Kwai Fong neighbourhood, more recently establishing outlets in newer nearby streets of Soho. Immediately upon arrival, he knew this was the place he was meant to be, he says.

"I don't believe in past lives but the moment I stepped off that aeroplane in 1989 and put my foot on the tarmac, I had the most overwhelming sense that I had arrived 'home'.

I can't explain it - but it was a feeling I've never had before or since in my travels around 95 per cent of the Northern Hemisphere.

I came here having graduated in New York State, planning to use Hong Kong as a base for six months while travelling around Asia. I had an old school friend here, which gave me some useful 'insider' views.

As I started to do the tourist thing, I visited the Hongkong Bank [now HSBC] headquarters building in Central and was blown away by its magnitude, efficiency and the humanness of staff. I soon thought that Hong Kong was very much like the New York of Asia.

Cuisine to suit all

I was quite taken with the place and was wondering if  - as a vegetarian - I would be able to survive. When I went to the wet market in Central, even though there were lots of live ingredients being freshly slaughtered, I loved the energy and the colour - and there were lots of vegetables and bean curd. So I knew diet was not a problem.

One day when I was having a meal with the college friend in Central, we met a friend of his family who owned a Western-style restaurant called Graffiti and was talking about what he might do to improve sales. I'd worked as assistant director of food and beverage operations in the campus restaurant at college, and offered this man the suggestion of introducing a salad bar and a few other features. About two weeks later he called back to say my ideas had worked out well, and how I would like to manage operations at Graffiti? I'd studied drama and was not sure I wanted to get further into the catering industry. But after some thought, and still being in love with Hong Kong, I said "yes".

I soon grew to love the food and beverage industry and particularly Central's Lan Kwai Fong - where my office is - and Soho. I love the international mix of people you find here - and in Hong Kong, in general. From my experience there are only interesting foreigners that choose to live in Hong Kong; I might not like every single foreigner here but they really are all interesting.

Growing clientele

I set up my first company, Back to Front, here in 1992 and it's still going. It specialises in setting up all 'back-of-house' operations for restaurants and bars, from a functional kitchen to operational point-of-sales stations. My clients have been both start-ups and existing outlets.

In 1996, I was approached to sell a restaurant for a client. I asked if he'd mind if I bought it myself. That was Al's Diner, which I thought had a lot of potential. From there I opened more outlets: Soho Bakery, bagel Factory and The Annexx. More recently came Marco Polo Pizza and the Peak Cafe Bar, which is a joint venture.

In 1992 I thought that there was need here for a quality home delivery service, so I started  Food by Fone, a network offering a wide selection from a number of participating restaurants.

I'm currently looking at franchise possibilities for some of the outlets in Shanghai and Taipei but Hong Kong will always be my home."