Wine merchant Patricio de la Fuente Saez taps the growing Chinese market for imported wines

Dutch entrepreneur Patricio de la Fuente Saez says he is in the right place at the right time and that he is having great fun doing a "jolly business".

Mr de la Fuente Saez is the founder and Managing Director of Links Concept Company Ltd, an importer and distributor of wines and spirits operating in the rapidly growing markets of Hong Kong, China and Macau.

The 35-year-old entrepreneur is the winner of this year's Hong Kong Shooting Star Award. Created 12 years ago by Cathay Pacific Airways, the China Council of the Netherlands Council for Trade Promotion and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the award has been given annually to a Dutch company in recognition of its successes over the preceding 12 months in the Chinese market.

Links Concept was set up in 2000 with a start-up capital of HK$5 million (US$641,000). "My friends and I pulled together our resources and came up with the money. In 2005, I bought out all my shareholders and now my sole partner and I own the company," said Mr de la Fuente Saez.

Double digit growth

Sales have doubled each year. It is now one of the top five distributors in Hong Kong and China and one of the top three in Macau. The SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) has 33 people in its 3,500 sq ft office and 125 staff in China. Mr de la Fuente Saez is quick to point out that his success lies in teamwork. "I am in a great business, my suppliers like a glass of wine, my staff love two glasses of wine and my customers like a lot of wine!"

Links Concept's business strategy has done well. The company does not have any retail shops in Hong Kong but supplies to nearly all the five star hotels, wine merchants, supermarkets and restaurants in the city.

"In China, we have 33 retail outlets with another 40 opening in five months time," he said. Most of the retail shops are in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Wuhan, Chengdu and Beijing. "We don't have any retail outlets in Shanghai as the operating costs are too high and it's too competitive, although we do supply to some hotels there. My time and money can bring me better returns in other Chinese cities."

From its Hong Kong base, Links Concept has increased its presence in Macau which has overtaken Las Vegas in gaming revenue. Mr de la Fuente Saez spends two days a week in Macau and sales to the new hotels are incredible. "The rich gamers can afford everything and demand the very best."

Entrepreneurial ambition

The Hong Kong born entrepreneur – son of a Chilean father and a Dutch mother - studied hotel management in Scheveningen near The Hague. After a brief work stint in Indonesia and at a five star hotel in Hong Kong, he quit. "I had always wanted to do my own business since I was young. In Hong Kong, I was educated in the French International School and grew up listening to the success stories of entrepreneurs here."

When he started the company, he had a strong and motivated sales team – many of them are still with him – with one common goal, and that was to become one of city's leading wine and spirit distributors.

"It took a few years but my lucky break came when Jardine's Caldbecks closed down. The boss called me and said he was recommending all his suppliers and customers to work with Links Concept. I guess I was in the right place at the right time with the right company."

Links Concept became the official distributor of Brown Brothers from Australia, Frangelico, Drambui and what has now become one of Hong Kong's best selling wines, Concha y Toro from Chile. "When we took over the Concha y Toro account in 2003 they were selling 8,000 cases annually in Hong Kong. In 2007, we were doing over 40,000 cases which is partly due to us, partly to the increasing wine consumption in Hong Kong and partly due to the increase in popularity of Chilean wine."  

The local supermarket chain Wellcome has been very supportive. "They liked our enthusiasm and willingness to conduct a bit more interesting promotions and we have proceeded to double our business with them."

Perfectly positioned

The last two years have been fantastic mainly due to increase in consumption per capita and the booming economies in China, Hong Kong and Macau. "Hong Kong is perfectly positioned between China and Macau. We have always regarded Hong Kong as the front door to China but it is also a backdoor as so many mainlanders come to visit Hong Kong," said Mr de la Fuente Saez.

He said Hong Kong is an easy place to operate. "It is the easiest place to do business as you can import wine from anywhere in the world. The 40 per cent reduction in import duty on wine is very good for our business. People in Hong Kong, China and Macau are increasingly becoming more educated about wine. Ten years ago, the wine market was expat driven but we see the Chinese market in Hong Kong is growing like crazy and I am very bullish about the China market". 

In the seven years since Links Concept started, revenue has grown ten fold. "We have no plans to expand to other countries in Asia. I don't like to travel much especially with a wife and a baby now, so we will concentrate on our business in Hong Kong, China and Macau. There are so many opportunities in all these places. We are still a young company and we have a good portfolio of wines which we will keep expanding."

"We are going in the right direction. I want to be one of the top three wine distributors in every market we distribute. Our market share will surely increase. The sky's the limit," said the confident entrepreneur.