How long have you been living and working in Bali?
We’ve been living in Bali since November of 2016. We started building our restaurant business, which we called "Roots" in April of 2017, and it opened around 6 or 7 months later in November, 2017. We also built some villas at the back of the restaurant in January 2018.
You been part of a range of successful restaurants in the USA. Why did you decide to open a business in Bali?
It sounds strange, but it wasn't really something we planned on doing to be honest. The last restaurant group we were a part of was called "Farm Burger" and we owned nine restaurants with our partners across the southeast United States and two in the Bay Area around San Francisco. In 2016 we sold out to a venture capital firm, which allowed us to divest completely.
Image supplied by Roots.
While we weren’t necessarily looking to open another restaurant, we found that once we were here in Ubud the pieces just started falling into place, and the people we found ourselves surrounded by were super helpful and supportive, so we took the plunge. Plus we’d spent the majority of our business lives doing this very model; create, open, train and then eventually sell and we thought, "hell, why not?'
Why did you choose Ubud?
Location is always a key factor. We chose Bali on a personal level, because of the diversity. We’d lived in Southeast Asia in the past, but there were few places that offered Bali's diversity. When you look at places like Canggu, Ubud, Sayan and then the North, they're all so different but they're also all in a convenient package. That made Bali the smart choice for a couple that may have different interests and passions and want an even playing field. Like us!
As for Ubud, it just seemed to fit our personalities a bit better than some of the others. Financially it was the middle ground between the over developed Seminyak and Canggu areas in the south west, and the less developed areas such as Amed in the north east.
What are the key differences between running a business in Bali compared to the USA?
At the end of the day the fundamentals are the same; attention to detail, training and quality control plus bringing everything back to the centre as often as possible because everything strays from the original intention if you don't keep your eye on things.
In Bali however, we learnt there were things that apply only slightly or not at all in the US; things like neighbours, Banjars, and ceremonies, but at the end of the day the things that might seem really scary such as regulations, building laws and permitting were pretty straightforward once we had the right people advising us, which was pretty much from the start.
As we’d done this once or twice before, actually probably closer to twenty times, we understood the importance of getting a ton of bids up front and doing good due diligence, so we spent a lot of time choosing the right builder, the land and family selling the land and the right legal counsel. This made the process not only a success, but also a joy.
What developments have you seen in the local restaurant scene in the time you've been in Ubud?
There's no doubt Ubud is a popular place, as are all of the key developed areas around Bali, and new restaurants are opening all the time. What we’ve noticed though, is that the bar is constantly being raised. Trends tend to start in the areas around Seminyak, Kuta and Canggu before pushing North. Bali is a real foodie destination these days. It's not just pizza and burgers on the beach or Vegan homogenized raw food in Ubud anymore. People are really trying to source their food from quality suppliers and provide something with flavour and flare, something different from the guy on the next corner.
Image supplied by Roots.
What pointers could you give to someone just starting out doing business in Bali?
Make friends! There are tons of people out there that want to help you and you can learn from their mistakes and years on the ground. There are differences from wherever you’ve been, just as there’d be differences if you moved to Berlin or San Francisco, and the more questions you ask the more you’ll get to the answers you need.
Be patient! Bali isn’t the west. Things move at different pace here. The typical aggressive, must-get-stuff-done-now, attitude doesn’t translate well here.
Patience will also keep your blood pressure down and add years to your life!
Is now a good time to be investing in a business in Bali?
Bottom line is yes! Our numbers would strongly suggest this is a great time to be investing in Bali.
One of the main changes we’ve noticed is that there isn’t as much difference between the “Tourist Season,” and what used to be considered "Off Season." Our occupancy in the villas has remained consistent throughout the year, with the restaurant seeing only nominal fluctuation.
Image supplied by Roots.
In addition, the actual sales numbers between both the villas and the restaurant are up almost 20% over last year. Much more than we’d expected.
Here are a few things we've noticed that are connected with this: infrastructure from trash to transportation, from suppliers to accessibility to new products all make doing business a bit more streamlined.
Sourcing quality pastured and organic meat is so much easier now than when we moved here 3-years ago. People are really starting to care where their food comes from and farmer’s markets are popping up all over the place. All of these things help make running a restaurant a lot more fun.
Plus there are a lot of people wanting quality, which gives business owners like us a lot more options in what we're able to offer, in whatever type of business you’re running.
You're a member of the BGreener community. Are you seeing more Eco-friendly businesses opening in Bali?
Yes, but it's not just in Bali … it's all over the world. The choices we make as a society seem to carry more and more weight as we move forward. And it’s the little things that sometimes make all the difference and they really add up. That means we can all have an impact at some level.
We made a lot of choices going into this project that we felt would have a large impact, even though the average customer might not even be aware of what we'd done. We chose our building materials, such as bamboo and local wood to try and have as little impact as possible, and then we put in a water filtration system from Starfish Bali, which allowed all of the water over the entire property to be drinkable right out of the tap, doing away with all plastic bottles.
We also made choices such as installing a salt-water pool and choosing land that wasn’t taking away the all important rice fields from this beautiful island. Often times it’s the non-marketable choices we make that have the largest impact.
Bali has seen a lot of changes in terms of tourism and development in the last few years. What aspects of this have you noticed and embraced?
We’ve noticed a lot of younger travelers and much more diversity. People are also taking travel and adventure into their own hands versus relying on a tour group or just a local tour guide. This diversity is translating into what’s being offered on all levels from food to entertainment to adventure. And let's not forget all of this is happening in a place steeped in culture.
Image supplied by Roots.
What do you see happening in Ubud in the next five years?
The change is upon us now! What we’ve noticed most is attention to infrastructure is starting to be addressed. In Ubud, parking, for example, is so much better now than three years ago and sidewalks are being or have been fixed. Buildings in general aren't just being knocked up; thought has gone in to their concepts and the overall quality of businesses is improving all the time. It seems businesses in Ubud have learnt from the mistakes that some of the more developed communities in the south have experienced.
All of this leads to growth. And Ubud is growing in all directions. This is one of the main reasons we chose the location we did. Right now we're about a 10-15-minute walk from the centre of town but we think in less than two-years, this will also be considered as being Ubud Centre. With that in mind, the best locations are now the ones surrounding the outskirts.
We understand you're planning to hold the first real estate auction in Ubud to try and sell your business soon. Why are you planning to leave?
That's probably the question we get asked most right now! And in many ways the answer is the same as why we opened the restaurant in the first place; because it’s what we’ve always done.
For the past 20-years we've opened close to 25-restaurants between the two of us. We've created concepts, trained staff and put in the systems to create jobs. Smiles and creative challenges are what turn us on. It’s what we love doing! We love going to new places in new communities.
In Bali we had the opportunity to create something very different from anything we’d done before, without the constraints of western over-pricing or the ever-watchful eye of well meaning partners. We did that and we're happy with the results, but now it’s time for us to pass it on to the next caretaker of this beautiful property, so they can create their dream.
Hindsight is 20/20 vision. What would you do differently if you were to build a business in Bali today?
Probably not much. Our experience in Bali has been awesome but there is one thing we would advise the next owner to consider and that's marketing. Marketing is important and in a tourism destination it's absolutely essential. We ran great Facebook and Instagram pages and did some ads in both, but at the end of day we could have done this better.
There are a ton of different and exciting marketing opportunities here, which we could have (and should have) used, but I guess we were just too busy or maybe just plain lazy to not really have taken full advantage of them.
You can contact Sean and Mee via the contact details below.
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